Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 10:1
Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
1. the latter rain ] Would you have even now a measure at least of the promised abundance, seek it of Jehovah; look to Him for the rain that prepares (Psa 65:9-10), as well as for the crowning gift itself (Ib. Zec 10:11) of “corn” and “wine.” The latter rain fell in March or April and served to swell the grain now coming to maturity. The former rain fell in the autumn. (Deu 11:14; Joe 2:23. Comp. Jer 3:3.)
so the Lord shall make bright clouds ] Rather, it is the Lord who makes lightnings (as in the margin, or, even of the Lord that maketh lightnings, R. V.), which usher in and accompany rain: therefore of Him must you ask it. Comp. “He hath made lightnings for the rain,” Psa 135:7. “ For the rain; i.e. so that the rain follows the lightning; see Jer 10:13; Jer 51:16. The lightning is supposed to precede the rain. A common Arabic proverb says of a man who turns out other than was expected of him, that he lightens but does not rain.” Dean Perowne.
grass ] Rather, herb, including food for man, Gen 1:29.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ask ye of the Lord rain – Ask and ye shall receive our Lord says. Zechariah had promised in Gods name blessings temporal and spiritual: all was ready on Gods part; only, he adds, ask them of the Lord, the Unchangeable, the Self-same not of Teraphim or of diviner, as Israel had done aforetime Isa. 2:5-22; Jer 44:15-28. He had promised, If ye shall hearken diligently unto My coramandments, to love the Lord your God, I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, and I will send grass in thy field for thy cattle Deu 11:13-15. God bids them ask Him to fulfill His promise. The latter rain alone is mentioned, as completing what God had begun by the former rain, filling the ears before the harvest. Both had been used as symbols of Gods spiritual gifts, and so the words fit in with the close of the last chapter, both as to things temporal and eternal. Osorius: He exhorts all frequently to ask for the dew of the divine grace, that what had sprung up in the heart from the seed of the word of God, might attain to full ripeness.
The Lord maketh bright clouds – (Rather) lightnings, into rain, as Jeremiah says, He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings into rain Jer 10:13; Jer 51:16; and the Psalmist, He maketh lightnings into rain Psa 135:7, disappearing as it were into the rain which follows on them. And giveth them. While man is asking, God is answering. Showers of rain , rain in torrents, as we should say, or in floods, or, inverted, floods of rain. To every one grass, rather, the green herb, in the field, as the Psalmist says, He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men (Psa 104:14, see also Gen 1:30; Gen 3:18). This He did with individual care, as each had need, or as should be best for each, as contrariwise He says in Amos, I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece, whereon it rained not, withered (Amo 4:7; see note).
The Rabbis observed these exceptions to Gods general law, whereby He sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Matt. 5:49, though expressing it in their way hyperbolically; , In the time when Israel doeth the will of God, He doeth their will; so that if one man alone, and not the others, wants rain, He will give rain to that one man; and if a man wants one herb alone in his field or garden, and not another, He will give rain to that one herb; as one of the saints used to say, This plot of ground wants rain, and that plot of ground wants not rain (Cyril). Spiritually the rain is divine doctrine bedewing the mind and making it fruitful, as the rain doth the earth. So Moses saith, My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass Deu 32:2. Cyril: The law of Moses and the prophets were the former rain.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 10:1
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain
The rain
The rainfall in Palestine is normally periodical; occasional showers and even storms of rain may occur at any season, but as a rule it is at the time of the autumnal and that of the vernal equinox that the rain for the year falls.
These two periodic seasons of rain the Hebrews spoke of as the early and the latter ram; and on the occurrence of them the fruitfulness of the field and the return of the harvest depended. In other passages both the former and the latter rain are referred to as indispensable to this. At an early period God promised to Israel that He would give the rain of their land in due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that they might gather in their corn, manifestation of special regard for His people by Jehovah (comp. Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23; Isa 30:23; Jer 5:24). The latter rain only is mentioned here, probably because this was the more important for the fructification of the grain; and possibly also, because, being this, it might be regarded as including or representing temporal blessing generally. This the prophet here exhorts the people to ask of the Lord at the time of the latter rain, s.c., at the season when it was due; though God had promised it to His people, it was fitting and needful that they should pray to Him for it at the time when it was required. This direction to ask does not simply express the readiness of God to grant their request; it does this, for when God enjoins on men the asking for blessing, He implicitly engages to give the blessing asked for; but besides this, and even more than this, there is intimated here that the obtaining of promised blessing is conditioned by its being specially asked of God in the season of need. Gods promises are given not to supersede prayer, but rather to encourage and stimulate to prayer. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
The latter rain
The latter rain was that which fell in the spring, and which was instrumental in bringing the corn into the ear and filling it; so that if this rain failed, the husbandman would be disappointed of his harvest, notwithstanding all his previous industry, skill, and anxiety. He was indeed dependent also on the former rain, that which fell at the seeding time; but there would be a yet more bitter disappointment, for there would be the utter loss of much labour, the fruitless expenditure of much effort and hope, if the latter rain were withheld. And, consequently, there was even greater reason for his asking rain in the time of the latter rain than in that of the former. If the former rain were withheld, he might make some other use of his capital and enterprise; but if the latter, his disaster scarce admitted of repair. Take it metaphorically, and the latter rain is the grace needed for ripening the believer and fitting him for heaven. God may give the latter rain, if the husbandman, conscious of his dependence on God for the harvest, continue meekly to supplicate the necessary showers; He may withhold the rain, if the husbandman, calculating on the ordinary course of His dealings, grow remiss in petitioning, and give up his fields to the presumed certainties of the season. There is no point in the life of a Christian at which he can do without the supply of Gods grace; none at which he can expect the supply, if he be not cultivating the spirit and habit of prayer. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Prayer and promise
We have here expressed the connection between prayer and promise on the one hand, and prayer and the processes of nature on the other. The blessing of rain, which, to an agricultural people, was inclusive of all other temporal blessings, and symbolical of all spiritual ones, was promised; but this promise was dependent on its supplication in prayer. Just so the great blessing of the descent of the Spirit on an individual or a Church, though a free gift, must be obtained by prayer. It is this fact that makes the spirit of prayer in the Church at once an index of her piety, and of the spiritual blessings she may expect from God. When the Church pours out a fulness of prayer, God will pour out a fulness of His Spirit. The inspired writers see no difficulty in the connection between prayer and the processes of nature, such as the mole-eyed philosophy of modern times discovers. The inspired writers think that the God who has created the elements may direct them according to His will. We must not suppose that because God has begun to bless us, we may relax our prayers and efforts. The former rain may be given, but we must also ask for the latter rain. We may have the former rain of conversion, but if we would have the latter rain of ripened sanctification, we must continue to ask of God. So, also, in the revival of religion. The former rain may occur, and souls be converted, but if we would have the ripening seed in active Christians, we must ask of God, and He will give growth, greenness, and maturity. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
God in relation to the good and the bad
I. God attends to the prayers of good men. The abundance of corn promised in the last clause of the preceding chapter depends upon rain.
1. God gives rain. A pseudo-science would ascribe rain and clouds and showers to what they call the laws of nature. The Bible directly connects them with the working of God. He watereth the hills from His chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy works (Psa 104:13-15; Psa 65:9-11).
2. The God who gives rain attends to human prayer. But it is not absurd, because
(1) Man is greater than material nature.
(2) Prayer is a settled law of the Divine government.
To cry to the Almighty in distress is an instinct of the soul. Prayer, instead of interfering with the laws of nature, is a law of nature.
II. He abominates the character of religious impostors. For the idols [the household gods] have spoken vanity, etc. Thus, under such misleading guides, such selfish and unprincipled shepherds, the flock was driven about and troubled. They had no shepherd, no truly faithful shepherd, who took a concern in the well-being of the flock.–Wardlaw. Now, against such impostors, Jehovah says, Mine anger was kindled. That the shepherds and the goats, says Hengstenberg, are the heathen rulers who obtained dominion over Judah when the native government was suppressed, is evident from the contrast so emphatically pointed out in the fourth verse, where particular prominence is given to the fact that the new rulers whom God was about to appoint would be taken from the midst of the nation itself. Are there no religious impostors now, no false teachers, no blind leading the blind, no shepherds fleecing the flocks?
III. He works in all for His people. From Him comes stability. All stability in moral character, in social order, in political prosperity, is from God. What a sublime view of the Almighty have we here! (Homilist)
Asking of the Lord
1. Mark the importance of cultivating the spirit of dependence and prayer. We are, as creatures and as sinners, dependent for everything we need, whether for the body or the soul,–for this life or the life to come. It is fitting that we should feel this dependence, and that we should give it expression. Prayer is the expression of it; but prayer is something more. It is asking of the Lord. It is a precious privilege; it is a sacredly incumbent duty. It is one of the Divinely ordered means for obtaining any desired good. Gods Word ascribes to it an efficacy on His own counsels and doings; its being His inducement to act in one way rather than in another.
2. But we must never be satisfied with praying. We must never separate prayer from action. The two must go together. It will not do for the husbandman to be ever on his knees, pleading that his fields may be productive. All the labour and all the skill of husbandry must be put forth by him. He must work and pray: he must pray and work. It is a mockery of God if he does otherwise. To work without praying is ungodliness and presumption; to pray without working is enthusiasm and hypocrisy. And so it is in the spiritual department. It is not enough that we pray God to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. We have no right to expect that He will hear us, or bestow upon us any portion of His gracious influences, unless, by the diligent use of the means of spiritual improvement, we are fulfilling the injunction, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. In vain do Christians seek the conversion of Israel, unless they are putting forth efforts for removing the veil of ignorance and prejudice by the communication of the light of instruction. And in vain do they look for the knowledge of the glory of the Lord filling the earth, if all they do is praying that it may. They must send it to earths utmost bounds. (Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.)
So the Lord shall make bright clouds–
Bright clouds
The water that a little while ago lay in yonder sluggish pool, is now raised up into the sky by the suns attraction–all its impurities left behind, and itself transformed into a cloud, which glows like emerald or sapphire in the sunlight. Can you imagine two things more utterly unlike than the stagnant pool and the radiant cloud? Yet it is precisely the same substance. It is the same water in yonder cloud, white and fleecy as an angels wing, that before made up the turbid pool. And what saith the Scripture? If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. This body taken, out of the stagnant pool of our fallen humanity–taken out of the corruption of death and the grave, and now filled and completely permeated by the Holy Spirit, so that it is transfigured like Christ Himself. (J. A. Gordon, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER X
The promise of prosperity and plenty in the close of the
preceding chapter leads the prophet to suggest, next, the
means of obtaining them; supplication to Jehovah, and not to
idols, whose worship had already proved a fertile source of
calamities, 1-3.
The rest of the chapter (like the preceding) promises to the
Jews a restoration to their own land under rulers and
governors, victory over their enemies, and much increase and
prosperity; and this in a manner so miraculous, that it is
described, 4-12,
by allusions to the deliverance from Egypt.
NOTES ON CHAP. X
Verse 1. Ask ye of the Lord rain] Rain in the due seasons –
1. To impregnate the seed when sown; and
2. To fill the ear near the time of harvest-was so essential to the fertility of the land, and the well-being of the people, that it stands well among the chief of God’s mercies and the promise of it here shows that God designs to ensure the prosperity promised, by using those means by which it was promoted.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ask: it was a time of great scarcity with the Jews while the temple and city lay waste, and the prophets from God assure them it is for neglecting to rebuild the temple, to which work the Lord does earnestly call by Haggai and Zechariah, with promises of great blessings, which forthwith God would give to them, if they set to this work, and seek the Lord by prayer, to which duty he doth direct them in this chapter: to the building of city and temple they must add prayer, for the blessing is prepared, and shall be given when asked.
Ye Jews, returned from Babylon, settled in your city, and returned to the worship of God, and to whom many excellent promises are made; you must pray.
Rain in the time of the latter rain; which usually came about spring to fill the eared corn, and to bring forth the grass, to make the trees and plants with their fruit to be full and large: this latter rain made plenty of all provision, and is proverbially used to signify a great blessing, Hos 6:3.
The Lord shall make; by making the vapours ascend from the earth, he will cover the heavens with clouds: see how Job, Job 38:28, doth elegantly describe this work of God. Bright clouds; clouds which bring rain, and pour it out abundantly, when they are opened with thunders and lightnings, which do as it were broach the clouds; they unstop these bottles: and they are bright clouds through the lightnings which break from them, Job 28:26; 38:25,26.
And give them, the Jews, his people, showers of rain; plentiful showers of rain, that shall fatten the earth, and make it fruitful.
To every one grass in the field; none shall miss it, nor the effect of it on corn or grass; corn for man, and grass for the beast.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Ask . . . rainon which theabundance of “corn” promised by the Lord (Zec9:17) depends. Jehovah alone can give it, and will give it onbeing asked (Jer 10:13; Jer 14:22).
rain in . . . time of . . .latter rainthat is, the latter rain in its due time, namely,in spring, about February or March (Job 29:23;Joe 2:23). The latter rainripened the grain, as the former rain in October tended to fructifythe seed. Including all temporal blessings; these again beingtypes of spiritual ones. Though God has begun to bless us, we are notto relax our prayers. The former rain of conversion may have beengiven, but we must also ask for the latter rain of ripenedsanctification. Though at Pentecost there was a former rain on theJewish Church, a latter rain is still to be looked for, when the fullharvest of the nation’s conversion shall be gathered in to God. Thespirit of prayer in the Church is an index at once of her piety, andof the spiritual blessings she may expect from God. When the Churchis full of prayer, God pours out a full blessing.
bright cloudsrather,”lightnings,” the precursors of rain [MAURER].
showers of rainliterally,”rain of heavy rain.” In Job37:6 the same words occur in inverted order [HENDERSON].
grassa general term,including both corn for men and grass for cattle.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain,…. There was the former and the latter rain, of which see Ho 6:3. The former rain was in autumn, a little before or about seed time; the latter was in the spring, and a little before harvest, which is here referred to. So Hesiod g calls those rains the autumnal and vernal rains; and between these two rains there was seldom any more. Jerom says h that he never saw in the eastern countries, especially in Judea, any rain at the end of the month of June, or in July; and now, at Aleppo, a little more northerly, for three or four months after May, they have scarce so much as any dew upon the ground, as Pemble on the place observes. So Dr. Shaw says i, little or no rain falls in this climate (of Algiers and Tunis), during the summer season; and in most parts of the Sahara, particularly in the Jereede, they have seldom any rain at all. It was likewise the same in the holy land, Pr 26:1 where rain is accounted an unusual thing in “harvest”, 2Sa 21:10 where it is also mentioned, “from harvest till rain dropped on them”; i.e. their rainy season fell out, as in Barbary, in the autumnal and winter months.
“The first rains (he observes) fall here some years in September, in others a month later; after which the Arabs break up their ground, in order to sow wheat, and plant beans: this commonly falls out about the middle of October.”
If the latter rains fall as usual in the middle of April, (in the holy land we find they were a month sooner, Joe 2:23.) the crop is reckoned secure; the harvest coming on in the latter end of May, or in the beginning of June, according to the heat and quality of the preceding seasons: wherefore, since there was so little rain fell in these countries, and particularly in Judea; if these former and latter rains failed, a scarcity followed; for, for want of the former rain, the earth was hard, and not easily ploughed up; and for want of the latter the grain withered away in the blade, and did not ear, at least did not produce ears plump and good; so that these rains were great temporal blessings, and to be asked for, as they were by the Jews, when they were wanted; and for which they appointed fasts k, and were emblems of spiritual blessings here designed; for rain here is not to be literally understood, but mystically and spiritually; and designs either the love and favour of God, and the comfortable discoveries of it; see
Pr 16:15 which may be compared to rain in its original; it is from above, from on high, it comes from heaven; it is not owing to anything in man, but to the will of God; and is distinguishing, as rain falls on one city, and not on another; in its objects, undeserving persons, as rain is sent on the just and unjust; in its manner of communication, it tarries not for the will and works of men; it comes at times in great abundance, and the discoveries of it are to be asked for; in its effects, it softens and melts the heart into evangelical repentance; it cools and extinguishes the flaming wrath of a fiery law in the conscience; it refreshes and revives the drooping spirit, and makes the barren soul fruitful: or the blessings of grace in general may be meant; these are from above, depend on the will of God; are to be sought after, and asked for; are free grace gifts; are given largely and plentifully, and make fruitful: or the coming of Christ in the flesh in particular is intended; see Ho 6:3 who came down from heaven; is a free gift of God to men, was sought after, and greatly desired, and to be desired, by the Old Testament saints, and very grateful to such when he came. This may also be applied to his spiritual coming in his power and kingdom in the latter day, which is to be earnestly wished and prayed for,
Ps 72:7 or else the Gospel may be designed; see De 32:2 this is of God, and from above; comes and falls upon the sons of men, according to divine direction; softens hard hearts, when it becomes effectual; comforts the souls of God’s people; is a blessing to be desired, and asked for; and will be enjoyed in great plenty in the latter day:
[so] the Lord shall make bright clouds; by which may be meant the ministers of the Gospel, who are of God’s making, and not man’s: these may be compared to “clouds” for their number, especially as they will be in the latter day; and for their moving to and fro, to communicate spiritual knowledge: and to “bright” ones, such as from whence lightning springs, thunderclouds, full of water; (the same word is used for lightning, Job 38:25😉 because full of Gospel truths, and because of that clear light they diffuse to others:
and give them showers of rain: productive, under a divine influence, of large conversions among Jews and Gentiles:
to everyone grass in the field: on whom these showers fall with efficacy, and a divine blessing; everyone of these have a spiritual knowledge of Christ, faith in him, repentance towards God, food and fulness of it; and are filled with the fruits of righteousness, or good works, to the glory of God; see Isa 55:10. The Targum is,
“that he may give to them (the children of men) corn to eat, and grass to the beasts in the field;”
taking the words literally.
g Opera & Dies, l. 2. h Comment. in Amos iv. 7. fol. 39. F. i Travels, p. 136, 137. Ed. 2. k Misn. Taanith, c. 1. sect. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah createth lightnings, and showers of rain will He give them, to every one vegetation in the field. Zec 10:2. For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the soothsayers have seen a lie, and speak dreams of deceit; they comfort in vain: for this they have wandered like a flock, they are oppressed because there is no shepherd.” The summons to prayer is not a mere turn of the address expressing the readiness of God to give (Hengstenberg), but is seriously meant, as the reason assigned in Zec 10:2 clearly shows. The church of the Lord is to ask of God the blessings which it needs for its prosperity, and not to put its trust in idols, as rebellious Israel has done (Hos 2:7). The prayer for rain, on which the successful cultivation of the fruits of the ground depends, simply serves to individualize the prayer for the bestowal of the blessings of God, in order to sustain both temporal and spiritual life; just as in Zec 9:17 the fruitfulness of the land and the flourishing of the nation are simply a concrete expression, for the whole complex of the salvation which the Lord will grant to His people (Kliefoth). This view, which answers to the rhetorical character of the exhortation, is very different from allegory. The time of the latter rain is mentioned, because this was indispensable to the ripening of the corn, whereas elsewhere the early and latter rain are connected together (e.g., Joe 2:23; Deu 11:13-15). The lightnings are introduced as the harbingers of rain (cf. Jer 10:13; Psa 135:7). M e tar geshem , rain of the rain-pouring, i.e., copious rain (compare Job 37:6, where the words are transposed). With lakem (to them) the address passes into the third person: to them, i.e., to every one who asks. is not to be restricted to grass or herb as the food of cattle, as in Deu 11:15, where it is mentioned in connection with the corn and the fruits of the field; but it includes these, as in Gen 1:29 and Psa 104:14, where it is distinguished from chatsr . The exhortation to pray to Jehovah for the blessing needed to ensure prosperity, is supported in Zec 10:2 by an allusion to the worthlessness of the trust in idols, and to the misery which idolatry with its consequences, viz., soothsaying and false prophecy, have brought upon the nation. The t e raphm were house-deities and oracular deities, which were worshipped as the givers and protectors of the blessings of earthly prosperity (see at Gen 31:19). Along with these are mentioned, i.e., the soothsayers, who plunged the nation into misery through their vain and deceitful prophesyings. is not the subject of the sentence, for in that case it would have the article like ; but it is the object, and is also the subject to and . “Therefore,” i.e., because Israel had trusted in teraphim and soothsayers, it would have to wander into exile. , to break up, applied to the pulling up of the pegs, to take down the tent, involves the idea of wandering, and in this connection, of wandering into exile. Hence the perfect , to which the imperfect is suitably appended, because their being oppressed, i.e., the oppression which Israel suffered from the heathen, still continued. The words apply of course to all Israel (Ephraim and Judah); compare Zec 9:13 with Zec 10:4, Zec 10:6. Israel is bowed down because it has no shepherd, i.e., no king, who guards and provides for his people (cf. Num 27:17; Jer 23:4), having lost the Davidic monarchy when the kingdom was overthrown.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Encouragements to Trust in God. | B. C. 510. |
1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. 2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. 4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here God intimates to them that he will for these things be enquired of by them, and that he expects they should acknowledge him in all their ways and in all his ways towards them–and not idols that were rivals with him for their respects.
I. The prophet directs them to apply to God by prayer for rain in the season thereof. He had promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that there should be great plenty of corn and wine, whereas for several years, by reason of unseasonable weather, there had been great scarcity of both; but the earth will not yield its fruits unless the heavens water it, and therefore they must look up to God for the dew of heaven, in order to the fatness and fruitfulness of the earth (v. 1): “Ask you of the Lord rain. Do not pray to the clouds, nor to the stars, for rain, but to the Lord; for he it is that hears the heavens, when they hear the earth,” Hos. ii. 21. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which we must ask of God, rain in the time of the latter rain, when there is most need of it. The former rain fell at the seed-time, in autumn, the latter fell in the spring, between March and May, which brought the corn to an ear and filled it. If either of these rains failed, it was very bad with that land; for from the end of May to September they never had any rain at all. Jerome, who lived in Judea, says that he never saw any rain there in June or July. They are directed to ask for it in the time when it used to come. Note, We must, in our prayers, dutifully attend the course of Providence; we must ask for mercies in their proper time, and not expect that God should go out of his usual way and method for us. But, since sometimes God denied rain in the usual time as a token of his displeasure, they must pray for it then as a token of his favour, and they shall not pray in vain. Ask and it shall be given you. So the Lord shall make bright clouds (which, though they are without rain themselves, are yet presages of rain)–lightnings (so the margin reads it), for he maketh lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in great abundance, and so give to every one grass in the field; for God is universally good, and makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.
II. He shows them the folly of making their addresses to idols as their fathers had done (v. 2): The idols have spoken vanity; the teraphim, which they courted and consulted in their distress, were so far from being able to command rain for them that they could not so much as tell them when they should have rain. They pretended to promise them rain at such a time, but it did not come. The diviners, who were the prophets of those idols, have seen a lie (their visions were all a cheat and a sham); and they have told false dreams, such as the event did not answer, which proved that they were not from God. Thus they comforted in vain those that consulted the lying oracles; all the vanities of the heathen put together could not give rain, Jer. xiv. 22. Yet this was not the worst of it; they not only got nothing by the false gods, but they lost the favour of the true God, for therefore they went their way into captivity as a flock driven into the fold, and they were troubled with one vexation after another, as scattered sheep are, because there was no shepherd, no prince to rule them, no priest to intercede for them, none to take care of them and keep them together. Those that wandered after strange gods were made to wander, into strange nations.
III. He shows them the hand of God in all the events that concerned them, both those that made against them and those that made for them, v. 3. Let them consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked contrary to them (v. 3): “My anger was kindled against the shepherds that should have fed the flock, but neglected it, and starved it. I was displeased at the wicked magistrates and ministers, the idol-shepherds.” The captivity in Babylon was a token of God’s anger against them; in it likewise he punished the goats, those of the flock that were filthy and mischievous; they were set on the left hand, to go away into punishment. Though the body of the nation suffered in the captivity, yet it was only the goats and the shepherds that God was angry with, and that he punished; the same affliction to others came from the love of God, and was but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from his wrath, and was a judicial punishment. 2. When things began to change for the better it was God that gave them the happy turn. “He has now visited his flock with favour, to enquire after them, and provides what he finds proper for them, and he has made them as his goodly horse in the battle, has beautified them, taken care of them, managed and made use of them, as a man does the horse he rides on, has made them valuable in themselves and formidable to those about them, as his goodly horse.” It is God that makes us what we are, and it is with us as he appoints.
IV. He shows them that every creature is to them what God makes it to be (v. 4): Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nails. 1. All the power that was engaged against them was from God. Out of him came all the combined force of their enemies; every oppressor together (and the oppressors of Israel were not a few) did but what his hand and his counsel determined before to be done; nor could they have had such power against them unless it had been given them from above. 2. All the power likewise that was engaged for them was derived from him and depended on him. Out of him came forth the corner-stone of the building, the power of magistrates, which keeps the several parts of the state together. Princes are often called the corners of the people, as 1 Sam. xiv. 38, marg. Out of him came forth the nail that fixed the state, the nail in the sure place (Isa. xxii. 23), the nail in his holy place, Ezra ix. 8. Out of him came forth the battle-bow, the military power, and out of him every oppressor, or exactor, that had the civil power in his hand; and therefore to God, the fountain of power, we must always have an eye, and see every man’s judgment proceeding from him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 10
ISRAEL’S FUTURE STRENGTH
Verses 1-8:
Help For Judah And Ephraim
Verse 1 calls upon the people of God to pray for rain, to ask of Him rain, in the time of latter rains, in February or March, Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23-32; Zechariah 12. This has both a physical and spiritual implication. Rain seasons, as of old, will be restored to Palestine, but the power of the Spirit is also to be restored to her, in her return and obedience to Him; He can and will give rain on being asked, Jer 10:13; Jer 14:22. There is then a promise that God will form bright clouds (clouds with lightning) to give one grass in the field, meaning both corn for men and grass for cattle, Job 37:6.
Verse 2 asserts that the household gods have spoken vanity, or living prophets who claimed to receive messages from the idols, lied and deceived, as purported diviners, pretending to have visions and tell dreams received from the dumb, blind, and deaf idols in their homes. Rachel stole such an idol from Laban, Gen 31:18; 1Sa 19:13. Such idolatry stayed from them the grace of God. In them the people found neither comfort nor help, but offended God, Job 13:4; Job 16:2; Job 21:34. Thus Israel and Judah were led away into captivity, as wandering, troubled lost sheep, without a shepherd a prey to every injury of wild beasts. The false prophets they trusted were not shepherds, Eze 34:5. They were as the disciples of our Lord who forsook Him and fled, Mat 26:56; Zec 13:7.
Verse 3 recounts that the Lord’s anger was kindled (inflamed) against the shepherds, who turned hirelings, Joh 10:12-13. These were the civil rulers of Judah and Israel who aided and promoted idolatry. So He punished the goats, alluding to the headstrong leaders who sanctioned idolatry and its accompanying lusts, Isa 15:9, Eze 34:17; Dan 8:5; Mat 25:33. The first in crime shall be the first in punishment. The Lord has now visited the house of Judah, and made them strong, as a good horse in battle, Rev 16:14; Rev 19:17; Exo 4:31; 1Pe 2:12; Luk 1:68; Zec 9:13; Son 1:9. They are now His flock.
Verse 4 affirms for the third time, for emphasis, that out of Him (the Lord) came the cornerstone, the Messiah, Isa 28:16. And out of Him came the nail or peg; In the oriental tent the nail-peg had hung upon it the most valuable of the furniture, Ezr 9:8; Isa 22:23. Upon the Messiah was hung all the true glory and hope of the house of Israel. The nail also was a symbol of sure or secure abode, Exo 9:8; Jdg 4:21; Isa 22:23. Out of Him also came the battle bow, or battle strength, Judah shall not need marshal armies of soldiers for protection when He comes, is the idea, Zec 9:13; Psa 45:4-5; Rev 6:2. Out of Him shall come the end of the oppressor, power to oppress every foe of truth and right.
Verse 5 prophesies that they of Judah, in that day of the Lord, shall, with Him as captain, cause the riders of enemy horses to be confounded. They of Judah, forbidden of the Lord to use horses in battle, Deu 17:16, shall tread the foe and their horses under foot; the cavalry was the chief power of the Syro-Grecian army. The foe will be trodden under foot of the Lord’s foot-cavalry in that day, is the Divine pledge, Psa 20:7; Eze 33:4; Dan 2:40; Dan 11:40.
Verse 6 records a pledge from the Lord that He will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph He further assures Israel that He will bring them again, from dispersion and captivity, to a place or locate them in Zion, their own city and land. They shall then be as if never cast off, and the Lord will then be attentive to hear their prayers, for His name and covenant’s sake. Rev 19:11-21; Zec 9:13-15; Zec 12:2-6; Zec 14:14-21.
Verse 7 foretells that Ephraim’s people shall be like a mighty (powerful) man, and their hearts shall rejoice, and cause their children to rejoice with emotional ecstasy, as one half-imbibed with wine, Psa 78:65-66. But it shall be in the Lord, 1Co 15:58; Eph 5:18.
Verse 8 recounts a further pledge of the Lord that He will “hiss” for them, because He has redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have in former days of blessings and prosperity. As a goose hisses when danger approaches her goslings, and to drive away the predator, so the Lord will hiss against Israel’s enemies, And as the bee-keeper whistles to call the hive together for his care, so will the Lord call His people to Him, Isa 5:26; Isa 7:18; Isa 11:11-12; Isa 27:12; Mat 11:28; Rev 22:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Zechariah, after having shown that God would be bountiful towards the Jews, so that nothing necessary to render life happy and blessed should be wanting, now reproves them for their unbelief, because they did not expect from the Lord what he was ready fully to bestow on them. As then it depended on them only, that they did not enjoy abundance of all blessings, he charges them with ingratitude: for though he exhorts them to prayer, there is yet an implied reproof. One by merely reading over the words may think that a new subject is here introduced, that the Jews are directed to ask of the Lord what he had previously promised them; but he who will more minutely consider the whole context, will easily find that what I have stated is true — that the Jews are here condemned, and on this account, because they closed the door against God’s favor; for they were straitened in themselves, as all the unbelieving are, who cannot embrace the promises of God; nor is it at all doubtful but that many made great complaints, when they found themselves disappointed of their wishes. They had indeed hoped for a most abundant supply of corn and wine, and had also promised to themselves all kinds of blessings, yet the Lord, as we have seen in the book of Haggai, had begun to withdraw his hand, so that they labored under want of provisions; and when mine and thirst oppressed them, they thought that they had been in a manlier deceived by God. On this ground the Prophet expostulates with them; they thrust from themselves, by their want of faith, the favor which had been prepared for them. We now then understand the Prophet’s meaning.
He bids them to ask rain of Jehovah. They ought indeed to have done this of themselves without being reminded; for though Christ has delivered to his Church a form of prayer, it ought yet to be as it were the dictate of nature to seek of God our daily bread; and it is not without reason that he claims to himself the name of a Father. The Prophet then does here reprove the Jews for their brutal stupidity — that they did not ask rain of the Lord. He adds, at the late season, that is, at spring time; for rains at two seasons were necessary for the corn, after sowing and before harvest, and whenever Scripture speaks of fruitfulness or of a large produce, it mentions rain at these two seasons. Zechariah in this place only refers to the vernal before harvest; for in that hot country the earth wanted new moisture, Ask, he says, rain at the beginning of summer.
Jehovah, he adds, will give it; he will make clouds, or storms, or boisterous winds, as some read; but it is evident from other passages that חזיזים, chezizim, means clouds, which are as it were preparations for rain. (116) He then says, that a shower would come with the rain; for some take גשם, gesham, for a shower, that is, heavy rain; but the Prophet introduces here the two words, as though he had said, that the rains would be continued until the ground was saturated and the dryness removed. Some translate, “the rain of a shower,” but this would be too strained. I prefer then this rendering, He will give rain, a shower, that is, abundant rain; to every one grass in the field, that is, so that there may be moisture enough for the ground. In short, he promises a plentiful irrigation, that drought might not deprive them of the hope of food and support. What I have stated will appear more clear from the following verse, for he adds —
(116) The word in the singular number is found twice, in Job 28:26, and rendered “lightning.” Scott, the versifier of the book of Job, renders it “blaze” or “flash of lightning,” deriving it from an Arabic word which means to cut a thing like the jagged edge of a leaf. It is then the zigzag flash of lightning. Marckius renders it here “coruscations;” Dathius and Henderson “lightnings.” To avoid the connection of two words of similar import, the arrangement of the verse may be different, —
Ask ye from Jehovah rain in the latter season; Jehovah, who makes the flashes and the rain, Will a shower give to you, To every one grass in the field.
“
To you,” [ לכם ]; so read many MSS., about fifteen, and the Syriac. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
FASTING CAPTIVES TURNED INTO FEASTING CONQUERORS
Zec 7:1 to Zec 10:12.
IN the fourth year of king Darius * * in the fourth day of the ninth month * * Zechariah received another Word from the Lord. It was in consequence of a visit of representative men from the captivity. Sherezer, prefect of the treasury, and Regemmelech, the kings official, and associates, came to pray before the Lord, and to speak unto the priests which were in the House of the Lord of Hosts, and to the Prophets, saying, (for Israel) Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
You will remember that back in Deu 17:9 it is made the business of the priests and Levites to determine matters of law,the sentence being
And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall he in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee (Deu 17:9-10).
The letter of the Law was known to these men, and proceeding according to its suggestion they raised this question of the fasts.
The tenth day of the fifth month was kept a fast in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah says,
Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadneezar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
And burned the House of the Lord, and the kings house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:
And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about.
Then Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude (Jer 32:12-15).
But the Temple is now being restored. In view of this blessing from above, they wonder whether the fast which had commemorated the sad event should be continued. The greater portion of the seventh and eighth chapters of Zechariah are in answer to this question.
But let me speak a word before giving ourselves to further study. Be it understood that there are fasts and fasts: fasts that are meaningless; and fasts that are full of meaning: fasts that deny the body but infill the Spirit; and fasts that profit neither body nor spirit. If one is to take a large view of the subject of fasts, he must collate the Scriptures relating to it, and then he will find that there is a fast appointed of God, associated with prayer, and from which blessing always comes; from the experience of which men have always received power. Jesus fasted and prayed. Jesus declared with reference to the disposition of the boy at the foot of the mount of transfiguration, that His disciples had failed because they were not living in the atmosphere of fasting and prayer,the atmosphere of power. Days set apart by direction of a ruler for fasting and prayer, or days that came in commemoration of some sad event, are almost sure, in the process of time, to descend into a mere ceremony. But when the individual is led by the Spirit of God to do the same, or when the Church finds itself ready for ten days in the upper room; or a nation, realizing its doom, sits in sackcloth and ashes, as did Nineveh, then God will visit that man, the Holy Spirit will descend upon that church, and the Eternal One will repent the evil He thought to do that nation, and judgment will give place to mercy.
But the question of this committee involves
THE FORMAL FAST
Hear what God has to say concerning it. First of all He affirms:
It was selfishly rendered!
Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto Me, even to Me?
And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? (Zec 7:5-6).
One can hardly read these words of Zechariah without being reminded of the way Lenten season is kept by certain of our own country. Church members, who are also society leaders, are often heard to express their pleasure in its near approach. It will give them a chance to rest awhile from the dance, the theater, the card-table, and so far recuperate themselves, body and mind, that when the season is over they can enter upon it all again with increased zest; and yet they call their Lenten-behavior Christianity.
Dr. Herrick, in his volume Some Heretics of Yesterday speaks of Savonarolas time as a period in which Art achieved its more brilliant triumphs and religion fell into its dreariest formalisms. But as to the formalism, the fifteenth century-professors of religion find kith and kin in twentieth century ceremonialists.
This fast was also associated with commercial sins. Evidently from verses nine and ten they had come to regard fast-keeping as in lieu of true judgment, kindness, compassion. As far back as Isaiahs time God had found this to be true, and by the mouth of that Prophet He makes His apostate people to say,
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down His head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and cm acceptable day to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity:
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
And the Lord shall guide thee continually (Isa 58:3-11).
Recently one of our religious newspapers reported an instance of a well-to-do deacon in Connecticut, whose pastor said, Poor widow Greens wood is out; can you take her a cord? Yes, answered the deacon, but who will pay me for it? I will pay you for it, said the pastor, on condition you will read the first three verses of the forty-first Psalm before you retire tonight.
The deacon consented, delivered the wood, and at night opened the Word of God and read,
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and Thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness? (Psa 41:1-3).
When, afterwards, the pastor asked him for his bill, the deacon replied, No bill for you. I cant afford to part with those promises. I didnt know they were there.
So it would seem the people of Zechariahs time had forgotten the promises God had associated with true judgment, kindness, compassion, and had also forgotten the curse against them that oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, the poor, or devise evil in the heart against ones brother.
Their fasts did not save them from unfaithfulness.
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their Hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the Law, and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in His Spirit by the former Prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of Hosts (Zec 7:11-12).
A dull ear, a shrinking shoulder, a heart of stone; what a picture of apostasy! You will remember that when Stephen had addressed the Jews concerning Jesus they were cut to the heart. They cried out, with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord. Their fathers before them had stopped their ears and, with one accord, rushed away from God. They had withdrawn their shoulders from His service as the untamed ox draws away from yoke and bow. They had made their hearts as hard as the stones with which their successors slew Stephen.
A dull ear, an unwilling shoulder, a hard heart; how often these go together! How surely up-to-date is this description! How shall we be saved from this awful estate? A dull ear, an unwilling shoulder, a hard heart; who of us has not found himself cursed with one, or all of these? How shall he correct it?
Mark Guy Pearse found a man who talked to him on the subject of holiness, saying, I do wish I could find it. Find it! Pearse replied. You mean find Him. When you have Jesus you will have holiness. Ah, yes, and when we find Him we find our hearing. When we find Him we find willing shoulders. When we find Him we find hearts of flesh! If we are to overcome we must open the heart and let the King come in, that He may convert the barren place into a paradise, beautiful and fruitful.
THE FINISHED TEMPLE
The Prophet passes from the subject of Fasts to the finishing of the Temple. God declares His jealousy for Zion; His purpose to return unto her and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
The Temple is Gods dwelling-place. In Solomons day the Lord said of the Temple built with hands, I have hallowed this House, which thou hast built, to put My Name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually (1Ki 9:3). And when Jesus came and preached the great truth that God was to be worshiped wherever man sought Him in spirit, He did not abolish temple-residence; for now believers are the temple of the Most High. When God came into that ancient Temple made with hands His presence was manifested, and it was a glorious day for Israel when the Shekinah glory was seen above the Ark of the Covenant. When that Presence was taken from them, Zion was desolate indeed. It is impossible for the Gentile convert to know what it means to hear the promise, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And yet, it meant much the same to Israel that the re-visitation of Gods Spirit is to a soul which has long been out of communion, or to a Church, long barren.
We have prayed the prayer of David,Restore unto [us] the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold [us] with Thy free spirit, and watched with eagerness for Gods answer, but not more eagerly than these ancient people watched for the re-appearance of the Shekinah glory. To get their House erected and have Jehovah come into it, that indeed was among their highest hopes. Should it not be so with us? Jesus went into one house where a sick woman lay and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and in health she entered upon service. Jesus went into another house where one was palsied, and lo, at His word, the powers came again. Jesus went into the house of Jairus, and a little daughter lay dead, but when Jesus came she revived, and bereavement took wings. Oh, beloved, our palaces, and our peasant cottages, alike, are finished temples when there the Divine Presence is revealed, and God,our Goddwells in the midst!
It is a pledge of a contented people also.
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof (Zec 8:4-5).
What a picture that! To the Jew, long captive and oppressed, it seemed impossible of realization. It sounded like idealization. The first commandment, with promise, was Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee (Exo 20:12).
How much they appreciated that promise is shown by their punctilious keeping of the command. No people ever regarded the multiplication of merry children as did this ancient folk. In the days of their captivity oppression had cut them short in the midst of their years, and so far discouraged marriage that children seemed few, and the very loneliness of their national life was strikingly presented in that fact. When their city had been over-run by the hordes from Babylon they had seen the sucklings slain in the streets and those of better growth go to untimely graves. And in the memory of it was both barrenness and anguish.
Pusey tells us,In the dreadful Irish famine of 1847, the absence of the children from the streets of Galway was one of its dreariest features. And yet the Irish never loved their children as deeply as did the Jew, nor lost them so completely. No wonder they thought it too marvelous to be true when Gods Prophet drew for them a picture of old men, in very multitudes, leaning upon their staffs, and little children in crowds making the streets to ring with merry laughter. And they could not understand it until God promised,I will save My people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Truly, as George Adam Smith said, That oracle had its motive in Zechariahs day. But what an oracle for these times of ours! Whether in the large cities of the Old World where so few of the workers may hope for a quiet old age, sitting in the sun, and the childrens days of play are shortened by a premature toil and knowledge of evil; or in the newest fringes of the Western World where mens hardness and coarseness are, in the struggle for gold, unawed by reverence for age, and unsoftened by the fellowship of childhood,Zechariahs great promise is equally needed. Even there shall it be fulfilled if men will remember the conditions, that truth and whole-hearted justice abound in the gates, with love and loyalty in every heart towards every other.
Again, this finished Temple was
A promise of prosperity. According to Zechariah, when there was no Temple, There was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour (Zec 8:10).
That is what it is to be without a Temple. Show me a people who have no temple of worship, no altar at which the family bows, no house in which the church gathers, to worship Jehovah, and I will show you a people stricken with poverty, as in China; oppressed by the adversary, as in India; and set every one against his neighbor, as in Africa; but when the temple comes, how changed! For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew (Zec 8:12).
Christianity has accentuated commerce and increased riches as no other force ever could have accomplished these things. Wherever the Temple of God has gone there the vine has yielded its fruit and the ground its increase; Godliness is profitable * * [for] the life that now is.
Poor Silverberg, the accomplished Minneapolis crook, who has robbed, gambled and stolen fortune upon fortune, confesses now, as he lies on his hard couch in prison cell, had he behaved himself righteously and worked as hard to build up the business his father left him as he has in devising new methods of rascality he would be worth millions. No one doubts it! Put this over against his pitiful plea for the small amount of money that would release him from the cell and remember that he pleads for this small sum in vain, and learn that godliness is profitable in the individual life.
Yes, and the nation finds the same to be true. Why is it that America is so blessed? Fifty years ago we had but seven billion dollars in this country; today we are worth conservatively, a few hundred billion; then our per capita wealth was $307.00; in 1900 it was $1235.00;more than four times as much. Now, in spite of the depression, it is larger still. If you ask me What is the secret of this? I cannot agree with him who says, The stretch of our territory and the richness of our soil. The Temple of God answers this question. Take Christianity out of America and you will pauperize her. The continent does not exist that is wide enough, the soil has not yet been discovered upon which an apostate, and utterly wicked population, can prosper. Give your temples such prominence that the Blind Pig and its accursed associates in sin,the low theater, the brothel, the gambling den, the corporate devices for fortune-stealing and fortune-destruction are abolished, and you will bring in a period of such material prosperity as Isaiah describes in Isa 35:1The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Ah, men; let us never begrudge what we give to the erection and maintenance of the temple of God; for, as we give to it there shall be given unto us, good measure shaken together, heaped up, running over.
THE FATHERS FEASTS
There remains, however, another portion of this Scripture which completes the subject suggested by this study, namely, The Captives Fast Changed to the Conquerors Feasts.
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the Seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the House of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace (Zec 8:19).
In other words, the anniversary of the taking of Jerusalem, the anniversary of the burning of the Temple, the anniversary of the murder of Gedeliah and his friends; all these dark hours of their past were to become, through the touch of God, shining stars by which to direct their feet.
He, by His own presence, would convert the fasts into feasts. Why did the siege against Jerusalem succeed? Why did the walls of Jerusalem fall? Why was the Temple in Jerusalem burned? Why were Gods people carried away captive? Because they had put God away from them; and when their day of battle came they were without Him who had always been their defense. They understood all of this. It was to symbolize it all that they kept their fasts; and now, if He is to return, of course those fasts must become feasts!
Do you not recall how, when Jesus was asked,
Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but Thine eat and drink?
He answered,
Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days (Luk 5:33-35).
The time for fasting is when Gods face is hid; but when it is seen, what a feast is on! Then one will appreciate that his joy is greater because of the sorrow which he has endured; his strength is more mighty because of the weakness with which he contrasts it; his sky is clearer because of the awful darkness of the night now passed.
F. B. Meyer, commenting on this promise of the coming feast, born out of the sad fast, says, Dare to anticipate the far-off interest of tears; dare to live in the day which is after tomorrow; as Dante said, In Gods will is our peace, He loves us infinitely. No good thing will He withhold; He must lay deep in tears the foundation that shall upbear our eternal weight of glory.
Thus hath He done, and shall we not adore Him?This shall He do, and can we still despair?Come, let us quickly fling ourselves before HimCast at His feet the burden of our care.
The favor of such a Father will be sought by nations from afar.
Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:
And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts: I will go also.
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord (Zec 8:20-22).
There is an earnest of the fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament Church. Gods people were never evangelists until Jesus ascended up on high, and the Holy Spirit descended upon His disciples; then, suddenly, within the short limits of a single century they swept the world in the Name of the Lord.
Within eighty years after Pentecost, Clement of Alexandria remarked concerning Christianity, The Word of our Teacher abode not in Judea alone, as philosophy in Greece, but was poured out throughout the whole world, persuading Greeks and Barbarians in their several nations and villages, and in every city whole houses, and each hearer individually; and having brought over to the truth no few, even of the very philosophers.
Tertullian, before the second century closes, writes, We are a people of yesterday, and yet we have filled every place belonging to you,cities, islands, castles, towns, assemblies, your very camp, your tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum; we leave you your temples only. We can count your armies; our numbers in a single province will be greater.
And yet, beloved, this prophecy is only partially fulfilled. There is a day coming when nations that knew not God shall run unto Him because of the Holy One of Israel.
Then shall His favored people find popularity.
In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you (Zec 8:23).
The tenth chapter of this Book is a declaration of the same precious truth. Jehovah has promised rain for the latter times. When once His people have been won back from the teraphim, the false diviners and dreamers, and their evil shepherds have been punished, then we read in Zec 10:3-4:
For the Lord of Hosts hath visited His flock the House of Judah, and hath made them as His goodly horse in the battle.
Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
That corner stone is Christ, to be born in Judahs line; He is also the nail in the sure place, Conqueror and Ruler. The people of whom He is born shall be as mighty men, treading down their enemies in the mire of the streets because Jehovah is with them. His promise is,
And I will strengthen the Home of Judah, and I will save the House of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their Heart shall rejoice in the Lord (Zec 10:6-7).
The world is full of Jew-baiting now; the world will be full of Jew-bidding then. God had a plan of the ages! He has not made the Jew a perpetual miracle without occasion. He has not preserved this nation intact for forty centuries for nothing. He has not scattered them among all people without a final purpose.
Some writer has said, Empires are cast away as a shadow, leaving behind them only their names. They have perished and their places know them no more. But the Jews are still there, standing apart from all other races, as in the days of Jesus Christ, one distinct and unique family, in the midst of the confusion of all others,rich, though a thousand times despoiled; increasing in numbers, and more united than ever, though scattered by a tempest of eighteen centuries.
The Jew is everywhere! He is all over China; he is all over India; he is in the heart of Africa; he is in the far south-land of Abyssinia; he treads the cold snows of Siberia; not a city without his colonies; and scarce a village but knows the individual. What does God mean? He tells us,
I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember Me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them (Zec 10:8-10).
Zechariah beholds the day when these people, who once rejected Jesus, shall learn their mistake and shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn because of Him. And Zechariah beholds the day when they, being saved by turning to their Messiah, shall flash forth as Evangelists of the Gospel of the Son of God. Then the world will receive ten thousand times ten thousand such men as were Peterthe Jew, Johnthe Jew, and Paul the Jew, as preachers of the Gospel of the Son of God. These Evangelists will, every man of them bring up his tens from the ends of the earth to the acknowledgment of Christ the King, for they will be strengthened in Jehovah and will walk up and down in His Name.
O then that I
Might live, and see the olive bear
Her proper branches, which now lie
Scattered each were,
And without root and sap decay,
Cast by the husbandman away,
And sure it is not far!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] Idol worshippers brought their judgments now; they must call upon Jehovah. Ask] He will give rain: i.e. all temporal and spiritual blessings. Clouds] Lightnings, precursors of rain. Showers] Lit. rain of heavy rain: i.e. plentiful (Job. 37:6). Grass] for cattle, and corn for man. 2 Idols] Lit. the teraphim, household and oracular gods, thought to give prosperity (cf. Gen. 31:19). Diviners] Soothsayers brought misery through vain and deceitful prophecy. Therefore] Because they trusted idols and soothsayers. They went] Lit. to break up, pull up the pegs, and take down the tent; hence wander into exile. Troubled] Oppressed, because no shepherd] no king, to defend them.
Zec. 10:3. Punished] Lit. visited the goats] in evil, but his flock] for good, and made them courageous as a war-horse; a horse chosen by the commander-in-chief to ride at the head of his army.
Zec. 10:4. Out] Thrice repeated, for emphasis. Judah no more subject to foreigners; from them were to come rulers described as corner]-stones, upon which the building firmly rests (Psa. 108:11). Nail] The large ornamental pin, fixed in the wall, to suspend valuable furniture (Jdg. 4:21; Isa. 22:23). The battle-bow] Military force, and weapons in general.
Zec. 10:5.] For such heroic conflict will they be fitted by the help of Jehovah, that the enemy will be put to shame before them. The riders of the horses are mentioned for the purpose of individualizing the enemy, because the principal strength of the Asiatic rulers consisted in cavalry (cf. Dan. 2:40) [Keil].
Zec. 10:6. Judah] will share as well as Ephraim. Bring] and replace them happily and securely, as of old.
Zec. 10:7. Ephraim] addressed in remainder of chapter, had not participated much in restoration. They, like Judah, would become heroes. Rejoice] i.e. fight like a mighty man exulting in joy (cf. Psa. 78:65-66). Children] should see the joy, which would be lasting and complete.
HOMILETICS
GOD THE AUTHOR OF SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.Zec. 10:1-2
At the close of the preceding chapter God had promised abundance of temporal and spiritual good. Here directions are given to obtain that good. Idolatry had brought judgments, but Jehovah will pour out blessings upon them.
I. All spiritual blessings come from God. Rain is the symbol of Gods spiritual gifts.
1. The idols of the heathen cannot bestow them. The gods in the temple and the deities in the house are vanity and lies.
2. The laws of nature cannot bestow them. There are diviners in the present day who have told false dreamswho have forgotten that God sits in the heavens, and rules the clouds; what he visits the earth to water and fructify it. There is neither showers nor sunshine in the natural world without himno personal prosperity, progress, and fruit, in the Divine life without the influence of his Spirit. Nor can any portion of the soil of the worldthe desolate heritages of heathenism, with all the tillage that missionary labour can bestow upon them, be rendered productive of the fruits of righteousness, except as God is pleased to shed down the same gracious influencepouring water on the thirsty, and floods on the dry ground [Ward-law]. Is there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Thou visitest the earth, &c. (Psa. 65:9-11).
II. Prayer is the appointed means for securing these spiritual blessings. Ask ye of the Lord. Men of science exalt the laws of nature, and despise prayer. Natural philosophers may combine and direct the forces of nature, but God does not. Without a disturbance of natural law quite as serious as the stoppage of an eclipse, or the rolling the St. Lawrence up the Falls of Niagara, no act of humiliation, individual or national, could call one shower from heaven [Tyndall]. But the prophet directs the people to God, when the heavens withhold their dew, and assures them that if they ask they shall obtain. The Lord shall make bright clouds, &c.
1. Blessings in rich abundance. And give them showers of rain. Enough for man and beast, to every one grass in the fieldto every one that asks will he give, as the showers upon the grass.
2. Blessings in due season. The early rain in spring, to water the seed sown; the latter rain in autumn, to ripen the corn. We must pray in due seasons, and look for spiritual prosperity with the same intense anxiety as the Jews did for rain twice a year. I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, and I will send grass in thy field for thy cattle (Deu. 11:13-15).
3. Blessings indicated by visible signs. Rain, with its harbingers or accompaniments, will be given. The Lord shall make bright clouds. Clouds, as precursors of the showers, to encourage; or clouds which terrify, shall be turned into rain to bless them. He maketh lightnings into rain (cf. Psa. 135:7; Jer. 51:16). Clouds shall be filled with showers, and distilled as the dew upon the land. As one shower is unburdened another shall be brewed [Trapp]. Forerunners and proofs of Divine goodness shall abound on every hand. He made a decree for the rain (regulating its time, place, and quantity), and a way (through the clouds) for the lightning of the thunder (Job. 28:26).
Who sets the bright procession on its way,
And marshals all the order of the year [Lange].
THE MISERY OF FORSAKING GOD AND CONSULTING FALSE ORACLES.Zec. 10:2
The Jews are here warned not to imitate the conduct of their forefathers in consulting idols, and forsaking Jehovah, who hindered Divine blessings, and brought human miseries. The warning is needed now. If man rejects the true, he will choose the false. His moral convictions, dependent condition, and exposure to danger, make him dissatisfied, and impel him to trust in superior power. Learn the folly of trusting to idols.
I. This course will disappoint. Men who renounce trust in God, and embrace false ways in hope of prosperity, will be disappointed.
1. Idols reveal nothing to be relied upon. The idols have spoken vanity. The idols which men consult in distress, promise what they never perform. All the vanities of the heathen put together cannot give rain (Jer. 14:22).
2. Diviners lead astray. They put their own lies into their lips, and clothed them with Gods authority. They pretended to see what they saw not. The diviners have seen a lie. They uttered false prophecies, told false dreams. False in matter, because opposed to Gods word, false in event, because they were not fulfilled. Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, &c. (Jer. 29:8-9).
II. This course will lead to bitterness of mind. They comfort in vain. If the voice of God, uttered with every degree of evidence and affection, be disregarded, and men have recourse to necromancy, the result will be vanity and vexation of spirit. All who, like Saul, seek an answer from diviners, will find them deceptive. Ye are forgers of lies (stitchers up of falsehood), ye are all physicians of no value (of nothingness, idol physicians, Zec. 11:17), Job. 13:4.
III. This course will expose to great danger. They went their way. They were not only disappointed and vexed, but they lost Gods protection, and were left a prey to every injury. As sheep without a shepherd, they were troubled, scattered, and led into captivity. They had no king to rule over them, no priest to intercede for them, and no shepherd to care for them. This is the condition of all who forsake God, and refuse the salvation and tender care of the Good Shepherd. My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth; and none did search or seek after them.
DIVINE VISITATIONS.Zec. 10:3
Against the shepherds, the leaders or chiefs of the nation, Gods anger was kindled. He punished (lit. visited) the goats, but Judah was his flock, whom he visited in mercy. Hence
I. The rulers are punished. As shepherds they should have been concerned for the flock. But they neglected, starved, and scattered the sheep. As goats they were guilty of mischief, the emblem of wantonness and offensive lust. God will ever make a distinction between the goats and the sheep, and those who are first in crime will be first in punishment.
II. The people are blessed. Judah is the flock of God, and must be tenderly watched and fed. God would employ, govern, and defend them against their enemies, as a rider doth his goodly horse in the battle. Learn the advantages of serving God, and the necessity of turning from idols. He will visit the ungodly in anger, but his people in love. The goats will be rejected, and the sheep saved (Mat. 25:32). I will judge between cattle and cattle, between rams and he-goats.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec. 10:1.
1. The blessing needed. Rain, all natural, temporal, and spiritual influences, to ripen the fruits of the earth, advance the nation in morality, and bless the Church with fertility.
2. The way to get it. Ask ye of the Lord rain. Idols cannot send it, and man cannot create it Hence, it is fitting to feel dependence, and give it expression in prayer. This is good for ourselves, and the only efficient method to secure Divine operations in our favour. Elias, a notable example (Jas. 5:17-18).
3. The time in which we should seek it. We should ask in seasons when it is required for the refreshment and beautifying of the earth. Prayer may be out of season as well as in season. Ask of the Lord rain. We should ask it in a higher senseask the outpouring of Gods Spiritfor the revival and growth of religion and its appropriate fruits in our own souls; for its revival in our Churches, and for its progressive influence and productiveness throughout the world [Wardlaw].
Zec. 10:2. Idol confidences.
1. Vanity;
2. False;
3. Comfortless; and
4. Misleading. Diviners have seen a lie. Unbelief has recourse to a crowd of superstitious devices, and by their folly and impotence is put to shame. Faith, on the contrary, turns to prayer, and through it works wonders [Lange].
Zec. 10:3. Against the shepherds. The sins of the civil and ecclesiastical rulers affecting the nation (cf. Pro. 28:2). Thus, saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds: and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Goodly horse. Judahs might was not in himself; but in Gods hands, he had might like, and above, the might of this world [Pusey]. This may in part be understood of the Maccabees victories; but principally of the Apostles, those white horses, upon which they rode through the world, conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:2) [Trapp].
HOMILETICS
THE DELIVERANCE AND ESTABLISHMENT OF GODS PEOPLE.Zec. 10:3-7
God confirms his mercies to Judah and Israel, enlarges the former predictions, and assures the triumph, restitution, and defence of his people.
I. God will deliver them from their enemies. Foreign or native oppressorsthe sinful leaders of the flock, or the inveterate foe of the nation, would be visited with punishment. Often at the worst, things turn for the better. Whatever troubles, his peoplethey are his flockwill not be cast off; but delivered, For the Lord of Hosts hath visited his flock.
II. God will equip them for self-defence. Though exposed to danger, yet God will furnish them with everything necessary to defend themselves, and prevail over their enemies. Governors of their own shall be raised up to unite and help them. No foreign aid will be required. The corner-stone, the nail, and the battle-bow, all strength would be inherent, though given by God. Their nobles shall be from themselves, and their governor shall go forth from the midst of them.
III. God will give them victory over their enemies. The timid sheep became strong as the battle-horse. From a peaceful people sprung heroes, mighty men, to deliver from oppressors. The victory of the Maccabees typifies the triumph of Christ over anti-Christian powers.
1. This victory will be complete. Their enemies will be trampled down as mire in the streets, foul and worthless. As Jehovahs war-horse they will overcome and confound the cavalry of the foe. The riders on horses shall be confounded.
2. This victory will be through Divine aid. They shall fight because the Lord is with them. Courage is not our own. All might comes from God, and against his power nothing can prevail. Mere human strength is perfect weakness, but God strengthens in Christ (Php. 4:13). Feeble humanity rises into prowess and majesty when made mighty in all (kinds of) might (Col. 1:11).
IV. God will restore them to ancient privileges. Most commentators take Zec. 10:6-7 as alluding to the ten tribes. Judah and Israel are distinctly mentioned. A more complete restoration than a few from Babylon. A greater deliverance than the Maccabean is promised.
1. The tribes of Israel will be united together. The house of Joseph will share the salvation, and all Judah together will be strengthened. The children of God, scattered abroad, shall be incorporated; Jew and Gentile shall become one fold.
2. The land will be restored to them. I will bring them again to place them. Privileges lost through sin will be restored when God turns to his people.
3. Security will be given them. God will place them; make them dwell securely as in olden time. They shall be treated as if they had never been cast off. I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings (Eze. 36:11; cf. Job. 42:12).
V. God will cause others to participate in their privileges. Ephraim and their sons would not be forgotten, though hitherto not partaking largely of the blessings of restoration.
1. In the strength of conflict. They of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man.
2. In the joy of victory. And their heart shall rejoice. Gods presence will be their strength and song. From generation to generation, mercy will be enjoyed in renewed performance of the promise. Yea, their children shall see it, and be glad.
GOD THE AUTHOR OF POLITICAL BLESSINGS.Zec. 10:4
God is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. He only can give magistrates and legislators who are for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well. They are not created by the institutions nor the politics of the state. The powers that be are ordained of God.
I. Men who are the corner-stones, the ground of support to the state. Princes are often called the chief (corners, marg.) of the people (1Sa. 14:38 : cf. Isa. 19:13; Isa. 28:16).
II. Men who are the nails, the strength of the state. They unite discordant parties, as nails fasten different timbers. On them rest the responsibilities of government, and the security of the whole fabric. Rulers and officers in the Church should strengthen and hold it together. On them hang all the implements of evangelical warfare, which should be ready for use. I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his fathers house (Isa. 22:23-24).
III. Men who are the battle-bow, the defence of the state. Armour in general, for personal and national conflictmen to wield it with skill and success come from him.
IV. Men who govern, the rulers of the state. And from him every oppressor together, i.e. in a good sense, every ruler who exacts tribute from nations subject to Judah. Thus the state is built up and defended by God. Legislation without him is insecure. He must be trusted for every politician that founds and fastens the empire togetherthanked for every ruler that crushes oppression. All valour and success, all ornaments and defence, are from him. The Lord is Governor among the nations.
THE RELIGION OF JOY.Zec. 10:7
Through communicated and accompanying might of Jehovah, Ephraim would be a man of valour and strength against every foe. The exulting joy with which they would be filled would impart energy of heart and hand. In proportion to the amount, the variety, and long-continuance of their outcast condition, of depression and humiliation, of scorn and reproach, of personal and social oppression; and of all, as the effect and indication of what was worse than them allDivine desertionthe hidings of Gods countenance, his frown, his wrathshould be the joy of Jehovahs return and blessing [Wardlaw].
I. Joyful religion in its source. Its source is secret and hidden from the world.
1. It is in God. They shall rejoice in the Lordnot in his gifts, health, abundance, and honourbut in God himself. In his favour and friendship, in his Word and service.
2. It springs from the heart. Their heart shall rejoice. Not from outward circumstances, but from pardoned sin and peace with God. This fountain of living waters is within a man. A good man shall be satisfied from himself.
II. Joyful religion in its degree. Their heart shall rejoice as through wine. Wine is called by Plato, the mitigator of human sorrows. The figure denotes exuberant joy, joy beyond a natural degree (cf. Psa. 78:65; Psa. 104:15). By a bold figure wine is said to cheer God himself (Jdg. 9:13. Hence as cordials are seasonable in the hour of need; so joy buries sorrow, and makes us forget past evils. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
III. Joyful religion in its influence. This fountain is never sealed.
1. It conduces to health. Diseases of the mind produce diseases of the body; a fretful repining spirit will waste away the vigour and beauty of the constitution. Let thy minds sweetness, says Geo. Herbert, have its operation upon thy body, clothes, and habitation. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.
2. It promotes activity. Happy Christians are strong and active Christians. Ancient nations drank wine before battle. Those who drink of this joy will be heroes in life. Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
3. It influences others. Children see and neighbours feel it. I am sure my fathers religion is true, said one, because it makes him happy. The beams of joy, says Fuller, are made better by reflection. Yet some are strangers to this joy. Their religion is morbid and melancholythe religion of the sorrowful, misrepresenting the bright religion of Jesus. Seek to rejoice in God, and to rejoice always. Delight thyself in the Lord.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Zec. 10:5. Mighty men or warriors of the Gospel.
1. Their valour. The figure is general, indicating triumphant progress against all enemies, and thorough and shameful discomfiture. It was in looking forward to the success of his Apostlesso rapid, so signalthat our Lord said, I beheld Satan fall, as lightning from heaven. The comparison is simple. As mighty men. They shall triumph over the enemies of their cause as completely as the most victorious general over his enemies. The causes and the weapons are widely different; so is the spirit in which the war is conducted, and the results to those taken captive by the conquerors [Ward-law].
2. The source of their valour. They shall fight because the Lord is with them. He is the source of all success. Through him they do valiantly; for he it is that treads down their enemies. Not a victory, not a trophy, not a song, without him (Jos. 23:10; Neh. 4:20). If Mithridates never wanted courage nor counsel, how much more shall the Messiah and his mighty men succeed in their warfare! The Lord God, he it is that fighteth for you.
Zec. 10:6. I have mercy upon them. Here is a double cause alleged, of these great and gracious promises; and both excluding works. First, Gods mere mercy; secondly, his election of grace; for I am the Lord, their God. This latter is the cause of the former; for God chose his people for love, and then loveth them for his choice. The effects of which love are here set down
1. That he heareth their prayers, I will hear them.
2. That he re-accepteth and restoreth them in Christ, as if they had never offended against him. They shall be as though I had not cast them off. That was a cutting speech, and far worse than their captivity, when God not only threatened to cast them out of their country into a strange land, but that there, he would show them no favour (Jer. 16:13). Here he promiseth to pity them, and then they must think deliverance was at next door [Trapp].
1. The blessings. Strength, I will strengthen them; salvation, I will save; and restoration, I will bring them again.
2. The cause of the blessing. Gods mercy. I have mercy upon them. Gods unchanging purpose; they shall be as though I had not cast them off.
3. The consequence of the blessings. I will hear them. He heard the voice of their distress, as he did in Egypt. But understand their calling upon Jehovah in a state of penitential abasement, confession, and return of heart (cf. Wardlaw). I will hear, is the fulfilment of a promise repeatedly made to them in former days, and an encouragement in their present dispersed state. Jehovah yet waits to be gracious. His ear is open to their very first penitential cry; and while his ear will be open (that alone were little) his power will be ready to aid [Wardlaw].
True conversion.
1. Men turn to God only through Divine mercy.
2. When men repent, and turn to God, they are treated as if they had not been cast off.
3. Humble penitent prayer to God is an evidence of converted men. Prayer is to religion what thinking is to philosophy. To pray is to make religion [Novalis].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 10
Zec. 10:1-2. Ask rain. Men seem practically to have but little remembrance that the mainspring of all mechanism of second causes is in the hands of an invisible Creator; that it is not from what goes on in the hidden laboratories of what they call nature that season succeeds season, and shower and sunshine alternate with so much of beautiful and beneficent order, but that the whole arrangement is momentarily dependent upon the will and energy of that Supreme Being who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers [Melville].
Zec. 10:3. Shepherds. As hired servants will tend mens sheep no longer than it is profitable to them, so is it with promotion-seeking ministers [Cawdry].
Zec. 10:4. The administration of government, like a guardianship, ought to be directed to the good of those who confer, and not of those who receive, the trust [Cicero].
Zec. 10:5-6. Mighty men. Power is according to quality and not quantity. How much more are men than nations! [Emerson]. Where power is absent we may find the robe of genius, but we miss the throne [Landor].
Zec. 10:7-8. The house of Judah, and the house of Joseph, spoken of in the first of these verses, signify respectively, the two tribes and the ten tribesunitedly, the whole house of Israelthe posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The declaration, I will save them, and bring them again and place them, cannot refer to the return from Babylon; seeing, in that respect, they had been already saved, and brought again, and placed. And the language is much too strong to have reference to any such remaining partial deliverances and returningsadditions only to that from Babylonwhich might take place under the Maccabean princes, or at any period of their history between the prophets days and the coming of Christ. And if it refers to a period subsequent to the coming of Christ, to what else can the reference be but to their recovery from their present long-continued outcast and scattered condition? [Wardlaw].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXIX
ISRAEL RESTORED
Zec. 10:1-12
RV . . . Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, even of Jehovah that maketh lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain; therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats, for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle. From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. And they shall be as mighty men, treading down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because Jehovah is with them; and the riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy upon them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine; yea, their children shall see it, and rejoice; their hearts shall be glad in Jehovah. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them among peoples; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; the place shall not be found for them. And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. And I will strengthen them in Jehovah; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith Jehovah.
LXX . . . Ask ye of the Lord rain in season, the early and the latter; the Lord has given bright signs, and will give them abundant rain, to every one grass in the field. For the speakers have uttered grievous things, and the diviners have seen false visions, and they have spoken false dreams, they have given vain comfort: therefore have they fallen away like sheep, and been afflicted, because there was no healing. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit the lambs; and the Lord God Almighty shall visit his flock, the house of Juda, and he shall make them as his goodly horse in war. And from him he looked, and from him he set the battle in order, and from him came the bow in anger, and from him shall come forth every oppressor together. And they shall be as warriors treading clay in the ways in war; and they shall set the battle in array, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be put to shame. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of Joseph, and I will settle them; because I have loved them; and they shall be as if I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them. And they shall be as the warriors of Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as with wine: and their children also shall see it, and be glad; and their heart shall rejoice in the Lord. I will make a sign to them, and gather them in; for I will redeem them, and they shall be multiplied according to their number before. And I will sow them among the people; and they that are afar off shall remember me: they shall nourish their children, and they shall return. And I will bring them again from the land of Egypt, and I will gather them in from among the Assyrians; and I will bring them into the land of Galaad and to Libanus; and there shall not even one of them be left behind. And they shall pass through a narrow sea, they shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deep places of the rivers shall be dried up: and all the pride of the Assyrians shall be taken away, and the sceptre of Egypt shall be removed. And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God; and they shall boast in his name, saith the Lord.
COMMENTS
In chapter nine, verses nine through ten, Zechariah exalted at the coming of Messiah. In Zec. 9:11-17, he interrupted his rejoicing to predict the victorious struggle with the Greeks which would precede His actual coming. In chapter ten, he returns to the theme of Zion triumphant through the Messiah.
(Zec. 10:1) The key to this chapter seems to be in the time of the latter rain.
To understand the symbolism here, we must know something of the climate of the holy lend. During summer it almost literally never rains. From May first through October fifteenth, one can almost guarantee no rain will fall.
The rainy season from October to May, comes in three parts. They are known as the first or former rains, the winter rains, and the latter rains. The former are the light rains of October and the early days of November. These moisten the soil after the summer drought and allow the planting of winter grain.
The heaviest rains are the winter rains, which fall during December, January and February. The bulk of the water in the land comes from these rains.
Most vital to the completion of the harvest are the latter rains. These perfect the fruit and grain just prior to harvest, and so are most welcome and celebrated of all. (cf. Joe. 2:21-24)
In a land where water is always in such critical supply as in Palestine, it is not surprising that rain should become a favorite symbol of divine blessing. (e.g. Isa. 44:3-4, Hos. 6:3, Psa. 72:6)
It is essential that the rains come, it is equally essential that they come at the proper time. Lack of rain at the right time results in complete crop failure. The latter rains are essential to the final perfection of the crop. Without the latter rain all that has developed through the former and winter rains will be lost.
By rain in the time of the latter rain, Zechariah means Gods blessing at the critical point in the history of His people when the fruit of His purpose was nearly ripe for harvest. The coming of the Messiah would usher in the fulfillment of Gods purpose in Israel. Now that the people are back in the land and the temple is restored, the harvest season is rapidly drawing near.
God had planted the seed in the call of Abraham. His blessings upon the patriarchs were the former rains. His continued blessings upon them through the centuries since Moses had nourished them as the winter rain. Now they must ask for the rain in the time of the latter rain in order that Gods harvest may be realized in the coming of the long-awaked Christ.
(Zec. 10:2) The prophet is concerned that prayer for the latter rains be made to Jehovah. Previous to the captivity their ancestors had asked the blessing of other gods.
The teraphirm were household idols or images. cp. Gen. 31:19; Gen. 31:30, Jdg. 7:5) In light of 1Sa. 19:13 it seems they bore the likeness of some human figure. They also took the form of the signs of the Zodiac and other instruments of astrology. Hosea had used the word to describe the idolatrous state of the people prior to the captivity. (Hos. 3:4)
Zechariahs use of the term here indicates his desire that the returned people not repeat the error of their fathers. The blessings required for the realization of Jehovahs purpose must come from Him. All else is vanity.
The diviners have had false visions. In the mystery religions associated with Baal various absurd methods were used to conjure up supernatural information concerning future events. Hallucinogens were drunk as potions and the mind-expanding trips of the diviners were considered as divinely directed visions.
Other devices included the shooting of arrows to predict the direction of a person whose name was engraved thereon. (e.g. Eze. 21:21) The declaring staff, or divining rod, employed by some present-day superstitions finds its origin in these practices.
The result of such ridiculous superstitions is to cause those who follow them to go their way like stray sheep. Isaiah had said of the pre-exilic people whose religion was shot through with Baal worship, All we like sheep have gone astray. (Isa. 53:6) Jesus would look with compassion on His contemporaries when He saw them as sheep having no shepherd. (Mat. 9:36)
(Zec. 10:3) The shepherds are the spiritual leaders of the people, the he-goats the civil leaders. Previously those who held these positions had led the people after false gods. Gods anger is kindled against such leadership. He will not allow it to go unpunished.
Jehovah has personally visited His flock. They are no longer to be victimized by such leadership. Here we again see Zechariahs Messianic insight. In the coming of the Messiah, Jehovah visited His flock, the house of Judah.
The Hebrew Yaweh (Jehovah) literally means the one who is. He is ultimate reality understood as a Person. The Septuagint uses the Greek Kurios (Lord) to translate Yaweh. This word is applied to Jesus by those who were familiar with its Old Testament meaning. The conclusion of the apostles was that He is both Lord (Kurios) and Christ. (Act. 2:36) Jesus is Jehovah, Emanuel, God with us.
He visited Judah, the Jews, and the result was the setting aside of the shepherds (i.e. spiritual leaders, priesthood) and the rejection of the he-goats when the political system which was national Israel was wiped out by the Romans.
The sense of Zechariahs statement here is the declaration of Jehovahs intention to accomplish the ultimate deliverance of His people.
(Zec. 10:4) The Jews were no longer to be subject to foreign rule. From him, i.e., from Judah, shall come its ruler. The Maccabean deliverers from Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled the primary meaning of this prophetic promise, but it looks forward to the Messiah.
The figure of the corner-stone is one of the best known of those applied to the Christ in the New Testament. Jesus applied it to Himself. (Mat. 21:42, Mar. 12:10, Luk. 20:17) Peter applied it to Him (Act. 4:11, 1Pe. 2:7) as did Paul (Eph. 2:20),
The nail was in reality a large peg in the center of the tent upon which were hung most of the valuables of the nomadic shepherd. In prophetic type the glories of the people hung on Juda Maccabee. In point of factual fulfillment, they hang on the Messiah.
Gods people will not need to depend upon any worldly alliance. He will Himself be their battle bow. (cp. Psa. 45:4-5, Rev. 6:2)
(Zec. 10:5-12) This section must look beyond the Maccabean period as well as beyond the post-Babylonian restoration for its fulfillment. To see its real meaning we must bear in mind several significant terms used here by Zechariah, and we must keep in mind that he deliberately does not use certain other terms.
First in this entire chapter the term Judah is used consistently, never Israel, Judah signifies the Jews as a political-ethnic group, whereas Israel, which does not appear here, is the covenant name for those whose relationship to God is based on faith rather than national or racial origin.
Second, the house of Judah is joined by the house of Joseph. Judah is, technically, the southern kingdom while Joseph is the ten northern, tribes.
Third, the Hebrew verb here translated I will bring (them) back is a compound word which includes also I will place them. (cp. Jer. 32:37)
Fourth, the reason for the restoration here is not merit on the part of the Jews, but I have mercy upon them.
Fifth, they shall be as though I had not cast them off. for I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them.
We are dealing with Gods ultimate intention for the Jewish people. Jew and Israel are now two separate concepts. Jew means the nation, the race. Israel means Gods covenant people. In the Messianic age, especially in the writings of Paul, this distinction becomes very sharp. The church, composed of obedient believers from every race, is now Gods Israel.
But what of the Jews?
(Zec. 10:5) One cannot be dogmatic when dealing with apocalyptic prophecy. On the other hand, one cannot afford to be blind to what is taking place presently in the middle east. In four wars fought since the birth of the present state of Israel, not only those who warred against them, but the entire world has been confounded by the repeated victories of the Israelis against overwhelming odds.
(Zec. 10:6-7) The term Israel, applied to the modern state of the Jews is a misnomer, because the present state is Jewish. It ought more accurately be called Judah, meaning covenant people. The Christian church is Israel.
In this modern Jewish state the house of Judah (the ancient southern kingdom) and the house of Joseph (the people of the ancient northern kingdom) are indistinguishable. Few modern Jews, excepting those named Cohen (priest) or Levi, know their tribal origins.
The Jews, as a race and as a national entity, were cast off per se upon their rejection of Jesus. There is no other historic fulfillment of this threat to cast them off. Today they are as though they had not been cast off. Again there is no historic fulfillment of Zechariahs prophetic promise to bring back and place them until the establishment of the modern state of Israel.
Todays Jewish Israeli does indeed rejoice. Their hearts are glad in Jehovah. Specifically they rejoice because they believe (both Orthodox and Reformed) that the recent history of the Jewish state marks the beginning of the Messianic age. The irony of their rejoicing is not in their recognizing of the coming of the Messianic age, but in their misinterpreting the preparation for His return as preparation for His first appearing.
(Zec. 10:8-12) In western Jerusalem today there is a grotesquely beautiful memorial to the Nazi holocaust in which six million Jews were exterminated. The building is built in the form of the gas chambers of the concentration camps. The stones in the walls are symbolic of the corpses piled high in their desperate attempts to escape the unexpected gas. An eternal flame burns in a wrought iron brazier to symbolize the cremation room, and on the black marble floor in gold letters are the names of Auschwitz, Buchanwald, and all the other horror chambers in which helpless men, women and children died for being Jews.
In the basement room are larger-than-life reproductions of Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda, and pictures of the concentration camp barracks: a record of utter nauseating barbarism.
To visit this shrine, in the midst of the modern miracle that is todays Jewish nation, is to know the meaning of I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; they shall increase as they have increased. The word hiss should more accurately be translated whistle. The Lord will call the Jews as the shepherd whistles for his sheep. Those who were sown among the peoples because of their rejection of the Christ, have indeed remembered Jehovah in far countries. True, they are plagued with their share of self-acclaimed atheists, as are all nations, but throughout the world and in the concentration camps of Europe they have paid dearly for remembering their God. It was their attempts to keep His law which stamped them as peculiar enough to foster the kind of racism and bigotry to which Nazi Germany subjected them.
It is true, the Jews stood outside Pilates judgement hall and cried for the blood of Gods Son to be upon their heads and the heads of their children. (Mat. 27:25) But enough is enough. Except the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had become Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isa. 1:9, cp. Rom. 11:29)
No time in history, since Zechariah, has seen a mass return of Jews to the ancient homeland until the years just following the second world war. It seems He has brought them back and placed them. The reason is not merit, but mercy for the sake of the fathers.
Paul tells us I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits. (we Gentile believers) that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in . . . (Rom. 11:25) Modern historians are describing the age since World War II as the post-Christian era. The term is a misnomer, but it is evidence of a significant historic phenomenon. The time when most Gentiles were willing at least to admit the influence of Christ on their culture, if not actually to accept Him personally, is past. In my opinion we are witnessing the end of Pauls time of the Gentiles, as the primary participants in the program of God.
It is too soon to evaluate this in terms of eschatology, but there can be little doubt we are witnessing some very significant events in todays state of Israel.
Zec. 10:10 predicts Gods bringing of Jews from Egypt, Assyria, Gilead (modern Jordan) and Lebanon at a time when . . . place shall not be found for them. One hears much today about a million and a half Arab refugees who were driven from their homes in the establishment of the modern Jewish state. There is no way to morally justify this, and no reason to assume it was Gods will. But, it is not so commonly known that the United Nations partitioning of Palestine also displaced some 700,000 Jews in the surrounding Arab lands. These have been assimilated into Israel, but a place was not found for them in the lands named here by Zechariah.
The exact meaning of Zec. 10:11 in the present middle eastern situation is difficult to ascertain. Egypts much touted Aswan dam, which was supposed to be the means of a great economic revival in that nation has proven to be something less than an unmixed blessing. Marshes which once bred an abundance of game are now dried up. The death-dealing microscopic parasites which have always been a danger to those who would stick their feet in the Nile have reached near epidemic proportions. The Delta is receding since the river is no longer rushing into the Mediterranean, and the fishing grounds off the mouth of the Nile have been all but abandoned. Can this be what is described here by the prophet in connection with the restoration of the Jewish state?
The pride of Assyria has indeed been brought down in the Israeli defeat and occupation of the Golan heights overlooking the Galilee.
(Zec. 10:12) If we are correct, if what we are seeing in the middle east is a fulfillment of Zechariahs prophecy, there is a more and greater development yet to come. The world would indeed be confounded if the Israelis should fully realize that it is God Who has wrought in and for them . . . if they did actually begin to walk up and down in His name.
Chapter XXXIXQuestions
Israel Restored
1.
In this chapter Zechariah returns to the theme _________________.
2.
The key to the chapter seems to be in the time of the latter rain. Explain the climatic circumstances in the holy land which give rise to this term.
3.
What is peculiarly essential about the latter rains as opposed to the former and winter rains?
4.
What event in the Old Testament history of the Jewish people answers to the former rain?
5.
What to the winter rain?
6.
What were the teraphim?
7.
What is Zechariahs desire concerning the prayers of the people?
8.
What was the result of praying for protection to false gods?
9.
Who are the shepherds of verse three? the he-goats?
10.
What is the literal meaning of Yaweh (Jehovah)?
11.
Show the relationship of this meaning of Jehovah to the term Lord applied to God in the Septuagint and to Jesus in the New Testament.
12.
What was the result, in relation to the spiritual leaders, of Jesus visit to Israel?
13.
Discuss the corner stone in verse four.
14.
Discuss the nail in verse four.
15.
Verses five through twelve must look beyond _________________ as well as _________________ for its fulfillment.
16.
In Zechariah 10, _________________ and never _________________ signifies the Jews.
17.
The uniting of Joseph and Judah represents the uniting of the old _________________.and _____________ kingdoms.
18.
The Hebrew word translated I will bring them back is a compound word which also includes _________________.
19.
The reason for the Jewish restoration described in chapter ten is not merit but _________________.
20.
In this chapter we are dealing with Gods ultimate _________________.
21.
Jew and _____________ are two separate concepts.
22.
Jew means _________________.
23.
Israel means _________________.
24.
The _______________ composed of obedient believers from every race is now Gods _________________.
25.
The Jews as a race were cast off upon _________________.
26.
The modern Israeli Jew believes that the present Jewish state marks the beginning of the _________________.
27.
The word hiss really means _________________. (Zec. 10:8)
28.
What is meant by Except the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had become as Sodom and Gomorrah?
29.
Discuss this chapter in light of the current developments in the middle east, particularly the holy land.
30.
In your opinion, what would be the effect upon the world if modern Israel were to openly declare that their victories have been wrought by God in fulfillment of prophecy?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Bright clouds.Better, lightnings, which precede the longed-for rain. (Comp. Jer. 10:13; Psa. 135:7.)
Grass. . . .Comp. Deu. 11:15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
JEHOVAH THE SOURCE OF PROSPERITY, 1, 2.
Zechariah 10 is joined closely to Zec 9:17, by means of Zec 10:1-2. Zec 9:17, contains a promise of prosperity in the future, but, while anticipating the glories of the future, the prophet is anxious to transform the present; hence he exhorts his contemporaries to turn even now to Jehovah, the giver of every good and perfect gift.
R.V. gives a more satisfactory translation of Zec 10:1: “Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, even of Jehovah that maketh lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.”
Time of the latter rain See on Joe 2:23. These rains are specified because they are indispensable for the proper ripening of the crops.
That maketh lightnings (R.V.) Which are the harbingers of rain. Jehovah is described as the Lord of nature, therefore appeal should be made to him.
Showers of rain Literally, rain of heavy rain; that is, abundant rain (compare Job 37:6). As a result there will be for everyone grass Better, in a more general sense, vegetation; the term includes all the products suitable for man’s diet (Gen 1:29). Rain is specified as a divine blessing, so as to connect the exhortation with Zec 9:17; but as there grain and wine represent prosperity in general, so here rain represents all blessings needed to bring about the prosperity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, Zec 9:1 to Zec 14:21.
With Zec 9:1, begins the second main division of the Book of Zechariah, which consists of various oracles, loosely connected, dealing for the most part with events leading up to the final triumph of the kingdom of God. It opens with an announcement of the overthrow of the nations surrounding Palestine (Zec 9:1-8), which will prepare the way for the advent of the Messianic king (9, 10) and the restoration and exaltation of the exiled Jews (11-17). This restoration is described more fully in Zec 10:1 -xi, 3. The promises are followed by an allegory which is intended to warn the people that the realization of the glorious promises depends upon their attitude toward Jehovah (Zec 11:4-17; +Zec 13:7-9). The remaining portion of the book naturally falls into two parts. The first (Zec 12:1 to Zec 13:6) opens with a picture of a marvelous deliverance of Judah and Jerusalem (Zec 12:1-9); but this triumph is only the preparation for the bestowing of rich spiritual gifts. In order to enjoy these fully, they must pass through a process of spiritual preparation (10-14). Then Jehovah will remove all spiritual uncleanness, and a life of intimate fellowship with Jehovah will ensue (Zec 13:1-6). In chapter xiv the prophet pictures a new conflict between Jerusalem and the nations. At first the latter will be successful, then Jehovah will interfere, save a remnant, and set up his kingdom upon earth (1-7). From Jerusalem he will dispense blessing and prosperity (8-11); the hostile nations will be smitten and their treasures will become the possession of the Jews (12-15). Those who escape will turn to Jehovah (16); any who fail to do him proper homage will be smitten with drought (17-19), but Judah and Jerusalem will be holy unto Jehovah (20, 21).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
This Future Deliverance and Prosperity is Promised Even to the Returning Exiles ( Zec 9:11 to Zec 10:1 ).
This promise of hope is already available in part. The exiles can come out of their ‘prisons’ because of the blood of the covenant. The promises of God at Sinai still hold for those who obey Him. And they will become effective against all men.
Zec 9:11
‘As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit in which there is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that I will render double to you. For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim, and I will stir up your sons, Oh Zion, against your sons, Oh Javan, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.’
The offer of hope is now made more personal to the present circumstances. Its basis lies in ‘the blood of the covenant’. This of course refers to the blood of the sacrificial system which was at the heart of God’s covenant with His people, and had sealed the covenant in Exodus 24. Now it was available again in the new Temple. It is because He accepts their offering for sin and again acknowledges His covenant with them that He can show mercy on them. But at its heart is the blood of the new covenant which the coming king will seal in His own blood. In that is the true hope for the prisoners of hope who will be saved by ‘the blood of the covenant’ (Mat 26:28).
So God’s people are depicted as having been like prisoners in a waterless pit. They were far from home, living in darkness and thirsty in soul. But He has delivered them and brought them back so that they now have hope. This is a fitting description too of salvation coming to the heart of a man.
‘Turn you to the stronghold.’ The word for stronghold is a rare one, but comes from the root btsr. It would seem to mean an inaccessible and fortified place, a bastion against all enemies. Here God is depicted as their mighty stronghold to which they should turn, their deliverer and protector, the One Who has set them free from their prison. Babylon is the waterless prison. God is their stronghold. (Compare Pro 18:10; Psa 18:2; Psa 61:3; Psa 91:2; Psa 144:2).
‘I will render double to you.’ God’s mercy is such that He will give them double what they had before. When He provides He always provides munificently.
‘I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim.’ Judah is like a bow bent to receive the arrow. The arrow is Ephraim (Israel) filling the bow. God will give them future victory. The triumph of His people is sure. Indeed He will make them as the sword of a champion, totally invincible. Even ‘Javan’ is to experience the effects of God’s intervention, as they are conquered by God’s people.
But in the light of Zec 9:10 this is not to be seen as by war. The battle bow has been cut off. God’s people have themselves become God’s bow and arrow.
‘And I will stir up your sons, Oh Zion, against your sons, Oh Javan, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man.’ Zion have become God’s sword and they will overcome the sons off Javan, the peoples across the sea. But in the context of the passage not by warfare. Like the coming King their conquest will be in peace.
‘Oh Javan’. Javan was one of the ‘sons’ of Japheth who ‘fathered’ Elishah (Alasia), Tarshish (Spain?), Kittim (Cyprus) and Dodanim (Rhodes) (Gen 10:4). It therefore refers to powers to the West across the sea. It eventually became synonymous with Grecian influence as referring to the Ionians.
In the light of what has gone before in terms of the Philistines (Zec 9:7) we may see this as indicating that even these peoples across the sea will be brought into subjection to YHWH. For it will be noted from Zec 9:10 that war bows are no more.
This mention of Javan has been seen as referring strictly to Greece and the later Grecian empire and therefore to indicate a late date for the prophecy, but this need not be so. For there were in fact large contingents of Greek mercenaries in the Persian army, and the returned exiles would have come in close contact with them. And they would have been very familiar with Greek traders. Notice with regard to this that the prophecy is not directed at Javan itself but at ‘the sons of Javan’. So Zechariah could well have foreseen these sons of Javan being brought under the influence of God’s people.
As with much prophecy Zechariah spoke in terms that he knew. Indeed it should be noted that Tyre is destroyed while the Philistines are humbled and become part of the people of God. In the same way Zechariah offers nothing to the Persians. His offer it to the peoples across the sea whose soldiers are but servants of the Persians.
We may, of course see that God Himself saw the wider picture and that Israel would indeed see the rise of a Greek Empire and clash with it, but if this is latent in the prophecy, it is not patent. What is patent is the triumph of God and His people.
There were also at this time certainly spasmodic raids by the peoples of the sea against the Palestine coastline, and this may well have directly affected the returned exiles and suggested the need for a future relationship with these people. Such a recent raid may well have been known to Zechariah and it could have been the cause of his concern over Javan.
Alternatively it may be that Zechariah did not want to refer directly to the downfall of Persia, and yet, foreseeing who would be the people who would bring about that downfall, refers to them as the people of the future, indicating thereby that they will eventually have replaced the Persians.
So the reference to Javan may simply be to the only peoples that Zechariah could foresee as a threat to Persia, whom he saw as under the judgment of God. As a result they would be then represent the future ‘opposition’. Better then that they be brought into submission to YHWH.
Note on Javan.
These peoples across the sea were not a totally unknown quantity. They were well known through trading activities and stories of their prowess would no doubt have filtered through. Thus given that they were also known for frequent sporadic raids on the Palestinian coastline, and that a considerable part of the Persian army was made up of Greek mercenaries, Zechariah had good reason to see these mysterious people as possible future enemies, and, having reflected unfavourably on the part they were playing in preventing Judah’s freedom, to foresee their necessary defeat by God’s people before the final triumph was possible. In that case Zechariah would be justified in seeing Javan as in some way a future threat to Judah, and may well possibly have foreseen through it the necessary downfall of the Persian empire. Thus it was necessary that the sons of Zion should be sure that they would be victorious against the sons of Javan.
This is not the only mention of ‘Javan’. It is also mentioned in Isa 66:19 as a part of the far off peoples who would be involved in God’s judgments, and in Joe 3:6 it is to ‘the Ionians’ that the people of God have been sold by Tyre and Sidon, and Philistia. They are therefore certainly seen there as involved with God’s people and meriting God’s judgment. So it is clear that the ‘sons of Javan’ were regularly seen as genuine enemies of God’s people even in the time of Joel. Zechariah may well have had this in mind when he speaks of Javan.
That the name ‘Javan’ became at some stage almost synonymous with the Grecian empire is demonstrated in the book of Daniel (Dan 8:21; Dan 10:20; Dan 11:3), and indeed Greece would arise from among the far off nations across the sea as destroyer of the Persian Empire, although as Macedon, the kingdom of Alexander the Great, did not originally see itself as being Greek we must be careful not to be too dogmatic about restricting the use of the term. As such Javan would begin to trouble Judah and Israel.
But the important thing here is that the Jews are assured that they need not fear ‘the sons of Javan’, the mysterious peoples across the sea, but would achieve great victories against them. God caters for the future as well as the present. All His enemies will fail.
The Jews did, of course, become a part of that Greek Empire, and suffered defeat at their hands. But historically they did also finally gain ‘great’ victories against the Seleucid part of the Greek Empire and gain a certain amount of relative freedom including freedom of worship. And we may say that Zechariah does not actually promise more than this, and that what is at the back of it all is that Judah and Israel need not finally fear the Greeks.
It is, of course, always possible that the words were added later as an application of the promise under divine influence, but there is no evidence for this other than their existence here in this form and it is not really necessary.
We must, however, recognise that Zechariah is describing Israel’s influence over Javan as over the Philistines earlier. He is not necessarily speaking of warfare.
End of Note.
Zec 9:14
‘And YHWH will be seen over them, and his arrow will go forth as the lightning, and the Lord YHWH will blow the trumpet, and will go with the whirlwinds of the South.’
‘YHWH will be seen over them.’ This may refer to some manifestation of the divine presence as in the pillar of fire, but more likely it signifies that He will be over them as their protector and commander. It is as commander that He ‘will blow the trumpet’ (i.e. command the trumpeter to blow it).
‘His arrow will go forth as the lightning.’ In Zec 9:13 the arrow of God is Ephraim, in which case ‘the whirlwinds of the south’ may be Judah (in Isa 21:1 the phrase possibly refers to a commonly known phenomenon in Judah used as a vivid picture). But as Zec 9:10 has demonstrated they will not be involved in warfare. The probability is that the picture has changed and that reference is being made directly to His own activity, for lightning arrows (2Sa 22:15; Psa 18:14; Psa 144:6) and strong wind (Jer 4:11; Jer 51:1) are regularly symbolic of God’s power and deliverance. With the King present fighting is unnecessary.
Zec 9:15
‘YHWH of Hosts will defend them, and they will eat, and will tread down the sling stones, and they will drink and make a noise as through wine, and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.’
This confirms a twofold application of Zec 9:14. It is YHWH Himself Who defends His people, and the result is that they go are able to feast and tread down the slingstones of their enemy in contempt.
‘Will tread down the sling stones.’ In the hands of experts the sling was a deadly weapon and its stones to be feared, but God’s people will tread them down with contempt for they will have been under God’s protection.
‘And they will drink and make a noise as through wine.’ To drink is to participate in successfully and while YHWH is triumphing they will be drinking wine and becoming merry.
‘And they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.’ Reference here is to the sacrificial ritual where the bowls are filled with blood which is flung on the corners of the altar. They will similarly be satiated with wine.
The idea may be of a siege where, as in the days of Isaiah 37, YHWH disposes of the enemy and the people simply have to watch in faith the salvation of God. It is in direct contrast to Isa 22:13 where they ate and drank in unbelief with the result that disaster followed. But the overall thought is that none can make them afraid under any circumstances.
Zec 9:16
‘And YHWH their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people, for they will be as the stones of a crown lifted on high over his land.’
In that day their deliverance will be from YHWH. They are His sheep, His flock over whom He is shepherd. And they will share His triumph as stones in His crown as He sets it over His land.
‘Lifted on high.’ Possibly ‘raised up as a banner’. The word is rare, (compare Psa 64:4 (Psa 64:6 in Hebrew)). But the idea is of triumphal rule under God.
Zec 9:17
‘For how great is his goodness and how great is his beauty. Corn will make the young men flourish, and new wine the maids.’
A paean of praise to the goodness and glory of God. His greatness and His splendour are revealed in the victory and prosperity of His people. Both young men and young women will have great cause for celebration. ‘Corn’ parallels ‘new wine’ and may therefore possibly refer to drinks made from corn. Alternately it may be saying that there will be abundance of food and drink.
So, as we have seen, the prophecy looks ahead to God’s dealings with His people. To them all was seen as one, but as we look back we see different strands of promises, some dealing with the more near future, others with the more distant future. The returning exiles were facing great difficulties and needed great encouragement, and this is what God gives them. And history saw them arise from adversity and become well established in the land.
And to us these words can also be an encouragement as they stress His faithfulness to His people. But, as always, included with God’s future actions on behalf of His people there is in mind His final action when He will bring His purposes to fruition through His chosen King and God will be all in all. For in the end all God’s actions lead up to the final triumph. And it is at this time that His people will be triumphant.
The People Are Called On To Cry To YHWH For The Latter Rain.
Zec 10:1
‘Ask you of YHWH rain in the time of the latter rain, even of YHWH who makes lightnings, and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.’
This promise links with the previous verses, and with those which follow. God has promised fruitfulness and blessing. Once that time has come His people can ask for rain, both spiritual and physical. The fields will blossom and so will the hearts of His people. For YHWH the Creator is over all.
‘Rain.’ This looks back to Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3-5 where rain and the coming of the Spirit are paralleled. The blessing of God will be poured out is such a way as to provide all that is needed, to supply abundance of provision, and to fill the people with life and joy in the Spirit.
‘The time of the latter rain.’ The importance of rain in Palestine cannot be exaggerated. The land depended on rain. Rain came there at a certain time of the year, and if it failed to come it was disastrous. In mid-October, although often delayed, there was the former rain as the rainy season began, and the latter rain followed at the end of the rainy season around April before the beginning of the hot summer, at which time ‘the winter is past, the rain is over and gone’ (Son 2:11). Often at the time of the latter rain there was longing for more rain as the rainfall had been insufficient and here this is used to illustrate God’s provision for His people. When the rain appears to be over they can call on Him and He will provide further abundant rain. The phrase has finally in mind ‘the end times’, the times of the Messiah. At the right time the rain will come unexpectedly when men are expecting the heat of summer with its accompanying barrenness. This was pictured by John the Baptiser in his baptism of repentance which depicted the falling, life-giving rain of the Spirit with its resultant harvest. The latter rains had come!
‘YHWH who makes lightnings.’ Rain in Palestine is regularly accompanied by lightning. Baal, the primary Canaanite god, was seen by the Canaanites as the Lord of Storm and Lightning, and as the source in their eyes of the life-giving rain. But as Elijah had so ably demonstrated (1Ki 18:24) it is really YHWH Who produces the lightning, and He and He alone is the controller and provider of the rains. Note the connection with Zec 9:14. The lightning maker Who had protected them will now make provision for them.
‘To everyone grass in the field.’ Compare Amo 4:7 where the rain fell in some places and not in others. In the time of the latter rain all will benefit and be blessed. Thus the promise is of future blessing, fulfilled at least partially in the times of John the Baptiser and of Jesus Himself followed by the ministry of the Apostles.
So this whole passage from Zec 9:1 to Zec 10:1 pictures God’s eschatological salvation. The proud will be brought low and He will raise up the humble and meek. And He will do it through His righteous King and through the blood of the covenant. And the result will be worldwide blessing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Zec 10:1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Zec 10:1
Job 29:21-23, “Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.”
Hos 6:3, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”
Jas 5:7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Zec 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Zec 12:10
Rom 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Praying in the spirit is seen in Jud 1:20, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Further Blessings of Jehovah upon His People.
v. 1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, v. 2. For the idols, v. 3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, v. 4. Out of Him, v. 5. And they, v. 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, v. 7. And they of Ephraim, v. 8. I will hiss for them, v. 9. And I will sow them among the people, v. 10. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria, v. 11. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, v. 12. And I will strengthen them in the Lord,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Zec 10:1, Zec 10:2
4. A connecting link between the last section and the next. The condition for obtaining the promised blessings is that they are to be sought from the Lord, not from idols.
Zec 10:1
Ask ye of the Lord rain. The promise of abundance at the end of the last chapter suggests to the prophet to make a special application to the practice of his countrymen. They must put their trust in God alone for the supply of temporal as well as spiritual bounties. The latter rain was due at the time of the vernal equinox, and was necessary in order to swell the maturing grain (comp. Deu 11:14). The early rain occurred at the autumnal equinox. It was considered as a special manifestation of God’s providential care that these periodical rains were received (see Isa 30:23; Jer 5:24; Joe 2:23). So the Lord shall make bright clouds; rather, Jehovah maketh the lightnings. Thunderstorms accompany the periodical rains. Ye must ask of him, and ye shall have. Septuagint, ,” The Lord makes flashes” (of lightning?); Vulgate, Domiaus faciet nives, where the right reading is supposed to be nubes (comp. Psa 135:7; Job 38:25, Job 38:26). Give them showers of rain. Abundant rain, as Job 37:6. The address is now in the third person. Grass. All vegetable food for man and beast, as in Gen 1:11, Gen 1:29; Psa 104:14; Amo 7:2.
Zec 10:2
For. The prophet supports his exhortation to pray to Jehovah by showing the worthlessness of trust in idols. Idols; teraphim. What these were is not known for certain. They seem to have been images of human form and sometimes of life size, corresponding in some degree to the lares or penates of the Romans (Gen 31:19; 1Sa 19:13). They were supposed to be capable of bestowing temporal blessings and giving oracles (Jdg 17:5; Jdg 18:5, Jdg 18:24; Eze 21:21). Have spoken vanity. Gave worthless, misleading responses. The mention of teraphim in this passage is thought to indicate a date anterior to the Captivity; but the prophet is speaking of past events, of the results of these base superstitions in former, not present, time. Three kinds of superstition are mentioned. Septuagint, , “speaking” images. These are the first. Secondly come the soothsayers, the diviners, persons who pretended to predict the future (Jer 27:9; Jer 29:8; Eze 21:21; Habukkuk 2:18). Have told false dreams; Vulgate, somniatores locuti sunt frustra; LXX; , “spake false dreams.” The Vulgate seems to be correct, “dreams, i.e. dreamers, spake deceit.” This is the third class among the practisers of superstitious observances. They comfort in vain, when they promise temporal blessings (Job 21:34). Therefore they went their way as a flock. Because they trusted in these vain superstitions, the Israelites had to leave their own place, were led into exile like a flock of sheep driven away for sale or slaughter (Jer 1:17). They were troubled. They were and are still oppressed by the heathen. Because there was (is) no shepherd. Because they had no king to guard and lead them, they fell under the power of foreign rulers, who ill treated and oppressed them (Eze 34:5; Neh 5:15).
Zec 10:3, Zec 10:4
5. The evil rulers set over them for their sins shall be removed, and Israel shall be firmly established.
Zec 10:3
Mine anger was (is) kindled against the shepherds. These heathen rulers were indeed God’s instruments in punishing his people, but they had exceeded their commission, and afflicted Israel in order to carry out their own evil designs, and now they themselves shall be chastised. Some commentators raise “the shepherds” to be the rulers of Israel civil and ecclesiastical, comparing Eze 34:2, Eze 34:5, etc. But the context leads us to consider them as those who took the place of rulers of Israel when she had no shepherd of her own (Eze 34:2). I punished (will punish) the goats (bellwethers); literally, will visit upon; i.e. will chastise. The same word (paquad) is used in the next clause in a good sense. The “goats” are the leading men, those powerful for evil, as Isa 14:9. Hath visited his flock. The reason why the evil shepherds are punished is because God visits his flock in love and care, to see their state and to relieve them from trouble (Zep 2:7). The house of Judah here includes all the nation, to which it afterwards gave its name. Hath made (shall make) them as his goodly horse. The Israelites shall not only be delivered from oppression, but God shall use them as a stately war horse, richly caparisoned, to tread down enemies and triumph ever them. So he said before (Zec 9:13) that he would make Judah his bow and Ephraim his arrow. (For a description of the war horse, see Job 39:19-25; comp. Rev 6:2; Rev 19:14, where Christ is represented riding on a white horse, and his saints following him on white horses.)
Zec 10:4
The firmness and security of Judah, thus “visited,” is announced in terms admitting of further application. Out of him came forth (shall come). Out of Judah, mentioned in Zec 10:3. Others, not so suitably, explain, “out of Jehovah,” in contrast to Hos 8:4. The succeeding figures are taken from the building and furnishing of a house. The corner. The cornerstone (Isa 28:16). From Judah herself shall come the prince on whom the whole edifice shall rest; i.e. primarily, she shall be independent of foreign rulers; and secondly, from Judah shall come the Messiah, “the Headstone of the corner” (Mat 21:42; Eph 2:20; Heb 7:14). Septuagint (taking the noun as a verb), , “et ex ipso respexit” (Jerome). The nail. The word (yathed) is taken for the peg that fastens the cord of a tent, for a nail used in building with timber, or a peg for hanging up arms and utensils on the walls of a house. In whichever sense we take it here, it implies one who consolidates or upholds the political constitution (Isa 22:23, Isa 22:24). The battle bow. The people shall themselves have arms and military skill to protect them against all assailants. Oppressor; rather, ruler, as Isa 3:12; Isa 60:17. Judah shall have every leader necessary for all emergencies. Septuagint, , “he that expelleth together;” Vulgate, omnis exactor simul. If the word be taken in the sense of these versions and the Authorized Version, the clause would mean that the Israelites shall subjugate their enemies, and oppress them, and exact tribute from them. The word (noges) usually means “taskmaster.”
Zec 10:5-7
6. Thus equipped, Israel and Judah united shall triumph over their foes.
Zec 10:5
Which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets. “Their enemies” is supplied naturally from the context. Others take the participle “treading” intransitively, “treading upon street mire,” the enemy being figuratively denoted by “mire.” The Greek and Latin Versions give, “treading the mud in the streets” (comp. Psa 18:42; Mic 7:10). They shall fight. They shall carry on long continued war successfully because God is with them. The riders on horses. The strong force of cavalry arrayed against them shall fall before Israel, and be put to shame. The Israelite forces were for the most part infantry, while the principal strength of their enemies consisted in cavalry (Dan 11:40).
Zec 10:6
House of Joseph; i.e. Israel, or the ten tribes, called Ephraim in the next verse (see note on Amo 5:6). Israel and Judah alike shall share in the contest and the victory, under the protection of God. I will bring them again to place them. This is one word in Hebrew, which may mean either “I bring them again,” or “I make them dwell.” The Authorized Version unwarrantably combines both significations. Septuagint, , “I will settle them;” Vulgate, convertam eos. It is better taken here, in contrast with “cast off” in a following clause, in the sense of “I will cause them to dwell,” i.e. in safety and comfort. As though I had not cast them off. The happy restoration shall make thrum forget former troubles and the calamities of their rejection (Isa 43:18, Isa 43:19). Will hear them (Zec 13:9; Isa 58:9).
Zec 10:7
They of Ephraim; i.e. as well as Judah, shall be heroes. Not many members of the northern kingdom returned at first from the Captivity; but the prophet gives the assurance that they shall come and prove themselves mighty warriors. As through wine. They shall hasten to the battle cheerfully and exultingly, like men refreshed and strengthened with wine (see Zec 9:15; Psa 78:65, Psa 78:66). Their children shall see it. Though unable to participate in the struggle, their children shall share the universal joy. Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord (Psa 63:7; Isa 41:16; Joe 2:23; Hab 3:18). Attempts have been made to find the fulfilment of these prophecies (Zec 10:3, etc.) in certain events of Maccabean times. Thus, according to Patritius, the sin for which the Hebrews surfeited such distress at the hands of the Seleucidae (Zec 10:2) was their imitation of heathen practices mentioned in 1 Macc. 1:13-15 and 2 Macc. 4:7-17, when the high priest purchased his office by a bribe, and the other priests followed Greek customs. The prophet is supposed to refer specially to this state of things when he says, “They were troubled because there was no shepherd. Mine auger was kindled against the shepherds.” But we have shown above that Zechariah is here speaking of the past, not of the future. There is more verisimilitude in discerning the wars and victories of Judas, his brothers and successors, in the allusions of verses 4-7. The truth is that such descriptions suit many different events, and have various applications. Though their complete fulfilment may be expected only in Messianic times and circumstances, yet we may see many anticipatory and preparative transactions, which are meant to introduce the final accomplishment. The Jewish prophet is not always foretelling certain definite events. Oftentimes he is teaching, warning, and exhorting; and generally he is enunciating great principles, the truth of which shall be clear in the future, rather than predicting particular facts. Not unfrequently commentators have neglected this consideration, and sought too curiously to restrict the prophet’s words to some one issue. It may be noted, further, that where the prophetic language concerning the destiny of the restored people seems to be exaggerated and not borne out by subsequent facts, the promises are always conditioned by the moral state of the recipients. If they answered fully and consistently to God’s call, the result would be such as was predicted. That the event in all respects did not correspond with the high ideal previously announced must be attributed, not to the prophet’s mistake, but to the people’s waywardness and disobedience.
Zec 10:8-12
7. The scattered people shall be gathered from all parts of the world, and dwell in their own land, under the protection of Jehovah.
Zec 10:8
I will him for them; ,” I will signal to them”; sibilabo eis (Vulgate). The slightest summons will bring them when God wills the return of the dispersed. The “hissing” is the whistling or tinkling with which bees are allured to swarm (Isa 5:26; Isa 7:18, Isa 7:19). I have redeemed them. They were virtually delivered from captivity and exile, though all had not taken advantage of the deliverance. They shall increase as they have increased. The same promise is made in Eze 36:10, Eze 36:11. The allusion is to the marvellous growth of the Israelite nation in Egypt (Exo 1:7, Exo 1:12). The prophets often announce this fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham (Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5, etc.) after the return (see Isa 54:2; Hos 1:10; Mic 2:12).
Zec 10:9
I will sow them among the people (peoples). The “sowing” here does not mean scattering, but increase, and this was to go on while they were dispersed among the nations. The word is used in the same sense in Hos 2:23; Jer 31:27. This continued dispersion was a part of their discipline, a test of their loyalty to God. They shall remember me. In the countries where they are living they shall worship the Lord and observe his Law, and be a witness for him among the heathen. They shall live with their children (Eze 37:14). The promised blessing is not for a time only, but perpetual. Turn again; i.e. return to their own land (Isa 35:10). It cannot mean, “turn to the Lord,” for they are said already to remember the Lord, and their “conversion must precede the promise of life.” The next verse describes the return more particularly.
Zec 10:10
Egypt Assyria. It is certain that there was a large body of Jews in Egypt at this time (Jer 43:6, Jer 43:7); and to Assyria the ten tribes, who are here specially mentioned under the name Ephraim, had been deported. Besides this, Assyria is often used loosely for Western Asia or Babylonia, of which, after its submission, it formed a most important feature (see 2Ki 23:29; Ezr 6:22; and in the Apocrypha, 1 Esdr. 7:15; Judith 1:7; 2:1). In the ‘Oracula Sibyllina,’ the Assyrians are continually confused with Persians, Babylonians, and other Eastern nations. Egypt and Assyria are here used as types of the countries to which Jews had been banished (comp. Hos 11:11). Gilead and Lebanon. A designation of the northern district of Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan, in which these tribes had been originally settled. This region had been most exposed to hostile attacks, and was the first to be depopulated. Place shall not be found for them (Isa 49:20). Josephus testifies to the teeming population of Galilee in later times (‘Bell. Jud.,’ 2.3, 1; 3.3, 2; 4.1, 2; 7.5). Septuagint, “There shall not even one of them be left behind,” i.e. in exile.
Zec 10:11
He shall pass through the sea with affliction. In bringing his people back the Lord is ready to repeat the miracles of the Exodus. This is the general meaning of the passage; but the details present difficulties. For “he shall pass” the LXX. gives, “they shall pass through.” But the reference is plainly to Jehovah, as the following clause shows. The next two words are in apposition, “the sea,” “affliction.” Revised Version, “the sea of affliction;” Septuagint, , “in a strait sea;” or, as the Hebrew cannot be so translated, “in a sea, a strait;” Vulgate, in maris freto. It seems best to take the two words simply as, “the sea, which is affliction.” The Red Sea, through which Jehovah led his people, was a figure of the sufferings which they had endured in Egypt, and brought destruction upon their enemies (comp. Exo 14:16, Exo 14:17, Exo 14:24, etc.). Smite the waves (Exo 15:8; Isa 11:15, Isa 11:16; Isa 51:10). The river. The Nile. The drying up of the waters of the Nile is a figure of the humiliation of the nations which have been guilty of enslaving the chosen people. The Nile. the representative of Egypt, is mentioned because of the allusion to the bondage in Egypt running through the paragraph. The pride of Assyria. Pride is noted as the characteristic of Assyria (comp. Isa 10:7, etc.; Eze 31:3, Eze 31:10). The sceptre. This may refer to the decadence of the power of Egypt, and the transference of royal authority to strangers; but, regarding the immediate context, we had better translate, “the rod of Egypt,” and see in it an allusion to the oppression of the taskmasters during the sojourn in that land. All such tyranny shall be at an end (comp. Isa 10:24).
Zec 10:12
I will strengthen them in the Lord. I will strengthen them with myselfwith my grace and power. They shall walk up and down in his Name. They shall live in obedience to, and dependence upon, the Lord (Mic 4:5, where see note). The Septuagint reads, “They shall boast themselves.” So God will work wonders to deliver his people from the captivity of the devil, destroying all enemies, visible and invisible, which array themselves against him. This is the final fulfilment of the prophecy. The complete restoration from the Captivity is the immediate subject of the prophet’s words; and between these two we may see a reference to the conversion of the Jews in the time of Christ and the apostles, which shall go on until the end.
HOMILETICS
Zec 10:1-5
The secret of victory.
“Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time,” etc. In the last passage the Church of God (in its new Testament form, as we supposal) was presented to us under the figures of an army (verse 13, etc.); a flock (verse 16); and a field which the Lord had blessed (verse 17). In the present verses we find all these figures again employed: the field (Zec 10:1); the flock (Zec 10:2, Zec 10:3); the army or host (Zec 10:3-5). It would appear, therefore, that we have also presented to us the same topic of illustration, viz. the New Testament Church; and that, further, under the same circumstances and at the same time as before. The distinction to be noted is, that, in the present passage, we have a deeper view of the subjectthe secret nature of that Church being explained and enforced by describing to us
(1) a special gift;
(2) a grievous failure;
(3) a signal success.
I. A SPECIAL GIFT. According to the first verse, there is something to be “asked of the Lord;” something appointed by him, having its proper “time;” something to be hoped for from him: “the Lord shall give;” something to be hoped for by all: “to every one.” It is figured to us as “rain.” What does it signify? In the present connection, what can it signify but the gift of God’s Spirit (Isa 44:3; Joe 2:28) ? How specially were men taught, in New Testament times, to “ask” for this gift (see Luk 11:9-13, where men nine times over are encouraged in praying for this very blessing; also Joh 4:10; Joh 7:37-39)! How expressly, again, were those “latter” days the appointed “time” for this blessing (Luk 24:49; Joh 16:7; Act 1:4)! In what abundant “showers,” once more, was it given in these primitive times, as it were, “to every one” “in the field” (Act 2:17; Act 8:17-19; Act 11:17; Gal 3:2, Gal 3:3)! These were some of the things which caused the dispensation then commenced to be called “the dispensation of the Spirit”! In short, without this holy “rain” from above, the strictly “Christian” Church could never have come into existence. Much less, of course, could it have continued alive.
II. A GRIEVOUS FAILURE. The state of things in the Jewish Church at the coming of Christ seems described to us next. In one sense that Church, as a body, though free from the grosser idolatry of earlier days, was worshipping “idols” of its own. Its members trusted to merely external rites, and names, and privileges, and professions (Rom 2:17-20; Mat 3:9; Mat 23:14, Mat 23:23, Mat 23:30, etc.). As a consequence, they never obtained (Jer 14:2, etc.), as they never desired, the gift spoken of here. Failing of this, they failed altogether, notwithstanding all their privileges (Rom 3:1, Rom 3:2), as a Church: This evidenced at the timeas apparently here predicted beforehandin various ways. For example, by the absence among them:
1. Of solid knowledge and truth. “The diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams” (comp. Mat 15:14; Mat 23:16, Mat 23:19, Mat 23:24, Mat 23:26; Joh 9:40, Joh 9:41).
2. Of saving knowledge and truth. “They comfort in vain”.
3. Of proper pastoral oversight. (See end of Zec 10:2; and comp. Mat 9:36.) Also by the presence among them:
4. Of special judgments on those who professed (Mat 23:2) to be “shepherds” (Zec 10:3). (See Mat 23:1-39, throughout, with its sevenfold denunciation of “woe” on the “scribes and Pharisees.”) Was there not “failure,” indeed, when such language could be used as that found in Mat 23:33 and Mat 21:13?
III. A SIGNAL SUCCESS.
1. Its nature. Being the same as that noted before on Mat 9:14, Mat 9:15, viz. success in preaching the gospel of Christ and bringing sinners beneath its power.
2. Its secret. This found in the fact that, by the coming of Christ, “the Lord of hosts” (Mat 9:3) had “visited” his people and “flock” (comp. Luk 1:68, Luk 1:78, Luk 1:79; Luk 7:16; and note, in Luk 7:5, the expression, “They shall fight, because the Lord is with them”).
3. Its instruments. These very notable,
(1) as being men of “Judah,” or Jews (as all the apostles were); men, i.e; belonging to that very Church and people which, in religious matters, as just now noted, had so egregiously failed. Possibly, also,
(2) as being, some of them, men like Saul of Tarsus, who, at first, were “oppressors” (see also Joh 1:46). And certainly,
(3) as being able to “tread down” obstacles, and “confound” opponents in a very marvellous way (see Act 4:13; Act 5:33; Act 6:10; Act 9:22; Act 18:28; and perhaps, also, Act 26:28).
How strikingly all this teaches us the absolute need of the Spirit of God!
1. For all true religious life. It was the absence of this which made the Jewish Church the dead thing (Luk 17:37) that it was, like the old world and Sodom (Luk 17:27, Luk 17:29) when Noah and Lot had gone out of them. All their many other privileges (see Rom 2:17-20; Rom 3:1, Rom 3:2; Rom 9:4, Rom 9:5) were of no avail without this.
2. From all true religious work. It was the presence of this, secured by that coming and work of Christ which we have supposed to be referred to in Mat 9:3 (comp. Act 2:33), which encountered and overcame both the Jewish Church and the Gentile world (see Act 1:8; Act 5:32; 1Pe 1:12). How essential, indeed, was that gift, which more than supplied, in one sense, the presence of Christ himself (Joh 16:7-10)!
Zec 10:6-12
The restoration of Israel.
“And I will strengthen the house of Judah,” etc. The separate mention in this passage (Zec 10:6, Zec 10:7) of Judah, Joseph, and Ephraim, taken together with that of Gilead, Lebanon, Egypt, and Assyria, in Zec 10:10, Zec 10:11, seems an indication that we now have to do especially with Israel “after the flesh.” The previous verses spoke of “the times of the Gentiles,” and of the great spiritual conquests to be inaugurated amongst the Gentiles during those times by teacher warriors of Jewish birth. “Jerusalem” itself, however, in all the mean time, was to be “trodden down of the Gentiles” (Luk 21:24). What was to happen to it when that long “tribulation” should be over? The present passage seems to reply, teaching us, apparently, that the literal Israel should then be restored
(1) to their former favour; and
(2) to their former inheritance.
I. THEIR RESTORATION TO FAVOUR. We may notice:
1. Its reality; as shown by the expressions, “I will strengthen” (comp. Psa 80:14, Psa 80:15, Psa 80:17); “I will save;” “I have mercy upon them;” “I will hear them” (comp. Psa 66:18-20).
2. Its universality; as embracing both “Judah” and “Joseph,” the two rival and long divided leading families of Jacob (see Isa 11:13, Isa 11:14; Jer 3:18; Eze 37:16, Eze 37:17, etc.).
3. Its completeness. What “Judah” needs, viz. “strengthening,” being accomplished for it; what “Joseph” needs, as having been more heavily punished, viz. “saving,” being accomplished for it; and that, in both cases, so effectually as entirely to obliterate the evil past: “They shall be as though I had not cast them off.”
4. Its blessedness. Causing special rejoicing and exhilaration, like that occasioned through “wine.”
5. Its solidity. Causing joy in the “heart” (comp. Psa 4:7, and context).
6. fits permanence. Their “children” sharing in the joy as well as themselves (comp. Isa 65:22, Isa 65:23, “their offspring with them”).
II. THEIR RESTORATION (APPARENTLY) TO PALESTINE. See, generally, Zec 10:6, “I will bring them again to place them.” And observe, more particularly:
1. The call. They are to be summoned aloud (“I will hiss,” comp. Isa 5:26), as people living afar off; also as people belonging to God, because “redeemed;” as rightly also belonging to that place in which they had formerly “increased” so amazingly; and possibly, once more, as having been long intended for this very destiny, like seed “sown” (Zec 10:9) with the ultimate object of reaping a harvest to correspond.
2. The response. However “far off,” however widely dispersed, when that call is given, they will “remember” that voice, and hear it; and, together with their children (see end of Zec 10:9), prepare to return.
3. The return. In correspondence with this preparation, they are
(1) to be “brought out” of the countries of their dispersion, whether lying, like “Egypt,” to the south, or lying, like “Assyria,” to the north; and
(2) are also, in a manner as wonderful and as humbling to their enemies as when the Red “Sea” and the “river” Jordan in former days had been divided and dried up before them, to be “brought into” their ancient possession; and that further,
(3) in such exuberant numbers as not only to occupy the trans-Jordanie region of Gilead, but even a territory like that of Lebanon, almost beyond the limits of ancient Israel; and not, even so, to have sufficient room (end of Zec 10:10; comp. Isa 49:20).
4. The happy result. The strength of their enemies (end of Zec 10:11) being forever broken, and they themselves being “strengthened in Jehovah,” they shall be able to rent the whole land then as fully their own (comp. Gen 13:14-17); they themselves, also, as God’s own people, doing everything therein in his Name (Psa 67:6; Mic 4:5; Col 3:17).
These things may teach us, in conclusion:
1. To take an ever-increasing interest in Israel‘s lot. Whether right or wrong in our view of details, the general principle is undoubted. The future history of the world, as its past history, turns on the history of Abraham’s seed (Gen 12:3, etc.).
2. To place ever-increasing confidence in Israel‘s God. In whatever circumstances, through whatever vicissitudes, under whatever provocations, how amazingly faithful to his ancient promise (Rom 11:1, Rom 11:28, Rom 11:29)!
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Zec 10:1, Zec 10:2
Prayer for temporal blessings.
I. AGREEABLE TO OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. Dependent. In want. Instinctively turn turn God. We have his Word to cheer us; the record of his deeds to comfort us; the testimony of his saints to encourage us.
II. CONDITIONED BY THE NECESSITY OF THINGS. There are limits. Plainly there are things which it would be reasonable, and others which it would be unreasonable and foolish, to ask. “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,” said our Lord. The flight was a necessity, but the time and manner were within the ravage of things unsettled. This seems hinted at here by the condition, “in the time of the latter rain.”
III. SHOULD BE SUBORDINATED TO OUR SPIRITUAL GOOD. The soul is more than the body. It may not be necessary for us to live, but it is necessary that we should abide in the love of God and do his will. “Rain” is symbolic of spiritual blessings. Only God can give rain, and only God can give the quickening, invigorating, sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.”
IV. SHOULD BE OFFERED IN HUMBLE SUBMISSION TO THE WILL OF GOD. He is infinitely wise and holy and good. Let us trust him, for he cannot will us aught but good.
V. SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY EARNEST USE OF ALL LAWFUL MEANS. It is an old saying that “God helps those who help themselves.” Prayer without work is fanaticism and folly; but prayer and work is the highest wisdom and the surest way to success. “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” said the Lord to Moses. “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward” (Exo 14:15).F.
Zec 10:1, Zec 10:2
Parable of the rain.
I. MAN‘S GREAT NEED. Without rain the ground is impoverished and dead. So is the soul without God. No good fruit.
II. MAN‘S GREAT RESOURCE. Not idols or enchantments, not human devices or philosophies, but appeal to God. He will withhold no good from them that walk uprightly.
III. MAN‘S GREAT CONSOLATION.
1. Sweet. (Cf. Deu 32:2.)
2. Timely. God does not give in an arbitrary way, but according to his own wise and holy laws When rain is most needed, it is most appreciated. So in spiritual things (cf. Psa 44:3).
3. Abundant. “Showers.” Rains sometimes slight, partial, or temporary. Here promise of “abundance of rain” (1Ki 18:41), meeting the needs of all, reaching to the furthest limits of the parched land.
4. Invigorating and fertilizing. “To every one grass in the field.” Calls for thankfulness and joy.F.
Zec 10:3
God’s visits to his people.
Indicate
I. HIS CONCERN FOR THEIR WELFARE.
II. HIS PURPOSE TO DO THEM GOOD.
III. HIS DELIGHT IN THEIR HEALTH AND PROSPERITY. Wordsworth gave as a motto for a dial, “Light, come, visit me.” So we should lay open our souls to the coming of God, and welcome his visits.F.
Zec 10:4, Zec 10:5
The strength of states.
I. CAPABLE RULERS. “Cornerstone,” on which the fabric rests. The stability of the whole depends on the foundation.
II. JUST ADMINISTRATION. “Nail”what binds and fixes. The laws must not only be just, but justly applied. Forms of government vary according to the circumstances and needs of the people. There is much truth in Pope’s saying, “Whate’er is best administered is best.”
III. AMPLE RESOURCES. “Battle bow” may stand for implements of war. Means of defence. The weapons are nothing compared to the men who wield them. True citizens, devoted to the right, giving themselves and their all for the defence of truth and liberty, and for the advancement of the general good.
IV. NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE. Enlightenment. Love of freedom and justice. Purity of domestic life. Superiority to passion and vain glory. Courage in duty. Power not only to hold their own, but to bear themselves generously towards the vanquished, and to overcome evil with good.
“What constitutes a state?
Not high-raised battlements or laboured mound,
Thick walls or moated gate;
Not cities proud, with spire and turret crowned,
Nor bays, nor broad arm’d ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride;
But men, high-minded Christian men.”
F.
Zec 10:5-12
Redemption.
I. CONFLICT RESULTING IN VICTORY.
II. VICTORY RESULTING IN UNION. This does not always happen. There have been wars that have bred more wars, and victories that have left strong hates and bitter memories prolonged for generations. Besides, union may be based on defeat in the interest of the conqueror and not of the conquered; more formal than real, more a thing of covenants and legal fictions than the free choice of the people. But here it is real and true. The middle wall of partition has been taken away. Enmity has given place to love. Jealousy and strife, to brotherhood and peace.
III. UNION RESULTING IN HAPPINESS. There have been examples of union with various results. The union of England and Scotland has been productive of the highest good to both countries. The union with Ireland has not been so happy. We see a beautiful example of prosperity under just covenants and laws in the United States of America. Here the highest and best results are foreshadowed.
1. Increase of strength.
2. General freedom.
3. Abounding prosperity.F.
Zec 10:9
The hand of God in Jewish history.
I. IN THEIR LONG DESCENT. Origin of nations is generally obscure. As difficult to find as the source of the Nile. The Jews are like their own Jordan. They are the only people that can trace their descent. “Children of Abraham.” Two friends were visiting the museum at Berlin. One said how strange it was to look at the intellectual features of Julius Caesar, and to think of his triumphal march northward when the Britons were but roving barbarians. “Speak for your own ancestors,” answered the other, who was a Jew; “as for mine, they were singing the psalms of David, and worshipping God as members of his true Church on earth, centuries before Julius Caesar was born!”
II. IN THE VICISSITUDES OF THEIR HISTORY. “As the modern traveller surveys the remains of the arch of Titus at Rome, he feels bewildered in endeavouring to realize the distant date of its erection; and yet it commemorates only the last of a long series of Jewish dispersions. You read of the fragments of antiquity dug up from the ruins of Babylon, and your mind is carried still further back than by the Roman arch; but the Jew possibly formed that Babylonian brick, and imprinted on it those arrow-hearted characters. The pyramids of Egypt take your imagination still further back; the Jew not improbably helped to build the oldest of them. Time was young when God said to Abram, ‘I will make of thee a great nation'” (Dr. Harris). In the various dispersions we see the fulfilment of Scripture (Deu 28:64-67) and the preparation for the gospel of Christ (Act 2:5, Act 2:9-11).
III. IN THE PERMANENCY OF THEIR CHARACTER. From Jacob down to our own day we see the same prevailing elements of character. Their very physiognomy is that painted on the walls of Thebes. They are still a separate people. Their purity of blood, their education and training throughout the ages, have raised them high physically and intellectually. In the struggle for existence, they seem an instance of the survival of the fittest.
IV. IS THE GREATNESS OF THEIR DESTINY. Preservedbut why? Surely for some great purpose. Witnesses for God. Servants of righteousness. Ministers of the cross (Rom 11:1-27).F.
Zec 10:10-12
The great exodus.
From Egyptthe type (cf. Isa 11:11-16).
I. THE GATHERING. So now under the gospel. From far and near they come. At the call of Jesus they gather under the banner of the cross.
II. THE PASSAGE. (Zec 10:11.) Like children of Israelpilgrims in the wilderness Manifold trials. Educated by adversity and prosperity. Course ever onward, under the hand and guidance of God.
III. THE SETTLEMENT. Canaan. Future glory of the Churchin increase and prosperity. “Place not found.”F.
Zec 10:12
Manliness.
Of the true man, we might ask, as Delilah did of Samson, “Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth?” The answer includes several things.
I. SELF–MASTERY. Reason must rule, and not passion. The Spirit, not the flesh.
II. DIVINE INVIGORATION. Need constant aid. The plant thrives by commerce with the sun, so the soul gains energy from God. The prayer of all true men is that favourite one of David, “Quicken thou me.”
III. DEVOTION TO THE RIGHT. Doing evil is dissipation of strength. Doing good brings its own recompense. The Sandwich Islanders believed that the souls of the braves slain in war pass into those who slay them, and that therefore the more a man kills the stronger he becomes. This is true spiritually. It was fabled of the giant Antares that when he touched the earth he renewed his strength; so when we touch right we are renewed after the image of God.
IV. ASSOCIATION WITH THE NOBLEST. To be allied with the bad is not only criminal, but ruinous. Fellowship with the good elevates and ennobles.
V. GROWING NOBLENESS OF CHARACTER, There is the consciousness of advance. Settled principles. Enlarged experience. Progress in faith and godliness. All this prophesies of victory. Peter was far stronger at Pentecost than when he made his great confession; when he wrote his Epistles than when Paul had to withstand him to the face for dissembling at Antioch.
VI. HOPE OF IMMORTALITY. The strength won will never be lost. The life given by God in Christ is everlasting.
Whene’er right feelings fire thy languid heart,
Let them not smoulder out in sighs and songs,
But flash them into living acts forthwith.
Thus strength Divine shall nerve thy mortal frame,
And light from upper worlds shall fall upon thy path.”
F.
Zec 10:12
The true life.
I. HOLY CONSECRATION. “In the Name of the Lord.” Sincere and thorough renewal of consecration essential to increase of faith and holiness.
II. HARMONIOUS DEVELOPMENT. “Walking” implies health, freedom, activity. Necessary to the right development of the soul. Not in part, but in all its powers.
III. SPIRITUAL USEFULNESS. Time, talent, opportunity, rightly employed. “Up and down” zeal and diligence in all good.
IV. HAPPY ASSOCIATIONS. We are continually forming associations in life. Places and persons. The result may be good or evil, sad and painful or bright and exhilarating.
V. DELIGHTFUL PROSPECTS. Not only memories to cheer, but the outlook of the future, bright with hope up to the very gates of heaven.F.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Zec 10:1-4
God in relation to the good and the bad.
“Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field,” etc. This chapter is a continuation of the subject with which the former concluded; and the words lead us to observe three facts in relation to the Almighty.
I. HE ATTENDS TO THE PRAYERS OF GOOD MEN. “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain.” The abundance of corn promised in the last clause of the preceding chapter depends upon rain, and this rain God will give in answer to prayer. Observe:
1. God gives rain. A pseudo-science would ascribe “rain” and “clouds” and “showers” to what they call the laws of nature; but what these laws are, and how they operate, they cannot tell. The Bible, giving us at once an adequate and an intelligible cause, is more philosophical than any meteorological science. “He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is eatisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart” (Psa 104:13-15). “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness” (Psa 65:9-11).
2. The God who gives rain attends to human prayer. This is wonderful, but not absurd. Wonderful, that the God who created nature, and presides over it, should condescend to listen to the supplications of such an insignificant creature as man. But it is not absurd, because:
(1) Man is greater than material nature.
(2) Prayer is a settled law of the Divine government. To cry to the Almighty in distress is an instinct of the soul. Prayer, instead of interfering with the laws of nature, is a law of nature.
II. HE ABOMINATES THE CHARACTER OF RELIGIOUS IMPOSTORS. “For the idols [the household gods] have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats.” This stands in contrast with the former verse, and is a reason for the duty there enjoined. Their false prophetsattaching themselves to idols and seducing the people to their worship, and those of them who, speaking in Jehovah’s name, said, “Thus saith Jehovah,” when Jehovah had not spoken, putting in his lips and clothing with his authority the “lies” and “false dreams” by which they sought to entice them from him and from his wayshad ever given promises and “vain comfort,” all ending in bitterness and vexation of spirit. They had proved shepherds that only starved and scattered and exposed their flocks, instead of feeding and tending, gathering and protecting, them. “Thus, under such misleading guides, such selfish and unprincipled shepherds, the flock was driven about and ‘troubled.’ They had ‘no shepherd,’ no truly faithful shepherd, who took a concern in the well being of the flock” (Wardlaw). Now, against such impostors, Jehovah says, “Mine anger was kindled.” “That the shepherds and the goats,” says Hengstenberg, “are the heathen rulers who obtained dominion over Judah when the native government was suppressed, is evident from the contrast so emphatically pointed out in the fourth verse, where particular prominence is given to the fact that the new rulers whom God was about to appoint would be taken from the midst of the nation itself.” Are there no religious impostors now, no false teachers, no blind leading the blind, no shepherds fleecing the flocks?
III. HE WORKS IN ALL FOR HIS PEOPLE. “Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.” The words teach that all their help came from him. “Out of him came forth the corner,” or cornerstone, that upon which the whole building stands firmly. It means that from him comes stability. All stability in moral character, in social order, and political prosperity, is from God. “Out of him the nail.” With us a nail is a small thing; but with the Orientals it is not so. It is a large peg in the inside of the room, wrought into the wall when the house was built, and on which are hung the utensils of the household. It means, therefore, support. “Out of him the battle bow.” This word is used synecdochically, to represent all effective weapons of war; power to conquer comes from him. “Out of him every oppressor together,” or, as Keil renders it, “from him will every ruler go forth at once.” Thus God is all in all to the true. Whatever we need comes from him. “Every good and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father.”
CONCLUSION. What a sublime view of the Almighty have we here! He is over all nature, yet listening to the prayers of the true; indignant with religious imposters, yet tolerating their existence and permitting their pernicious influence; sending out from himself all that true souls require to fight bravely and triumphantly the great moral battle of life.D.T.
Zec 10:5-12
Victory, unification, and blessedness for the good.
“And they shall be as mighty men,” etc. This paragraph is a continuation of the preceding portions of the chapter. The various statements bring under our notice subjects which, if we give them a spiritual application, are of great and permanent interest, viz. the subjects of victory, unification, and blessedness.
I. VICTORY. “And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on the horses shall be confounded.” Or, as Hengstenberg renders it, “And they will be like heroes, treading street mire in the battle: and will fight, for Jehovah is with them, and the riders upon horses are put to shame.” “Though the Jews were forbidden by the Law to multiply horses in battle (Deu 17:16), they themselves figuratively are made Jehovah’s war horses (Psa 20:7), and so on foot tread down the foe, with all his cavalry (Eze 38:4; Dan 11:40). Cavalry was the chief strength of the Syro-Grecian army.” This victory was:
1. Complete. The enemies were trodden down as “mire in the streets,” and were utterly discomfited.
2. Divine. “Because the Lord is with them.” They became victorious through him.
3. Reinvigorating. “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them.” They would be strengthened by their victory, not only in wealth and security, but in courage.
4. Extensive. “And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.” “The prophet had,” says Hengstenberg, “occupied himself first of all with Judah, the centre of the people of God. In Zec 10:6 he proceeds to speak of Judah and Ephraim together. In this verse, and those which follow, he fixes his attention peculiarly upon Ephraim, which looked in the prophet’s day like a withered branch that had been severed from the vine. He first promises that descendants of the citizens of the former kingdom of the ten tribes will also take part in the glorious conflict, and then announces the return of the ten tribes from their exile, which was to be the condition of their participating in the battle. Now, all these facts connected with this victory apply to that victory the grandest of allthe victory of all true souls over error and wrong. That victory will be complete. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” That victory will be Divine. It is the Almighty himself that bruises Satan under their feet. That victory will be reinvigorating. Some savages have the belief that the strength of the creature they destroy passes into themselves, and gives new vigour to their frames. Every victory we achieve in morals adds new energy to our souls. This victory will be extensive. Millions in heaven have achieved it; millions on earth are achieving it now; the moral conquerors will at last be more numerous than the stars of heaven, or perhaps the sands that gird old ocean’s shores.
II. UNIFICATION. “I will hiss for them, and gather them,” etc. There is no sufficient reason for regarding this regathering, recollecting of the world scattered Hebrews as pointing to that far distant period which some believe in, viz. the universal restoration of the Jews to their own country. Observe:
1. The ease with which the regathering will be effected. “I will hiss [or, ‘whistle ‘] for them.” The word is understood as referring to a particular whistle used by the shepherd for calling his scattered flock together, or by those who have the care of bees, to bring them into the hive. “As sheep flock together at the well known call of the shepherd, as bees follow in swarms the shrill note of the bee master, so should the Lord, by his own means, gather his scattered people from their dispersions, how widely soever distant, and bring them to himself and to their heritage.” With what ease God does his worka mere look, a breath, a word! “He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.”
2. The regions to which the regathering will extend. “And I will sow them among the people [or, as some render it, ‘Though I have scattered them among the nations’]: and they shall remember me in far countries [distant regions]; and they shall live with their, children, and turn again.” They had been scattered, not only through Egypt and Assyria. It does not say that all Jews shall return, but a great multitude is implied.
3. The scene at which the regathering will take place. “I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria,” and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon. This describes the whole of Palestine, with its two boundariesthe eastern, Gilead beyond Jordan; and the northern, that is, Lebanon. Large as that district is, there will not be room for all. “Place shall not be found for them.”
4. The national catastrophes which the regathering will involve. “And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up.” There is evidently an allusion here to their first deliverance from Egypt; and it means that something similar to that event will occur in the course of their regathering (see Exo 14:4-14). “And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.” The idea probably is that as “the haughty boastings of Sennacherib and the sceptred power of Pharaoh proved alike feeble and unavailing against the might of Jehovah in former days, so should all the combined opposition of the most inveterate enemies prove in days to come. Before himwhen he had a purpose to fulfil or promise to his people to accomplishall pride should be abased, all power baffled, all counsel turned to foolishness.” Now there is a unification, of which this is but a faint emblemthe unification of the good of all ages. “They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down with Isaac and with Jacob.” What a blessed union is this! What countless millions will it include, and what overturning of the kingdoms of the world will its full realization involve!
III. BLESSEDNESS. Here is the highest strength. “And I will strengthen them in the Lord.”
1. Whether this refers to their national strength, their security in their own country, or moral strengthstrength of faith in himor all, one thing is clear, that to be strengthened in the Lord is the highest strength we can have. The greatest blessing of life is strength: physical strength, to do with ease and to endure with patience; intellectual strengthstrength to master with ease all the great problems of life, and to reach a theory of being in which the understanding can repose tree from all disturbing doubt. These strengths are blessings; but moral strengthstrength to resist the wrong, to pursue, the right, to serve Almighty God with acceptance, and to bless the race of man with beneficent influencesthis, indeed, is the perfection of our blessedness. This strength, which implies unbounded confidence in the procedure and an unconquerable love for the character of God, is the strength we all need. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, says Paul. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”
2. Here is the highest exercise. “They shall walk up and down in his Name, saith the Lord,”
(1) All living men must walk the road that is “up and down” Human life is made up of “ups” and “downs;” the road is not smooth and level, but rugged and hilly, sometimes up and sometimes down; up today and down tomorrow.
(2) This road can only be walked happily by walking it in the “Name” of the Lord. A practical recognition of his presence, and of his claims to our supreme reverence and worship. Alas I how few walk this road in the Name of the Lord! They walk it in the name of pleasure, of greed, or of ambition, or, it may be, of intellectual research. Dreary and dangerous is this road without God.
CONCLUSION. Let us battle for this victory, cease not a stroke until the foe is beneath our feet; let us hail this grand unification of souls, hail the time when God shall meet and mingle with all noble and Heaven-born spirits. Meanwhile, let us walk this “up-and-down” road of life in the Name of the Lord. “For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, but we will walk in the Name of the Lord” (Mic 4:5).D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Zec 10:1. Ask ye of the Lord, &c. They asked of the Lord, &c. so the Lord gave them thunders and large showers, and every one had a green and flourishing field. This verse certainly ought not to have been separated from the foregoing, as it accounts for the joyous and plentiful harvests there spoken of, by attributing them to the seasonable showers vouchsafed by God in regard of the people having addressed their supplications to him; as, on the contrary, in the two next verses, their past misfortunes are expressly ascribed to their having had recourse to idols, which could not hear nor help them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
4. FURTHER BLESSINGS OF GODS PEOPLE
Zechariah 10
A. God sends Blessing, but the Idols Sorrow (Zec 10:1-2). B. Blessings upon native Rulers (Zec 10:3-5). C. Former Mercies restored to Judah and Ephraim (Zec 10:6-9). D. Messianic Mercies (Zec 10:10-12)
1Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain;
Jehovah creates lightnings,
And showers of rain1 will He give them,
To every one grass in the field.
2 For the teraphim2 have spoken vanity,
And the diviners have seen a lie,
And speak dreams of deceit,
They comfort in vain;
Therefore they have wandered3 like a flock,
They are oppressed4 because there is no shepherd.
3 Against the shepherds my anger is kindled,
And the he-goats will I punish;5
For Jehovah of Hosts visits his flock, the house of Judah,
And makes them like his goodly horse in war.
4 From him the corner-stone, from him the nail,
From him the war-bow, from him will every ruler6 come forth together.
5 And they shall be like heroes treading down [i.e., foes]
Into the mire of the streets in the battle;
And they fight, for Jehovah is with them,
And the riders on horses are put to shame.7
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And the house of Joseph will save,
And will make them dwell,8 because I pity them,
And they shall be as if I had not cast them off,
For I am Jehovah their God, and will hear them.
7 And Ephraim9 shall become like a hero,
And their heart shall rejoice as with wine,
And their sons shall see and rejoice,
Their heart shall exult in Jehovah.
8 I will hiss to them and gather them,
For I have redeemed them,
And they shall increase as they did increase [before]
9 And I will sow10 them among the peoples11 And in far countries they shall remember me,
And with their children they shall live and return.
10 And I will bring them back from the land of Egypt,
And from Assyria will I gather them,
And to the land of Gilead and Lebanon will I bring them,
And room shall not be found for them.12
11 And He passes through the sea, the affliction,13
And He smites the waves in the sea,
And all the depths of the Nile are put to shame;
And the pride of Assyria is brought down,
And the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.
12 And I will strengthen them in Jehovah,
And in his name shall they walk,14 saith Jehovah.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This chapter does not commence a fresh train of thought, but is rather an expansion of the foregoing prophecy. First, there is a promise of rain and fruitful seasons (Zec 10:1); a reference to idolatry as cause of their afflictions (Zec 10:2-3 a); deliverance by Gods blessing upon native rulers (Zec 10:3 b, 4, 5); restoration of ancient mercies (Zec 10:6); special mention of Ephraim as participating in the growth and enlargement promised to the whole people (Zec 10:7-9); farther promises to the nation couched in historic allusions to their former experience, and fulfilled only in the Messiahs kingdom (Zec 10:10-12). Some maintain that Zec 10:1 belongs to the preceding chapter, and ought not to have been separated from it (Hengstenberg), while others affirm the same of Zec 10:2 also (Hofmann, Khler); but Zec 10:2 is plainly as closely connected with Zec 10:3 as it is with Zec 10:1. The question is of no importance to the interpretation.
Zec 10:1. Ask of Jehovah. This summons to prayer is not a mere expression of Gods readiness to give (Hengstenberg), but, both from the force of the words and the connection, is to be literally understood. Rain stands as a representative for all blessings, temporal and spiritual. In the time of the latter rain, is merely a rhetorical amplification, for it cannot be shown that the latter rain was more necessary than the early rain for maturing the harvest. Cf. Deu 11:13-15, from which the expressions here are taken. Lightnings are mentioned as precursors of rain. Cf. Jer 10:13; Psa 135:7, where, however, a different word () is used. Give them, i. e., every one who asks.
Zec 10:2. The call to prayer is sustained by a reference to the misery caused by their former dependence upon idols and soothsayers. Teraphim, a kind of household gods=Penates, who appear also to have been looked upon as oracles (Hos 3:4), in which latter light they are regarded here. The etymology of the word is still unsettled. The prevalence of impostors, of the kinds here mentioned, just before the overthrow of Judah, is abundantly established. Jer 27:9; Jer 29:8; Jer 23:9; Jer 23:14; Jer 23:32; Ezek. 21:34, Eze 22:28. Therefore, the consequence was that they were compelled to wander away, and were without a ruler, i. e., one of their own Davidic line, a state of things still in existence when Zechariah wrote.
Zec 10:3. Against the shepherds. Israel having lost its native rulers, fell under the power of heathen governors, here styled shepherds and he-goats, (Isa 14:9, Heb.). These are to be. punished, because Jehovah regards those whom they oppress as his flock, whom He visits and protects. House of Judah is mentioned not in distinction from Ephraim (see Zec 10:6-7), but as the central point and representative of the covenant people. A striking comparison indicates that the deliverance is effected by an actual military struggle. Just as in Zec 9:13, Jehovah called Judah and Ephraim his bow and arrow, so here He calls the former his goodly-horse, such a horse as for his extraordinary qualities is chosen, and splendidly equipped as the war-horse of the general. The House of Judah, therefore will be well prepared to meet its enemies.
Zec 10:4. From him the corner-stone. refers not to Jehovah (Hitzig, Kohler, Pressel), but to Judah, as appears from the connection and from the passage in Jer. (Jer 30:21) on which this one leans. Prom themselves was to come forth every one of their rulers, which is expressed in the former part of the verse by figures, namely, the corner-stone, cf. Psa 118:22; the nail, the large ornamental pin, built into the wall of oriental houses for the purpose of suspending household utensils (Isa 22:23); the war-bow, which denotes military forces and weapons in general (Zec 9:10).
Zec 10:5. The consequence will be the annihilation of foes. And. like heroes. Some explain the allusion as=they trample the mire of the streets, i. e, their foes considered as such (like the sling-stones in Zec 9:15); so Hengstenberg, Keil, etc. But the verb in Kal is always elsewhere transitive, and the ought not to be overlooked. We should render, therefore, treading down (foes) in or into the mire (Frst, Khler). Riders on horses. Cavalry, the arm in which Israel was always weak, is mentioned in Dan 11:40 as the principal strength of the Asiatic rulers (comp. also 1Ma 3:39, Zec 4:1). Hence the force of the promise here.
Zec 10:6. And I will strengthen, etc. Judah and Joseph comprehend the entire people as a whole. Make them dwell, i. e., securely and happily as in the olden time, which is suggested also in the next clause but one (cf. Eze 36:11). And I will hear them, is a very comprehensive promise.
Zec 10:7. And Ephraim wine. In this verse and the following, the prophet refers particularly to Ephraim (but not to the exclusion of Judah), for the reason that heretofore the ten tribes had not participated as largely as it was intended they should, in the return from exile. They and their sons shall share in the coming conflict, and equally with Judah prove themselves to be like a hero. Their exultation in Jehovah is expressed by a comparison which is applied by the Psalmist to the Lord Himself. Psa 78:65.
Zec 10:8. I will hiss. increase. The hissing or whistling is mentioned as a signal (cf. Isa 5:26; Isa 7:18). It alludes to the ancient method of swarming bees. This verse explains how Israel, so large a part of whom were still in exile, should take part in the victorious struggle. The Lord would bring them back. The utter downfall of the northern kingdom, so long before that of Judah, had removed nearly every political reason for maintaining the old disruption, and all the circumstances of the time inclined the various tribes to coalesce again into one people. I have redeemed, pret. proph. to express Jehovahs unalterable purpose. The last clause, like Zec 10:6 b, refers to Eze 36:11. The extraordinary multiplication of the Jews at and after this period is one of the most familiar facts of history. See Merivale, History of the Romans, Zech 39. Josephus informs us that two hundred years after the time here referred to, Galilee was peopled to an amazing extent, studded with cities, towns, and villages; and adds that the villages were not what are usually called by that name, but contained, some of them, fifteen thousand inhabitants. Henderson, in loc.
Zec 10:9. And I will sow. . return. The word never means scatter in the sense of banishing or destroying (Frst, Henderson, Hitzig), but always has the sense of sowing (, LXX.; seminabo, Vulg.), and when applied to men, denotes increase (Hos. 2:24; Jer 31:27). The passage means, then, that Israel while among the nations will repeat the experience of their ancestors in Egypt, the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew (Exo 1:12). They shall live, is explained in Eze 37:14. The mention of the children with them implies that the blessing would not be transient, but abiding.
Zec 10:10. And I will bring Egypt. Some expositors suppose that by Egypt and Assyria are meant the lands so named, and vainly attempt to show that many of the ten tribes were carried or escaped to Egypt. It is far better to adopt the opinion of Gesenius, that Egypt and Assyria are mentioned here in place of the different countries into which the Jews were scattered. Such a typical use of names is neither unnatural nor unusual. Egypt was the first oppressor of the covenant people, and Assyria was the final instrument of overthrowing the ten tribes, and the two terms might well be combined as a general statement of the lands of the dispersion. See this combination in a similar case in Isa 27:13, and cf. Isa 10:24; Isa 11:11; Isa 11:16; Isa 19:23; Isa 52:4; Hos 11:11. Khlers objection that in this case Assyria must be taken in its most literal sense, is surely groundless, for the prophet could not have meant that the Ephraimites should be restored from certain regions and not from others. The general terms of the preceding verses forbid such a narrow view. Nor can Pressel claim the mention of Assyria as favoring the theory which dates the prophecy before the Captivity, because the subject of it is not Judah alone, but the whole nation, with special reference to Ephraim, and therefore Assyria was just the country which it suited the prophet to mention. The land of Gilead and Lebanon=northern Palestine on both sides of the Jordan, the former home of the ten tribes. Room found, because of their increase. Merivale, in the place above cited, accounts for the manner in which the Jews in the centuries just before Christ, swarmed over the whole Roman world, from the Tiber to the Euphrates, from the pines of the Caucasus to the spice groves of Arabia Felix, by the insufficiency of their native land to support the immense population.
Zec 10:11. And he passes. The subject, of course, is Jehovah, the discourse passing from direct to indirect address, in accordance with the Hebrew usage allowing such rapid transitions. To make the subject (Calvin, Cocceius, Syr.), is unnatural and frigid, besides connecting a feminine noun with a verb having a masculine suffix. This verse continues the figurative allusions of the preceding. Just as of old God gloriously vindicated his people in the passage over the Red Sea, so now He marches through the deep at the head of his chosen and smites down the roaring waves. The article in the sea points to the particular body of water through which Israel had once before been led,the Arabian Gulf. almost always=Nile. Here the term depths or floods is properly applied to its vast and regular inundations. In the last clause the characteristic feature of Assyria is well expressed by pride (Isa 10:7), and that of Egypt by the sceptre or rod of the taskmasters.
Zec 10:12. And I strengthen. The whole section is appropriately wound up with this emphatic promise. The entire strength, conduct, hope, and destiny of Israel lay in Jehovah. The name of Jehovah is a comprehensive expression denoting his glory as manifested in history (Hengstenberg). Trusting and serving the God thus revealed, they would find the past a pledge of the future, and see the divine perfections as gloriously illustrated in their behalf as at any former period.
This chapter, as has been said, continues and enlarges the promises of the preceding. After tracing the distresses of the people to their apostasy, it sets forth their deliverance as effected through actual conflicts, in which the might of Jehovah gives to the native leaders a force and courage which suffice to subdue foes otherwise far superior. This victory is followed by a large increase of population, not confined to Judah but also including Israel. Nor is there reason to doubt that the independence achieved by the Maccabees attracted very many of the exiles from the northern kingdom, who forgot the old causes of dissension, and united heartily in maintaining the reestablished national centre in Jerusalem. This fusion at home led to a similar fusion abroad; and wherever Jews were found who preserved their hereditary faith at all, they still remembered Jehovah as the one who had chosen Zion, and considered themselves as constituent parts of one covenant people. So far the predictions of the chapter were fulfilled historically in the period extending from the establishment of Jewish independence to the time of the advent. In the last three verses the Prophet describes a far greater because spiritual blessing in terms borrowed from the old experience of the people. The drying up of the sea, the humiliation of Assyria, the overthrow of Egypt simply set forth the removal of all possible obstacles in the way of a spiritual return to God. The Lord will reclaim and bless them by procedures as marvelous as any that ever occurred in their former history.
But before this great event takes place, before the Church of the Old Testament passes into the form and character of the Church of the New Testament, a sad and peculiar experience is to be gone through. This is set forth in the striking imagery of the next chapter.
THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL
1. In the opening verse of this chapter the Prophet comes into direct opposition many of the so-called Scientists of our day. They affirm that without a disturbance of natural law quite as serious as the stoppage of an eclipse or the rolling the St. Lawrence up the Falls of Niagara, no act of humiliation, individual or national, could call one shower from heaven (Tyndall). It follows, of course, that only those who believe that the miraculous is still active in nature can consistently join in prayers for fair weather and for rain. The Prophet, on the contrary, directs the people whenever the heavens withhold their moisture, to ask from the Lord what they need, and assures them that asking they shall obtain; and yet neither he nor his hearers supposed that this process involved a miracle in any proper sense of that term. It certainly implies the attainment of an end which without this means would not be accomplished. It is the combining and directing of natural forces so as to secure a certain result. This is what men are doing all the time, without dreaming that they are miracle-workers. Much more may God do it, who is not, like us, limited by second causes. In this very matter of rain, a scientific man announced some years ago at certain process by which an adequate rain-fall could at any time be secured. Whether his theory was valid or not, no one scouted it as impossible, or preposterous. Yet learned men deny to God what they allow to themselves. Creatures may compel the clouds, but the Creator may not. They may employ one and another natural law so as to achieve novel effects, but the Maker of the whole,
Who sets the bright procession on its way,
And marshals all the order of the year,
is shut up in the workmanship of his hands, and cannot possibly escape from the regular sequence of cause and effect. But this is simply the rejection, not merely of Christianity or of the Old Testament, but of all religion whateZech Zechariah 10 : A God who has no control over nature is to all intents and purposes no God. Sentiments of reverence, gratitude, obligation, love, and dependence toward such a Being, are impossible. The doctrine of prayer, therefore, is a vital one. There never has been, there never can be a religion without communion with the object of worship. To deny the efficacy of prayer, even in such matters as the giving or withholding of rain, is to remand the human race into a state of practical atheism.
2. The question with man never is whether he will have a religion or not, but always whether he will have that which is true, or one that is false. Not only his intuitions, his moral convictions, but his dependent condition, his exposure to change, want, sorrow, and death, all compel him to look up to some superior invisible power, something nobler and better than himself. If this craving be not met by the truth, it surely will be by falsehood. A permanent state of atheistic unbelief is impossible. Such a state has never been seen in all the worlds history. In ancient Israel there was a constant oscillation between the worship of Jehovah and the service of idols, but never the abnegation of all worship. And this is the alternative which confronts every man and every age. They may reject the true God and the revealed religion; but the inevitable result is superstition in some form, more or less refined. Just as among the Jews whenever they apostatized, diviners came to the front. When Saul could get no answer from the Lord, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by Prophets, he went to the Witch of Endor.
Intelligence and culture are no guard against such a result. If men will not believe the rational and true, they will believe the absurd and the false Our own land at this day furnishes conspicuous examples. Table-turnings and spirit-rappings have led captive many who turned away in scorn from the teachings of Christ and his Apostles. The voice of God, uttered with every kind and degree of evidence in his Word, has been given up for the sake of the pretended disclosures of the spirits of the dead; and the necromancy of the nineteenth century before Christ has been revived in the nineteenth century after Christ. And the results have been what was to be expected. On one hand a degree of unnatural excitement of the feelings and the imagination which terminated in an eclipse of reason, and on the other, a lowering of the tone of morals which undermined the family constitution, and swept away the surest safeguards of human society. It is as criminal and as dangerous to consult diviners now as it ever was in the days of ancient Israel. Should not a people seek unto their God? [Should they seek] for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 8:19-20).
3. The prediction of the return of Ephraim in this chapter (Zec 10:6) has been sometimes cited as evidence that the ten tribes are still somewhere existing as a separate community, and as such are yet to be restored to their own land. But this is an error. The words of the Prophet were fulfilled in the period to which he refers. Many of the transplanted Ephraimites fell away from the faith and became absorbed in the heathen by whom they were surrounded, but many who remained true to Jehovah, joined their fortunes with those of their brethren of Judah. Their common calamities softened and at last obliterated the old feelings of enmity toward each other. Jerusalem became again the central point of the whole nation, and while not a few actually shared in the restoration, others who remained in exile, yet adhered to the second temple, aided it by their gifts, and often attended the yearly festivals. Hence all the latter were comprehended under the term, the Diaspora (Jam 1:1). In the New Testament there are repeated allusions to the twelve tribes, conveying the distinct impression that the inhabitants of Palestine in our Lords day represented both parts of the nation. There is no reason, therefore, for the pains which have been taken to discover them in some remote or obscure part of the globe. And indeed the hopeless disagreement of those who seek a historical identification of these exiles shows the vanity of the attempt. The foot of the Himalayas, the coast of Malabar, the interior of China, the Nestorians of Persia, and the Indians of North America, have all been claimed as containing the veritable descendants of the Hebrews whom Sargon carried away. This whole subject is treated with ability and learning in an article in the Princeton Review for April, 1873, by the Rev. John H. Shedd. The conclusions to which Mr. Shedd comes are thus stated:
1. That the apostate Israelites were lost among the idolaters of the Assyrian Empire at the time of their apostasy.
2. That the true Israelites under Persian rule became identified with the captivity of Judah, and the nationality of the Ten Tribes was extinct.
3. That these Jews, embracing, since the time of Cyrus, the faithful of both Judah and Israel, greatly increased in numbers, were reinforced by emigrants from Palestine, and have sent off colonies to all the East, throughout Persia, Tartary, and Thibet; but there is no Scriptural or historical basis for the idea that the Ten Tribes are living as a body in some obscure region or are found in any one nation.
4. That some at least of the communities of Jews still living in the land of their original exile, are lineal descendants of the Ten Tribes; and considering the history of those Jews, their present numbers of fifty or sixty thousand souls in Persia and Assyria, and several thousand more in Babylonia, they sufficiently solve the problem.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Melvill: Ask ye rain. Men seem practically to have but little remembrance that the mainspring of all the mechanism of second causes is in the hands of an invisible Creator; that it is not from what goes on in the hidden laboratories of what they call nature that season succeeds season, and shower and sunshine alternate with so much of beautiful and beneficent order, but that the whole arrangement is momentarily dependent upon the will and energy of that supreme Being who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.
Calvin: Grass in the field. The Prophet no doubt includes here under one kind all things necessary for a happy life; for it is not the will of God to fill his faithful people in this world as though they were swine, but his design is to give them by means of earthly things, a taste of the spiritual life. I am Jehovah their God. He means by this that although he had for a time rejected the Jews, their adoption would not be void; for by calling Himself their God He reminds them of his covenant, as if He said that He had not in vain made a covenant with Abraham, and promised that his seed should be blessed. And 1 will sow them. This was an instance of the wonderful grace of God; for hence it happened that the knowledge of celestial truth shone everywhere; and at length when the Gospel was proclaimed, a freer access was had to the Gentiles, because Jews were dispersed through all lands. The first receptacles (hospitia) of the Gospel were the Synagogues. God thus scattered his seed here and there that it might in due time produce fruit beyond the expectation of all.
Pressel: Diviners have seek a lie. Unbelief has recourse to a crowd of superstitious devices, and by their folly and impotence is put to shame: Faith on the contrary turns to prayer and through it works wonders. Passes through the sea. For how many has Israels wonderful passage through the Red Sea been a pattern of a wonderful escape through straits and sorrows of every kind! The text is one of the oldest examples of this use of the deliverance, but new ones are constantly occurring.
Jay: I will strengthen them in the Lord. The very assurance our hearts want. Its fulfillment will keep us in our work, not cause us to cease. It will be seasonable and proportioned to our needs. As thy days, etc. It will come in Gods own way, that is, in the use of the means He has appointed. These we are to employ, especially when we are not in a proper or lively frame; as fire u most needful when we are cold.
Footnotes:
[1]Zec 10:1. lit rain of rain=copious rains. See Job 37:6, where the words are transposed.The text of the E. V. gives a singularly inappropriate rendering of the previous noun , for what consistency is there between bright clouds and heavy showers?
[2]Zec 10:2. As this word denotes a peculiar species of idolatrous image, it is best to transfer it.
[3]Zec 10:2. , lit, break up, as an encampment, h. to wander. They, i. e., the people.
[4]Zec 10:2. oppressed, sorely afflicted. The troubled of the E. V. is too feeble. The tense is future, implying that the condition still exists.
[5]Zec 10:3. There is a play here upon the two meanings of the word , the one to care for, the other to punish; or in general to visit, for good or for ill. Jehovah visits for evil, i. e., punishes, the goats; but visits for good, i. e., cares for, his flock. Keil, Henderson, and Cowles err in saying that the meaning to punish requires to be followed by pers. See Job 31:14; Isa 26:14. Henderson (following the E. V.) makes the extraordinary mistake of rendering as a preterite, and claiming the vav before as a vav conZech Zechariah 10 : He also renders =nevertheless, a meaning which it never has.
[6]Zec 10:4.=ruler, as in Isa 3:12; Isa 60:17. Hengstenberg insists upon the original meaning, oppressor, but thinks the harshness implied is directed against foes.
[7]Zec 10:5. . The Hiphil takes a passive sense, just as in Zec 9:5.
[8]Zec 10:6. . This anomalous form is best explained as the Hiphil of for . (Gesenius, Hengstenberg, Maurer). Ewald derives it from , and Kimchi explains it as a compound of both words uniting the senses of both, as in the E. V., I will bring them again to place them. But it is far better to interpret it like the similar form in Eze 36:11, than to adopt this Rabbinical refinement, which has no precedent elsewhere.
[9]Zec 10:7. . As Ephraim is a collective noun, there seems to be no reason for the periphrasis of the E. V., they of Ephraim.
[10]Zec 10:9. Hendersons rendering, Though I have scattered them,. yet they shall, etc., is grammatically impossible, is opposed to the true sense of , and is not required by the context. His distant regions is no improvement upon the E. V.s far countries.
[11]Zec 10:9. . Peoples. See on Zec 8:20.
[12]Zec 10:10. . cf. Jos 17:16. (The necessary room) shall not be found for them.
[13]Zec 10:11. is best taken as in apposition to the preceding noun. To make it a verb meaning to cleave, after an Aramaic analogy (Maurer, Henderson, et al.), is far-fetched and needless. As a noun, it serves to show that the previous noun does not mean a literal sea, but affliction represented under that figure.
[14]Zec 10:12. . The force of the Hithpael conjugation here is to express more distinctly than the Kal, the idea of continuous habitual action. For the sentiment, cf. Mic 4:5, where, however, Kal forms are used.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter is full of gospel promises, like the former, and particularly with an eye to the restoration of Judah; the close of the Chapter abounds with an assurance of many blessed things.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field. 2. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd. 3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. 4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
Under the figurative language of rain, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, in his gracious influences, are directed to be sought for from the Lord. Reader! pray notice the similarity in this injunction to that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luk 11:9-13 . And do observe further, that in those precepts there is implied the accompanying grace to enable the petitioner to ask. The Corner-stone is well known to be an emblem of Christ. Psa 118:22 . with Mat 21:42 ; Act 4:11 . And the nail fastened in a sure place, equally typical of Christ. Isa 22:23 ; Ecc 12:11 . And the battle-bow, which implies the holy war of the Lord Jesus. Isa 63:1 . And the oppressor together, means that all agents must have their commission from him. Hence Peter, when charging the Jews with crucifying the Lord of life and glory, declared, that it was only accomplishing, what before, the Lord had determined to be done. Act 2:23 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XXIX
THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH (CONTINUED) PART III
Zec 9:1-11:17
We take up now the second part of the book of Zechariah, the more difficult part of the prophecy. It has many parallels with the Revelation of John, and has a great many difficulties, though perhaps, not as many as that book.
The date of these oracles is subsequent to 516 B.C., that is, sometime subsequent to the dedication of the Temple. It represents Zechariah’s inspired look into the far future. It contains the pictures which Zechariah drew of the great principles political, spiritual, and religious that were to operate in the future history of his people, Israel. He looks at them through the eye of the Jew, and from the Jewish standpoint, as all prophets did, and pictured those events from materials drawn from Jewish conceptions and Jewish life and ideals. He looked into the centuries and saw the spiritual conflicts which took place, and saw the final outcome, which was very similar to the final outcome portrayed by the other great prophets. As Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah had before them the Assyrian invasion, and as Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk, as well as Ezekiel, had upon the horizon of the world the Babylon invasion, so Zechariah has before him the Greek invasion and the great events which transpired in the history of Israel as a result thereof. It was the rise of these great powers which gave rise to the greatest of the prophecies that we have reserved to us. It requires great occasions to bring forth and develop great men, and when God brings great occasions or great emergencies upon the world, he prepares great men to meet them.
The principal ideas in these last six chapters of Zechanah, are the invasion of the Greeks and the spread of Greek philosophy, religion, literature, and civilization in western Asia. There is a picture of the messianic King, presented as coming like a king of peace, and as a shepherd to tend his sheep; a picture of the preservation of the people of Israel, particularly the preservation of the capital, Jerusalem) and the downfall of their enemies; a picture also of the restoration of the exiled, outcast and scattered people of Israel; a picture also of Israel’s greatest crime, the tragedy of her history, also of the final conversion of the Jews, of the consummation of all things and the glorious and blessed millennial age. Zechariah has in view the great principles that were fighting for supremacy in the history of the centuries and shows their outcome
Now we take up Zec 9 , the theme of which is The Coming of a King. The destruction of the nations through the advent of the Greeks is set forth in Zec 9:1-7 . These nations were those immediately north of Israel, in what is known as Syria. They were Damascus, Hadrach, Hamath) Tyre, Sidon, and then all the victorious Greeks swept down the coast of Philistia and its great cities. “The burden of the word of Jehovah,” which means an oracle concerning their destruction, an oracle which predicts a burden upon those nations, and means that these nations were to suffer beneath that burden. “Upon the land of Hadrach,” he says, “and Damascus, is this burden placed, for there shall it abide and it has abode upon the land of Hadrach ever since. “For the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Jehovah,” or “For to Jehovah is the eye of man and all the tribes of Israel.”
The idea is that these events which he is going to mention, are events ordered of God because he looks upon all those nations, and upon the tribes of Israel also, who shall have an important part in these events. “Hamath also which bordereth thereon; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.” Ezekiel says that Tyre was very wise, worldly wise, very shrewd, the most astute commercial people in the world at that time. And he says, “Tyre did build herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as dust, and fine gold as mire of the streets,” just as Solomon did in Jerusalem, as he gathered all the wealth of the nations into Jerusalem to himself, so Tyre gathered all the wealth she could gather from the nations unto herself and it was concentrated there.
He says in regard to Tyre, “Jehovah will dispossess her and will smite her power in the sea and she shall be devoured with fire.” That was done in 331 B.C. when Alexander the Great built a mole from the mainland across the strait to the island on which Tyre was situated. Upon Tyre he vented all his wrath: Two thousand of its best citizens were crucified, and six to eight thousand more were butchered, multitudes were sold into slavery, the city was burned with fire and ever since it has been a desolation,
Alexander the Great swept down the coast to Philistia. “Ashkelon,” one of the Philistine cities, “shall see it and fear,” and well they might fear. “Gaza also shall see it, and be sore pained, and Ekron, for her expectation shall be put to shame; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.” Probably her expectation was Tyre and Sidon, that they would form a bulwark or barrier against the conquering Greeks. “And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.” That was done, for Alexander swept them almost into oblivion. “And I will take away his blood out of his mouth,” that is, “I will stop his eating of blood in his sacrifices and religious ceremonials, and his abominations from between his teeth.” I will put a stop to all that eating of abominable flesh in his religious ceremonials. “And he alas shall be a servant for our God.” There is hope for a few.
What about Jerusalem? Shall Jerusalem fall under Alexander the Great? No, as Zec 9:8 says, “I will encamp about my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more; for now have I seen with mine eyes.” And that is what happened. Alexander the Great passed down the coast of the Mediterranean, and according to Josephus was marching up to Jerusalem, when he met the high priest, Jadua, at the head of a procession of priests; they met him in their white robes, showed him the oracle, perhaps this very prophecy) which said he should not take Jerusalem. Alexander bowed before him, went into Jerusalem, offered sacrifice, and Jerusalem was saved exactly as it says here. Whether Josephus’ story is true or not, one thing is certain, he spared Jerusalem.
In Zec 9:9-10 we have a prophecy of peace among the nations by the advent of Israel’s king. Having thus predicted the destruction of those nations and the safety of Jerusalem, and having prepared the way for the king, he now paints his immortal picture of the coming king: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, even a colt the foal of an ass.” This is a picture of a king coming in peace, a contrast to what he had just been picturing. Now this is one of the passages that have been literally fulfilled, and we know the story of how Jesus sent his disciples to prepare the colt upon which he sat and rode into Jerusalem amidst the acclamation of the multitudes.
What is the result of his entrance upon the city? Zec 9:10 says that he will put an end to all strife and war and bloodshed: “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,” the chariots which they employed for war, “and the horse from Jerusalem,” which Micah says was the cause of her sin and downfall, “and the battle now shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” That was not all literally fulfilled when Jesus entered Jerusalem, but has its fulfilment in all the history of Christianity. It is a picture of the onward march of Jesus Christ, looked at from a standpoint of a king of peace.
Next he sees the inevitable conflict between the religion of the Jews and the religion of the Greeks (Zec 9:11-17 ). The history of the contact between the Greek and Hebrew cults is very voluminous and in every way full of interest. It may be noted without present comment that certain Jewish books attribute to a king of Sparta the curious statement based on alleged records, that the Spartans, with the Jews, “are of the stock of Abraham” (1 Maccabees 12:21). These Apocryphal books, 1 and 2 Maccabees, recount with thrilling interest the heroic struggles of the Jews against the Syrian subdivision of the Greek Empire.
As above mentioned, Josephus has a marvelous account of the march of Alexander, himself, against Jerusalem, and of the supernatural reasons which constrained that world conqueror not to forge his threatened vengeance against the Holy City, but to confer great privileges upon the Jewish people. He also tells us a stirring story of the continuation of Grecian favor accorded by the Ptolemies who subsequently ruled over the Egyptian part of Alexander’s divided empire, and particularly of the translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language, thus giving to the world a royal patronage more helpful than that which later immortalized King James, the famous version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, from which Jesus himself sometimes, and the New Testament writers more frequently quote. Indeed, Alexandria, established by Alexander himself at the mouth of the Nile, by the liberal policy toward this hated people, became a second Jerusalem, which evidenced for centuries in the religious and philosophical literature of its Jewish residents the modifying influence of Greek culture.
The book of Daniel forecasts much concerning the rise, extent, subdivisions, and influences of the coming Greek Empire, and its relation to the kingdom of the Messiah. The records of the New Testament are all preserved for us in the Greek language. Jesus himself, somewhat, and his apostles much more at a later date, came in personal contact with Greek people. And the simplicity of the gospel which they preached throughout the world, met, at every turn, the opposing forces of Greek culture, Greek philosophy and Greek idolatry.
Some of the most noted of Paul’s apostolic labors, sufferings, conflicts and triumphs were in Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and other famous Greek cities, and very much of the argument and exhortation of his letters was called forth for the solution of practical problems of Christian life arising from Greek environment.
The second largest ecclesiastical organization of the professing Christian world today is called the Greek Church whose religious primate is the patriarch of Constantinople and whose secular head and champion is the Czar of all the Russias. There exists also today a galvanized Greek government, kept upon its feet by the buttressing of foreign powers, but in no way fulfilling the ideal for which Marcos Bozzaris fought and Byron sang.
Far more significant than this weakling of a government rendered doubly ridiculous by its recent fiasco with Turkey, is a widespread and menacing revival of ancient Greek philosophy wrongfully supposed to lie hopelessly dead in the graves of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Demacritus. The tombs of the heathen Greeks have been robbed their philosophy exhumed and rehabilitated and now, like the soulless giant, Prometheus, that sprang from the brain of Godwin’s daughter, it stalks in colossal strides across affrighted continents or like Nebuchadnezzar’s huge and incongruous dream image, stands an imposing titan in the path of the rolling stone of the Messiah’s kingdom.
Following this comes an inquiry into the import of this passage for somewhere on historic ground must we find the time, place, and need for divine intervention in stirring up the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece in Zec 9:13 . From some points in historical background must flash the light that illumines this passage and reveals the fulfilment of this prophecy.
The difficulty here is not one of the exegesis but of interpretation, the grammatical construction is simple, and every term of the prophecy easily defined. The question is, What does it mean? Are we to understand by “sons of Zion” Israel according to the flesh, or spiritual Israel? Are “Sons of Greece” limited to men of Greek nationality? Is the conflict to which God purposes and promises to incite the one against the other an ordinary war between nations, a strife for tribute, territory, or conquest? Unquestionably, the grammatical construction admits the natural and literal interpretation.
In such case, however, we must look far back into the past to find fulfilment of the prophecy, far beyond the birth of Christ for when Jesus came, the scepter had departed from Greece, and Rome ruled the world. The literal interpretation forces us back to a time when both Jews and Greeks had national existence and grounds of quarrel.
Therefore, to the question, When and by what events is the prophecy fulfilled, most commentators promptly answer: When the Maccabees waged heroic and triumphant war against Antiochus Epiphanes and his successors, a thrilling account of which struggle is recounted in Josephus and the Apocryphal books of the Maccabees. But to my mind, the objections to this limited and local interpretation are insurperable. Not merely because the course of Antiochus Epiphanes was the one exception to the otherwise uniform kind treatment of the Jews by Greek nations and is more than counterbalanced by the course of Alexander himself and of the Ptolemies simply because the Maccabean war is an insignificant and inconsequential climax to so great a prophecy nor even mainly because this war is manifestly irrelevant to the messianic features of the prophecy chiefly because the context, separately in all its parts, and altogether as a whole, absolutely forbids it, both as to time and events.
Let us look somewhat at this context. Immediately preceding the text, intimately and necessarily associated with it indeed its only proper introduction, is this unquestioned messianic prophecy: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt and foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations; and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for thee, also, because of the blood of thy covenant, I have set free thy prisoners from the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee. For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim, and I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man” (Zec 9:9-13 ).
This preceding context on the face of it, and in every particular excludes the literal interpretation under consideration. It expressly cuts off the use of the carnal weapons employed in the Maccabean war it proclaims peace and not war to the opposing heathen its captives are prisoners of hope to be saved by the blood of the covenant the dominion attained is too wide to fit the territory redeemed by the Maccabean victories. The inspiration of the New Testament expressly interprets the coming of the king described in it to mean Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (See Mat 21:1-11 ). The bending of Judah as a bow and the fitting of Ephraim to it as a narrow, prior to the stirring up of the sons of Zion, has no fulfilment in Maccabean times, but finds plausible interpretation in the apostles who, except Judas that perished, belonged to the tribe of Ephraim rather than of Judah but who proclaimed the word of the law from Jerusalem, when the ascended Jesus, the great archer, shot them forth as arrows to the ends of the earth. They were his spiritual children, “an heritage of the Lord,” who became “as arrows in the hand of a mighty man.”
As the preceding, so the succeeding but more remote context. It is all messianic. There we behold “the wounds in his hands received in the house of his friends.” There we see the “weighing out of the thirty pieces of silver as his price.” There we hear the divine apostrophe: “Awake, O Sword, against the Shepherd,” and there we foresee “the pouring out on the house of David and the city of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications and of mourning when they look on him whom they had pierced,” and there the consequent “opening of a fountain for sin and uncleanness in the city of David.”
Indeed, not one circumstance not one detail of time nor event in all the context can be applied without gross violence to the times of Antiochus and the Maccabees. Moreover, Zechariah must line up with Daniel when he also forecasts the same messianic kingdom and its foes. In the great and luminous image of Nebuchadnezzar and in the four beasts of his vision Daniel is made to see four successive world empires three of them naturally defunct in the beginning of fulfilment but all of them alive in their characteristic spirit and genius, and all of them in this genius and spirit to be opposed and overturned by the universal kingdom set up by the God of heaven. The Assyria the Persia the Greece as well as the Rome which Daniel saw, were to be equally alive at one and the same time and constituted one colossal image of opposition to the messianic kingdom.
When God stirs up the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece, he does not array an ancient Jewish army against the Macedonian phalanx, nor a modern Jewish army against the lean, springing battalions of the poor little make-believe government now at Athens cowering under Turkish sovereignty. The question then recurs: What events fulfil this prophecy?
Is it merely a coincidence that just after John’s vivid description of the fulfilment of the first part of this prophecy, he strangely interjects the story of the coming of certain Greeks to see Jesus and how Jesus more strangely replies: “The hour has come, that the Son of man should be glorified . . . now is the (crisis) of this world” (Joh 12:12-22 )?
At any rate, Paul’s dispute at Athens with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers was no mere coincidence. And, singularly enough, the New Testament record of that conflict verbally fulfilled the prophecy: “I will stir up thy sons, O Zion,” says this passage, and “while Paul waited for them at Athens his spirit was stirred in him,” says the New Testament record. Under that stirring up of his spirit he smote the Grecian philosophy which affirms the eternity of matter which denied immortality to man which enthroned chance or fate which declares all existing forms to be the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms which claims that the highest and most complex of living organisms, including man, were evolved in long processes of time from the lowest forms.
Let us re-examine the teaching of Epicurus as embodied in Lucretius’ song, “De Rerum Nature,” or read that Epicurean and Stoic composite by Democritus and ask ourselves, “What essentially new and fundamental thought has been added in our day to the ancient Grecian theory of evolution, by Darwin, Haeckel, Huxley, Tyndall, or Spencer? And then let us note how Paul, the son of Zion, when divinely stirred in spirit, smote the whole business, hip and thigh, by that grandest of all compound propositions, commencing, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth.”
Here, indeed, was a coming controversy between the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece, huge enough to cast its shadow before upon the prophetic eye. Beside this heaven-covering and earth-darkening cloud the Maccabean war was merely a minute speck in the sky of the future. That controversy with Antiochua Epiphanes ended long ago and was soon swallowed up from human sight by far grander and more momentous events. But this Grecian war is still on, and this mightier Antiochus, does now in moments of temporary victory set up a “real abomination of desolation in the holy place.”
Paul again states the case as he found it in Corinth, another Greek city: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent will I reject. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block and unto Gentiles foolishness, but unto them that are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1Co 1:10-25 ).
Yes, even now, as of old, the Greeks seek after wisdom. By their own wisdom they propose to solve all of life’s problems. And now, as then, their wisdom leads to the same God-denying and man-dishonoring conclusion: Man is only a developed beast. He is soulless. Death ends him. There is no God, no judgment no heaven no hell. Pleasure is man’s chief good.
The Grecian philosophers at Athens mocked when Paul spake of the resurrection. And they are right as to the chief good if Paul is wrong. So he himself argued: “If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die” (1Co 15:32 ).
In the Christians of today we find the “Sons of Zion,” and in modern evolutionists and materialists we find the “Sons of Greece.” And now, as much as in Paul’s time, the sons of Zion need to be stirred up against the sons of Greece.
In Zec 10 we have the true shepherd punishing all evil shepherds and gathering together his flock. The true shepherd, Jehovah, is spoken of first, and then the foreign rulers. The word “shepherd” as used by Jeremiah and Ezekiel means the political and religious leaders. Jehovah here calls attention to himself as the true shepherd: “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, even of Jehovah that maketh lightnings ; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.” But they will not ask Jehovah nor look to Jehovah, because Greek philosophy, Greek religion, and Greek civilization premeated the nation’s life and almost swept it away into Greek thought and life and religion.
He had in mind, perhaps, the Greek religion that threatened to sweep away Judaism. “For the teraphim [the household gods] have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they go their way like sheep.” Under these leaders, the Hellenists, Egyptians, and others, they have been led astray, as multitudes of the Jews did become corrupted. They were afflicted because there was no shepherd, and they had no true religious leader, and had not had for a long period. Now Jehovah speaks against those shepherds: “Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats.” These were undershepherds having a charge of a certain number of goats or sheep, under a shepherd. So he speaks about the political leaders and the religious leaders under them, “For Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle.” Judah shall be safe, for “From him shall come the corner-stone, from him the nail,” the sure peg in the wall that will hold the burden upon it, “from him the battle bow; from him every ruler together.” The leaders of Israel did come from Judah; for, during one hundred years or more, God raised them up to be the leaders of the shepherds of Israel and they saved the nation.
From Zec 10:8 on he says, he is going to call all the scattered, wandering people of the Jews home, and they are going to find their land again: “I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they shall increase as they have increased. And I will sow them among the peoples; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return.” One would think he was reading the prophecies of the three exile prophets, predicting the return of the exiles form Babylonia. At this time there were thousands upon thousands of Jews in Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, Assyria, Asia Minor, and almost all the world. He says, “I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.” In Zec 10:11 we have a remarkable expression: “And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.” The figure of passing through the sea is taken from passing through the Red Sea when Israel escaped from Egypt, but God is going to make them pass through the sea of affliction, and save them out of that as he saved them in the sea of Egypt. The sea of affliction! What a suggestive expression! “The depths of the Nile shall dry up, the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart. And I will strengthen them in Jehovah; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith Jehovah.” All this finds fulfilment in the return of the Jews just before the millennium.
In Zec 11 , Zechariah goes back and takes a look at those foreigners, especially those north of Judah, the tyrants that were at Antioch: the Seleucidae, among whom were Demetrius, Antigonus, Antiochus Epiphanes, and others. In poetic imagery he speaks about the destruction that was to come upon them: “Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen.” The cedar was the greatest of all the forest trees, and if the cedar goes down, the cypress may well be afraid. “Wail, O ye oaks of Basilin, for the strong forest is come down.” This is a terrible picture of the affliction that shall come upon the nation by the Parthians and Romans who crushed them to the earth. The effect is given in Zec 11:3 : “A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.” The fulfilment of that took place in those terrible invasions of the Parthians and Romans who swept over that part of the world and destroyed it.
Then comes the allegory of the shepherd and his flock, one of the most important messianic prophecies of Zechariah. It is the story of the shepherd sent to tend Israel, and the fate he met with in his work. The shepherd is Jehovah, but the view changes and at last it becomes Jesus himself. It is given to us in the form of a monologue. It pictures to us the greatest spiritual tragedy of Israel’s history. The tragedy of the ages (Zec 11:4-14 ).
We have here a picture of the false shepherds devouring the flock, the work and rejection of the good shepherd, the breaking of the two staves “Beauty” and “Bands” and the selling of the good shepherd. Here is a remarkable expression, “The flock of slaughter,” and yet it is true to their history. If we read the history of Israel in the second and third centuries before Christ and afterward, we see how that was literally fulfilled, for they were as a flock of slaughter. Syria from the north, Egypt from the south, internal strife among the people themselves; there were war, turmoil, and bloodshed, and death for two centuries.
It was the flock of slaughter indeed. “Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.” The expression “they that sell,” refers to selling them into slavery, which was carried on in wholesale fashion during this period. The slave dealer says, “Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich.” That is how they treated Israel, they thanked God that he had given them an opportunity to rob them. “Their own shepherds pitty them not” ie. their own shepherds were not shepherds of tenderness, and the people of Israel were not faithful to their Great Shepherd, for here he portrays one of the most pitiable situations in the life of Israel: she failed in fidelity to her religion. He says in Zec 11:6 , “I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.” For a century or two he seemed to have left them almost to their enemies.
Then follows Jehovah performing his duty as a shepherd through persons we know not, possibly the Maccabean family or the Asmonean dynasty, who under God acted as the shepherd for the people of Israel for a hundred years. Jehovah is above it all and he is the real shepherd. He thus pictures it: “So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves,” as every shepherd in Palestine had, one with a hook to control, and the other a club to fight the enemies. “Thy rod and thy staff,” as the psalmist says.
“I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. . . . And I took my staff, Beauty, a symbol of Jehovah’s grace toward Ephraim and Judah, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah. And I said unto them, If ye think good) give me my hire. . . . so they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver,” the price of a common slave. That was a fine salary to pay a first class shepherd of a nation for years! They gave Jehovah, the shepherd of Israel, as his hire, only thirty pieces of silver. “And Jehovah said unto me, Cast unto the potter the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.” According to the Lord’s commandment, they were thrown unto the potter. “Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands,” a symbol of the love of Ephraim and Judah, “that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”
We note the order here: Bands, the brotherhood, cannot be broken till Beauty, the grace of God, has first been broken. Brotherhood is truly based open grace. The fulfilment of this passage was literal. Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, and when he flung it down at their feet after seeing what he had done, they would not receive it, but used it to buy a potter’s field. The symbolic action here is impressive. The breaking of these staves symbolized the withdrawal of God’s grace from and the disunion of Judah and Israel because of their rejection of the shepherd. They are left to confusion and capture by the Romans, which took place in A.D. 70.
Here arises a question of textual criticism. How harmonize Mat 27:9 with Zec 11:12-13 ? To this question there are four possible answers, either of which satisfies the conditions. These are as follows: (1) The copyist by error changed Zechariah to Jeremiah; (2) Matthew did not give the name of the prophet but the copyist wrote it in the margin of the manuscript and from that it thus crept into the text of Matthew’s Gospel; (3) Jeremiah was at the head of the prophetic list with the Jews, and the word “Jeremiah” refers to a collection of Old Testament prophecies including Zechariah; (4) Jeremiah discusses the potter’s field (Zec 12:1-9 ); Zechariah discusses the price of the field, and Matthew runs the two together, mentioning the first author only, but not discussing anything said by the second. This is my own personal view.
In Zec 11:15-17 we have symbolic action of the foolish shepherd prescribed for the prophet. Because of this rejection of the good shepherd Jehovah says, “Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheer, and will tear their hoofs in pieces,” as a beast devours even to the hoof. Such was the fate of Israel under such a shepherd when they cast off the true shepherd, and it came true, for Rome did that very thing to her. But the curse that goes against this false shepherd is added, Zec 11:17 : “Woe unto the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” The Lord may give an evil shepherd, but woe to the shepherd that is thus evil. So Rome in turn received her just recompense of reward.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the problem with reference to Zec 9:9-14 , who was the author and what was the date of this prophecy?
2. In general, what was the principal predictions in these last six chapters of Zechariah?
3. What were the predictions of Zec 9:1-7 and what of their fulfilment?
4. What special prophecy of Zec 9:8 and what of its fulfilment?
5. What was the vision of Zec 9:10 and what of its fulfilment?
6. What prophecies of Zec 9:11-17 , what covenant referred to, what is the meaning of “render double unto thee,” and what is the meaning of bending Judah as a bow and filling the bow with Ephraim?
7. What of the stirring up of the Sons of Zion against the sons of Greece and what were the far-reaching results which followed?
8. How is Zec 10 introduced and what was the contrast of Zec 10:1-2 ?
9. Who were the shepherds referred to in Zec 10:3 , what the prediction concerning Judah and Ephraim, and where do we find the fulfilment?
10. What was the prophecy of Zec 10:8-12 and what the fulfilment?
11. What the apostrophes of Zec 9:1-3 and what is the application of this paragraph ?
12. Describe the scenes of Zec 9:4-14 , who was the shepherd here, what was the shepherd’s two staves and what was their meaning?
13. What was the symbolic act of the shepherd and what was the farreaching meaning and fulfilment?
14. How do you harmonize Mat 27:9 with Zec 11:12-17
15. What was the symbolic action prescribed for the prophet in Zec 11:15-17 and what was the application?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Zec 10:1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Ver. 1. Ask you of the Lord rain ] Ask it and have it; open your mouths wide, and he will fill them. “Seek ye the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you,” Hos 10:12 . Surely as the sun draws up vapours from the earth and sea, not to retain them, but to return them; and as thin vapours come down again in thick showers of rain; so God calls for our prayers, for out profit; and does for us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Eph 3:20 . Ask we must, Eze 36:37 . Prayer is an indispensable duty. Our Saviour taught his disciples to pray. He himself was to ask of his Father, and then he should have the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, Psa 2:8 . He could have had presently twelve legions of angels to rescue him; but then he was to send to heaven for them by prayer, Mat 26:53 “I came for thy words,” that is, for thy prayers’ sake, saith the angel to Daniel. As well as God loved him, he looked to hear from him, Dan 10:11-12 for he will grace his own ordinances, and make his people know both their distance and dependence.
Rain in the time of the latter rain
So the Lord shall make bright clouds
And give them showers of rain
To every one grass
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 10:1-12
1Ask rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain
The LORD who makes the storm clouds;
And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each man.
2For the teraphim speak iniquity,
And the diviners see lying visions
And tell false dreams;
They comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep,
They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd.
3My anger is kindled against the shepherds,
And I will punish the male goats;
For the LORD of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah,
And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.
4From them will come the cornerstone,
From them the tent peg,
From them the bow of battle,
From them every ruler, all of them together.
5They will be as mighty men,
Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;
And they will fight, for the LORD will be with them;
And the riders on horses will be put to shame.
6I will strengthen the house of Judah,
And I will save the house of Joseph,
And I will bring them back,
Because I have had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not rejected them,
For I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
7Ephraim will be like a mighty man,
And their heart will be glad as if from wine;
Indeed, their children will see it and be glad,
Their heart will rejoice in the LORD.
8I will whistle for them to gather them together,
For I have redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were before.
9When I scatter them among the peoples,
They will remember Me in far countries,
And they with their children will live and come back.
10I will bring them back from the land of Egypt
And gather them from Assyria;
And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon
Until no room can be found for them.
11And He will pass through the sea of distress
And strike the waves in the sea,
So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up;
And the pride of Assyria will be brought down
And the scepter of Egypt will depart.
12And I will strengthen them in the LORD,
And in His name they will walk, declares the LORD.
Zec 10:1 Ask rain This is a Qal IMPERATIVE (BDB 981, KB 1371). Rain was a gift from God, e.g., Isa 30:23; Jer 10:13). The emphasis of Zec 1:17; Zec 9:17 is on social stability and fruitfulness being from YHWH. Famine was part of the curse of Deuteronomy 28 (cf. Jer 14:1-6), but abundant rain was also part of the promised blessing if they followed God (cf. Deu 11:13-14; Deu 28:12). During Israel’s periods of idolatry (e.g., Hosea 4) she ascribed fertility to Ba’al (Canaanite storm and fertility god) and not to YHWH (cf. Jer 14:22). Chapter 10 highlights this grave mistake (cf. Zec 14:17).
at the time of the spring rain In Palestine there were only two periods of rain (cf. Deu 11:14; Joe 2:23).
1. early rain at the autumn time before spring planting (October – November)
2. latter rain at the time of the maturing plant (March – April)
Most regular moisture came from the heavy dew. Because of the covenant promises and cursing of Deuteronomy 27-29, these periods of rain became metaphors of spiritual renewal and the presence of God with His people for blessing.
The latter rains became an idiom for God’s blessing in the end-time (e.g., Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23).
NASB, NRSV
NJBthe storm clouds
NKJVflashing clouds
TEVrain clouds
The Hebrew word (BDB 304) is found twice in Job in contexts implying lightning (JB, cf. Job 28:26; Job 38:15). The thrust of the passage is that God controls the weather and, thereby, food production and fertility (cf. Deu 11:14-15).
Zec 10:2 teraphim This refers to household idols, apparently in humanoid form, used to discern the will of the departed family spirits or the family gods (cf. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:34; Jdg 17:5; Jdg 18:14-20; 1Sa 15:23; 1Sa 19:13; 2Ki 23:24; Hos 3:4). The exact etymology of this term (BDB 1076) is uncertain. See Special Topic: Teraphim (BDB 1076).
NASBspeak iniquity
NKJVspeak delusion
NRSVutter nonsense
TEVnonsense
NJBhave talked nonsense
The VERB (BDB 180, KB 210) is a Piel PERFECT.
The NOUN (BDB 19) basically means trouble, sorrow, or wickedness (cf. Num 23:21; Psa 10:7; Psa 55:11; Isa 10:1; Isa 55:7). It is used in combination with Beth-Aven and Bethel in Hos 4:15; Hos 5:8; Hos 10:5; Hos 10:8; and Amo 5:5 to label the worship of the golden calf as wilfully idolatrous (i.e., nothing, cf. Isa 1:11-15). Possibly the classic text is 1Sa 15:22-23. It is surprising that a list of idolatrous activities is mentioned in the post-exilic period (cf. Mal 3:5). This whole chapter may be an allusion to Moses’ prophecy in Deu 4:25-31.
the diviners see lying visions This is a Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE (BDB 890, KB 1115, the ones divining) plus a Qal PERFECT VERB (BDB 302, KB 301, see lies). Most of these false methods of attempting to find the will of God are mentioned in Deu 18:9-13, esp. Deu 18:10 (cf. 2Ki 17:17). Divining is especially mentioned in 1Sa 15:23. It either refers to natural (e.g., flight of birds, clouds, sheep livers) or manmade (e.g., casting sticks, tea leaves) means of determining the will of God (cf. Eze 21:21). Here this term (BDB 890) refers to false prophets (cf. Isa 3:2; Jer 27:9; Jer 29:8; Eze 13:9; Eze 13:23; Ezek. 22:38; Mic 3:11).
For a good discussion of divination see New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 3, pp. 945-951 or Zondervan’s Pictorial Encyclopedia of The Bible, vol. 2, pp. 146-149.
And tell false dreams The VERB (BDB 180, KB 210) is a Piel IMPERFECT. God did often speak through dreams (e.g., Jacob, Genesis 28; Joseph, Gen. 37:39-41; Daniel, Dan 1:17; Dan 2:4; Dan 2:7). However, sometimes dreams were simply manipulative lies or imaginations of the human subconscious (e.g., Deu 13:1-5; Jer 23:32; Jer 27:9-10; Jer 29:8-9).
They comfort in vain The VERB (BDB 636, KB 688) is also a Piel IMPERFECT. The NOUN (BDB 210 I) vain, or empty, so common in Ecclesiastes, is the same root as idol (cf. 2Ki 17:15; Jer 23:32; Jer 27:9-10). They are nothing, just figments of human superstition and fear, as is this false hope from false prophets! See Special Topic: Empty, Vain, False, Nothingness .
Therefore the people wander like sheep The VERB (BDB 652 I, KB 704) is a Qal PERFECT. The term the people is in italics, which shows that it is not in the Hebrew text. This verse could refer to the religions leaders, the people, or both. The classic prophetic text about false shepherds and God’s flock is in Ezekiel 34, but also is used often by Jeremiah (cf. Jer 2:8; Jer 10:21; Jer 23:1-2; Jer 50:6).
They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd This is a Qal IMPERFECT VERB (BDB 776 III, KB 853) followed by a Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, shepherding (BDB 944 I, KB 1258). The concept of shepherd as a title for kings is very common in the ancient East (cf. Baldwin, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, pp. 171-172). The king often stands as a representative of the national god. YHWH is often spoken of as shepherd and His people as sheep (cf. Gen 49:24; Num 27:17; Psa 23:1-2; Isa 40:11; Eze 34:12).
This discussion of a divine shepherd sets the stage for chapters 11-13. Zechariah is unique in his imagery of a wounded shepherd (cf. Zec 12:10; Zec 13:7), which is theologically parallel to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 (the same Hebrew term, afflicted (BDB 776 III) is used in Isa 53:4; Isa 53:7).
Zec 10:3 My anger is kindled against the shepherds This is another Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE (BDB 944 I, KB 1258) and a Qal PERFECT VERB (BDB 354, KB 351), is hot. In Ezekiel 34 (esp. Eze 34:17) God also condemns His covenant people’s civil and religious leaders for their lack of faithfulness to Him. The term male goats may refer to foreign leaders (TEV, cf. Zec 10:11; Isa 14:9; Jer 51:40).
For the LORD of hosts See Special Topic: Lord of Hosts
NASB, NKJVhas visited
NRSVcares for
TEVwill take care of them
NJBcomes to visit
The Hebrew VERB (BDB 823, KB 955, Qal IMPERFECT) means visited (for blessing, cf. Zec 10:3 c; Gen 50:24; Exo 3:16; Exo 4:31; Exo 13:19, or for judgment, cf. Zech 10:36; 1Sa 15:2; Lam 4:22; Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9). The best parallel passage is Jer 23:2. In Zec 11:16 God allows an evil shepherd to decimate the flock.
His flock, the house of Judah This refers to the southern tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and most of the tribe of Levi. The northern remaining tribes were known as Israel (collective name), Ephraim (largest tribe) or Samaria (the capital city). This tribal split occurred in 922 B.C. (cf. 1Ki 11:9-13; 1Ki 11:26-40).
In this chapter Judah is mentioned in Zec 10:3 and Ephraim in Zec 10:7. This prophet emphasizes their reunification (cf. Zec 10:6 a,b). The post exilic community and the eschatological will be one people (cf. Zec 10:4 d; 6a,b; Zec 8:13).
And will make them like His majestic horse in battle The VERB (BDB 962 I, KB 1321) is a Qal PERFECT. The term majestic (BDB 217 I) is used to describe horses in Job 39:19-25, esp. v. 20. This same word is used in Zec 6:13 for the majesty of the coming king, but here of His war mount. These are metaphors for God’s people being used (cf. Jer 51:20-33) and honored by God’s Messiah when He returns to rule and reign.
God is transforming and equipping His people so as to change them from sheep (or devious he goats) into majestic war stallions (cf. Zec 9:13). This is an example of the drastic contrasts in prophetic literature (e.g., no war in Zec 9:10 vs. war in Zec 9:13; Zec 10:3).
Zec 10:4 From them The Masoretic Text has from him (cf. NKJV and NAB, also note He of Zec 10:11). There have been several possibilities as to the object of this verse: (1) it refers to future events, either Maccabean or eschatological; (2) it is a direct reference, which means out of Judah leaders will come (NIV, cf. Zec 10:3-6; Gen 49:10; 2 Samuel 7); or (3) the Targums, which are Aramaic translations and interpretations of the Hebrew text, assert that this refers to King Messiah.
the cornerstone This refers to the Messiah in Psa 118:22 and Isa 28:16. See , see Special Topic: Cornerstone .
tent-peg This Hebrew term (BDB 450) is used of three kinds of pegs.
1. for tents (cf. Jdg 4:21; Jdg 5:26; Isa 33:20; Isa 54:2)
2. for hanging things on (cf. Isa 22:22-24; Eze 15:3)
3. for building the tabernacle (cf. Exo 27:19; Exo 35:18; Exo 38:20; Exo 38:31)
The point of the metaphor is its holding ability and thereby permanence (cf. Ezr 9:8). In this context #1 fits best.
the bow of battle This is a military idiom (cf. Zec 9:10; Exo 15:5). The metaphors of this verse speak of stability, victory, and unified leadership.
ruler This is literally oppressor. This is the very same Hebrew word (BDB 620) which is used in Zec 9:8 in a negative sense. However, it seems to be used in a positive sense here (cf. Isa 60:17) for the administrative or military leaders at the inauguration of the reign of the coming Messiah.
Zec 10:5 Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle Treading down (BDB 100, KB 115) is a Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE, possibly trampling. This phrase is a standard idiom of defeat (cf. 2Sa 22:43). However, in this context where rain is mentioned (cf. Zec 10:1) it may refer to mud caused by God’s special presence (cf. Judges 4-5).
The term streets (BDB 299) means outside streets, which seems to refer to an open market (e.g., Zec 9:3; Zec 10:5; Isa 5:25; Isa 10:6; Isa 15:3; Isa 24:11; Isa 51:20; Isa 51:23; Jer 5:1; Jer 7:17; Jer 7:34; Jer 37:21; Eze 11:6; Eze 28:23).
they will fight, for the Lord will be with them Zec 9:1-10 shows that God would do the fighting, but Zec 9:13-16 and Zec 10:3-7 seem to say that the Israelites would do the fighting (BDB 535, KB 526 Niphal PERFECT), but with God in their midst (cf. Jer 51:20-23).
the riders on horses will be put to shame YHWH turns His people into majestic war horses (cf. Zec 10:3 d), but the war horses of the enemies are defeated (BDB 101, KB 116 Hiphil PERFECT, cf. Amo 2:15; Hag 2:22).
Zec 10:6 Notice the parallelism in the first two lines. God will unify His people (i.e., Judah and Joseph). Also notice the parallelism of the VERBAL form in which the FIRST PERSON PRONOUN is inherit of the first three lines. His people are strengthened (BDB 149, KB 175 Piel PERFECT) and saved (BDB 446, KB 448, Hiphil IMPERFECT) because He acts! The entire verse reflects God’s sovereignty, past, present, and future.
Zechariah speaks of YHWH’s salvation and deliverance (1) from the Exile (cf. Zec 8:7); (2) from cursing to blessing (Zec 8:13); and (3) unto an eschatological triumph (cf. Zec 9:9; Zec 10:6; Zec 12:7).
Joseph This is another way of referring to the northern tribes, as are Israel, Ephraim (Zec 10:7), and Samaria.
I shall bring them back This word (BDB 996, KB 1427, Hiphil PERFECT) is a combination of (BDB 998), bring them back (NASB, NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB, cf. Zec 10:10) and make them dwell (BDB 442, cf. NASB footnote and Zec 10:4), which is the translation of the Septuagint. Many rabbis assert that the form is definitely ambiguous so as to emphasize both elements (i.e., repentance and permanent residence in the Promised Land).
NASB, NRSVBecause I have had compassion on them
NKJVbecause I have mercy on them
TEVI will have compassion on them
NJBbecause I have taken pity on them
This Hebrew VERB (BDB 933, KB 1216, Piel PERFECT) is used often for God’s compassion on His people (cf. Exo 33:19; Deu 30:3; 2Ki 13:23; Isa 14:1; Isa 30:18; Isa 49:10; Isa 49:13; Isa 54:8; Isa 54:10; Isa 55:7; Isa 60:10; Jer 12:15; Jer 30:18; Jer 31:20; Jer 33:26; Hos 1:6-7; Hos 2:19; Hos 2:23; Mic 7:18-20). This word assured them that YHWH had reestablished the covenant with all of its benefits!
they will be as though I had not rejected them This verse surely speaks of God’s forgiveness and restoration, but it also denotes that YHWH broke the covenant because of His people’s sins. It is so difficult to talk about the mercy and forgiveness of God while at the same time reminding humans that the covenant is conditional. God desires fellowship with a holy people. He wants a holy people to reflect His character to a lost world. The old covenant was performance based (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29), but fallen humans were incapable of obedience (cf. Romans 7 and Galatians 3). Therefore, the New Covenant (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38) is based on the gracious, unchanging character of YHWH (cf. Mal 3:6), the work of the Messiah, and the drawing power of the Spirit (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65). The goal is still a righteous people, but the mechanism of that righteousness has changed.
For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them These covenant terms emphasize the restoration of the covenant relationship. Answered prayer (BDB 772 I, KB 851, Qal IMPERFECT) is one of the benefits. The broken covenant is illustrated in Zec 7:13.
Zec 10:7 Ephraim will be like a mighty man The northern ten tribes, so devastated by exile, will be reunited with Judah into one family. The term mighty (BDB 150) is used of Judah’s men in Zec 10:5.
their heart will be glad as if from wine Psa 104:15 says that wine is a gift from God to gladden the hearts of men. In Zec 9:15 it described victorious soldiers. Here it is also a metaphor of joy for military victory provided by YHWH.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOL ABUSE
their children will see it and be glad This speaks of social stability and peace, as does Zec 9:17.
Their hearts will rejoice in the LORD This same VERB (BDB 162, KB 189, Qal IMPERFECT used as a JUSSIVE) was used in Zec 9:9 (Qal IMPERATIVE) at the coming of the Lord. In this verse the root is used of exalting in the Lord Himself and His acts of deliverance and establishment of His people. This verse may be an allusion to Isa 41:16.
Zec 10:8 I will whistle for them This (Qal IMPERFECT COHORTATIVE) refers to a characteristic call or sound (i.e., piping) of the shepherd gathering (SECOND VERB, gather [BDB 867, KB 1062] is a Piel IMPERFECT used as a COHORTATIVE) his sheep (cf. Jdg 5:16). The exact sound is uncertain (BDB 1056, KB 1656), but it is an allusion to God’s gathering His scattered people (cf. Isa 5:26; Isa 7:18-19).
I have redeemed them This Hebrew term (BDB 804, KB 911 Qal PERFECT) means to buy back or ransom. Here it is used of God’s activity of restoring His people to the Promised Land (cf. Jer 31:11). Jer 31:10-13 may be the background to Zec 9:17. Zechariah uses many phrases and terminologies from Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets before his day.
SPECIAL TOPIC: RANSOM/REDEEM
they will be as numerous as they were before This context is reminiscent of Jer 30:18-22. Not only will the remnant return, but YHWH will restore the full number of residents (cf. Eze 36:37-38).
One of God’s promises to the Patriarchs was that their descendants would be numerous (cf. Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Gen 28:14; Gen 32:12; Num 23:10).
Zec 10:9 I scatter them This context emphasizes the sovereignty of YHWH over history and redemption (cf. Zec 10:3; Zec 10:6; Zec 10:9-10). God acts in blessing and cursing (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29) based on His people’s obedience to the Mosaic covenant. But even amidst disobedience, He still acts in faithfulness to His own character and purpose (cf. Jer 31:27-28).
The Hebrew term scatter (BDB 281, KB 282, Qal IMPERFECT) can mean sow (NKJV). God sowed them because of their idolatry and faithlessness to His covenant (cf. Eze 6:9-10), but after judgment they will remember Him and be faithful to Him and teach their children about Him. This was God’s plan for taking His message to the world. Often acts of judgment turn into blessings: (1) the dispersion after the tower of Babel in Genesis 10-11 caused nationalism, which protects humanity from a one-world government; (2) the wilderness wandering period was due to their unbelief, but YHWH turned it into a unique time of His personal care, provision, and presence with His people; (3) Calvary looked so evil and hateful, but God used it for universal redemption; and (4) the persecution of the early church resulted in world-wide gospel proclamation (cf. Act 8:4). His people did not reach out so He sowed them into the world that He might bring them and others (cf. Zec 8:20-23) back with them to Himself (see Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 8, especially vv. 43 and 60)!
they will remember Me The VERB (BDB 269, KB 269) is a Qal IMPERFECT. This reminds one of Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple (cf. 1Ki 8:46-53). Note the personal element remember Me, not just the stipulations. Both are part of the covenant relationship.
God’s people are to remember what God has done for them (i.e., the Exodus) and trust Him in the present difficulties. God acts according to His unchanging, gracious character. Even His judgment is an act of mercy (i.e., the Exodus, Exile).
Zec 10:10 Egypt. . .Assyria These were the ancient enemies of Israel used to symbolize all of the enemies of God’s people.
the land of Gilead This was a famous pasture land (cf. Jer 22:6; Jer 50:19) on the east side of Jordan above the Jabbok River. It was known for its cattle and medicine (cf. Jer 8:22; Jer 46:11).
Lebanon This refers to the realm of Hiram, later called Phoenicia. It was famous for its artisans and lumber (cf. 1Ki 4:33; 1Ki 5:6; 1Ki 5:9; 1Ki 5:14; 1Ki 7:2; 1Ki 16:17; 1Ki 16:21; Isa 35:2). It was a place of famed beauty and fertility (cf. Son 4:8; Son 4:11; Son 4:15; Son 5:15; Son 7:4). It is included in the Promised Land in Deu 1:7; Deu 11:24 and Jos 1:4.
Until no room can be found for them This is an idiom of abundance. The Promised Land will be completely filled with God’s faithful people.
This multiplication of inhabitants (especially children, cf. Zec 10:7 c) is also mentioned in Isa 49:14-21; Isa 54:1-3.
Zec 10:11
NASBHe will pass through the sea of distress
NKJVHe shall pass through the sea with affliction
NRSVThey shall pass through the sea of distress
TEVWhen they pass through their sea of trouble
NJBthey will cross the sea of Egypt
As is so common to prophetic and apocalyptic literature, the subject and mood change without notice or textual markers. This is especially true of this context in Zechariah. See Contextual Insights at the beginning of chapter 9.
The problem is trying to find the SUBJECT and OBJECT of Zec 10:11-12. Some assert that (1) it is the returnees because of Zec 10:10, they, LXX; (2) it is the Messiah (MT, he); (3) it is YHWH (cf. Zec 10:12; Isa 43:2, The Pulpit Commentary, Zechariah, vol. 14, p. 108) and is an allusion to the Exodus (cf. JB and RSV translations). In my opinion, because Zec 10:12 implies YHWH and another person (he), I believe that these verses are Messianic.
So that all the depths of the Nile will dry up This is surely a historical allusion to the crossing of the Red Sea (cf. Exo 15:5) and Jordan Rivers. These were mighty acts of provision. The return from Exile is depicted in the same way (cf. Isa 44:27). Eschatologically YHWH removes all natural barriers to Himself: rivers, valleys, mountains, as a symbol of a full and free access.
Zec 10:11 the pride of Assyria See note at Zec 9:6.
Zec 10:12 in His name Zec 10:1 begins by saying they were to pray for rain from God, as they had previously been praying to idols. Zec 10:12 concludes this thought by asserting that they would walk in God’s name and not in the idol’s name (cf. Mic 4:5).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. What is the time element of this chapter? (past, present, near future, or end-time) Why?
2. Does Zec 10:2 ever describe the life of the Jewish nation? If so, when?
3. Why is God called shepherd and His people sheep?
4. List the Messianic references of this chapter.
5. How and when will Judah and Ephraim be reunited?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
rain, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 11:14) = rain of rain = copious rains. App-92.
so, &c. Render: “of Jehovah Who maketh. and giveth”.
shall make = Who maketh.
and give = and giveth.
them. Some codices, with Syriac, read “you”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 10
Now in this Kingdom Age, the promises of the Lord:
Ask ye the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told false dreams; they have comforted in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled because there was no shepherd. My anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. And out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, and out of him every oppressor together. And they shall be as a mighty man which treads down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and will save the house of Joseph, and will bring them again to the place; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them ( Zec 10:1-6 ).
The glorious restoration when God returns again the land to the people completely. What we see today is not really the fulfillment here of this portion of Zechariah.
And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased ( Zec 10:7-8 ).
So the promises of God, the pouring forth of this latter rain upon the people. The rebuke of the false prophets, the diviners, those who have told their false dreams to comfort the people in vain. The problem that the people had because of the lack of leadership, and God stepping forth to their defense. Ephraim, their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
The Bible makes a very clear distinction between the mind of man and the heart of man. The mind of man deals more in the shallow areas of a person’s life. Moods, emotions, where the heart deals more with that temperament of an individual. God wants your heart tonight. God wants, not a change of mind, but a change of heart. You know you can change your mind quite often, and people do; your heart is changed very rarely. Your heart is really only changed when you are born again. That brings a change of heart, a change of temperament, a change of whole. Your whole life is changed when your heart is given to God. That’s what God is calling for, a change of heart.
So rejoicing in your heart is rejoicing in the deepest level of your life, and it is not a variable as is the happiness as is the world is pursuing today. You know tonight, while we are gathered here studying the word of God, around the city there are people gathered seeking happiness. It’s amazing the various things that they are doing as they are looking for happiness. There are little kids glued to the asteroid machine, shooting down all of these alien invaders. They’re looking for happiness, excitement, thrills, but how long does it last? Pretty soon Gorf will say, “You are stupid. I have defeated you again, space cadet.” And the quarter’s gone. Happiness is such a variable, but the rejoicing, the joy of the Lord is a constant thing deep within. So as a Christian you can have mixed emotions, sorrow in the area of your mind, but still joy in your heart.
The Lord has seen fit to take one of our beautiful saints from Calvary, Sue McCurty, one who gave herself so freely, so fully to the Lord and to the things of the Lord. One who loved nature, and you find a person who has a deep love for nature, you find a person with a deep love for God, for God’s creation. We’ve loved Sue McCurty and her husband Ken. They’ve been such a tremendous blessing to us. Sue was always an athletic type, always trying to get me to exercise more, and to get into shape. She felt that God had called her to help me to become healthier, and gave me books, and I read them. They were very interesting.
Now Sue has gone to be with the Lord, and we’re gonna miss her. My heart is heavy… well, my mind is heavy to be truthful. My heart rejoices; I know Sue’s with the Lord. I know there’s no more pain. Now, God saw it fit to take her by cancer, and why, I don’t know. But that’s something that’s a part of God’s planning. And I have, I know that the present suffering which is for a moment is not worthy to be compared with the glory that she’s already experienced there in the presence of God. So we sorrow because we’ve lost a dear friend, but in the same token I rejoice in the Lord that God has prepared a place for His children, that God has prepared a kingdom, and that we are all children of the King. One day we will gather with Sue in a new body that will be in perfect shape. Sue’s ministry to me is over. When I see her again, I’m gonna be in great shape in that new body! I rejoice in the glorious hope through Jesus Christ, though yet, I grieve and I sorrow because I’m going to miss Sue so very much. I needed her to exhort me on my weight problem.
“Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.”
My heart continually rejoices in the Lord. Because the character of God is constant. He said, “Behold, I’m the Lord God, I change not.” He’s constant. His love for you is constant. It’s not a variable. God’s love for you does not alter from one day to another. God’s love for you does not alter with your moods. Aren’t you thankful? “Oh, what a nasty mood you’re in today. I can’t stand you.” No, God never says that to you. He says, “Oh, what a nasty mood you’re in today. I love you so much.” You see, God’s love isn’t a variable. It doesn’t change. It’s constant. Thus, if I rejoice in the Lord, my rejoicing is constant. I don’t rejoice in circumstances; they are the variables. Sometimes I do, then other times I don’t. All depends on the circumstances. But the rejoicing in the Lord is always constant, because the Lord is constant in His relationship to me, in His love for me, in His goodness to me, in the hope that He has given.
The Lord said, “I will hiss for them.” Now hissing is something that we don’t do in the English culture, and I’m glad. It’s a shrill kind of a sound of disdain, and anger and hatred. In that oriental culture, they are quite emotional and demonstrative. They get real upset and they start to hiss. As they hiss, they let sort of the spittle too, you know. So they get right up in your face, they go, “hiss,” you know. It’s something you do to show great disdain against an enemy. God said, “I will hiss for them.” That’s interesting. God’ll take your side; God will stand up for you. “And I will gather them for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.” God, “My people, I’ll stand up for them. I’ll hiss for them. I’ll take their side.”
And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in the far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. And I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all of the deeps of the rivers shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away ( Zec 10:9-11 ).
This is all a part of that Kingdom Age. The people of God had been brought through the sea of affliction, no doubt. The Lord said:
I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they will walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD ( Zec 10:12 ).
So God’s glorious restoration of the nation Israel, His relationship to these people, as God becomes their strength, and as they walk up and down in His name, saith the Lord.
Now as we come into these last four chapters of Zechariah next week, we get into some of the most interesting passages in the Old Testament of prophecies concerning the antichrist, concerning the coming of Jesus Christ, first and second, and concerning the Kingdom Age. We also will be dealing with prophecies that relate to Israel right now. Prophecies that we have seen fulfilled in our lifetime. You’ll find them extremely interesting. Some of the most interesting prophecies of the Old Testament are found in these next four chapters of Zechariah. So that’s for a week from next Sunday night. Next week, Dr. Wilder Smith. So tune in same time, two weeks from tonight and hear the conclusion of Zechariah.
Shall we stand.
May the Lord be with you and watch over and keep you in the love of Jesus Christ through the week. May you be strengthened by His Spirit in your inner man. May you comprehend more and more what is the length and the depth, and the height and the breadth of God’s great love for you. May you just bask in that love this week. May you be filled with that love. May you overflow with that love as you reach out to those around you who are less fortunate, to help, to strengthen, to supply. God be with you, and may He use you as His instrument to show His love to this needy world. In Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Zec 10:1. Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
The atheistic philosopher of the present day laughs at such a verse as this, and sneeringly asks, What possible connection can there be between men and women praying to God and the showers of rain which fall upon the earth? Why! saith he, according to the laws of nature, showers fall at such-and-such seasons; and if the atmosphere should not happen to be in such-and-such a state, all the praying in the world cannot produce a single drop of rain. But faith can clearly see where reason is blind; and the prayer of faith moves the arm of God, and the arm of God controls what the philosopher calls the laws of nature, and so the rain descends. Let us learn, from this precept and promise, the power of believing prayer. Prayer hath the key of nature as well as the key of heaven hanging at her girds. Observe also that, when we have received one mercy from the Lord, we are to go on to pray for another. These people must have had the former rain, yet they were to ask for the latter rain also; and if you, dear friends, have had the former rain of conversion, go on to ask the Lord for the latter rain of sanctification. If, in our church-fellowship, we have had the former rain of gracious additions to our numbers, we must ask for the latter rain by praying that God would continue thus to bless us. When we cease to pray for blessings, God has already ceased to bless us, but when our souls pour out floods of prayer, God is certain temporary floods of mercy.
Zec 10:2. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners how seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain:
Observe the readiness of man to forsake the great fountain of living waters and to make unto himself broken cisterns which can hold no water. Notice too, that some sort of comfort may, for a time, be derived from a false trust, but it is comfort in vain. As a dream yields no comfort when a man wakes up, and finds himself to be not rich, as he had vainly dreamed that he was, but miserably poor, so all confidence in the flesh, all reliance upon anything except the almighty arm of God, even if it should yield us temporary hope and consolation, will only make our grief the greater when its utter failure is discovered.
Zec 10:2. Therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
The sheep that belong to Christs flock will never find any true shepherd except him who is the good Shepherd. If, for a time, they should so lose their spiritual wits as to follow strangers, which, indeed is not a natural thing for them to do, for a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers;-they will meet with a thousand troubles because they have no shepherd.
Zec 10:3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats:
Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers, when God comes to visit these people, be will not only punish the ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray. Oh, what a plague and a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the last day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely mocks a temporary thirst; but a minister who does not preach the gospel, and who does not live the gospel, mocks the souls eternal thirst. Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher of his Word! Surely, if there be an innermost hell, a place where the souls feet shall be made more feet in the stocks of the pit than anywhere else, it shall be reserved for the man who, professing to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a leader of the flock, taught them falsehood, and led them out of the way. Pray the Lord save us from shepherd against whom his anger must be kindled!
Zec 10:3. For the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
As an expert horseman skillfully controls his caparisoned steel, and turns it according to his pleasure in the day of battle, and makes it obey himself alone, so doth the Lord rein in and direct his Church, so that she becomes like a goodly horse in the battle.
Zec 10:4. Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
Let us learn from this verse that everything cometh from the Lord of hosts, the God of providence as well as of grace. Those statesmen, who are the corner-stones of the great building of state, must come from him. Those Christian men and women of experience, who seem to be as the corner-stones of our spiritual building, must come from him. Those who are as nails, upon whom weaker Christians seem to hang, come from him. And whoever is, in the day of battle, like Gods bow, must also come from him; for, apart from the Lord, there is no strength, nor power, nor wit nor wisdom, amongst all his people. We must learn, then, to lift up our eye unto God, and look to his for ail that we need; whether it be political, social, or religious needs that are to be supplied, all must come from him.
Zec 10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
The Jewish infantry often turned to flight the Syrian cavalry, and I may fitly compare the apostles of old to humble fighters upon foot, while heathen and other philosophers were like mighty men on horseback, yet they were turned back by the apparently weaker warriors of the cross, and it is so still. We can well afford to give our adversaries every advantage that they can ask; let them have state patronage, let them have worldly dignity, let them have learning, let them have wealth; yet, in the name of God will we vanquish them, for the truth of God is mightier than all the wisdom of man and the weakness of God is stronger than the greatest strength of man.
Zec 10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off; for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them
See, beloved, how the everlasting covenant is the great foundation of everything for the saints. I and Jehovah their God, says he. The Lord has taken his people to be his own for ever; and therefore, though he may seem temporarily to reject them, yet permanently and everlastingly he will hold them fast, and own them as his people.
Zec 10:7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
Get a firm hold of this promise, believers, and plead it. Are you dull and heavy, desponding and sad? Then plead this promise, Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
Zec 10:8. I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they hare increased.
The word hiss is supposed by some to be an allusion to the Eastern custom of men who managed bees making a sound like hissing in order to gather them into the hive. Others, however, translate the word piping, as the shepherd pipes to his flock, and they gather round him. In the words, I will gather them, for I have redeemed them, we see that particular redemption is the groundwork of effectual calling; those whom Jesus Christ hath bought with his precious blood the Holy Spirit will call by power out from the rest of mankind.
Zec 10:9-11. And I will sow them among the people and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction,-
In the restoration of Israel, there is to be an even greater triumph than that which was achieved at the Red Sea.
Zec 10:11. And shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.
For the glory of God in the deliverance of his people is sure to be attended by another form of glory in the destruction of his enemies Christ is a sweet saviour unto God both in them that are saved and in them that perish.
Zec 10:12. And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.
This exposition consisted of readings from Zechariah 9, , 10.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Zec 10:1-12
ISRAEL RESTORED
Zec 10:1-12
In Zec 9:9-10, Zechariah exalted at the coming of Messiah. In Zec 9:11-17, he interrupted his rejoicing to predict the victorious struggle with the Greeks which would precede His actual coming. In chapter ten, he returns to the theme of Zion triumphant through the Messiah.
(Zec 10:1) The key to this chapter seems to be in the time of the latter rain. To understand the symbolism here, we must know something of the climate of the holy land. During summer it almost literally never rains. From May first through October fifteenth, one can almost guarantee no rain will fall.
Zerr: The Lord is continuing his promise of temporal blessings (Zec 10:1). The land was given a rest for 70 years to compensate for the ones of which it was defrauded for years.
The rainy season from October to May, comes in three parts. They are known as the first or former rains, the winter rains, and the latter rains. The former are the light rains of October and the early days of November. These moisten the soil after the summer drought and allow the planting of winter grain. The heaviest rains are the winter rains, which fall during December, January and February. The bulk of the water in the land comes from these rains.
Most vital to the completion of the harvest are the latter rains. These perfect the fruit and grain just prior to harvest, and so are most welcome and celebrated of all. (cf. Joe 2:21-24)In a land where water is always in such critical supply as in Palestine, it is not surprising that rain should become a favorite symbol of divine blessing. (e.g. Isa 44:3-4, Hos 6:3, Psa 72:6)
It is essential that the rains come, it is equally essential that they come at the proper time. Lack of rain at the right time results in complete crop failure. The latter rains are essential to the final perfection of the crop. Without the latter rain all that has developed through the former and winter rains will be lost.
By rain in the time of the latter rain, Zechariah means Gods blessing at the critical point in the history of His people when the fruit of His purpose was nearly ripe for harvest. The coming of the Messiah would usher in the fulfillment of Gods purpose in Israel. Now that the people are back in the land and the temple is restored, the harvest season is rapidly drawing near.
God had planted the seed in the call of Abraham. His blessings upon the patriarchs were the former rains. His continued blessings upon them through the centuries since Moses had nourished them as the winter rain. Now they must ask for the rain in the time of the latter rain in order that Gods harvest may be realized in the coming of the long-awaked Christ.
(Zec 10:2) The prophet is concerned that prayer for the latter rains be made to Jehovah. Previous to the captivity their ancestors had asked the blessing of other gods.
Zerr: The false prophets had given the people assurances of peace which they said their idols would provide for them. Notwithstanding, all such promises had failed (Zec 10:2) and the people had to go away into captivity. Now the chastisement is over and the true God is assuring them of prosperity.
The teraphirm were household idols or images. cp. Gen 31:19; Gen 31:30, Jdg 7:5) In light of 1Sa 19:13 it seems they bore the likeness of some human figure. They also took the form of the signs of the Zodiac and other instruments of astrology. Hosea had used the word to describe the idolatrous state of the people prior to the captivity. (Hos 3:4)
Zechariahs use of the term here indicates his desire that the returned people not repeat the error of their fathers. The blessings required for the realization of Jehovahs purpose must come from Him. All else is vanity.
The diviners have had false visions. In the mystery religions associated with Baal various absurd methods were used to conjure up supernatural information concerning future events. Hallucinogens were drunk as potions and the mind-expanding trips of the diviners were considered as divinely directed visions.
Other devices included the shooting of arrows to predict the direction of a person whose name was engraved thereon. (e.g. Eze 21:21) The declaring staff, or divining rod, employed by some present-day superstitions finds its origin in these practices.
The result of such ridiculous superstitions is to cause those who follow them to go their way like stray sheep. Isaiah had said of the pre-exilic people whose religion was shot through with Baal worship, All we like sheep have gone astray. (Isa 53:6) Jesus would look with compassion on His contemporaries when He saw them as sheep having no shepherd. (Mat 9:36)
(Zec 10:3) The shepherds are the spiritual leaders of the people, the he-goats the civil leaders. Previously those who held these positions had led the people after false gods. Gods anger is kindled against such leadership. He will not allow it to go unpunished. Jehovah has personally visited His flock. They are no longer to be victimized by such leadership. Here we again see Zechariahs Messianic insight. In the coming of the Messiah, Jehovah visited His flock, the house of Judah.
Zerr: Gods people have always been likened to sheep and the leaders to shepherds (Zec 10:3). But both shepherd and the flock had gone astray, so the Lord regarded the shepherds as worthy of condemnation and the sheep likened to goats. But the program has been changed and the people are now likened to the noble horse in battle against His enemies.
The Hebrew Yaweh (Jehovah) literally means the one who is. He is ultimate reality understood as a Person. The Septuagint uses the Greek Kurios (Lord) to translate Yaweh. This word is applied to Jesus by those who were familiar with its Old Testament meaning. The conclusion of the apostles was that He is both Lord (Kurios) and Christ. (Act 2:36) Jesus is Jehovah, Emanuel, God with us.
He visited Judah, the Jews, and the result was the setting aside of the shepherds (i.e. spiritual leaders, priesthood) and the rejection of the he-goats when the political system which was national Israel was wiped out by the Romans. The sense of Zechariahs statement here is the declaration of Jehovahs intention to accomplish the ultimate deliverance of His people.
(Zec 10:4) The Jews were no longer to be subject to foreign rule. From him, i.e., from Judah, shall come its ruler. The Maccabean deliverers from Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled the primary meaning of this prophetic promise, but it looks forward to the Messiah. The figure of the corner-stone is one of the best known of those applied to the Christ in the New Testament. Jesus applied it to Himself. (Mat 21:42, Mar 12:10, Luk 20:17) Peter applied it to Him (Act 4:11, 1Pe 2:7) as did Paul (Eph 2:20).
Zerr: Corner (Zec 10:4) is defined in the lexicon as a chieftain and nail is a figurative term for a support or fastener. Oppressor is from a word that means a ruler. The verse means that God produced men of stability to uphold His nation who knew how to govern.
The nail was in reality a large peg in the center of the tent upon which were hung most of the valuables of the nomadic shepherd. In prophetic type the glories of the people hung on Juda Maccabee. In point of factual fulfillment, they hang on the Messiah.
Gods people will not need to depend upon any worldly alliance. He will Himself be their battle bow. (cp. Psa 45:4-5, Rev 6:2)
(Zec 10:5-12) This section must look beyond the Maccabean period as well as beyond the post-Babylonian restoration for its fulfillment. To see its real meaning we must bear in mind several significant terms used here by Zechariah, and we must keep in mind that he deliberately does not use certain other terms.
Zerr: The terms are those stilt belonging to warfare (Zec 10:5) and signify that God will assist his people in, their contests with the enemy. The captivity proper had been ended (Zec 10:6) when Zechariah was writing, but much of the reconstruction work was still to come or was just under way. The verse is a promise of the continued support of God. Ephraim (Zec 10:7) means the 10-tribe kingdom when not mentioned as a single tribe. (Isa 7:2 Isa 7:9 Isa 7:17; Eze 37:15-22.) That group is here promised Gods favor now. Hiss for them (Zec 10:8) means to whistle or call loudly and the clause means that God will call for the 10 tribes to be gathered at Jerusalem. I have redeemed them applies to the 10 tribes having been redeemed from the captivity. This all upsets the doctrine so popular in some groups about the “lost ten tribes.” Jews of the 10 tribes as well as those of the 2 tribes were scattered out through various countries (Zec 10:9). although the bulk of the nation had been in Babylon. All of these were assured of a return to the home land after the restoration. Zec 10:10 names some of the countries in which these displaced Jews had been living. Gilead and Lebanon were districts in Palestine or near it and forming parts of the home country. Place shall not be found means that the restoration of these scattered Jews will be so successful that they will fill all the space in these territories. Zec 10:11 promises that Ephraim will overcome alt his afflictions among the countries where he had been scattered. The heathen people who have oppressed them were doomed to feel the wrath of God because of their cruelties. According to Zec 10:12, the strength of Ephraim was to come from the Lord.
First in this entire chapter the term Judah is used consistently, never Israel, Judah signifies the Jews as a political-ethnic group, whereas Israel, which does not appear here, is the covenant name for those whose relationship to God is based on faith rather than national or racial origin.
Second, the house of Judah is joined by the house of Joseph. Judah is, technically, the southern kingdom while Joseph is the ten northern, tribes.
Third, the Hebrew verb here translated I will bring (them) back is a compound word which includes also I will place them. (cp. Jer 32:37)
Fourth, the reason for the restoration here is not merit on the part of the Jews, but I have mercy upon them.
Fifth, they shall be as though I had not cast them off. for I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them.
We are dealing with Gods ultimate intention for the Jewish people. Jew and Israel are now two separate concepts. Jew means the nation, the race. Israel means Gods covenant people. In the Messianic age, especially in the writings of Paul, this distinction becomes very sharp. The church, composed of obedient believers from every race, is now Gods Israel.
But what of the Jews?
(Zec 10:5) One cannot be dogmatic when dealing with apocalyptic prophecy. On the other hand, one cannot afford to be blind to what is taking place presently in the middle east. In four wars fought since the birth of the present state of Israel, not only those who warred against them, but the entire world has been confounded by the repeated victories of the Israelis against overwhelming odds.
(Zec 10:6-7) The term Israel, applied to the modern state of the Jews is a misnomer, because the present state is Jewish. It ought more accurately be called Judah, meaning covenant people. The Christian church is Israel.
In this modern Jewish state the house of Judah (the ancient southern kingdom) and the house of Joseph (the people of the ancient northern kingdom) are indistinguishable. Few modern Jews, excepting those named Cohen (priest) or Levi, know their tribal origins.
The Jews, as a race and as a national entity, were cast off per se upon their rejection of Jesus. There is no other historic fulfillment of this threat to cast them off. Today they are as though they had not been cast off. Again there is no historic fulfillment of Zechariahs prophetic promise to bring back and place them until the establishment of the modern state of Israel.
Todays Jewish Israeli does indeed rejoice. Their hearts are glad in Jehovah. Specifically they rejoice because they believe (both Orthodox and Reformed) that the recent history of the Jewish state marks the beginning of the Messianic age. The irony of their rejoicing is not in their recognizing of the coming of the Messianic age, but in their misinterpreting the preparation for His return as preparation for His first appearing.
(Zec 10:8-12) In western Jerusalem today there is a grotesquely beautiful memorial to the Nazi holocaust in which six million Jews were exterminated. The building is built in the form of the gas chambers of the concentration camps. The stones in the walls are symbolic of the corpses piled high in their desperate attempts to escape the unexpected gas. An eternal flame burns in a wrought iron brazier to symbolize the cremation room, and on the black marble floor in gold letters are the names of Auschwitz, Buchanwald, and all the other horror chambers in which helpless men, women and children died for being Jews.
In the basement room are larger-than-life reproductions of Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda, and pictures of the concentration camp barracks: a record of utter nauseating barbarism.
To visit this shrine, in the midst of the modern miracle that is todays Jewish nation, is to know the meaning of I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; they shall increase as they have increased. The word hiss should more accurately be translated whistle. The Lord will call the Jews as the shepherd whistles for his sheep. Those who were sown among the peoples because of their rejection of the Christ, have indeed remembered Jehovah in far countries. True, they are plagued with their share of self-acclaimed atheists, as are all nations, but throughout the world and in the concentration camps of Europe they have paid dearly for remembering their God. It was their attempts to keep His law which stamped them as peculiar enough to foster the kind of racism and bigotry to which Nazi Germany subjected them.
It is true, the Jews stood outside Pilates judgement hall and cried for the blood of Gods Son to be upon their heads and the heads of their children. (Mat 27:25) But enough is enough. Except the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had become Sodom and Gomorrah. (Isa 1:9, cp. Rom 11:29)
No time in history, since Zechariah, has seen a mass return of Jews to the ancient homeland until the years just following the second world war. It seems He has brought them back and placed them. The reason is not merit, but mercy for the sake of the fathers.
Paul tells us I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits. (we Gentile believers) that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in . . . (Rom 11:25) Modern historians are describing the age since World War II as the post-Christian era. The term is a misnomer, but it is evidence of a significant historic phenomenon. The time when most Gentiles were willing at least to admit the influence of Christ on their culture, if not actually to accept Him personally, is past. In my opinion we are witnessing the end of Pauls time of the Gentiles, as the primary participants in the program of God.
It is too soon to evaluate this in terms of eschatology, but there can be little doubt we are witnessing some very significant events in todays state of Israel.
Zec 10:10 predicts Gods bringing of Jews from Egypt, Assyria, Gilead (modern Jordan) and Lebanon at a time when . . . place shall not be found for them. One hears much today about a million and a half Arab refugees who were driven from their homes in the establishment of the modern Jewish state. There is no way to morally justify this, and no reason to assume it was Gods will. But, it is not so commonly known that the United Nations partitioning of Palestine also displaced some 700,000 Jews in the surrounding Arab lands. These have been assimilated into Israel, but a place was not found for them in the lands named here by Zechariah.
The exact meaning of Zec 10:11 in the present middle eastern situation is difficult to ascertain. Egypts much touted Aswan dam, which was supposed to be the means of a great economic revival in that nation has proven to be something less than an unmixed blessing. Marshes which once bred an abundance of game are now dried up. The death-dealing microscopic parasites which have always been a danger to those who would stick their feet in the Nile have reached near epidemic proportions. The Delta is receding since the river is no longer rushing into the Mediterranean, and the fishing grounds off the mouth of the Nile have been all but abandoned. Can this be what is described here by the prophet in connection with the restoration of the Jewish state? The pride of Assyria has indeed been brought down in the Israeli defeat and occupation of the Golan heights overlooking the Galilee.
(Zec 10:12) If we are correct, if what we are seeing in the middle east is a fulfillment of Zechariahs prophecy, there is a more and greater development yet to come. The world would indeed be confounded if the Israelis should fully realize that it is God Who has wrought in and for them . . . if they did actually begin to walk up and down in His name.
Questions
Israel Restored
1. In this chapter Zechariah returns to the theme _________________.
2. The key to the chapter seems to be in the time of the latter rain. Explain the climatic circumstances in the holy land which give rise to this term.
3. What is peculiarly essential about the latter rains as opposed to the former and winter rains?
4. What event in the Old Testament history of the Jewish people answers to the former rain?
5. What to the winter rain?
6. What were the teraphim?
7. What is Zechariahs desire concerning the prayers of the people?
8. What was the result of praying for protection to false gods?
9. Who are the shepherds of verse three? the he-goats?
10. What is the literal meaning of Yaweh (Jehovah)?
11. Show the relationship of this meaning of Jehovah to the term Lord applied to God in the Septuagint and to Jesus in the New Testament.
12. What was the result, in relation to the spiritual leaders, of Jesus visit to Israel?
13. Discuss the corner stone in verse four.
14. Discuss the nail in verse four.
15. Verses five through twelve must look beyond _________________ as well as _________________ for its fulfillment.
16. In Zechariah 10, _________________ and never _________________ signifies the Jews.
17. The uniting of Joseph and Judah represents the uniting of the old _________________.and _____________ kingdoms.
18. The Hebrew word translated I will bring them back is a compound word which also includes _________________.
19. The reason for the Jewish restoration described in chapter ten is not merit but _________________.
20. In this chapter we are dealing with Gods ultimate _________________.
21. Jew and _____________ are two separate concepts.
22. Jew means _________________.
23. Israel means _________________.
24. The _______________ composed of obedient believers from every race is now Gods _________________.
25. The Jews as a race were cast off upon _________________.
26. The modern Israeli Jew believes that the present Jewish state marks the beginning of the _________________.
27. The word hiss really means _________________. (Zec 10:8)
28. What is meant by Except the Lord of Sabbaoth had left us a seed, we had become as Sodom and Gomorrah?
29. Discuss this chapter in light of the current developments in the middle east, particularly the holy land.
30. In your opinion, what would be the effect upon the world if modern Israel were to openly declare that their victories have been wrought by God in fulfillment of prophecy?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
This victory led him to describe the yet greater and final victory of the people of God. He introduced this description by appealing to Zion to ask help of Jehovah, and immediately declaring Jehovah’s intention to accomplish their deliverance. As a result, the people would be strengthened.
Finally, speaking in the name of Jehovah, the prophet described Jehovah’s regathering of the people. “I will hiss for them . . . I will sow them . . . I will bring them out . . . I will bring them into . . . I will strengthen them.”
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
a Lowly Deliverer Brings Peace
Zec 9:9-17; Zec 10:1-12
Jesus must be King first, then Savior. He is lowly; His steed is not the richly caparisoned warhorse, but the humble ass; He needs no weapon to overthrow His foes, because as Priest He speaks peace. The peasantry had taken shelter in the rock hewn mountain cisterns; but they might cherish hope, because they had been redeemed by the blood of the covenant, and God would see to it that that redemption was made effective. Before the advent of the King, the prison-doors would open, and at His word the imprisoned should go forth. How great are His goodness and beauty!
In Zec 10:1-12 we have a reference to the successful stand made by Judas Maccabaeus and his brethren against Antiochus. They were to tread them down as the mire of the streets; Joseph and Judah would be reunited and after their far-spread sowing over the world, the scattered tribes would ultimately return as bees to the call of the bee-farmer.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 10
The Gathering
The chapter pursues the same general subject, detailing the glory which might long since have been enjoyed by Israel had they owned Messiahs claims, but which, consequent on their rejection of Him, has been in abeyance during the present period of the calling out of the Church, and will only be made good to the earthly people when they own Him, whom they once spurned, as the Anointed of Jehovah.
It will be noticed that all Israel are included, however (vers. 6, 7)-not merely Judah. At the appointed time a remnant from all of the twelve tribes will be brought into blessing and settled in the land of their fathers, never more to be uprooted by an enemys hand.
Without the latter rain (see Joe 2:23 and notes) Palestine becomes little better than a wilderness, though in our day conservation of the waters and irrigation are made somewhat to answer in its place. But under natural conditions the former and the latter rains are required to ensure plenty and prosperity. Therefore we need not be surprised to find the prophets using the rains in a figurative sense. Spiritually, Israel has had her former rain, but a long season of drought has since come in. Now they are bidden to look up in hope, and ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; in response to which He pledges Himself to give showers of blessing. This is undoubtedly the outpouring of the Spirit predicted by Joel, which will surely take place at the time of the end.
Till then spiritual famine necessarily prevails. In their idols no comfort was to be found, so at the captivity they put them away; but they have been since like an unshepherded flock, taking their own course, and wandering in a dry, desolate land. The undershepherds and the leaders of the people, the goats, have caused them to stray, thus incurring the Lords anger, who is about to visit His flock (limited here to the house of Judah, for it was they who crucified the Lord of glory); and, bringing them once more under His control, they shall become as His goodly horse in the battle (vers. 1-3).
Out of him, that is, Judah, came forth the Corner-stone and the Nail. Both of these names I take to refer to Christ. He is the Head of the corner, and it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. He is also the Nail upon whom Jehovah will hang all the glory of His Fathers house. (See Isa 22:22-24.)
But the Battle-bow and every exactor, or ruler, together shall likewise spring from Judah. The Battle-bow seems also to be used symbolically of the Lord when He rides forth in His might to overthrow all His enemies. With Him will be associated the rulers of Judah when the first dominion shall have returned to the royal tribe.
Victorious over all who have sought their destruction, the once feeble remnant shall become as mighty men treading down their enemies when led to certain triumph by the Lion out of Judah (ver. 5).
Every enemy at last overthrown, Jehovah will strengthen the house of Judah, and save the house of Joseph, bringing them again in mercy to their land, and making them one people, restoring them to His favor as though He had never cast them off (ver. 6), thus repealing the Lo-ammi sentence of Hos 1:9. The Jews, first brought back to their land in unbelief, will pass through the sorrows of the great tribulation, by means of which the remnant will be separated from the apostate mass. The ten tribes will be gathered later, and added to Judah and Benjamin, when Messiah Himself has appeared in glory. They had no direct part in the crucifixion of Gods Son, so the special hour of trial is not for them.
The restoration will be far more than a political or national event giving them back to Palestine, their ancestral home. There will be a divine work in the souls of the people so long blinded, so that the veil of unbelief having been taken away, they shall rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in His presence. It will be the fulfilment of the type of the feast of tabernacles, the happiest season of all the year (ver. 7). Joying in conscious redemption, fruitfulness will again be theirs, and they shall increase as in the days of old.
The manner of their ancient deliverance (vers. 9-12) is used as a figure of this future one. They are to be gathered from all the lands of their captivity, to the land of promise, thus set in the midst of the nations, in accordance with the word of the Lord as to Jezreel, the seed of God (Hos 2:22, 23-see the notes.) Passing in triumph through the sea of affliction37 and the river of sorrow, they shall find in the Lord their God strength and victory, and shall walk at liberty in His name.
This is the universal testimony of Scripture as to the future glory of the nation now scattered and despised. Their blindness is to pass away; and, with the eyes of their heart enlightened, they will behold the beauty of Him who was once abhorred and crucified.
Thus shall their whole history become a lovely illustration of the precious words of Psa 76:10, Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain; God will only permit so much evil as will ultimately glorify Him. Anything beyond that He will hold in check. How consolatory is this for the tried saint in any dispensation! How often is the spirit overwhelmed and the soul cast down! But faith can look up in the hour when all seems hopeless, and darkness overspreads the scene, knowing that,
God sits as Sovereign on His throne,
And ruleth all things well.
He can make a way for His redeemed through the sea. His power can dry up the rivers, and make His people to pass over dry-shod. What will be true for Israel nationally, it is for every child of God to enjoy personally.
Zec 10:9-12 coalesces with Isa 43:1-7. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not; for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west: I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
What human words could compare with this divine declaration of Gods unchangeable purpose in regard to His earthly people! And by what perverse system of interpretation can such words be made to find their fulfilment in the present work of grace going on among the Gentiles? It is an instance of that high-mindedness which the apostle rebukes in Rom. 11, that such passages are wrested altogether from their true connection by unspiritual spiritualizers, and applied to the Church, whose heavenly calling is lost sight of, while Israels hope is denied.
Only as one learns to rightly divide the word of truth do its various lines fall into order and its happy distinctions become plain to the anointed eye. The confusion will then be seen to exist, not in Gods perfect Word, but in mans bewildered mind, controlled by tradition, and often clouded by self-sufficiency. Truth is learned in the conscience. If that be in exercise, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, can be depended on to make plain the mind of the Lord to the simplest.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
later rain
Cf. Hos 6:3; Joe 2:23-32; Zec 12:10. There is both a physical and spiritual meaning: Rain as of old will be restored to Palestine, but, also, there will be a mighty effusion of the Spirit upon restored Israel.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
ye: Eze 36:37, Mat 7:7, Mat 7:8, Joh 16:23, Jam 5:16-18
rain in: Deu 11:13, Deu 28:23, 1Ki 17:1, 1Ki 18:41-45, Isa 5:6, Isa 30:23, Jer 14:22, Amo 4:7
the time: Deu 11:14, Job 29:23, Pro 16:15, Hos 6:3, Joe 2:23, Joe 2:24, Jam 5:7
bright clouds: or, lightnings, Job 36:27-31, Job 37:1-6, Jer 10:13, Jer 51:16
and give: Psa 65:9, Psa 72:6, Psa 104:13, Isa 44:3, Eze 34:26, Hos 10:12, Mic 5:7, 1Co 3:6
Reciprocal: Deu 32:2 – as the showers 2Sa 21:10 – until water 2Ch 6:27 – send rain Job 28:26 – he made Job 38:34 – General Psa 135:7 – He causeth Jer 5:24 – that giveth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE GIVER OF REVIVAL
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain so the Lord shall give showers.
Zec 10:1
I. The giver of revival.Ask of the Lord rain. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? Or can the heathen give showers. Art not Thou He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait upon Thee. With God is the residue of the Spirit, and He giveth not the Holy Spirit by measure. Master of the tides, the seasons, and the winds is He. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills. He watereth the hills from His chambers; He sends forth His Spirit and renews the face of the earth. These are but parts of His waysHis ways in nature; but how much more is He the Giver of reviving showers in the spiritual realm?
II The time of revival.The latter rain is needed to swell the corn. Without it the earth would not be able to yield her harvests in the vineyards and the fields. God is pledged therefore to provide for the works of His hands. Long observation has taught the Oriental that rain will come at a certain season of the year, because otherwise his operations must become abortive. What then shall we say of Gods work in His Church? May we not count on it? And when we have reached a certain point, and all our operations are at a standstill for want of His help, may we not turn to Him and say, This is surely the time of the latter rain; we are trusting Thee not to fail!
III. The instrumental means of revival.Ask. The Lord will be inquired of for these things. The law of prayer must be called into operation. If only we could bring the whole Church to her knees, there would be no doubt as to the descending showers. If this age is near its close, may we not expect a Pentecost at the latter as at the former end? Ask the Lord for it!
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
CHAPTER 10 opens with solemn words concerning the evils that still were practised among the people. The ‘rain’ of blessing would descend from God, and not proceed from the ‘idols’, or ‘teraphim’, little images by which men sought to probe into future events. All that came from this source was but vanity, and the ‘shepherds’ of the people, who dealt with such things would have the anger of God against them, for God was going to take up the house of Judah and use them in the execution of judgment in some directions. The word, ‘oppressor’, in verse Zec 10:4 has apparently the meaning of, ‘ruler’; but, even so, the details of that verse do not refer exactly to the Messiah, but rather to what God will raise up among His people in the last days. It would agree with what we read in Jer 51:20, concerning Israel, ‘Thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations’. At the end of the age the Lord Himself will execute judgment upon certain nations: upon others He will do so by means of a restored Israel.
Of this our chapter speaks, from verse Zec 10:5 to the end. It will be an Israel spiritually recreated, and also physically regathered, for God will ‘hiss’ for them, or, ‘pipe’ as shepherds used to do in the gathering of their sheep. He will gather them out of Egypt to the south and out of Assyria to the north, as once He smote the river in the days of Moses. Having regathered them, He will strengthen them, so that they ‘walk up and down’, in His name, which means they will be rightly representing Him on the earth at last. All this clearly looks on to the end of the age.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Zec 10:1. The Lord is continuing his promise of temporal blessings. The land was given a rest for 70 years to compensate for the ones of which it was defrauded for years.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain, &c. Make supplication to Jehovah, and not to idols. The promise of future plenty made in the preceding verse, with which this appears to be closely connected, suggested the mentioning the means by which it might be procured. As if he had said, The fulfilling of the promise of fruitful seasons depends on the peoples asking them of God, who will hear their petitions if offered to him with sincerity and fervour, and will give them both the former and the latter rain in its season. Of which rains see notes on Deu 11:14; Hos 6:3. So the Lord shall make bright clouds Or lightnings, as the margin reads, and as the word is rendered Job 28:25. Great rains usually accompany thunder and lightning. And give them Namely, the Jews; showers of rain Or rather, abundance of rain, as the Hebrew means; to every one grass in the field Or, to every man the herb, or fruits of the field, as the original word signifies. The sense is, that God, upon their asking it of him, would give plenty of all kinds of herbs and fruits that were useful to men, or to the animals which men make use of.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, as stated in Deu 11:14. This rain fed the plant and made the harvest luxuriant. This chapter is therefore a continuation of the preseding, which describes the young men and maids in the fullest joys of rural labour, threshing the corn, and pressing the grapes. For the harvest shall then last to the vintage, and the vintage to the seedtime, as Joel says, in Joe 3:18; and thus the seasons shall give each other the hand. Then shall the earth bring her plenary encrease, and God even our own God shall give us his blessing. Psa 67:6.
Zec 10:2. The idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie. They prophesied of peace, of abundant harvests, and of red wine; but war, famine, and captivity were the results. From their lies, truth is inferred; in those recent calamities God glorified his true prophets, and shamed the lying seers.In the latter day he will also glorify the word of prophecy by heaping on the christian Zion glory which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, but which had long before been foretold.
Zec 10:3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds. Against the four last kings of Davids house. Jer 23:1. But it shall burn more still against the infidel hosts who shall despise the grace and glory of the latter day.
Zec 10:4. Out of him [Judah] came forth the corner, out of him the nail, the battle bow, and every oppressor together. As Eliakim, a great general and minister, was a pillar in Davids house, and supported the throne, much as the corner stone unites the wall, and as the pin or nail unites the roof of the building, so the Lord will give Zion pastors after his own heart.
Zec 10:5. They shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies. It is also said in Zec 14:14, that Judah shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen shall be gathered together. It is in vain that the less enlightened critics send us here to Judas Maccabeus, and his brothers: their victories were but sparks, compared with the grand and final contest between philosophy and revelation, in the war of the Lamb.
Zec 10:8. I will hiss for them, and gather them. To hiss, is to despise; whereas esherikah, sibilabo, I will whistle, as on a shepherds reed. Lowth reads, hist, of which Minshew, a learned schoolmaster of London, has the following definition. Hist, nota silentii; hissah, siluit. This note of silence being wide of the mark, the shepherds reed conveys the true idea, equivalent to the Hebrew word of calling, as Isa 10:5. Ho, to the Assyrian. Also in Rth 4:1. Ho, such a one, turn aside.
Zec 10:9. I will sow themin far countries, during what modern rabbins call the Roman captivity. In anger God has said, go, oh rebellious people, wander on the face of the whole earth, and under the whole heaven; go, and teach all nations the consequences of rejecting the gospel. But go as my witnesses against idolatry, and to spread the knowledge and worship of the true God. Go into India, to Persia, and suffer poverty. Go to other nations, even to christian nations, where your execrations of the Holy and the Just One will bring persecution upon you, and the reproaches of the religious world. Go and wander, till, as a world of missionaries, you shall remember me in far countries. Then the promise shall be sure,
Zec 10:10. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and will so multiply them that place shall not be found for them. They shall ask to go in colonies to the less inhabited districts of the earth. Israel shall rise to glory, when Assyria and Egypt shall be denationalized.
Zec 10:11. He shall pass through the sea with afflictionand all the deeps of the river shall dry up. Here is an evident allusion to the passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, when brought out of Egypt, and of their crossing the Jordan into the promised land. And if the lost tribes are to be finally recovered and brought back again to Palestine, this prediction would seem to intimate that they will be driven out of the countries they now inhabit, as they were driven out of Egypt, with affliction, and that while struggling to pass the Euphrates with great difficulty and danger, all the deeps of the river shall be dried up. It is in strict accordance with the tenour of prophecy to expect that there will yet be some miraculous interpositions of providence in favour of the jewish people, as in former times, when they shall be gathered together from their present dispersion over all the earth, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter day. This prediction in Zechariah appears also to synchronize with that of the apostle, where it is foretold that the waters of the Euphrates are to be dried up, to prepare the way for the kings of the east. Rev 16:12.
Zec 10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord. This promise was eminently fulfilled in the apostles of Christ, who were greatly strengthened for labour and for suffering, in introducing and extending his kingdom over all the earth. It is applicable also to the church in all ages, more especially when religion shall attain a fuller growth, when he that is feeble shall be as David, and David as the angel of the Lord. Our strength for labour and for warfare is not in ourselves, but in the Lord. He is the repository of all spiritual blessings, which are derived from him by faith; and when any of his servants are prepared for some great undertaking, it is by their being made strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
And they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord. During the captivity the jews had been like prisoners, but on their return from Babylon they should walk at large, and enjoy all the sweets of civil liberty, an emblem and a presage of that righteous and holy liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free. And oh how good and delightful is it to be able also to walk up and down in the name of the Lord, seeking the advancement of his kingdom, and doing all we do to his glory.Now, though we concede much to the christian doctors, who contend for a final gathering of all the jews to their own land, we must not join the rabbins who destroyed christianity in Galatia, by contending that all the grace promised to Zion in the latter day respected the terrestrial Jerusalem. We must not put St. Paul in the list of heretics for unbelief. We must not discard the list of critics cited by Poole on the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah. We must not harden the jews to persist in unbelief, till Christ shall visibly appear. We want their aid as missionaries; and whenever they shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken from their hearts. Christian powers will then aid the partial return of that people to inherit lands and houses; then the church shall rejoice, as with life from the dead, and God will destroy their enemies with unexampled destruction. Ezekiel 39. Zechariah 14. Isa 60:12.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 10:1 f. An isolated fragment addressed to the nation in the time of its deepest distress, probably during the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes. The heathen prognosticators have foretold a peace which has not come to pass; yet even in the direst straits the Lord can save. Even when the winter rain has not fallen, and the time of harvest is approaching, He can send a rain which will bring fertility to the land. The figure of the rain is probably proverbial. The term teraphim (p. 101) might be employed in the post-exilic period to designate idols by men accustomed to use the language of Scripture.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Blessing Assured in God’s Time
(vv. 1-12)
Following the prophecy of the certainty of God’s future blessing for Israel, based on the perfect goodness and beauty of the Messiah, how good it is to see Israel encouraged to pray. They are to do so, however, as recognizing God’s own time. Faith does this, for it depends on the certainty of the Word of God. This blessing for Israel is to be “at the time of the latter rain.” The early rain was in October and November, and the latter rain in March and April. Spiritually, there has been an early rain for Israel when the Lord Jesus came in lowly grace to suffer and die on Calvary. But Israel was not even grateful for this and took no advantage of it. Since then she has been passing through the winter of cold unbelief toward her Messiah, and the intensity of that winter will culminate in the great tribulation. But the springtime, “the time of the singing of birds,” will follow this long distress, and the godly in Israel will be awakened to pray earnestly for the latter rain. It will come whether they all pray for it or not, but God desires His people to be in tune with His thoughts of grace.
The thunderstorms of heavy rain will make the earth bring forth richly for Israel. This will no doubt be literal for the sake of the land, but its spiritual significance is more precious still, in the nation being refreshed and blessed in true spiritual prosperity.
Verse 2 shows that Israel had special reason to appeal to God in prayer, for they had been deluded by idols (or teraphim) by which idolaters sought supernatural help, and by diviners- those in contact with evil spirits, claiming supernatural powers. They had comforted in vain, making people feel comfortable when they were headed for greater trouble. The result was the people were wandering like sheep without a shepherd, and found themselves in trouble. There was really no shepherd at all, though there were those who took that outward place. Against these, the anger of the Lord was kindled (v. 3), for they were false shepherds, responsible to care for the people, but oppressing them instead. Also, he speaks of punishing the “he-goats.” Because goats are more able to lead than are sheep, sheep often will follow a goat. Goats are typical of unbelievers (Mat 25:31-46), and it has often happened that believers will follow an unbeliever who has an impressive title and ability to speak, but leads them in the wrong direction.
The Lord of hosts will visit His flock, to take His rightful place as Shepherd over the house of Judah and will make His flock “as His royal horse in the battle.” A royal horse is far different than a sheep. But when the time of judgment comes, the sheep will be given by God the dignity and courage of a warhorse to go boldly into the battle against the evils that had formerly oppressed them.
“From Him comes the cornerstone.” From the true Shepherd of Israel the cornerstone will be manifested. This is a prophecy concerning the Lord Himself. He is the cornerstone of God’s edifice. Isa 28:16 speaks of Him as “a precious cornerstone,” and 1Pe 2:6 confirms this One as being the Lord Jesus. He is also spoken of as the foundation, that upon which the entire building stands. The cornerstone is the reference point for the whole building: all receives its character from Him. It speaks of that which is stable, providing lasting blessing for Israel in contrast to the instability of their condition described in verse 2.
From Him “the nail” or peg also will come. This is another designation of the Messiah. He is as “a peg in a secure place” (Isa 22:23). “The nail” (KJV) is a hanger for clothes or other articles. He will bear up all the glory that no one else can bear, a weight of glory far beyond mere human strength. Also, “the battle bow” comes from God, this being another symbol of the Lord Jesus. He will accomplish victories just as the bow releases the arrows to effectively defeat the power of the enemy. His arrows will always find their mark. These features of His character are vitally connected to the establishing of blessing for Israel in the Millennium.
The last thing added here includes others beside the Messiah: “From Him every ruler together.” He will appoint those whom He chooses to exercise administrative authority over revived Israel. The word together involves the unity of such rulers in subjection to the Lord. He will make them “as mighty men” (v. 5), giving them power to “tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets,” in contrast to their often having been trodden down themselves in the past. This looks on to the end of the tribulation, following the time when the Lord Jesus suddenly appears on the Mount of Olives and Israel is broken down in true repentance and faith to receive their once-rejected Messiah. Then “Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem” (Zec 14:14) under the leadership of the Lord Jesus, “because the Lord is with them.” The joy of the Lord’s presence with them will give them unusual courage and strength, so their enemies, though riding on imposing war horses, will be put to shame.
“I will strengthen the house of Judah” (v. 6). Though Judah will be weakened to the point of despairing of recovery, the strength of the Lord will change this completely. The house of Joseph also is mentioned here. The Lord will save them. In verses 6-12 we have the one direct reference to the ten tribes in Zechariah. They are first spoken of as Joseph, then as Ephraim who was the son of Joseph and took the place of representing the ten tribes who are sometimes called Ephraim, sometimes Joseph and often Israel.
Though Zechariah deals most extensively with Jerusalem and Judah, yet he uses this one occasion to tell us that the ten tribes also will yet share in the great blessing of the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus. He will save them and bring them again from their state of obscurity back to the land. Judah is reminded that, though they have despised the other tribes because of their defection during the reign of Rehoboam, God will have mercy on these tribes and they shall be as though God had not cast them off. Wonderful is the grace of God that can reverse the painful inflictions of His governmental judgments when those judgments have accomplished their purpose. He can do this because He is “the Lord their God,” and will hear them. They have been “lost” or “hidden” for centuries. But He knows where they are, and will bring them figuratively from their graves.
“Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man” (v. 7), just as is said of Judah in verse 5. This is a wonderful change that will bring such rejoicing as through wine. The difference is that wine will cheer a person only for a short time, but the joy of Ephraim will be lasting and full. Their children also will be interested observers, and will be glad, for this will be a dramatic change from a life that held no prospect of prosperity and blessing. They will rejoice, not only in their circumstances, but “in the Lord.” The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Himself will make all the difference.
“I will whistle for them and gather them” (v. 8). The word for whistle refers to a shrill-noted pipe used by shepherds to gather the sheep. Israel will thus respond to the authoritative call of the Lord Jesus in that day and will return to Him. He adds, “for I will redeem them.” This is prophetic language. Though the nation has been terribly decimated and depleted in numbers, they will again be as numerous as in their brightest days.
“When I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries, and they with their children will live and come back” (v. 9). God was in perfect control of Israel’s scattering and prophesied of it long before. The length of their scattering has been far greater than might have been imagined, and some have argued that it has been too long for Israel even to be recognized if they are regathered. But God’s sovereign work is seen wonderfully in this. Jews have retained their national identity, though for centuries scattered among other nations. As to the ten tribes, God is just as able to bring them back as He is to bring those of Judah back to the land, as He has been doing in recent years. Wonderful is the grace of God, and His power is no less wonderful.
Verse 10 indicates that some have been dispersed in the land of Egypt, others throughout the Assyrian empire which embraced a large part of the Middle East. Egypt is to the south and Assyria to the north, contrary directions, so the ten tribes have been scattered in different areas, just as Judah was. God will bring them “into the land of Gilead and Lebanon.” Judah did not inhabit those areas as did the other tribes. Gilead is east of Jerusalem and Lebanon north. Israel will take possession of what was theirs centuries ago. But even this will not provide room for them, a statement that brings to mind Isa 49:20, “The children you will have after you have lost the others, will say again in your ears, ‘The place is too small for me; give me a place where I may dwell.'”
The answer to this protest as to the size of Israel’s land in the past is found in one of God’s earliest prophecies. He told Abram, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates” (Gen 15:16). These borders embrace a size much larger than Israel has ever yet possessed, but God has promised it to the nation.
“He shall pass through the sea with affliction, and strike the waves of the sea” (v. 11). The sea is a symbol of the Gentile nations (Rev 17:15). The Lord Jesus will pass through all of these in His devastating judgment. The deeps of the river too, the sources of refreshment for those nations, will be dried up, leaving them desolated. Assyria and Egypt are specially mentioned as being brought low. The ten tribes will be strengthened in the Lord to “walk up and down in His name” (v. 12), no longer restrained by enemies, but in the freedom of having their own land, in willing submission to the Lord’s authority.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
10:1 Ask ye of the {a} LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
(a) The Prophet reproves the Jews, because by their own infidelity they turn away God’s promised graces, and so famine came by God’s just judgment. Therefore to avoid this plague, he exhorts them to turn to God, and to pray in faith to him, and so he will give them abundance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord urged His people, in the day of blessing just described, to ask Him to send rain when they needed it in the spring, when they sowed their seed. He promised to send it, and it would cause their crops and other vegetation to grow (cf. Zec 9:11; Deu 11:13-14). Asking Him is only reasonable since He is the One who creates storm clouds. The Canaanites gave credit to Baal for sending rain and producing fertility, but Yahweh was the true rainmaker (cf. Jer 14:22; Amo 5:8). Since rain is often a symbol of many types of blessing in the Old Testament, spiritual as well as physical blessing is probably in view here (cf. Zec 12:10; Isa 55:10-12; Hos 6:3; Joe 2:21-32). Many good commentators included this verse with Zec 9:11-17 because of the continuation of thought. However all of chapter 10 continues the thought of the previous pericope.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
4. AGAINST THE TERAPHIM AND SORCERERS
Zec 10:1-2
This little piece is connected with the previous one only through the latters conclusion upon the fertility of the land, while this opens with rain, the requisite of fertility. It is connected with the piece that follows only by its mention of the shepherdless state of the people, the piece that follows being against the false shepherds. These connections are extremely slight. Perhaps the piece is an independent one. The subject of it gives no clue to the date. Sorcerers are condemned both by the earlier prophets, and by the later. Stade points out that this is the only passage of the Old Testament in which the Teraphim are said to speak. The language has one symptom of a late period.
After emphasizing the futility of images, enchantments, and dreams, this little oracle says, therefore the people wander like sheep: they have no shepherd. Shepherd in this connection cannot mean civil ruler, but must be religious director.
“Ask from Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. Jehovah is the maker of the lightning-flashes, and the winter rain He gives to them-to every man herbage in the field. But the Teraphim speak nothingness, and the sorcerers see lies, and dreams discourse vanity, and they comfort in vain. Wherefore they wander(?) like a flock of sheep, and flee about, for there is no shepherd.”