Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 10:11
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: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.
11. he ] i.e. Jehovah, as He did through the Red Sea, when He gave the first great deliverance to His people.
with affliction ] i.e. to His enemies. Comp. Exo 14:24-25; Exo 14:27; Exo 15:3-7. This is perhaps the best rendering of this difficult and much disputed clause. The sea of affliction, R. V.
smite the waves ] Comp. Exo 15:8. See also Isa 11:15-16, where a similar reference occurs to the passage of the Red Sea.
the river ] i.e. the Nile, as the Heb. word used indicates.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And He – that is, Almighty God, shall pass through the sea, affliction As He says, When thou walkest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not oveflow thee. And shall smite the waves in the sea Isa 43:2, as in Isaiah, The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea Isa 11:15. The image is from the deliverance of Egypt: yet it is said, that it should not be any exact repetition of the miracles of Egypt; it would be as the Red Sea Exo 14:10, Exo 14:12, which would as effectually shut them in, and in presence of which they might again think themselves lost, through which God would again bring them. But it would not be the Red sea itself; for the sea through which they should be brought, would be affliction; as our own poet speaks of taking arms against a sea of troubles. Cyril: The promise of succor to those who believe in Christ is under the likeness of the things given to those of old; for as Israel was conveyed across the Red sea, braving the waves in it; for the waters stood upright as an heap Exo 15:8, God bringing this to pass marvelously; and as they passed the Jordan on foot Jos 3:17; so he says, those who are called through Moses to the knowledge of Christ, and have been saved by the ministries of the holy Apostles, they shall pass the waves of this present life, like an angrily foaming sea, and, being removed from the tumult of this life, shall, undisturbed, worship the true God. And they shall pass through temptations, like sweeping rivers, saying with great joy, in like way, Unless the Lord had been for us, may Israel now say, the waters had drowned us, the stream had gone over our souls Psa 124:1-5.
He shall smite the waves in the sea. There, where the strength of the powers of this world is put forth against His people, there He will bring it down. All the deeps of the river, that is, of the Nile ,
Shall be dried up. The Nile as a mighty river is substituted for the Jordan, symbolizing the greater putting forth of Gods power in the times to come.
And the pride of Asshur shall be brought down – Ribera: When the good receive their reward, then their enemies shall have no power over them, but shall be punished by Me, because they injured My elect. – By the Assyrians and Egyptians he understands all their enemies.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. And he shall pass through the sea] Here is an allusion to the passage of the Red Sea, on their coming out of Egypt, and to their crossing Jordan, when they went into the promised land; the waves or waters of both were dried up, thrown from side to side, till all the people passed safely through. When they shall return from the various countries in which they now sojourn, God will work, if necessary, similar miracles to those which he formerly worked for their forefathers; and the people shall be glad to let them go, however much they may be profited by their operations in the state. Those that oppose, as Assyria and Egypt formerly did, shall be brought down, and their sceptre broken.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The former part of this verse might be read in the preter-perfect tense, reporting what God hath done, and perhaps more agreeably with the context and design, which is no doubt to confirm the promise, and make it credible, though so many and great difficulties render it unlikely to reason: I will, saith God, Zec 10:10; I promise, who am he that hath passed through the sea, the Red Sea, and brought my people through: who hath clone this call do what he now promiseth. I am he that dried up the deeps of Jordan (when at deepest by the floods, which were then upon the river); I can remove obstacles were they as great as these, and as easily lay low the pride of enemies, or remove their sceptres, as I did to Assyria and Egypt. So the whole verse is an allusion to what God had done in the two famous deliverances of his people under the hand of Moses and Joshua, bringing them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and through Jordan, and destroying the Egyptians; and delivering them out of Assyrian bondage, and in order thereto destroying that kingdom.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. pass . . . sea withafflictionPersonifying the “sea”; He shall afflictthe sea, that is, cause it to cease to be an obstacle to Israel’sreturn to Palestine (Isa 11:15;Isa 11:16). Vulgatetranslates, “The strait of the sea.” MAURER,”He shall cleave and smite.” English Versionis best (Ps 114:3). As Jehovahsmote the Red Sea to make a passage for His people (Exo 14:16;Exo 14:21), so hereafter shall Hemake a way through every obstacle which opposes Israel’s restoration.
the riverthe Nile(Amo 8:8; Amo 9:5),or the Euphrates. Thus the Red Sea and the Euphrates in the formerpart of the verse answer to “Assyria” and “Egypt”in the latter.
sceptre of Egypt . . .depart (Eze 30:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction,…. Either the people of the Jews, as Israel of old did, when they came out of Egypt, to which the allusion is; or the wind shall pass through the sea, as Aben Ezra supplies it, and it shall become dry; that is, the river of Egypt: or “affliction” r, as many supply it, shall pass through the sea; the nations, which are many as the sea, as Kimchi interprets it; and so may design that hour of temptation that shall come upon all the earth, Re 3:10 or with which the kingdom of the beast, who rose up out of the sea, and consists of many waters, people, tongues, and nations, will be afflicted, Re 13:1 which the Lord shall pass through and smite; or it may in general denote the sea of this world, and the afflictions of it, which the Lord causes his people to pass through, and brings them out of them:
and shall smite the waves in the sea: that is, the Lord shall smite them; repress afflictions, which are like the proud waves, not suffering them to proceed further than is for his glory and his people’s good, and remove all obstacles in their way; see Isa 11:15 or destroy their enemies, which are like the proud waters, that otherwise would go over their souls, and overwhelm them; and particularly the antichristian states, at the pouring out of the vials, signified by the sea, and by fountains and rivers, Re 16:3. Kimchi explains it of the multitude of the people:
and all the deeps of the river shall dry up; not Nile, the river of Egypt, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra s, but the river Euphrates; see
Re 16:12 the drying up of which signifies the destruction of the Turkish empire; and the Targum paraphrases it,
“all the kings of the people shall be confounded:”
and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down; the pride of the Ottoman empire, of which the old Assyria is a part, and which has been large and powerful, that shall be destroyed; this will be at the passing away of the second woe; and then quickly comes the third, which is as follows,
Re 11:14:
and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away; all rule and government shall cease; see Ge 49:10 meaning that the kingdom of the antichristian beast of Rome, called Egypt, Re 11:8 shall be at an end; which will be at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, and upon and through the pouring out of the seven vials. So the Targum, the dominion of the Egyptians shall be taken away; or its rod, with which it has smote, hurt, and greatly oppressed and afflicted the saints; persecution shall now cease; it will not be in the power of the Romish antichrist to persecute any more.
r Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Calvin, Drusius, Cocceius. s So Stockius, p. 891.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Zec 10:11. “And he goes through the sea of affliction, and smites the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river dry up; and the pride of Asshur will be cast down, and the staff of Egypt will depart. Zec 10:12. And I make them strong in Jehovah; and they will walk in His name, is the saying of Jehovah.” The subject in Zec 10:11 is Jehovah. He goes, as once He went in the pillar of cloud as the angel of the Lord in the time of Moses, through the sea of affliction. , which has been interpreted in very different ways, we take as in apposition to , though not as a permutative, “through the sea, viz., the affliction” (C. B. Mich., Hengst.); but in this sense, “the sea, which caused distress or confinement,” so that the simple reason why is not connected with in the construct state, but placed in apposition, is that the sea might not be described as a straitened sea, or sea of anxiety. This apposition points to the fact which floated before the prophet’s mind, namely, that the Israelites under Moses were so confined by the Red Sea that they thought they were lost (Exo 14:10.). The objection urged by Koehler against this view – namely, that as a noun is not used in the sense of local strait or confinement – is proved to be unfounded by Jon 2:3 and Zep 1:15. All the other explanations of tsarah are much more unnatural, being either unsuitable, like the suggestion of Koehler to take it as an exclamation, “O distress!” or grammatically untenable, like the rendering adopted by Maurer and Kliefoth, after the Chaldaeans usage, “he splits.” The smiting of the waves in the sea does indeed play upon the division of the waves of the sea when the Israelites passed through the Red Sea (Exo 14:16, Exo 14:21; cf. Jos 3:13; Psa 77:17; Psa 114:5); but it affirms still more, as the following clause shows, namely, a binding or constraining of the waves, by which they are annihilated, or a drying up of the floods, like in Isa 11:15. Only the floods of the Nile ( ) are mentioned, because the allusion to the slavery of Israel in Egypt predominates, and the redemption of the Israelites out of all the lands of the nations is represented as bringing out of the slave-house of Egypt. The drying up of the flood-depths of the Nile is therefore a figure denoting the casting down of the imperial power in all its historical forms; Asshur and Egypt being mentioned by name in the last clause answering to the declaration in Zec 10:10, and the tyranny of Asshur being characterized by , pride, haughtiness (cf. Isa 10:7.), and that of Egypt by the rod of its taskmasters. in Zec 10:12 the promise for Ephraim is brought to a close with the general thought that they will obtain strength in the Lord, and walk in the power of His name. With the address reverts to its starting-point in Zec 10:6. stands for , to point emphatically to the Lord, in whom Israel as the people of God had its strength. Walking in the name of Jehovah is to be taken as in Mic 4:5, and to be understood not as relating to the attitude of Israel towards God, or to the “self-attestation of Israel” (Koehler), but to the result, viz., walking in the strength of the Lord.
If, in conclusion, we survey the whole promise from Zec 9:11 onwards, there are two leading thoughts developed in it: ( a) That those members of the covenant nation who were still scattered among the heathen should be redeemed out of their misery, and gathered together in the kingdom of the King who was coming for Zion, i.e., of the Messiah; ( b) That the Lord would endow all His people with power for the conquest of the heathen. They were both fulfilled, in weak commencements only, in the times immediately following and down to the coming of Christ, by the return of many Jews out of captivity and into the land of the fathers, particularly when Galilee was strongly peopled by Israelites; and also by the protection and care which God bestowed upon the people in the contests between the powers of the world for supremacy in Palestine. The principal fulfilment is of a spiritual kind, and was effected through the gathering of the Jews into the kingdom of Christ, which commenced in the times of the apostles, and will continue till the remnant of Israel is converted to Christ its Saviour.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Prophet confirms what he had said respecting the power of God, which is so great that it can easily and without any effort lay prostrate all the mighty forces of the world. As then the impediments which the Jews observed might have subverted their hope, the Prophet here removes them; he reminds the Jews that God’s power would be far superior to all the impediments which the world could throw in their way. But the expressions are figurative, and allusions are made to the history of the first redemption.
Pass through the sea shall distress. As God formerly gave to his people a passage through the Red Sea, (Exo 14:21😉 so the Prophet now testifies that this power was unchangeable, so that God could easily restore his people, though the sea was to be dried up, and rivers were to be emptied. He says first, Pass shall distress through the sea, that is, spread shall distress, etc., for so the verb עבר, ober, is to be taken here. Pass then shall distress through the sea, (128) that is, the Lord will terrify the sea, and so shake it with his power that the waters will obey his command. But he afterwards explains himself in other words, He will smite the waves in the sea. He means that God’s command is sufficient to change the order of nature, so that the waters would immediately disappear at his bidding. He then adds, All the depths of the river shall dry up; some read, “shall be ashamed,” deriving the verb from בוש, bush; but it comes from יבש, ibesh: and this indeed means sometimes to be ashamed, but it means here to dry up. Others regard it as transitive, “The wind shall dry up the depths.” But as to the object of the Prophet, the passive or active sense of the verb is of no moment; for the Prophet no doubt means here, that there would be so much force in the very nod of God as to dry up rivers suddenly, according to what happened to Jordan; which being smitten by the rod of Moses dried up and afforded a passage to the people.
He at length speaks clearly, Cast down shall be the pride of Asshur, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart. In the preceding metaphor Zechariah alludes, as I have said, to the first redemption, as it was usual with all the Prophets to remind the people of the former miracles, that they might expect from the Lord in future what their fathers had witnessed. He now however declares, that God would be the Redeemer of his people, though the Assyrians on one side, and the Egyptians on the other, were to attempt to frustrate his purpose; for they could effect nothing by their obstinacy, as God could easily subdue both. He at last adds —
(128) So Pagninus, Drusius, and the Syriac. The Septuagint, the Arabic, the Vulgate, and also Jerome, give a different version — “And he shall pass through the narrow sea,” or, “through the straits of the sea;” and this is the obvious meaning of the Hebrew, which is literally, “and he shall pass through the sea of straitness,” or narrowness, i.e., through the (or a) narrow sea; the allusion is evidently to the Red Sea, which is narrow. Henderson connects [ צרה ] as a verb with the following line —
He shall cleave and smite the waves of the sea.
He derives the peculiar sense of “cleaving” from the Chaldee [ צרא ]: but this is not necessary, for the other meaning is quite suitable, and countenanced by good authorities. Blayney give this version —
And some shall pass over the sea to Tyre;
which is quite without any meaning in this connection, there being nothing in the passage to lead us to Tyre. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) He.That is, God.
The sea with affliction.Better, the sea [where is] affliction, or straitness; unless, with Ewald, we read sea of affliction. On the construction in the Hebrew, see my Students Commentary, pp. 95, 44.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 10:11. And he shall pass, &c. Some render these words, And when they shall be in straits or under difficulties, in passing over the sea, or river [Euphrates]; then they shall smite the waves in Euphrates, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up.
REFLECTIONS.1st, God is now returning in mercy to Israel; and therefore,
1. They are directed to apply to him for the rain in its season, on which the fruitfulness of their land depended. In Judaea the rain fell periodically; the former rain in autumn, about seed-time, the latter in March, April, and May; from which time to September they had scarcely any; and if these failed, the harvest necessarily suffered. Now God promises to hear their prayers, to send his clouds, and by watering their lands seasonably, to give them plenty of the fruits of the earth. The common blessings of Providence are to be humbly sought, nor looked upon as things of course, but as rich gifts of grace; and this may be referred mystically to the influences of God’s Spirit, by which alone our souls can be quickened to bring forth fruit unto God; and therefore we must ask this holy spirit from God in ceaseless and importunate prayer.
2. None of the idols of the heathen, or those which their fathers worshipped, could give rain; their false prophets and diviners, who pretended to consult them, and return answers from them as oracular, were liars; they told false dreams, and comforted in vain; following these wicked shepherds, they had gone astray as a flock; and for this their shepherds, who had deluded them, were cut off in anger and none left; and the goats, the princes and priests, who, instead of going before the flock aright, misled and misused them, God had punished severely. By these examples they should therefore be warned, and cease from idolatry, worshipping and serving God alone. Especially,
3. Seeing that God had now done such great things for them, visiting them with his favour as his flock recovered from their dispersion and captivity; and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle, beautiful, strong, and formidable. Out of him went forth the corner, he laid the foundation of their restoration; out of him the nail, which fastened them together; out of him the battle-bow, all their military power was derived from him; out of him every oppressor, or exactor; either those enemies who had oppressed them did it by his permission; or the word may be taken in a correspondence with the rest, that all the might they had, or should be endued with, to make any of the neighbouring nations tributary to them, must be from his gift alone. See the critical notes. In my Reflections, I take the words in their common sense.
Some apply this to the Messiah, the corner-stone, the nail fastened in a sure place, the battle-bow to subdue all the enemies of his believing people.
2nd, The promises contained in the latter part of this chapter certainly look farther than the establishment of Israel after their first captivity; and appertain to the Gospel-church in general, or rather have special reference to the Jewish people in the last days, when they shall be turned to the Lord.
1. Consider them as applicable to the Israel of God in general. Because the Lord is with them, with the preachers of his Gospel, and the faithful in Christ Jesus; they shall be as mighty men, strengthened by grace to fight the Lord’s battles against all their enemies, within and without, and the strongest shall fall before them. If they cleave by faith perseveringly to Jesus, they shall be saved through the mercy of God, and live safely and comfortably in the church of Christ below, being rescued from the bondage of corruption. They shall be branches of the true olive, and God will be their covenant God, ready to hear and answer all their prayers. He will fill them with spiritual joy, as men rejoice through new wine; and their blessings shall descend to children’s children, who shall behold their fathers’ mercies. The Gospel of Christ, as the shepherd’s whistle, shall gather the faithful who yield to be saved by grace, out of all lands, from the captivity of sin, much more burdensome than that of Egypt or Assyria; for Jesus shall redeem those who fly to him for salvation from every enemy, through the virtue of his precious blood; and great shall be their multitude, far exceeding that of Israel, when increased as the sand of the sea-shore, see Hos 1:10. God will sow them among the people, as his precious seed in all lands, and the most distant countries shall remember him, and, turning to the Lord and perseveringly giving him their hearts, shall live with their children the life of grace and glory. They shall possess the good land where all spiritual blessings abound, and place shall scarcely be found for the multitude of converts, and not one of them shall be left, righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters the sea. He will open a way for the faithful through all their difficulties, and cause their strongest and most inveterate foes to fall before them. In the Lord is their strength, therefore they must prevail, and they shall walk up and down in his name, going forth in his might, and making mention of his righteousness only, walking with God by faith, and holding that divine communion with him, which the world knows nothing of.
2. These promises may also be particularly applied to Israel, when they shall be recovered in the latter days from their present dispersion; when they will receive the true Messiah as their only Saviour, who will convert their hearts to himself, increasing them more than ever; will strengthen them against all their enemies, and probably make them his chief instruments in the ruin of the anti-christian foe; after whose fall, it is supposed by many of the best interpreters, they will dwell long and happily in their own land of Judea; and, being now become the people of Jesus, shall glory in his name as much as they have before blasphemed it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Zec 10:11 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: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
Ver. 11. And he shall pass through the sea, &c. ] Who shall? The people, for want of room saith Junius; they shall enlarge their quarter into Egypt, Assyria and other nations subduing them to Christ. God shall (say others and I think better), he shall fright the sea, and miraculously deliver his people, as once he did at the Red Sea, which threatened to swallow them, but God made it to preserve them. He will remove all rubs and remoras, all obstacles and impediments; neither Egypt nor Assyria shall be able to hinder what God will have done. See Isa 11:15 . The misunderstanding of this and the like texts to this might haply occasion that unhappiness that befell the Jews in Crete, A. D. 434. The devil, under the name of Moses (whom he impersonated), persuaded those poor creatures that he was sent from God, to bring them home again to their own country. This they soon believed (as they are wondrously apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage), and, leaving all their goods to others, followed this seducer (who spent a whole year in travelling over the country for the purpose), together with their wives and children, to the top of a steep rock that hung over the sea. Thither when they were come, this mock-Moses commanded them to wrap their heads in their upper garments, and so to throw themselves from the rock toward the sea, assuring them of a safe passage. They readily obeyed him; and in that way perished a great many of them. And more had followed, but that (as God would have it) some Christian fishermen, being there at that instant, took up some of them as they were floating upon the waves and ready to perish; who afterwards returning to the rest of the Jews, told them how they had been cheated, and how narrowly they had escaped; whereupon they being all enraged (as they had reason), sought for this seducer to put him to death. But when he could not possibly be found anywhere, they soon concluded that it was the very devil, that old manslayer; and many of them, moved by this calamity, became Christians. The Jews generally believe that their Messiah when he cometh shall do such miracles as Moses wrought at the Red Sea. They tell us also that in the time of the Maccabees many Jews that had fled into Greece passed through the narrow sea of Propontis, that runs between Chalcedon and Constantinople, to go back into their own country.
And all the deeps of the rivers shall dry up
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
And = Though.
he. Septuagint reads “they”.
with = of. Gen, of Apposition. See App-17.
the river: i.e. the Nile.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he shall: Psa 66:10-12, Isa 11:15, Isa 11:16, Isa 42:15, Isa 42:16, Isa 43:2
smite: Exo 14:21, Exo 14:22, Exo 14:27, Exo 14:28, Jos 3:15-17, 2Ki 2:8, 2Ki 2:14, Psa 77:16-20, Psa 114:3, Psa 114:5, Isa 11:15, Rev 16:12
the pride: Ezr 6:22, Isa 14:25, Mic 5:5, Mic 5:6
the sceptre: Eze 29:14-16, Eze 30:13
Reciprocal: Gen 49:10 – sceptre Isa 19:1 – Egypt Isa 19:5 – General Eze 29:15 – the basest Eze 30:24 – I will Dan 11:42 – and Hos 9:6 – Egypt Zep 2:13 – will make Hag 2:22 – overthrow
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 10:11. This verse promises that Ephraim will overcome alt his afflic-tions among the countries where he had been scattered. The heathen peo-ple who have oppressed them were doomed to feel the wrath of God because of their cruelties.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 10:11-12. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction The sense might be more properly expressed, And he [Israel] shall pass through the straits of the sea: so the LXX. and the Vulgate understand the word. And [God] shall smite the waves of the sea, &c. The expressions allude to the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, and the river Jordan; and to Gods destroying the Egyptians, and the Assyrian, or Babylonian empire, in order to the deliverance of his people. And the verse imports that God would, in a future time, do as great things for them as he had done formerly for their fathers. In this sense the Chaldee expounds the word. Egypt and Assyria, it must be observed, being two potent kingdoms, bordering upon Judea, and being by turns either allies to the Jews, or their conquerors; and the Jews frequently either going thither for refuge, or being carried thither as captives; therefore, when the prophets foretel the general restoration of the Jewish nation, they often express it by their returning from Egypt and Assyria. We may observe, likewise, that Gods bringing his people again from these countries, and especially from Egypt, was a proverbial expression to signify any deliverance, as great or greater than these. Thus, the next clause, And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart, signifies, the enemies of God and his truth shall all be subdued, and broken in pieces, when Christ shall come in his glorious power to set up his kingdom on the earth: see Dan 2:33-34; Isa 60:12.
And I will strengthen them in the Lord That is, I will strengthen them in myself, or I will be their helper, and give them all needful strength and protection. And they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord Their evils and actions shall be under the influence of his grace, and under the government of his laws, and he shall give them success answerable to their upright intentions.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:11 And he {m} 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: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.
(m) He alludes to the deliverance of the people out of Egypt, when the angel smote the floods and rivers.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Yahweh’s representative, Messiah, would pass through the sea of His people’s distress and banish it, as He had done to the Red Sea when the Israelites left Egypt in the Exodus (and as Jesus did when He calmed the Sea of Galilee). He would humble all Israel’s enemies, of which Egypt and Assyria were only representatives. The Gentile leaders of the world, symbolized by Egypt’s scepter, would no longer hold sway over Israel in the world.