Zechariah 10:9

And I will sow them among the people, The people of God in the Gentile world: this is to be understood of the conversion of the Jews, when they will become the good seed that hear the word, and

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. And I will sow them among the people. Their dispersion was with a special design.

I will sow them: it might seem impossible the Jews should so increase, but to satisfy us herein God promiseth to sow them, so their increase should be like the increase of rich soil that hath much seed cast on it, ; that land shall soon be full of men and cattle, when God sows both. Among the people; the heathen; where dispersed, there they should multiply. They shall remember me; there they shall think of me, and long for me, and desire to return to Jerusalem, and to my temple. In far countries; whithersoever they were driven in the farthest parts of the Persian empire. They shall live with their children; though captives and poor, yet they nor their children shall starve; nay, their children born to them shall live, and grow up with them; this young fry shall fill the earth. Turn again to me, my temple, their city, and country. That this may also refer somewhat to the conversion of the Jews to the gospel, and to their spreading the gospel unto others for multiplying of the seed of Israel according to the faith, as I doubt not, so neither shall I particularly inquire, since the letter so fairly suits with history and matter of fact, as is evident from the multitudes that were gathered to the passover, when Titus Vespasianus cooped them up in a close siege.

Zechariah 10:9 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.Ver. 9. And I will sow them among the people] Scatter them indeed, but for an excellent purpose, that they may bring forth fruit to God; and be a blessed means of bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles’ harvest. Some kind of the knowledge of God was diffused by the Jews wherever they came, and when at length the gospel was preached by the apostles, they first dealt with the Jews (who had their synagogues in all places) as it was necessary, Acts 13:46 that as they had been the only people of God, so now they might be the first invited guests. This invitation when they put from them and so judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, what remained but that the halt and the blind Gentiles should be fetched in from the highways and hedges, that so God s house might be full. So then their dispersion was a semination; and their exile opened a gate for the gospel. Hence also it is called διασπορα, a dissemination or scattering; as when a man soweth seed abroad, 1 Peter 1:1 James 1:1. And they shall remember me in far countries] Saint Paul testifieth that the twelve tribes instantly served God day and night, Acts 26:7, a great deal better, doubtless, than they do at this day; being as reverend in their synagogues as grammar boys are at school when their master is absent, saith an eyewitness. And they shall live with their children, and turn again] They or their posterity shall. God’ s promises bear a long date many times, and the believing Hebrews are told that they had need of patience or tolerance (υπομονη), that, after they had done the will of God and suffered it too, if need be, they might receive the promise, Hebrews 10:36. And they are further exhorted to run with patience the race that is set before them, Hebrews 12:1, wherein he that believeth maketh not haste, but can want and wait for what he wisheth, till God please: being desirous rather that God may be glorified than himself gratified, if both may not stand together.

(9) Sow is never used in a bad sense, i.e., “to scatter,” but rather means to spread and multiply (Hos. 2:25; Jeremiah 31:27). There is, therefore, no word here of a new dispersion of the people, but rather of an increasing and in-gathering. Shall live with.—Comp. Ezekiel 37:14.—i.e., survive with. They will “turn again,” because they “remember” God in the land of their captivity, and feel a yearning for the place where He hath set His name again.

Verse 9. I will sow them among the people] Wherever they have been dispersed, my voice in the preaching of the Gospel shall reach them. And they shall remember me, and they and their children shall turn again to the Lord, through Messiah their King.

9. I will sow them among the people] peoples, R. V. Their dispersion among the nations of the earth shall not be for their destruction, but like the sowing of corn, which is scattered broad-cast, not that it may be lost and perish, but that it may bring forth much fruit. Comp. Hosea 2:23. “Ego eos multiplicabo, ut dispersio in populis non videatur esse divisio, sed sementis operatio, et liberorum et nepotum segete multiplicata vivant cum filiis suis.” Hieron. they shall live] Comp. Ezekiel 37:14. turn again] or, return to God. Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 3:14; Isaiah 10:21. The consequent return to their own land is promised in the next verse.

And I will sow them among the nations - Such had been the prophecy of Hosea; “I will sow her unto Me in the earth,” as the prelude of spiritual mercies, “and I will have mercy on her that had not

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.