Zechariah 10

1 Pray to God for rain - it's time for the spring rain - to God, the rainmaker, Spring thunderstorm maker, maker of grain and barley.

2 "Store-bought gods babble gibberish. Religious experts spout rubbish. They pontificate hot air. Their prescriptions are nothing but smoke. And so the people wander like lost sheep, poor lost sheep without a shepherd.

3 I'm furious with the so-called shepherds. They're worse than billy goats, and I'll treat them like goats." God-of-the-Angel-Armies will step in and take care of his flock, the people of Judah. He'll revive their spirits, make them proud to be on God's side.

4 God will use them in his work of rebuilding, use them as foundations and pillars, Use them as tools and instruments, use them to oversee his work.

5 They'll be a workforce to be proud of, working as one, their heads held high, striding through swamps and mud, Courageous and vigorous because God is with them, undeterred by the world's thugs.

6 "I'll put muscle in the people of Judah; I'll save the people of Joseph. I know their pain and will make them good as new. They'll get a fresh start, as if nothing had ever happened. And why? Because I am their very own God, I'll do what needs to be done for them.

7 The people of Ephraim will be famous, their lives brimming with joy. Their children will get in on it, too - oh, let them feel blessed by God!

8 I'll whistle and they'll all come running. I've set them free - oh, how they'll flourish!

9 Even though I scattered them to the far corners of earth, they'll remember me in the faraway places. They'll keep the story alive in their children, and they will come back.

10 I'll bring them back from the Egyptian west and round them up from the Assyrian east. I'll bring them back to sweet Gilead, back to leafy Lebanon. Every square foot of land will be marked by homecoming.

11 They'll sail through troubled seas, brush aside brash ocean waves. Roaring rivers will turn to a trickle. Gaudy Assyria will be stripped bare, bully Egypt exposed as a fraud.

12 But my people - oh, I'll make them strong, God-strong! and they'll live my way." God says so!

Zechariah 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

Blessings to be sought from the Lord. (1-5) God will restore his people. (6-12)

Verses 1-5 Spiritual blessings had been promised under figurative allusions to earthly plenty. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which we may ask of God when there is most need of it, and we may look for it to come. We must in our prayers ask for mercies in their proper time. The Lord would make bright clouds, and give showers of rain. This may be an exhortation to seek the influences of the Holy Spirit, in faith and by prayer, through which the blessings held forth in the promises are obtained and enjoyed. The prophet shows the folly of making addresses to idols, as their fathers had done. The Lord visited the remnant of his flock in mercy, and was about to renew their courage and strength for conflict and victory. Every creature is to us what God makes it to be. Every one raised to support the nation, as a corner-stone does the building, or to unite those that differ, as nails join the different timbers, must come from the Lord; and those employed to overcome their enemies, must have strength and success from him. This may be applied to Christ; to him we must look to raise up persons to unite, support, and defend his people. He never will say, Seek ye me in vain.

Verses 6-12 Here are precious promises to the people of God, which look to the state of the Jews, and even to the latter days of the church. Preaching the gospel is God's call for souls to come to Jesus Christ. Those whom Christ redeemed by his blood, God will gather by his grace. Difficulties shall be got over easily, and effectually, as those in the way of the deliverance out of Egypt. God himself will be their strength, and their song. When we resist, and so overcome our spiritual enemies, then our hearts shall rejoice. If God strengthen us, we must bestir ourselves in all the duties of the Christian life, must be active in the work of God; and we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 10

This chapter is a prophecy of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, when the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in, spoken of in the preceding chapter Zec 9:1-17. It begins with an exhortation to ask rain of the Lord; denounces wrath upon his enemies; and consists of various promises to his people. The exhortation to ask rain is in Zec 10:1 to which encouragement is given from its being of the Lord, from his willingness to grant it, and from the fruitfulness occasioned by it. The vanity of idols, and idolaters, who can not give it, is exposed; and the distress and confusion they were thrown into is observed, Zec 10:2. The anger of the Lord against the principal of them is declared; and his gracious visitation of the people of the Jews, whom he will honour and glorify, is taken notice of, Zec 10:3 from whom the Messiah sprung, than which a greater glory can not be enjoyed, Zec 10:4 and then follow various promises, relating to them; as of victory over their enemies, through the presence of the Lord with them, Zec 10:5 of strength and salvation to them, as owing to his free grace and mercy, Zec 10:6 of inward spiritual joy in them and theirs, Zec 10:7 of their effectual calling and spiritual increase, in consequence of redeeming grace, Zec 10:8 of their having a name and a place in Gospel churches, where they will remember the Lord, and live with their children, being converted, Zec 10:9 which conversion of theirs is represented in terms alluding to their deliverance from Egypt and Babylon, Zec 10:10,11 and the chapter is concluded with a promise of spiritual strength, so that they shall continue in their profession of faith in Christ, and persevere therein to the end, Zec 10:12.