Zechariah 10
PATThe prophet deters the Jews from seeking to idols, by putting them in mind of the calamities idolatry brought upon their forefathers. Afterward he foretells a general restoration of the Jewish nation.'.
Zechariah 10:1
JjlSK of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain.) Tho fulfilling of the promise of fruitful seasons, (ix. 17.) depends upon the people’s asking them from God; who will hear their petitions, and give them both the former rain, and also the latter, in its season. This usually fell in the first month, (Joel ii. 23.) and was very useful for plumping the com, and therefore very much desired. (See Job xxix. 23. Prov. xvi. 15.) So the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain.] Or lightnings, as the margin reads, and as the word is rendered, Job xxviii. 25. Great rains usually accompany thunder and lightning. (See Jer. x. 13.)
Zechariah 10:2
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, &c. Whenever you or your fathers consulted idols or diviners, when they wanted rain, (see Jer. xiv. 22.) or in any other time of distress; neither the priests who delivered answers from the idols, nor the diviners who pretended to direct men by the help of dreams or visions, have been any way beneficial to them. The word translated idol is teraphim in the original: concerning the sense of it, see the note upon Hos. iii. 4. The idols are said here to speak vanity; i. e. by the answers the priests gave in their name: for elsewhere they are called dumb idols, (Habak. ii. 18.) which have moutlis and speak not, (Psal. cxv. 5.) Therefore they ivent away a$ a flock, &c] They went into captivity, and came into great distress; as sheep arc driven away and scattered, that have no shepherd to guide or protect them. (Compare Jer. 1. 17. Ezek. xxxiv. 5.)
Zechariah 10:3
Mine anger tvas kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats. I was justly displeased with the Jewish rulers, both ecclesiastical and civil, (see the notes upon Isa. lvi. 2. Jer. xxiii. 1. Ezek. xxxiv. 2.) as I had severely threatened them by my prophets, before the captivity, which came upon the whole nation as a judgment for their sins, especially upon those wicked Jews who were their instruments in oppressing the people. (See Ezek. xxxiv. 17.) An eminent divine understands these three verses of the Jews that remained in Babylon, who either consulted the idols of the gentiles, or else such false prophets among the Jews there, as were addicted to divination, and suchlike idolatrous practices. (Compare Jer. xxix. 8. 15. 24.) These all prophesied drought, famine, and such-like calamities to those Jews that should return into Judca; and therefore are called vain comforters: such as Job complained of, xvi. 2. By this means some of the people were detained at Babylon without any form of government among themselves, and were as a flock without a shepherd. Shepherds and goats, mentioned ver. 3. he explains of the great men of the Jews who stayed behind at Babylon: these he distinguishes from those that returned home, who are called God’s flock, in the following words. For [or rather, but] the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, &c.j But now God hath given his people manifest tokens of his favour and protection, (see ix* 16.) in prospering their arms under the conduct of Judas Maccabeus, and making them victorious over their enemies.. The chief use which the Jews made of horses was in war., (See.Prov. xxi. 31. Isa. xxxi.l, 2.)
Zechariah 10:4
Out of him came forth [or, shall come forth. the corner, out of him the nail, &c] It is owing to God’s favour that they have a captain, or ruler, to support their commonwealth; such. was in an eminent manner Judas Maccabeus; that they have a settled state and government, whereon.private men may rely for the security of their lives and properties: the word pinnah, translated corner, signifies likewise a prince or a leader; >and so it is taken, Numb. xxiv. 17. Judg. xx. 2. 1 Sam. xiv. 38. Isa. xix. 13. The word rendered nail signifies any person on whom others have a dependance, (see Isa. xxii. 23. 25.) as also the public settlement of a state, (Ezra ix. 8.) Out of him every oppressor together.] As the Greek word tyrant was at first equivalent in signification to a king, but afterward degenerated into a worse denomination: so the Hebrew nogesh usually signifies an oppressor, but is sometimes taken in a general sense for a prince or governor: so it probably signifies, Isa. Ix. 17. where our English renders it, Make thine exactors righteousness: but the Chaldee paraphrase expresseth it by shultanim, princes: the LXX. translate it’EirivKoirovg, overseers; which made some of the fathers apply that text to the bishops of the Christian church. This sense of the word agrees best with the scope of this place, and the Chaldee understands it so here. Thus the word may be understood, ix. 8. so as. to signify the commander or general of an army.
Zechariah 10:5
And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets: because the Lord is with them. God shall inspire them with courage to subdue their enemies, and trample upon their carcasses. (Compare Psal. xviii. 42. Isa. xli. 25.) This may be understood either of the Maccabees, or of the victories which the Jews should obtain over their enemies in the latter times, (see xii. C.) to which the following part of the chapter seems to relate. j<, And the riders on horses shall be confounded.’] Compare xii. 4. We may expound this of the discomfiture of Antiochus’s armies by the Maccabees, whose strength lay chiefly in their horse, (see Dan. xi. 40.) as that text is understood by several commentators.
Zechariah 10:6
And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, &c. This promise is probably to be understood of the general restoration of the Jewish nation upon their conversion; a subject often treated of by the prophets in the Old Testament, where Judah and Israel are spoken of as equal sharers in this blessing. (Compare Ezek. xxxvii.lC, &c. and see the note upon Isa. xi. 11.) And tvill hear them.] See xiii. 9.
Zechariah 10:7
And they of Ephraim shall be as a mighty man. Ephraim is equivalent here to the ten tribes, as the house of Joseph is, ycr. C. (See the note upon Hos. v.?.) And their heart shall rejoice as through ivine.] Which raises men’s spirits and courage. (See ix. 15.) Yea, their children shall see it, and be glad, &c] Their 2G2 Microsoft® [chap, xr. successes shall end in a lasting peace, for which their posterity, shall have occasion to return thanks to God. (See ver. 9.)
Zechariah 10:8
I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them. I will summon them from distant countries by a certain signal, as a shepherd calls his flock together with his whistle, (compare Isa. v. 26. vii. 18.) which shall assemble thera together, in order to bring them back into their own country, (ver. 10.) for I will redeem them out of the hand of their enemies. The prophets often speak of a thing future, as if it were already accomplished. (See the note upon Isa. xxi. 9.) And they shall increase as they have increased.’] In the most flourishing times, such as were the reigns of David and Solomon.
Zechariah 10:9
And I will sow them among the people. I will multiply them among the nations, where they are dispersed. (Compare Hos. ii. 23.) And they shall remember me from afar.] From among all the nations where they are scattered, as the prophets elsewhere express it. (See Deut. xxx. 1. 4. Jer. xxx. 10, 11. Ezek. xi. 16. xxviii. 25. xxxiv. 13.) As men are said to forget God when they forget their duty to him, so remembering him denotes their returning to their obedience. And they shall live icith their children, and turn again.] They shall return to their own country, and enjoy it, they and their posterity, (See Isa. lxv. 23. Ezek. xxviii. 25. Amos ix. 14.)
Zechariah 10:10
And I will bring them again also out of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. Egypt and Assyria were two potent kingdoms which bordered upon Judea, so that c by turns they were either allies to the Jews, or their conquerors; and the Jews either went thither for refuge, or were carried thither captives; (see Hos. ix. 3.) whereupon the prophets, when they foretell the general restoration of their nation, often express it by their returning from Egypt and Assyria. (See Isa. xi. 15, 16. xix. 23 — 25. xxviii. 13. Hos. xi. 11.) We may likewise observe, that God’s bringing* his’ people again from Egypt, was a proverbial expression, to signify any deliverance, as great or greater than that.’(See Psal. lxviii. 22. Micah vii. 15.) So here the words of the following verse allude to the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon.] Two countries remarkable for their fruitfulness. (See Jer. xxii. 6. Micah vii. 14.) And place shall not be found for them.] They shall multiply so fast, that there shall not be room enough in Judea to receive them and their families. (Compare Isa. xlix. 20.)
Zechariah 10:11
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves of the sea, and all the deeps of the rivers shall be dried up. The sense might be more properly expressed thus, And he (Israel) shall pass through the straits of the sea; so the LXX. and the Vulgar Latin understand it, meaning a branch of the Red Sea; and (God) shall smite the waves of the sea, &c. The expressions allude to the mit-aculous passage of the Israelites over an arm of the Red Sea, when God dried up the waters of that sea, or river, before them. (See Exod. xiv. 21, Josh. ii. 10.) And this imports, that God would do as great things for them as he did formerly for their fathers: to this sense the Chaldee expounds the words. (See the note upon the foregoing verse, and compare Isa, xi. 15.) If we would distinguish betwixt the sea and the rivers, we may understand the river of Jordan, whose Waters were dried up to make a passage for the Israelites into the land of promise. (See Josh. iv. 23.) And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.] By Assyria and Egypt are meant in general tho enemies of God and of his truth, who shall all be subdued, and broken in pieces by the kingdom of Christ, when he shall come in glory to set up his kingdom on the earth. (See Dan. ii. 33, 34. Isa. Ix. 12.) The Assyrian is taken in this sense, Isa. xiv. 25. Micah v. 5. and both Egypt and Assyria may probably be so understood, Isa. xix. 23. (See the notes upon those texts.)
Zechariah 10:12
J will strengthen them in the Lord. God shall be their strength and protection. (See ver. 5.) Andthey shall walk up and down in his name.] Or, Walk in his name; i. e. their lives and actions shall be under the conduct of his laws, and he shall give them success answerable to their upright intentions. ■