1Od Hospodina žádejte déšť v čase jarního deště. Hospodin působí bouřky a dá jim silný déšť a každému zeleň na poli. 2Vždyť domácí bůžci mluvili marnost, věštci viděli klam, mluví klamné sny, utěšují nicotnostmi. Proto putují jako ovce, krčí se, protože nemají pastýře. 3Můj hněv vzplál proti pastýřům, navštívím s trestem vůdce stáda. Neboť Hospodin zástupů navštíví své stádo, dům judský, a promění je v svého nádherného koně do boje. 4Z něho vzejde úhelný kámen, z něho vzejde kolík, z něho vzejde válečný luk, z něho vzejde i každý nadřízený. 5A budou jako hrdinové šlapat v boji bláto na ulicích. Budou bojovat, protože Hospodin bude s nimi, a zahanbí jezdce na koních. 6Povýším dům judský a dům Josefův zachráním, přivedu je zpět, protože jsem se nad nimi slitoval. Budou, jako bych je neodvrhl, neboť já jsem Hospodin, jejich Bůh, a odpovím jim. 7Efrajimci budou jako hrdina a jejich srdce se bude radovat jako po vínu. Jejich synové to uvidí, budou se radovat a jejich srdce bude jásat v Hospodinu. 8Hvízdnu na ně a shromáždím je, neboť jsem je vykoupil, a bude jich tak mnoho, jako jich bývalo. 9Ačkoliv jsem je zasel mezi národy, na vzdálených místech si na mě vzpomenou, budou žít se svými syny a navrátí se. 10Přivedu je zpět z egyptské země, shromáždím je z Asýrie a uvedu je do země gileádské a na Libanon, ale nebude jim to místo stačit. 11Soužení projde mořem a bude bít do mořských vln a všechny hlubiny Nilu vyschnou. Pýcha Asýrie bude svržena a žezlo Egypta zmizí. 12Povýším je v Hospodinu a v jeho jménu budou chodit, je Hospodinův výrok.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 PRAYER AND PROMISE. (
Zech 10:1-
Zech 10:12)
Ask . . . rain--on which the abundance of "corn" promised by the Lord (
Zech 9:17) depends. Jehovah alone can give it, and will give it on being asked (
Jer 10:13;
Jer 14:22).
rain in . . . time of . . . latter rain--that is, the latter rain in its due time, namely, in spring, about February or March (
Job 29:23;
Joel 2:23). The latter rain ripened the grain, as the former rain in October tended to fructify the seed. Including all temporal blessings; these again being types of spiritual ones. Though God has begun to bless us, we are not to relax our prayers. The former rain of conversion may have been given, but we must also ask for the latter rain of ripened sanctification. Though at Pentecost there was a former rain on the Jewish Church, a latter rain is still to be looked for, when the full harvest of the nation's conversion shall be gathered in to God. The spirit of prayer in the Church is an index at once of her piety, and of the spiritual blessings she may expect from God. When the Church is full of prayer, God pours out a full blessing.
bright clouds--rather, "lightnings," the precursors of rain [MAURER].
showers of rain--literally, "rain of heavy rain." In
Job 37:6 the same words occur in inverted order [HENDERSON].
grass--a general term, including both corn for men and grass for cattle.
2 idols--literally, "the teraphim," the household gods, consulted in divination (see on
Hos 3:4). Derived by GESENIUS from an Arabic root, "comfort," indicating them as the givers of comfort. Or an Ethiopian root, "relics." Herein Zechariah shows that the Jews by their own idolatry had stayed the grace of God heretofore, which otherwise would have given them all those blessings, temporal and spiritual, which they are now (
Zech 10:1) urged to "ask" for.
diviners--who gave responses to consulters of the teraphim: opposed to Jehovah and His true prophets.
seen a lie--pretending to see what they saw not in giving responses.
comfort in vain--literally, "give vapor for comfort"; that is, give comforting promises to consulters which are sure to come to naught (
Job 13:4;
Job 16:2;
Job 21:34).
therefore they went their way--that is, Israel and Judah were led away captive.
as a flock . . . no shepherd--As sheep wander and are a prey to every injury when without a shepherd, so the Jews had been while they were without Jehovah, the true shepherd; for the false prophets whom they trusted were no shepherds (
Ezek 34:5). So now they are scattered, while they know not Messiah their shepherd; typified in the state of the disciples, when they had forsaken Jesus and fled (
Matt 26:56; compare
Zech 13:7).
3 against the shepherds--the civil rulers of Israel and Judah who abetted idolatry.
punished--literally, "visited upon." The same word "visited," without the upon, is presently after used in a good sense to heighten the contrast.
goats--he-goats. As "shepherds" described what they ought to have been, so "he-goats" describes what they were, the emblem of headstrong wantonness and offensive lust (
Isa 14:9, Margin;
Ezek 34:17;
Dan 8:5;
Matt 25:33). The he-goats head the flock. They who are first in crime will be first in punishment.
visited--in mercy (
Luke 1:68).
as his goodly horse--In
Zech 9:13 they were represented under the image of bows and arrows, here under that of their commander-in-chief, Jehovah's battle horse (
Song 1:9). God can make His people, timid though they be as sheep, courageous as the charger. The general rode on the most beautiful and richly caparisoned, and had his horse tended with the greatest care. Jehovah might cast off the Jews for their vileness, but He regards His election or adoption of them: whence He calls them here "His flock," and therefore saves them.
4 Out of him--Judah is to be no more subject to foreigners, but from itself shall come its rulers.
the corner--stone, Messiah (
Isa 28:16). "Corners" simply express governors (
1Sam 14:38, Margin;
Isa 19:13, Margin). The Maccabees, Judah's governors and deliverers from Antiochus the oppressor, are primarily meant; but Messiah is the Antitype. Messiah supports and binds together the Church, Jews and Gentiles.
the nail-- (
Judg 4:21;
Isa 22:23). The large peg inside an Oriental tent, on which is hung most of its valuable furniture. On Messiah hang all the glory and hope of His people.
bow-- (
Zech 9:13). Judah shall not need foreign soldiery. Messiah shall be her battle-bow (
Ps 45:4-
Ps 45:5;
Rev 6:2).
every oppressor--rather, in a good sense, ruler, as the kindred Ethiopic term means. So "exactor," in
Isa 60:17, namely, one who exacts the tribute from the nations made tributary to Judah [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU].
5 riders on horses--namely, the enemy's horsemen. Though the Jews were forbidden by the law to multiply horses in battle (
Deut 17:16), they are made Jehovah's war horse (
Zech 10:3;
Ps 20:7), and so tread down on foot the foe with all his cavalry (
Ezek 38:4;
Dan 11:40). Cavalry was the chief strength of the Syro-Grecian army (I Maccabees 3:39).
6 Judah . . . Joseph--that is, the ten tribes. The distinct mention of both Judah and Israel shows that there is yet a more complete restoration than that from Babylon, when Judah alone and a few Israelites from the other tribes returned. The Maccabean deliverance is here connected with it, just as the painter groups on the same canvas objects in the foreground and hills far distant; or as the comparatively near planet and the remote fixed star are seen together in the same firmament. Prophecy ever hastens to the glorious final consummation under Messiah.
bring them again to place them--namely, securely in their own land. The Hebrew verb is compounded of two, "I will bring again," and "I will place them" (
Jer 32:37) MAURER, from a different form, translates, "I will make them to dwell."
7 like a mighty man--in the battle with the foe (
Zech 10:3,
Zech 10:5).
rejoice--at their victory over the foe.
children shall see it--who are not yet of age to serve. To teach patient waiting for God's promises. If ye do not at present see the fulfilment, your children shall, and their joy shall be complete.
rejoice in the Lord--the Giver of such a glorious victory.
8 hiss for them--Keepers of bees by a whistle call them together. So Jehovah by the mere word of His call shall gather back to Palestine His scattered people (
Zech 10:10;
Isa 5:26;
Ezek 36:11). The multitudes mentioned by JOSEPHUS [Wars of the Jews, 3:2], as peopling Galilee two hundred years after this time, were a pledge of the future more perfect fulfilment of the prophecy.
for I have redeemed them--namely, in My covenant purpose "redeemed" both temporally and spiritually.
as they have increased--in former times.
9 sow them among . . . people--Their dispersion was with a special design. Like seed sown far and wide, they shall, when quickened themselves, be the fittest instruments for quickening others (compare
Mic 5:7). The slight hold they have on every soil where they now live, as also the commercial and therefore cosmopolitan character of their pursuits, making a change of residence easy to them, fit them peculiarly for missionary work [MOORE]. The wide dispersion of the Jews just before Christ's coming prepared the way similarly for the apostles' preaching in the various Jewish synagogues throughout the world; everywhere some of the Old Testament seed previously sown was ready to germinate when the New Testament light and heat were brought to bear on it by Gospel preachers. Thus the way was opened for entrance among the Gentiles. "Will sow" is the Hebrew future, said of that which has been done, is being done, and may be done afterwards [MAURER], (compare
Hos 2:23).
shall remember me in far countries-- (
Deut 30:1;
2Chr 6:37). Implying the Jews return to a right mind in "all the nations" where they are scattered simultaneously. Compare
Luke 15:17-
Luke 15:18, with
Ps 22:27, "All the ends of the world remembering and turning unto the Lord," preceded by the "seed of Jacob . . . Israel . . . fearing and glorifying Him"; also
Ps 102:13-
Ps 102:15.
live--in political and spiritual life.
10 Egypt . . . Assyria--the former the first, the latter among the last of Israel's oppressors (or representing the four great world kingdoms, of which it was the first): types of the present universal dispersion, Egypt being south, Assyria north, opposite ends of the compass. MAURER conjectures that many Israelites fled to "Egypt" on the invasion of Tiglath-pileser. But
Isa 11:11 and this passage rather accord with the view of the future restoration.
Gilead . . . Lebanon--The whole of the Holy Land is described by two of its boundaries, the eastern ("Gilead" beyond Jordan) and the northern ("Lebanon").
place shall not be found for them--that is, there shall not be room enough for them through their numbers (
Isa 49:20;
Isa 54:3).
11 pass . . . sea with affliction--Personifying the "sea"; He shall afflict the sea, that is, cause it to cease to be an obstacle to Israel's return to Palestine (
Isa 11:15-
Isa 11:16). Vulgate translates, "The strait of the sea." MAURER, "He shall cleave and smite." English Version is best (
Ps 114:3). As Jehovah smote the Red Sea to make a passage for His people (
Exod 14:16,
Exod 14:21), so hereafter shall He make a way through every obstacle which opposes Israel's restoration.
the river--the Nile (
Amos 8:8;
Amos 9:5), or the Euphrates. Thus the Red Sea and the Euphrates in the former part of the verse answer to "Assyria" and "Egypt" in the latter.
sceptre of Egypt . . . depart-- (
Ezek 30:13).
12 I . . . strengthen them in . . . Lord-- (
Hos 1:7). I, the Father, will strengthen them in the name, that is, the manifested power, of the Lord, Messiah, the Son of God.
walk . . . in his name--that is, live everywhere and continually under His protection, and according to His will (
Gen 5:22;
Ps 20:1,
Ps 20:7;
Mic 4:5).