Zechariah 10:8

I will hiss for them,.... Or "whistle for them" (p); the word signifies, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, the motion of the lips with the voice, and is a sign of calling; and so the Targum renders

I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased. I will hiss for them, and gather them. Keepers of bees by a whistle call them together.

I will hiss for them; though they are now scattered far off, I will cause them to return; I will whistle, as a shepherd, and they, as scattered sheep, shall run with sped back to the flock: I called their enemies so once, and they came, 7:18,19; and my people will come when thus I call to them. And gather them; this shall be enough to bring them together; or it shall be done as soon as spoke, so soon as I whistle they shall return. I have redeemed them; I have been at the care and charge of redeeming, I raised Cyrus to do it; I bestowed all nations and kingdoms on him, and afterwards on Darius Hystaspes, to do this, to restore my exiles, to replant Judah, to rebuild the city and temple; and I will do this also, which is much less, I will, as a shepherd with his pastoral whistle, call them in. They shall increase as they have increased; a promise made , and ,11,37,38, which see.

Zechariah 10:8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.Ver. 8. I will hiss for them and gather them] As a shepherd hisseth or whistleth for his flock. See Judges 5:16, where it should not be translated the bleatings of the flocks, but the hissings or whistlings of the shepherds to their flocks, when they would get them together. God, who hath all creatures at his beck and call, can easily bring back his banished, gather together his dispersed with a turn of a hand, Zechariah 13:7, with a blast of his mouth, as here; as if any offer to oppose him herein, he can blow them to destruction, Job 4:9. He can frown them to death, Psalms 80:16. He can crush them between his fingers, as men do a moth, Psalms 39:11, and crumble them to crattle, Psalms 146:4 "Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling," Psalms 49:14. For I have redeemed them] I have in part, and that is a pledge of the whole; my hands also shall finish it, as Zechariah 4:9. God doth not his work to the halves, neither must we; but if he shall be All in All unto us, we must be altogether his, Son 2:16. His is a covenant of mercy, ours of obedience; which must be therefore full and final, as Christ hath obtained for us an entire and everlasting redemption, Hebrews 9:12. And they shall increase as they have increased] By virtue of that promise to Abraham, Genesis 13:16. I will multiply thy seed as the dust of the earth, and Genesis 15:5, as the stars of heaven. This promise was not presently fulfilled; for when they came into Egypt they were but seventy souls of them. But under the Egyptian servitude they increased abundantly, Exodus 1:7, they spawned (as the word signifies), and bred swiftly; so that they went thence 600,000 strong, Exodus 12:37; so that they soon became a mighty and populous nation, Deuteronomy 26:5. Judea was not moer than 200 miles long and 50 miles broad, not near the half of England by much; yet what huge armies had they, when the two tribes and the other ten met in the field, one against another! And even at this day (whatever is become of the ten tribes, whether they are in China or America) the Jews are a very great and numerous people. It is thought that there is not any one nation under heaven so great in number as that is, if the dispersed Jews might all be gathered together into one place. And who knows what we may (some of us) yet live to see? The late Clavis Apocalyptica promiseth great matters to occur within these three or four years.

THE FURTHER OF ISRAEL (Zechariah 10:8-12). (8) A yet further redemption of Israel was to take place before the consummation of these victorious promises. Some critics have considered this passage as conclusive against the assumption of a post-exilic origin of these latter chapters. But Zechariah 8:8 speaks in similar terms: “And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem;” and yet the genuineness of that passage has never been called in question. The fact is that the restoration under Zerubbabel was most incomplete: only some 42,360 returned from exile under him. There was a further return of exiles under Ezra, in 458 B.C., some twenty years posterior to the probable date of the prophecies contained in these last chapters, and numbers, no doubt, returned at various other times. I have redeemed.—The decree had gone forth, and had been already, in part, executed. As they have increased.—viz., in times past (e.g., Exodus 1:8). Jeremiah communicates a similar promise (Jeremiah 30:19-20).

Verse 8. I will hiss for them] אשרקה eshrekah, "I will shriek for them;" call them with such a shrill strong voice, that they shall hear me, and find that it is the voice of their redemption.

8. I will hiss for them] “Formerly God had so spoken of His summoning the enemies of His people to chastise them (Isaiah 7:18-19; Isaiah 5:26-27). He would gather them like the countless numbers of the insect creation, which if united would irresistibly desolate life. He would summon them as the bee-owner, by his shrill call, summons and unites his own swarm. Now, contrariwise, God would summon with the same His own people. The fulfilment of the chastisement was the earnest of the ease of the fulfilment of the mercy.” Pusey. as they have increased] i.e. formerly in Egypt. Exodus 1:7; Exodus 1:12. “Multiplicabuntur in exsilio, ut multiplicati fuerunt in Ægypto.” Jarchi, quoted by Maurer. Comp. Ezekiel 36:10-11.

I will hiss for them - Formerly God had so spoken of His summoning the enemies of His people to chastise them.

OF THE JEWS AND OF THE HOSTILE NATIONS, Zechariah 10:3 to Zechariah 11:3.When the Jews came into the power of hostile nations (Zechariah 10:2) they were governed by bad shepherds, that is, by cruel foreign rulers.