A verse by verse commentary on Zechariah 10 dealing with the Lord's promise to strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph.

1. ZECHARIAH 10 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
The Lord Will Care for Judah
1 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
and plants of the field to everyone.
BAR ES, "Ask ye of the Lord rain - “Ask and ye shall receive” our Lord says.
Zechariah had promised in God’s name blessings temporal and spiritual: all was ready
on God’s part; only, he adds, ask them of the Lord, the Unchangeable, the Self-same not
of Teraphim or of diviner, as Israel had done aforetime Isa. 2:5-22; Jer_44:15-28. He
had promised, “If ye shall hearken diligently unto My coramandments, to love the Lord
your God, I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the
latter rain, and I will send grass in thy field for thy cattle” Deu_11:13-15. God bids them
ask Him to fulfill His promise. The “latter rain” alone is mentioned, as completing what
God had begun by the former rain, filling the ears before the harvest. Both had been
used as symbols of God’s spiritual gifts, and so the words fit in with the close of the last
chapter, both as to things temporal and eternal. Osorius: “He exhorts all frequently to
ask for the dew of the divine grace, that what had sprung up in the heart from the seed of
the word of God, might attain to full ripeness.”
The Lord maketh bright clouds - (Rather) “lightnings, into rain,” as Jeremiah
says, “He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh lightnings
into rain” Jer_10:13; Jer_51:16; and the Psalmist, “He maketh lightnings into rain” Psa_
135:7, disappearing as it were into the rain which follows on them. “And giveth them.”
While man is asking, God is answering. “Showers of rain” , “rain in torrents,” as we
should say, or “in floods,” or, inverted, “floods of rain.” “To every one grass,” rather, “the
green herb, in the field,” as the Psalmist says, “He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle, and green herb for the service of men” (Psa_104:14, see also Gen_1:30; Gen_
3:18). This He did with individual care, as each had need, or as should be best for each,
as contrariwise He says in Amos, “I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to
rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece, whereon it rained not,
withered” (Amo_4:7; see note).
The Rabbis observed these exceptions to God’s general law, whereby He “sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust” Matt. 5:49, though expressing it in their way
hyperbolically; , “In the time when Israel doeth the will of God, He doeth their will; so

2. that if one man alone, and not the others, wants rain, He will give rain to that one man;
and if a man wants one herb alone in his field or garden, and not another, He will give
rain to that one herb; as one of the saints used to say, This plot of ground wants rain,
and that plot of ground wants not rain” (Cyril). Spiritually the rain is divine doctrine
bedewing the mind and making it fruitful, as the rain doth the earth. So Moses saith,
“My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain
upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass” Deu_32:2. Cyril: “The law of
Moses and the prophets were the former rain.”
CLARKE, "Ask ye of the Lord rain - Rain in the due seasons -
1. To impregnate the seed when sown; and
2. To fill the ear near the time of harvest - was so essential to the fertility of the land,
and the well-being of the people, that it stands well among the chief of God’s
mercies and the promise of it here shows that God designs to ensure the prosperity
promised, by using those means by which it was promoted.
GILL, "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain,.... There was the
former and the latter rain, of which see Hos_6:3. The former rain was in autumn, a little
before or about seed time; the latter was in the spring, and a little before harvest, which
is here referred to. So Hesiod (g) calls those rains the autumnal and vernal rains; and
between these two rains there was seldom any more. Jerom says (h) that he never saw in
the eastern countries, especially in Judea, any rain at the end of the month of June, or in
July; and now, at Aleppo, a little more northerly, for three or four months after May,
they have scarce so much as any dew upon the ground, as Pemble on the place observes.
So Dr. Shaw says (i), little or no rain falls in this climate (of Algiers and Tunis), during
the summer season; and in most parts of the Sahara, particularly in the Jereede, they
have seldom any rain at all. It was likewise the same in the holy land, Pro_26:1 where
rain is accounted an unusual thing in "harvest", 2Sa_21:10 where it is also mentioned,
"from harvest till rain dropped on them"; i.e. their rainy season fell out, as in Barbary, in
the autumnal and winter months.
"The first rains (he observes) fall here some years in September, in others a month later;
after which the Arabs break up their ground, in order to sow wheat, and plant beans: this
commonly falls out about the middle of October.''
If the latter rains fall as usual in the middle of April, (in the holy land we find they were a
month sooner, Joe_2:23.) the crop is reckoned secure; the harvest coming on in the
latter end of May, or in the beginning of June, according to the heat and quality of the
preceding seasons: wherefore, since there was so little rain fell in these countries, and
particularly in Judea; if these former and latter rains failed, a scarcity followed; for, for
want of the former rain, the earth was hard, and not easily ploughed up; and for want of
the latter the grain withered away in the blade, and did not ear, at least did not produce
ears plump and good; so that these rains were great temporal blessings, and to be asked
for, as they were by the Jews, when they were wanted; and for which they appointed
fasts (k), and were emblems of spiritual blessings here designed; for rain here is not to

3. be literally understood, but mystically and spiritually; and designs either the love and
favour of God, and the comfortable discoveries of it; see Pro_16:15 which may be
compared to rain in its original; it is from above, from on high, it comes from heaven; it
is not owing to anything in man, but to the will of God; and is distinguishing, as rain falls
on one city, and not on another; in its objects, undeserving persons, as rain is sent on the
just and unjust; in its manner of communication, it tarries not for the will and works of
men; it comes at times in great abundance, and the discoveries of it are to be asked for;
in its effects, it softens and melts the heart into evangelical repentance; it cools and
extinguishes the flaming wrath of a fiery law in the conscience; it refreshes and revives
the drooping spirit, and makes the barren soul fruitful: or the blessings of grace in
general may be meant; these are from above, depend on the will of God; are to be sought
after, and asked for; are free grace gifts; are given largely and plentifully, and make
fruitful: or the coming of Christ in the flesh in particular is intended; see Hos_6:3 who
came down from heaven; is a free gift of God to men, was sought after, and greatly
desired, and to be desired, by the Old Testament saints, and very grateful to such when
he came. This may also be applied to his spiritual coming in his power and kingdom in
the latter day, which is to be earnestly wished and prayed for, Psa_72:7 or else the
Gospel may be designed; see Deu_32:2 this is of God, and from above; comes and falls
upon the sons of men, according to divine direction; softens hard hearts, when it
becomes effectual; comforts the souls of God's people; is a blessing to be desired, and
asked for; and will be enjoyed in great plenty in the latter day:
so the Lord shall make bright clouds; by which may be meant the ministers of the
Gospel, who are of God's making, and not man's: these may be compared to "clouds" for
their number, especially as they will be in the latter day; and for their moving to and fro,
to communicate spiritual knowledge: and to "bright" ones, such as from whence
lightning springs, thunderclouds, full of water; (the same word is used for lightning,
Job_38:25;) because full of Gospel truths, and because of that clear light they diffuse to
others:
and give them showers of rain: productive, under a divine influence, of large
conversions among Jews and Gentiles:
to everyone grass in the field: on whom these showers fall with efficacy, and a divine
blessing; everyone of these have a spiritual knowledge of Christ, faith in him, repentance
towards God, food and fulness of it; and are filled with the fruits of righteousness, or
good works, to the glory of God; see Isa_55:10. The Targum is,
"that he may give to them (the children of men) corn to eat, and grass to the beasts in the
field;''
taking the words literally.
HE RY, "Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were
promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here God intimates
to them that he will for these things be enquired of by them, and that he expects they
should acknowledge him in all their ways and in all his ways towards them - and not
idols that were rivals with him for their respects.
I. The prophet directs them to apply to God by prayer for rain in the season thereof.
He had promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that there should be great plenty
of corn and wine, whereas for several years, by reason of unseasonable weather, there

4. had been great scarcity of both; but the earth will not yield its fruits unless the heavens
water it, and therefore they must look up to God for the dew of heaven, in order to the
fatness and fruitfulness of the earth (Zec_10:1): “Ask you of the Lord rain. Do not pray
to the clouds, nor to the stars, for rain, but to the Lord; for he it is that hears the
heavens, when they hear the earth,” Hos_2:21. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which
we must ask of God, rain in the time of the latter rain, when there is most need of it. The
former rain fell at the seed-time, in autumn, the latter fell in the spring, between March
and May, which brought the corn to an ear and filled it. If either of these rains failed, it
was very bad with that land; for from the end of May to September they never had any
rain at all. Jerome, who lived in Judea, says that he never saw any rain there in June or
July. They are directed to ask for it in the time when it used to come. Note, We must, in
our prayers, dutifully attend the course of Providence; we must ask for mercies in their
proper time, and not expect that God should go out of his usual way and method for us.
But, since sometimes God denied rain in the usual time as a token of his displeasure,
they must pray for it then as a token of his favour, and they shall not pray in vain. Ask
and it shall be given you. So the Lord shall make bright clouds (which, though they are
without rain themselves, are yet presages of rain) - lightnings (so the margin reads it),
for he maketh lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in great
abundance, and so give to every one grass in the field; for God is universally good, and
makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.
JAMISO , "Zec_10:1-12. Prayer and promise.
Call to prayer to Jehovah, as contrasted with the idol-worship which had brought
judgments on the princes and people. Blessings promised in answer to prayer:
(1) rulers of themselves;
(2) conquest of their enemies;
(3) restoration and establishment of both Israel and Judah in their own land in
lasting peace and piety.
Ask ... rain — on which the abundance of “corn” promised by the Lord (Zec_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; Joe_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.
K&D 1-2, "

5. “Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah createth lightnings,
and showers of rain will He give them, to every one vegetation in the field. Zec_10:2.
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the soothsayers have seen a lie, and speak
dreams of deceit; they comfort in vain: for this they have wandered like a flock, they
are oppressed because there is no shepherd.” The summons to prayer is not a mere turn
of the address expressing the readiness of God to give (Hengstenberg), but is seriously
meant, as the reason assigned in Zec_10:2 clearly shows. The church of the Lord is to
ask of God the blessings which it needs for its prosperity, and not to put its trust in idols,
as rebellious Israel has done (Hos_2:7). The prayer for rain, on which the successful
cultivation of the fruits of the ground depends, simply serves to individualize the prayer
for the bestowal of the blessings of God, in order to sustain both temporal and spiritual
life; just as in Zec_9:17 the fruitfulness of the land and the flourishing of the nation are
simply a concrete expression, for the whole complex of the salvation which the Lord will
grant to His people (Kliefoth). This view, which answers to the rhetorical character of
the exhortation, is very different from allegory. The time of the latter rain is mentioned,
because this was indispensable to the ripening of the corn, whereas elsewhere the early
and latter rain are connected together (e.g., Joe_2:23; Deu_11:13-15). The lightnings are
introduced as the harbingers of rain (cf. Jer_10:13; Psa_135:7). Me
tar geshem, rain of the
rain-pouring, i.e., copious rain (compare Job_37:6, where the words are transposed).
With lâkem (to them) the address passes into the third person: to them, i.e., to every one
who asks. ‫ב‬ ֶ‫שׂ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ is not to be restricted to grass or herb as the food of cattle, as in Deu_
11:15, where it is mentioned in connection with the corn and the fruits of the field; but it
includes these, as in Gen_1:29 and Psa_104:14, where it is distinguished from châtsır.
The exhortation to pray to Jehovah for the blessing needed to ensure prosperity, is
supported in Zec_10:2 by an allusion to the worthlessness of the trust in idols, and to the
misery which idolatry with its consequences, viz., soothsaying and false prophecy, have
brought upon the nation. The te
râphım were house-deities and oracular deities, which
were worshipped as the givers and protectors of the blessings of earthly prosperity (see
at Gen_31:19). Along with these ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫קוֹס‬ are mentioned, i.e., the soothsayers, who plunged
the nation into misery through their vain and deceitful prophesyings. ‫ּמוֹת‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ח‬ is not the
subject of the sentence, for in that case it would have the article like ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫וֹס‬ ַ‫;ה‬ but it is the
object, and ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫וֹס‬ ַ‫ה‬ is also the subject to ‫רוּ‬ ֵ ַ‫ד‬ְ‫י‬ and ‫מוּן‬ ֵ‫ח‬ַ‫נ‬ְ‫.י‬ “Therefore,” i.e., because Israel
had trusted in teraphim and soothsayers, it would have to wander into exile. ‫ע‬ ַ‫ס‬ָ‫,נ‬ to break
up, applied to the pulling up of the pegs, to take down the tent, involves the idea of
wandering, and in this connection, of wandering into exile. Hence the perfect ‫עוּ‬ ְ‫ֽס‬ָ‫,נ‬ to
which the imperfect ‫נוּ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ is suitably appended, because their being oppressed, i.e., the
oppression which Israel suffered from the heathen, still continued. The words apply of
course to all Israel (Ephraim and Judah); compare Zec_9:13 with Zec_10:4, Zec_10:6.
Israel is bowed down because it has no shepherd, i.e., no king, who guards and provides
for his people (cf. Num_27:17; Jer_23:4), having lost the Davidic monarchy when the
kingdom was overthrown.
CALVI , "Zechariah, after having shown that God would be bountiful towards the
Jews, so that nothing necessary to render life happy and blessed should be wanting,

6. now reproves them for their unbelief, because they did not expect from the Lord
what he was ready fully to bestow on them. As then it depended on them only, that
they did not enjoy abundance of all blessings, he charges them with ingratitude: for
though he exhorts them to prayer, there is yet an implied reproof. One by merely
reading over the words may think that a new subject is here introduced, that the
Jews are directed to ask of the Lord what he had previously promised them; but he
who will more minutely consider the whole context, will easily find that what I have
stated is true — that the Jews are here condemned, and on this account, because
they closed the door against God’s favor; for they were straitened in themselves, as
all the unbelieving are, who cannot embrace the promises of God; nor is it at all
doubtful but that many made great complaints, when they found themselves
disappointed of their wishes. They had indeed hoped for a most abundant supply of
corn and wine, and had also promised to themselves all kinds of blessings, yet the
Lord, as we have seen in the book of Haggai, had begun to withdraw his hand, so
that they labored under want of provisions; and when mine and thirst oppressed
them, they thought that they had been in a manlier deceived by God. On this ground
the Prophet expostulates with them; they thrust from themselves, by their want of
faith, the favor which had been prepared for them. We now then understand the
Prophet’s meaning.
He bids them to ask rain of Jehovah. They ought indeed to have done this of
themselves without being reminded; for though Christ has delivered to his Church a
form of prayer, it ought yet to be as it were the dictate of nature to seek of God our
daily bread; and it is not without reason that he claims to himself the name of a
Father. The Prophet then does here reprove the Jews for their brutal stupidity —
that they did not ask rain of the Lord. He adds, at the late season, that is, at spring
time; for rains at two seasons were necessary for the corn, after sowing and before
harvest, and whenever Scripture speaks of fruitfulness or of a large produce, it
mentions rain at these two seasons. Zechariah in this place only refers to the vernal
before harvest; for in that hot country the earth wanted new moisture, Ask, he says,
rain at the beginning of summer.
Jehovah, he adds, will give it; he will make clouds, or storms, or boisterous winds, as
some read; but it is evident from other passages that ‫,חזיזים‬ chezizim, means clouds,
which are as it were preparations for rain. (116) He then says, that a shower would
come with the rain; for some take ‫,גשם‬ gesham, for a shower, that is, heavy rain; but
the Prophet introduces here the two words, as though he had said, that the rains
would be continued until the ground was saturated and the dryness removed. Some
translate, “the rain of a shower,” but this would be too strained. I prefer then this
rendering, He will give rain, a shower, that is, abundant rain; to every one grass in
the field, that is, so that there may be moisture enough for the ground. In short, he
promises a plentiful irrigation, that drought might not deprive them of the hope of
food and support. What I have stated will appear more clear from the following
verse, for he adds —
Ask ye from Jehovah rain in the latter season;
Jehovah, who makes the flashes and the rain,

7. Will a shower give to you,
To every one grass in the field.
“To you,” [ ‫לכם‬ ]; so read many MSS., about fifteen, and the Syriac. — Ed.
COFFMA , "Keil gave this chapter the title of, "Complete Redemption of the
People of God;"[1] and Gill entitled it, "Zion Triumphant through the Messiah."[2]
The principal focus of this chapter is not the inter-testamental period at all, but the
establishment of the kingdom, or church, of Jesus Christ our Lord. Assyria, Egypt,
Judah, Ephraim, etc. are mentioned, but they are symbols of qualities reaching
beyond the original meaning of those terms. At the time of Zechariah's prophecy, an
entirely new set of world conditions prevailed. Assyria was no longer an enemy of
God's people, nor was Egypt. Ephraim had been totally and utterly destroyed for
ever, and only a remnant of Judah still existed.
To suppose that references in this chapter to the future prosperity of Judah and
Ephraim are a prediction of the restoration of their outlawed and destroyed
monarchy is ridiculous. The prophet of God had already promised the Jews that
they would "sit still" for God many days, and that they would be without king,
prince, sacrifice, etc., for "many days," a reference to the whole time between the
Old Testament and the ew Testament (Hosea 3:3,4), a period that was beginning
when Zechariah prophesied. It is futile, therefore, to suppose that the Maccabees
were any restoration of the monarchy; we do not believe that the Maccabees are in
this prophecy at all, except indirectly.
o, the chapter deals with Christ and his kingdom in terminology related to the
prior history of Israel.
Zechariah 10:1
"Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, even of Jehovah that maketh
lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field."
It had been the apostasy of Israel in their worship of Baal as the giver of rain and
other agricultural blessings that had led to their ruin in the first place, a punishment
just concluded by the return of a little remnant to Jerusalem; and this verse was a
well-timed admonition for the returnees not to fall into their old errors.
It is nothing short of astounding that critics, fail to see how necessary, important,
and appropriate it is that this verse should introduce another section dealing with
the times of the Messiah, toward which the Jewish remnant so eagerly turned their
eyes. Dentan stated that these two verses (Zechariah 10:1,2) are, "unrelated to the
context in which they are now found."[3] "Spiritually, Israel had had her former
rains; but a long and terrible drought had set in,"[4] and it was destined to continue
for ages. How absolutely mandatory, therefore, it was that they should pray for the
"latter rain." The fact of there being no mention of the other rains shows that this is
to be understood spiritually.

8. The significant meaning of this verse is that, "The condition for obtaining the
promised blessings (all of them) is that they are to be sought from the Lord, and not
from idols."[5]
COKE, "Introduction
CHAP. X.
God is to be sought unto, and not idols. As he visited his people for sin, so he will
save and restore them, when penitent.
Before Christ 517.
THIS chapter is a continuation of the prophesy begun in the preceding one, and
goes on with a representation of the future prosperities of Judah and Israel in
consequence of the recovery of God's favour; their military strength and victories;
their complete and safe return into their own land, and their flourishing re-
establishment in it.
Verse 1
Zechariah 10:1. Ask ye of the Lord, &c.— They asked of the Lord, &c. so the Lord
gave them thunders and large showers, and every one had a green and flourishing
field. This verse certainly ought not to have been separated from the foregoing, as it
accounts for the joyous and plentiful harvests there spoken of, by attributing them
to the seasonable showers vouchsafed by God in regard of the people having
addressed their supplications to him; as, on the contrary, in the two next verses,
their past misfortunes are expressly ascribed to their having had recourse to idols,
which could not hear nor help them.
BE SO , "Zechariah 10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain, &c. — Make supplication to
Jehovah, and not to idols. The promise of future plenty made in the preceding verse,
with which this appears to be closely connected, suggested the mentioning the means
by which it might be procured. As if he had said, The fulfilling of the promise of
fruitful seasons depends on the people’s asking them of God, who will hear their
petitions if offered to him with sincerity and fervour, and will give them both the
former and the latter rain in its season. Of which rains see notes on Deuteronomy
11:14; Hosea 6:3. So the Lord shall make bright clouds — Or lightnings, as the
margin reads, and as the word is rendered Job 28:25. Great rains usually
accompany thunder and lightning. And give them — amely, the Jews; showers of
rain — Or rather, abundance of rain, as the Hebrew means; to every one grass in
the field — Or, to every man the herb, or fruits of the field, as the original word
signifies. The sense is, that God, upon their asking it of him, would give plenty of all
kinds of herbs and fruits that were useful to men, or to the animals which men make
use of.
TRAPP, " Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD
shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the

9. field.
Ver. 1. Ask you of the Lord rain] Ask it and have it; open your mouths wide, and he
will fill them. "Seek ye the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you,"
Hosea 10:12. Surely as the sun draws up vapours from the earth and sea, not to
retain them, but to return them; and as thin vapours come down again in thick
showers of rain; so God calls for our prayers, for out profit; and does for us
"exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think," Ephesians 3:20. Ask we
must, Ezekiel 36:37. Prayer is an indispensable duty. Our Saviour taught his
disciples to pray. He himself was to ask of his Father, and then he should have the
heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,
Psalms 2:8. He could have had presently twelve legions of angels to rescue him; but
then he was to send to heaven for them by prayer, Matthew 26:53 "I came for thy
words," that is, for thy prayers’ sake, saith the angel to Daniel. As well as God loved
him, he looked to hear from him, Daniel 10:11-12 for he will grace his own
ordinances, and make his people know both their distance and dependence.
Rain in the time of the latter rain] Rain is the flux of a moist cloud; which, being
dissolved by little and little by the heat of the sun, lets down rain by drops out of the
middle region of the air. This, if it come right in due time and measure, it maketh
much for the fattening of the earth, Psalms 65:11, allaying the heat, nourishing the
herb and tree, Isaiah 44:14, refreshing all creatures, grass, fruits, Leviticus 26:4,
James 5:18, Isaiah 30:23. So, if otherwise, it proves a great punishment, Joel 1:10-
11; Joel 1:17; Joel 1:19. Great expectation there was in Judaea and those Eastern
parts of the former and the latter rain. That fell in the seedtime about autumn; this
in the spring time, causing the grain to ear, and kernel before harvest. Both were to
be sought of God alone. For are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that
can cause rain? or can the heaven give showers? o, no; these come by a devine
decree, Job 28:26. God prepares rain, Psalms 147:8, he dispenseth it in number
weight, and measure, Job 28:25, not a drop falls in vain, or in a wrong place: he also
withholds it when and where he thinks good, Amos 4:7. The Egyptians used, in a
profane mockery, to tell other nations that if God should forget to rain they might
all chance to starve for it. The rain they thought was of God, but not their river;
which therefore God threateneth to dry up, Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 29:9, Isaiah 19:5-6,
as also he did, as both Seneca and Ovid testify, in the reign of Cleopatra. The
creatures at best are but broken cisterns, Jeremiah 2:13. ot fountains, but cisterns
only; and those broken too; there is no trusting to them; they were never true to
those that trusted them.
So the Lord shall make bright clouds] ubes cursitantes, thin clouds, that fly swiftly
in the air, most commonly before and after very rainy weather. R. Solomon
interprets the word here used not lightnings, which yet are signs and forerunners of
rain, Psalms 135:7, Jeremiah 10:13, but clouds bringing rain. Clouds are nothing
else but vapours thickened in the middle region of the air, by the cold environing
and driving them together; that they may be as so many heavenly bottles holding

10. water, to be seasonably distilled. How they are upheld, and why they fall here, and
now, and by drops, not by spouts (since they are vessels as thin as the liquor
contained in them) we know not, and wonder.
And give them showers of rain] Heb. Rain, rain, that is, plentiful rain upon his
inheritance: the clouds shall return after the rain, Ecclesiastes 12:2, and as one
shower is unburdened another shall be brewed. God scorns to say to the seed of
Jacob, "Seek ye me in vain," Isaiah 45:19, or that any of his suitors should go sad
away for want of an answer. David asked him for life; and God gave him more, even
length of days for ever and ever, Psalms 21:4. Many came to Christ for cure of their
bodies, he cured them on both sides; and was better to them than their prayers.
Gehazi asked aaman for a talent of silver. ay, take two, said he; and he pressed it
upon him. So saith God to his, Ask and spare not, that your joy may be full. Ye are
not straitened in me, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Ye have not because
ye ask not; and he is worthy to want it that may have it for asking only.
To every one grass] Grass for the cattle, and corn for the food of man, as the
Chaldee expounds it.
CO STABLE, "The Lord urged His people, in the day of blessing just described, to
ask Him to send rain when they needed it in the spring, when they sowed their seed.
He promised to send it, and it would cause their crops and other vegetation to grow
(cf. Zechariah 9:11; Deuteronomy 11:13-14). Asking Him is only reasonable since
He is the One who creates storm clouds. The Canaanites gave credit to Baal for
sending rain and producing fertility, but Yahweh was the true rainmaker (cf.
Jeremiah 14:22; Amos 5:8). Since rain is often a symbol of many types of blessing in
the Old Testament, spiritual as well as physical blessing is probably in view here (cf.
Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 55:10-12; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:21-32). Many good
commentators included this verse with Zechariah 9:11-17 because of the
continuation of thought. However all of chapter10 continues the thought of the
previous pericope.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "Verse 1-2
4. AGAI ST THE TERAPHIM A D SORCERERS
Zechariah 10:1-2
This little piece is connected with the previous one only through the latter’s
conclusion upon the fertility of the land, while this opens with rain, the requisite of
fertility. It is connected with the piece that follows only by its mention of the
shepherdless state of the people, the piece that follows being against the false
shepherds. These connections are extremely slight. Perhaps the piece is an
independent one. The subject of it gives no clue to the date. Sorcerers are
condemned both by the earlier prophets, and by the later. Stade points out that this
is the only passage of the Old Testament in which the Teraphim are said to speak.

11. The language has one symptom of a late period.
After emphasizing the futility of images, enchantments, and dreams, this LITTLE
oracle says, therefore the people wander like sheep: they have no shepherd.
Shepherd in this connection cannot mean civil ruler, but must be religious director.
"Ask from Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. Jehovah is the maker of the
lightning-flashes, and the winter rain He gives to them-to every man herbage in the
field. But the Teraphim speak nothingness, and the sorcerers see lies, and dreams
discourse vanity, and they comfort in vain. Wherefore they wander(?) like a flock of
sheep, and flee about, for there is no shepherd."
PULPIT, "Ask ye of the Lord rain. The promise of abundance at the end of the last
chapter suggests to the prophet to make a special application to the practice of his
countrymen. They must put their trust in God alone for the supply of temporal as
well as spiritual bounties. The latter rain was due at the time of the vernal equinox,
and was necessary in order to swell the maturing grain (comp. Deuteronomy 11:14).
The early rain occurred at the autumnal equinox. It was considered as a special
manifestation of God's providential care that these periodical rains were received
(see Isaiah 30:23; Jeremiah 5:24; Joel 2:23). So the Lord shall make bright clouds;
rather, Jehovah maketh the lightnings. Thunderstorms accompany the periodical
rains. Ye must ask of him, and ye shall have. Septuagint, κύριος ἐποίησε
φαντασίας," The Lord makes flashes" (of lightning?); Vulgate, Domiaus faciet
nives, where the right reading is supposed to be nubes (comp. Psalms 135:7; Job
38:25, Job 38:26). Give them showers of rain. Abundant rain, as Job 37:6. The
address is now in the third person. Grass. All vegetable food for man and beast, as
in Genesis 1:11, Genesis 1:29; Psalms 104:14; Amos 7:2.
BI, "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain
The rain
The rainfall in Palestine is normally periodical; occasional showers and even storms of
rain may occur at any season, but as a rule it is at the time of the autumnal and that of
the vernal equinox that the rain for the year falls.
These two periodic seasons of rain the Hebrews spoke of as the early and the latter ram;
and on the occurrence of them the fruitfulness of the field and the return of the harvest
depended. In other passages both the former and the latter rain are referred to as
indispensable to this. At an early period God promised to Israel that He would give the
rain of their land in due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that they might gather
in their corn, manifestation of special regard for His people by Jehovah (comp. Hos_6:3;
Joe_2:23; Isa_30:23; Jer_5:24). The latter rain only is mentioned here, probably
because this was the more important for the fructification of the grain; and possibly also,
because, being this, it might be regarded as including or representing temporal blessing
generally. This the prophet here exhorts the people to ask of the Lord “at the time of the
latter rain,” s.c., at the season when it was due; though God had promised it to His
people, it was fitting and needful that they should pray to Him for it at the time when it
was required. This “direction to ask” does not “simply express the readiness of God to
grant their request”; it does this, for when God enjoins on men the asking for blessing,

12. He implicitly engages to give the blessing asked for; but besides this, and even more than
this, there is intimated here that the obtaining of promised blessing is conditioned by its
being specially asked of God in the season of need. God’s promises are given not to
supersede prayer, but rather to encourage and stimulate to prayer. (W. L. Alexander, D.
D.)
The latter rain
The “latter rain” was that which fell in the spring, and which was instrumental in
bringing the corn into the ear and filling it; so that if this rain failed, the husbandman
would be disappointed of his harvest, notwithstanding all his previous industry, skill,
and anxiety. He was indeed dependent also on the “former” rain, that which fell at the
seeding time; but there would be a yet more bitter disappointment, for there would be
the utter loss of much labour, the fruitless expenditure of much effort and hope, if the
“latter rain” were withheld. And, consequently, there was even greater reason for his
asking rain in “the time of the latter rain” than in that of “the former.” If the “former
rain” were withheld, he might make some other use of his capital and enterprise; but if
“the latter,” his disaster scarce admitted of repair. Take it metaphorically, and the “latter
rain” is the grace needed for ripening the believer and fitting him for heaven. God may
give “the latter rain,” if the husbandman, conscious of his dependence on God for the
harvest, continue meekly to supplicate the necessary showers; He may withhold the rain,
if the husbandman, calculating on the ordinary course of His dealings, grow remiss in
petitioning, and give up his fields to the presumed certainties of the season. There is no
point in the life of a Christian at which he can do without the supply of God’s grace; none
at which he can expect the supply, if he be not cultivating the spirit and habit of prayer.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Prayer and promise
We have here expressed the connection between prayer and promise on the one hand,
and prayer and the processes of nature on the other. The blessing of rain, which, to an
agricultural people, was inclusive of all other temporal blessings, and symbolical of all
spiritual ones, was promised; but this promise was dependent on its supplication in
prayer. Just so the great blessing of the descent of the Spirit on an individual or a
Church, though a free gift, must be obtained by prayer. It is this fact that makes the
spirit of prayer in the Church at once an index of her piety, and of the spiritual blessings
she may expect from God. When the Church pours out a fulness of prayer, God will pour
out a fulness of His Spirit. The inspired writers see no difficulty in the connection
between prayer and the processes of nature, such as the mole-eyed philosophy of
modern times discovers. The inspired writers think that the God who has created the
elements may direct them according to His will. We must not suppose that because God
has begun to bless us, we may relax our prayers and efforts. The former rain may be
given, but we must also ask for the latter rain. We may have the former rain of
conversion, but if we would have the latter rain of ripened sanctification, we must
continue to ask of God. So, also, in the revival of religion. The former rain may occur,
and souls be converted, but if we would have the ripening seed in active Christians, we
must ask of God, and He will give growth, greenness, and maturity. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)

13. God in relation to the good and the bad
I. God attends to the prayers of good men. The abundance of corn promised in the last
clause of the preceding chapter depends upon rain.
1. God gives rain. A pseudo-science would ascribe “rain” and “clouds” and showers to
what they call the laws of nature. The Bible directly connects them with the working
of God. “He watereth the hills from His chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit
of Thy works” (Psa_104:13-15; Psa_65:9-11).
2. The God who gives rain attends to human prayer. But it is not absurd, because
(1) Man is greater than material nature.
(2) Prayer is a settled law of the Divine government.
To cry to the Almighty in distress is an instinct of the soul. Prayer, instead of interfering
with the laws of nature, is a law of nature.
II. He abominates the character of religious impostors. “For the idols [the household
gods] have spoken vanity,” etc. “Thus, under such misleading guides, such selfish and
unprincipled shepherds, the flock was driven about and ‘troubled.’ They had ‘no
shepherd,’ no truly faithful shepherd, who took a concern in the well-being of the
flock.”—Wardlaw. Now, against such impostors, Jehovah says, “Mine anger was
kindled.” “That the shepherds and the goats,” says Hengstenberg, “are the heathen
rulers who obtained dominion over Judah when the native government was suppressed,
is evident from the contrast so emphatically pointed out in the fourth verse, where
particular prominence is given to the fact that the new rulers whom God was about to
appoint would be taken from the midst of the nation itself.” Are there no religious
impostors now, no false teachers, no blind leading the blind, no shepherds fleecing the
flocks?
III. He works in all for His people. From Him comes stability. All stability in moral
character, in social order, in political prosperity, is from God. What a sublime view of the
Almighty have we here! (Homilist)
Asking of the Lord
1. Mark the importance of cultivating the spirit of dependence and prayer. We are, as
creatures and as sinners, dependent for everything we need, whether for the body or
the soul,—for this life or the life to come. It is fitting that we should feel this
dependence, and that we should give it expression. Prayer is the expression of it; but
prayer is something more. It is “asking of the Lord.” It is a precious privilege; it is a
sacredly incumbent duty. It is one of the Divinely ordered means for obtaining any
desired good. God’s Word ascribes to it an efficacy on His own counsels and doings;
its being His inducement to act in one way rather than in another.
2. But we must never be satisfied with praying. We must never separate prayer from
action. The two must go together. It will not do for the husbandman to be ever on his
knees, pleading that his fields may be productive. All the labour and all the skill of
husbandry must be put forth by him. He must work and pray: he must pray and
work. It is a mockery of God if he does otherwise. To work without praying is
ungodliness and presumption; to pray without working is enthusiasm and hypocrisy.
And so it is in the spiritual department. It is not enough that we pray God to “work in
us to will and to do of His good pleasure.” We have no right to expect that He will

14. hear us, or bestow upon us any portion of His gracious influences, unless, by the
diligent use of the means of spiritual “improvement,” we are fulfilling the injunction,
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” In vain do Christians seek
the conversion of Israel, unless they are putting forth efforts for removing the veil of
ignorance and prejudice by the communication of the light of instruction. And in
vain do they look for “the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” filling the earth, if all
they do is praying that it may. They must send it to earth’s utmost bounds. (Ralph
Wardlaw, D. D.)
So the Lord shall make bright clouds—
Bright clouds
The water that a little while ago lay in yonder sluggish pool, is now raised up into the sky
by the sun’s attraction—all its impurities left behind, and itself transformed into a cloud,
which glows like emerald or sapphire in the sunlight. Can you imagine two things more
utterly unlike than the stagnant pool and the radiant cloud? Yet it is precisely the same
substance. It is the same water in yonder cloud, white and fleecy as an angel’s wing, that
before made up the turbid pool. And what saith the Scripture? “If the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” This body taken, out of
the stagnant pool of our fallen humanity—taken out of the corruption of death and the
grave, and now filled and completely permeated by the Holy Spirit, so that it is
transfigured like Christ Himself. (J. A. Gordon, D. D.)
2 The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
BAR ES, "For the teraphim have spoken vanity - Rather, “spake vanity.” He
appeals to their former experience. Their father had sought of idols, not of God;

15. therefore they went into captivity. The “teraphim” were used as instruments of
divination. They are united with the “ephod,” as forbidden, over against the allowed,
means of enquiry as to the future, in Hosea, “without an ephod and without teraphim”
Hos_3:4; they were united in the mingled worship of Micah Jdg_17:5; Jdg_18:14, Jdg_
18:17-18, Jdg_18:20; Josiah “put” them “away” together with the “workers with familiar
spirits and the wizards” 2Ki_23:24, to which are added, “the idols.” It was probably, a
superstition of Eastern origin. Rachel brought them with her from her father’s house,
and Nebuchadnezzar used them for divination. Eze_21:21. Samuel speaks of them,
apparently, as things which Saul himself condemned. “Rebellion is as the sin of
divination, and stubbornness as iniquity or idolatry, and teraphim” 1Sa_15:23. For it
was probably in those his better days, that “Saul had put away those that had familiar
spirits and wizards out of the land” 1Sa_28:3. Samuel then seems to tell him, that the
sins to which he clave were as evil as those which he had, in an outward zeal, like Jehu,
condemned. Anyhow, the “teraphim” stand united with the “divination” which was
expressly condemned by the law Deu_18:13-14. The use of the teraphim by Rachel Gen_
31:19, Gen_31:34-35 and Michal 1Sa_19:13, 1Sa_19:16 (for whatever purpose) implies
that it was some less offensive form of false worship, though they were probably the
“strange gods” Gen_35:2, Gen_35:4 which Jacob bade his household to put away, or,
anyhow, among them, since Laban calls them, “my gods” Gen_31:30, Gen_31:32.
Zechariah uses anew the words of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, “Hearken ye not to your
prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your
sorcerers” Jer_27:9; and, “let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst
of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams, which ye cause to be dreamed” Jer_
29:8; and Ezekiel, “While they see vanity unto thee, while they divine a lie unto thee”
(Eze_21:29; add Eze_22:28). The words not only joined on the prophet’s warning with
the past, but reminded them of the sentence which followed on their neglect. The echo of
the words of the former prophets came to them, floating, as it were, over the ruins of the
former temple.
Therefore they went their way as a flock - Which, having no shepherd, or only
such as would mislead them, removed, but into captivity. “They were troubled.” The
trouble lasted on, though the captivity ended at the appointed time. Nehemiah speaks of
the exactions of former governors, “The former governors which were before me, laid
heavy weights upon the people, and took from them in bread and wine, after forty
shekels of silver; also their servants used dominion over the people; and I did not so,
because of the fear of God” Neh_5:15.
Because there was no shepherd - As Ezekiel said of those times, “They were
scattered, because there is no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the
field, when they were scattered: My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth;
and none did search or seek after them” Eze_34:5-6.
CLARKE, "The idols have spoken vanity - This is spoken of the Jews, and must
refer to their idolatry practiced before the captivity, for there were no idols after.
Therefore they went their way - They were like a flock that had no shepherd,
shifting from place to place, and wandering about in the wilderness, seeking for pasture,
wherever they might find it. Some think that the idols and diviners were those of the
Seleucidae Greeks, who excited their masters with promises of success against the
Maccabees. Others think that the Babylonish captivity is foretold; for a determined
future event is frequently spoken of by the prophets as past.

16. GILL, "For the idols have spoken vanity,.... The vanities of the Gentiles cannot
give rain; if they promise it, they speak vain things; God only can give it, and therefore it
must, be asked of him, Jer_14:22. The word for idols is "teraphim", the same as in Gen_
31:19 and here signifies worshippers of idols, as the Targum interprets it; and may be
understood of the idolatrous Papists who worship idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood,
Rev_9:20 and who speak lies in hypocrisy, great swelling words of vanity, and even
blasphemy against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, 1Ti_
4:1. Jarchi on 2Ki_23:24, says, the teraphim are images that speak by sorcerers or
sorceries; and to such evils the followers of the man of sin are addicted, Rev_9:21 and
the Jews (l) have a notion that those images were so formed, that they were capable of
speaking and talking with men; see Hos_3:4 they seem to confound them with the
"talisman":
and the diviners have seen a lie; delivered it out, and others believed it, being given
up to judicial blindness, because they received not the love of the truth, 2Th_2:10. The
Targum is,
"the diviners prophesy falsehood;''
or preach false doctrine, as the Romish clergy do, who are meant by the diviners:
and have told false dreams; about transubstantiation, purgatory, &c. which are
visionary things; false doctrines are compared to dreams, Jer_23:25,
they comfort in vain; by works of supererogation, by selling pardons, and praying
souls out of purgatory:
therefore they went their way as a flock; as a flock of sheep straying from the fold.
The Targum is,
"they are scattered as sheep are scattered;''
that is, the Jews, being hardened against the Christian religion, by the idolatry, lies, and
dreams of the Papists, wander about in their mistakes and errors concerning the
Messiah; which is their case to this day, and will be until the man of sin is destroyed:
they were troubled, because there was no shepherd; or, "no king", as the
Targum paraphrases it; that is, the King Messiah, according to them, is not yet come;
which is their affliction and trouble, that they are as sheep without a shepherd: or, "they
answered", that there "is no shepherd" (m); they replied to the diviners, the tellers of
false dreams and idolaters, and affirmed that the Messiah is not come, and that the pope
of Rome is not the shepherd and bishop of souls.
HE RY, "He shows them the folly of making their addresses to idols as their fathers
had done (Zec_10:2): The idols have spoken vanity; the teraphim, which they courted
and consulted in their distress, were so far from being able to command rain for them
that they could not so much as tell them when they should have rain. They pretended to
promise them rain at such a time, but it did not come. The diviners, who were the

17. prophets of those idols, have seen a lie (their visions were all a cheat and a sham); and
they have told false dreams, such as the event did not answer, which proved that they
were not from God. Thus they comforted in vain those that consulted the lying oracles;
all the vanities of the heathen put together could not give rain, Jer_14:22. Yet this was
not the worst of it; they not only got nothing by the false gods, but they lost the favour of
the true God, for therefore they went their way into captivity as a flock driven into the
fold, and they were troubled with one vexation after another, as scattered sheep are,
because there was no shepherd, no prince to rule them, no priest to intercede for them,
none to take care of them and keep them together. Those that wandered after strange
gods were made to wander, into strange nations.
JAMISO , "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 (Zec_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 (Eze_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 (Mat_26:56; compare Zec_13:7).
K&D, "“Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; Jehovah createth
lightnings, and showers of rain will He give them, to every one vegetation in the field.
Zec_10:2. For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the soothsayers have seen a lie,
and speak dreams of deceit; they comfort in vain: for this they have wandered like a
flock, they are oppressed because there is no shepherd.” The summons to prayer is not a
mere turn of the address expressing the readiness of God to give (Hengstenberg), but is
seriously meant, as the reason assigned in Zec_10:2 clearly shows. The church of the
Lord is to ask of God the blessings which it needs for its prosperity, and not to put its
trust in idols, as rebellious Israel has done (Hos_2:7). The prayer for rain, on which the
successful cultivation of the fruits of the ground depends, simply serves to individualize
the prayer for the bestowal of the blessings of God, in order to sustain both temporal and
spiritual life; just as in Zec_9:17 the fruitfulness of the land and the flourishing of the
nation are simply a concrete expression, for the whole complex of the salvation which
the Lord will grant to His people (Kliefoth). This view, which answers to the rhetorical
character of the exhortation, is very different from allegory. The time of the latter rain is
mentioned, because this was indispensable to the ripening of the corn, whereas
elsewhere the early and latter rain are connected together (e.g., Joe_2:23; Deu_11:13-
15). The lightnings are introduced as the harbingers of rain (cf. Jer_10:13; Psa_135:7).

18. Me
tar geshem, rain of the rain-pouring, i.e., copious rain (compare Job_37:6, where the
words are transposed). With lâkem (to them) the address passes into the third person: to
them, i.e., to every one who asks. ‫ב‬ ֶ‫שׂ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ is not to be restricted to grass or herb as the food of
cattle, as in Deu_11:15, where it is mentioned in connection with the corn and the fruits
of the field; but it includes these, as in Gen_1:29 and Psa_104:14, where it is
distinguished from châtsır. The exhortation to pray to Jehovah for the blessing needed to
ensure prosperity, is supported in Zec_10:2 by an allusion to the worthlessness of the
trust in idols, and to the misery which idolatry with its consequences, viz., soothsaying
and false prophecy, have brought upon the nation. The te
râphım were house-deities and
oracular deities, which were worshipped as the givers and protectors of the blessings of
earthly prosperity (see at Gen_31:19). Along with these ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫קוֹס‬ are mentioned, i.e., the
soothsayers, who plunged the nation into misery through their vain and deceitful
prophesyings. ‫ּמוֹת‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ח‬ is not the subject of the sentence, for in that case it would have the
article like ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫וֹס‬ ַ‫;ה‬ but it is the object, and ‫ים‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫וֹס‬ ַ‫ה‬ is also the subject to ‫רוּ‬ ֵ ַ‫ד‬ְ‫י‬ and ‫מוּן‬ ֵ‫ח‬ַ‫נ‬ְ‫.י‬
“Therefore,” i.e., because Israel had trusted in teraphim and soothsayers, it would have
to wander into exile. ‫ע‬ ַ‫ס‬ָ‫,נ‬ to break up, applied to the pulling up of the pegs, to take down
the tent, involves the idea of wandering, and in this connection, of wandering into exile.
Hence the perfect ‫עוּ‬ ְ‫ֽס‬ָ‫,נ‬ to which the imperfect ‫נוּ‬ ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ is suitably appended, because their
being oppressed, i.e., the oppression which Israel suffered from the heathen, still
continued. The words apply of course to all Israel (Ephraim and Judah); compare Zec_
9:13 with Zec_10:4, Zec_10:6. Israel is bowed down because it has no shepherd, i.e., no
king, who guards and provides for his people (cf. Num_27:17; Jer_23:4), having lost the
Davidic monarchy when the kingdom was overthrown.
CALVI , "Here the Prophet, as I have said, confirms the truth, that the blame
justly belonged to the Jews that God did not deal more liberally with them; for he
shows that they had fallen into superstitions, and had thus turned away the favor of
God, which was already certain and nigh to them. Zechariah does not here condemn
foreign nations given to superstitions; but, on the contrary, he reproves the Jews
themselves for leaving the true God, and for retaking themselves to idols, to
soothsayers, and diviners, and for having thus preferred to feed on their own
delusions, rather than to open the door to the favor of God, who had freely
promised that he would suffer them to want nothing. As then God had kindly
invited the Jews to himself, as he had showed himself ready to do them good, was it
not the basest ingratitude in them to turn away to idols and to attend to magical
delusions? for they might have safely acquiesced in God’s word. They would not
have been deprived of their hope, had they been firmly persuaded that God had
spoken the truth to them. As then they had done so grievous a wrong to God, as to
run after idols, and after the crafts and impostures of Satan, the Prophet here
deservedly condemns them for this wickedness.
Images, (117) he says, have spoken vanity, and diviners have seen falsehood, and
have told dreams of vanity. He means, in short, that whatever means unbelieving

19. men may try, they can attain nothing, and they will at length find that they have
been miserably deceived by Satan. They have recourse to various expedients, for
unbelief is full of bustle and fervor: “O! this will not succeed, I will try something
else.” Thus the unbelieving wander, and resort to many and various expedients. But
the Prophet teaches this general truth — that when men turn away from God, they
have recourse to vain things; for there is no truth without God.
He afterwards adds, that on account of idols, as well as of diviners and magicians,
consolation was given in vain; and this he confirms by the event, and says, that they
had wandered as sheep, that they had been distressed, because there was no
shepherd. The Prophet no doubt refers here to the time of exile, that the Jews might
learn to be wise, at least by the teaching of experience; for they had known to their
great loss, that without God there is no real and solid comfort: nor does he without
reason upbraid them with the punishment which their fathers had suffered, for he
saw that they were walking in their steps. Since then the Jews were imitating the
depraved inquisitiveness of their fathers, the Prophet justly charges them, that they
did not acknowledge what, by the event itself, was well known to all; for the
common proverb is, that experience is the teacher of fools. Since they did not
become wise even when smitten, their stupidity was more than proved. We now then
perceive what the Prophet means.
But we must first notice, that when he bids them to ask rain of the Lord, he speaks
of the kingdom of Christ, as all the Prophets are wont to do; for since the Redeemer,
promised to the Jews, was to be the author of all blessings, whenever the Prophets
speak of his coming, they also promise abundance of corn, and plentiful provisions,
and peace, and everything necessary for the well-being of the present life. And
Zechariah now follows the same course, when he declares that it was not owing to
anything in God that he did not kindly supply the Jews with whatever they might
have wished, but that the fault was with themselves; for they had by their unbelief,
as it has been said, closed the door against his favor. We must yet ever remember
what we stated yesterday — that whatever the Prophets have said concerning a
blessed life, ought to be judged of according to the nature of the kingdom of Christ.
It is a strained interpretation to say that rain is heavenly doctrine; and I do not say
that Zechariah spoke allegorically, but he describes under this common figure the
kingdom of Christ — even that God will fill his elect with all good things, so that
they shall not thirst, nor labor under any want.
But at the same time we must bear in mind the exhortation of Christ —
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God; other things,” he says,
“shall afterwards be added.” (Matthew 6:33.)
He then is strangely wrong who thinks that abundance of food was alone promised
to the Jews; for God intended to lead them by degrees to things higher. The Prophet
then no doubt includes here, under one kind, all things necessary for a happy life;
for it is not the will of God to fill his faithful people in this world as though they
were swine; but his design is to give them, by means of earthly things, a taste of the

20. spiritual life. Hence the happiness of which Zechariah now speaks is really spiritual;
for as godliness has the promises of the present as well as of the future life, (1
Timothy 4:8,) so the purpose of God was to consult the weakness of his ancient
people, and to set forth the felicity of the spiritual life by means of earthly blessings.
It ought further to be carefully noticed, that the Jews are here exposed to derision,
because they wandered after their own devices, when God was yet not far from
them, and ready to aid them. Since God then showed himself inclined to kindness, it
was a double wickedness in them that they chose to run after idols, magical arts, and
the illusions of Satan, rather than to acquiesce in God’s word. And similar is the
upbraiding we meet with in Jeremiah, when God complains that he was forsaken,
while yet he was the fountain of living water, and that the people dug out for
themselves cisterns, dry and full of holes. (Jeremiah 2:13.) But as this evil is very
common, let us know that we are here warned to plant our foot firm on God’s word,
where he promises that he will take care of us, provided we be satisfied with his
favor; nor let us thoughtlessly run after our own imaginations; for however our own
counsels may delight us, and though some success may sometimes appear, yet the
end will ever show us that most true is what Zechariah teaches us here — that
whatever we may attempt will be useless and injurious too, for God will take
vengeance on our ingratitude.
We must now also observe, that since Zechariah adduces an example of God’s
vengeance, by which the Jews had found that they had foolishly sought vain
consolations, we ought to take heed, lest we forget those punishments with which
God may have visited us in order to restore us to himself: let us remember what we
ourselves have experienced, and what has happened to our fathers, even before we
were born. Thus then ought the faithful to apply their minds so as to recount the
judgments of God, that they may derive profit from his scourges. He afterwards
adds —
There are three kinds of idolatrous and superstitious practices mentioned here —
the images which were consulted as oracles, the pretenders to visions, and the
dreamers of dreams; but all that was spoken, and seen, and dreamt, was vain, and
false, and useless. — Ed.
COFFMA , ""For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a
lie; and they have told false dreams, and they comfort in vain: therefore they go
their way like sheep, they are afflicted, because there is no shepherd."
This, of course, is an accurate description of what had happened to the pre-exilic
Israel. Their leadership, whether of the priests and prophets who were their
shepherds, or their kings, judges, and magistrates, - all of them had proved
incompetent, and had succeeded in leading the nation into total ruin. It has been
wondered by some how "thanks to God" instead of to idols should have been
singled out here; but it is precisely at this point of thankfulness to the True Source
of all human blessing that human apostasy always began. When Paul recounted the

21. awful debaucheries of the pre-Christian Gentile world, he cited first of all the fact
that, "Knowing God they glorified him not as God, and neither gave thanks"
(Romans 1:21). Christians who leave the faith usually begin in the same way; they
stop giving thanks to God, either at the table or anywhere else.
Deane stated that all of the things mentioned here refer "to superstitious devices";
[6] in this same line of thought, McFadyen wrote:
"Superstition, a way of life divorced from God and his guidance, is the parent of
restlessness and instability and reduces men to the level of shepherdless sheep."[7]
"Teraphim ..." were household gods or idols (Genesis 31:19,30; Judges 7:5). "They
bore the likeness of some human figure (1 Samuel 19:13); and they also took the
form of signs of the Zodiac and other instruments of astrology."[8]
The test of any people's true worship is found in the way they pray regarding the
essentials and the catastrophies of life. It is a mistake so to spiritualize religion that
it is considered to be irrelevant to such mundane things.[9]
We have already noted in our studies of the other Minor Prophets that the Israelites
worshipped their drag, practiced rhabdomancy and indulged in other superstitions.
BE SO , "Zechariah 10:2. For the idols have spoken vanity — What I have said
will certainly be verified when, with sincere and pious minds, you apply to God in
prayer for his blessing on you and your land; but the case was quite otherwise when
your fathers asked for any thing of idols; the priests, who answered in the names of
the idols, could only give vain answers, which were not fulfilled by the events
according to their promises. And the diviners have seen a lie — Those who
pretended to divine, or predict future things, have uttered falsehoods. They comfort
in vain — Rather, they comfort vainly, or with vain words. This they certainly did,
because they promised prosperity to the people though they continued in their sins.
Therefore they went their way as a flock — They were carried into captivity, and
brought into great distress, as sheep are driven away and scattered, when there is no
one to guide or take care of them. Because there was no shepherd — o
ecclesiastical or civil governors, that would faithfully do their duty.
TRAPP, "Zechariah 10:2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have
seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went
their way as a flock, they were troubled, because [there was] no shepherd.
Ver. 2. For the idols have spoken vanity] q.d. Therefore ask good things at God’s
hands, as rain, food, and all necessary provision; because idols and soothsayers
cannot help you to these things. If they promise you (as they will), believe them not;
for they lie as fast as once Rabshakeh did for his master, when he promised the
people a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, Isaiah 36:17. And
they will finally serve you as Absalom’s mule served her master; whom she left at
his greatest need, to hang between heaven and earth, as rejected of both. Lo such
are all creaturecomforts, golden delusions, lying vanities, apples of Sodom, nec vera,

22. nec vestra, neither true nor yours, the fashion of this world, saith Paul, 1
Corinthians 7:31; the fantasies of men’s brain, saith Luke, Acts 25:23, the
semblances and empty shows of good, without any reality or solid consistency, saith
Solomon often. They are, saith our prophet here, a wicked deceit and fraudulence.
An arrant lie, a false dream, a vain or empty comfort, that utterly deceiveth a man’s
confidence, and maketh him, in the fulness of his conceited sufficience, to be in
straits. These here for instance; viz. the Jews that had been carried captives as a
flock without a guide, sheep without a shepherd, and yet had not (till after some
while at least) renounced their idols, Jeremiah 44:22, Ezekiel 8:10
Therefore they went their way as a flock] Driven by the butcher to the slaughter
house. Idolatry is a land desolating sin; as besides these Jews (the more ingenuous of
them at this day confess that in all their punishments there is still an ounce of the
golden calf made by them in the wilderness) the Greek Church was undone by it.
The worshipping of images they defended with tooth and nail (as they say), and
established it in the second Council of ice; not long before the Turk took ice, and
made it the seat of his empire, in opposition to Constantinople, which at length he
took also; and brought in Mahometanism, that foul impiety, which quickly
overspread the whole East and South, like as Popish idolatry did the West and
orth. But this iniquity will be their ruin. Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen (
επεσεν, επεσεν). She hath fallen culpably, she shall therefore fall penally. And why?
She is become the habitation of devils, that is, of idols. See Revelation 9:20, 1
Corinthians 10:20.
CO STABLE, "In contrast to the only true God, teraphim (household idols; cf.
Genesis 31:19; Judges 17:5; Judges 17:13; Judges 18:5; 1 Samuel 15:23; Hosea 3:4)
only led people into iniquity, and diviners saw misleading visions and dreams (cf.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Jeremiah 23:30-32; Jeremiah 27:9-10). Their comfort was
worthless. Consequently the people who rely on these false indicators of God"s will
wander like shepherdless sheep and experience much needless trouble (cf. Mark
6:34).
"A modern parallel is the renewed I TEREST I magic, spiritism and other
survivals of primitive times. The more widespread modern equivalent is to ignore
God altogether and tacitly to assume that no problem is beyond man"s unaided
power to solve." [ ote: Baldwin, p171.]
ELLICOTT, "Verse 2
(2) Idols. BETTER, as in margin, teraphim. (See on Judges 17:5.) Against the post-
exilian origin of this passage, and of 13:2, it has been objected that idols and false
prophets harmonise only with a time prior to the exile. It is true that after the
captivity idolatry was not the sin to which the people were especially inclined, as
they were in former times. Still, even if the prophet was not speaking of sins of the
past, rather than those of his own day, it must be remembered that the marriage
with heathen WOME , which is so often spoken of after the captivity, must have
been, as was the case with Solomon, a continual source of danger in that respect.

23. Moreover, idolatry, soothsaying, &c., were actually practised up to the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Thus we read of false prophets who opposed
ehemiah ( ehemiah 6:10-14), and of “sorcerers” in Malachi 3:5, and so, too, of
false prophets in Acts 5:36-37; Acts 13:6, &c., and at the destruction of Jerusalem
(Josephus, Bel. Jud. vi. 5, §§ 2, 3). And in the wars of the Maccabees we READ (2
Maccabees 12:40), “under the coats of every one that was slain they found things
consecrated to the idols of the Jannites, which is forbidden the Jews by their law.”
And have told false dreams.—Better, and dreams tell that which is vain. The
prophet had, doubtless, in mind the words of Jeremiah 14:22 : “Are there any
among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give
showers? Art not thou He, O Lord our God? therefore, we wait upon thee; for thou
hast made all these things.” Zechariah refers here chiefly to those sins which had in
former times caused their captivity. But such passages as Ezra 9; ehemiah 13:23;
ehemiah 6:10; ehemiah 6:12; ehemiah 6:14, show that EVE after the
restoration the people were in danger of falling into idolatry, and of being deceived
by false prophets. (Comp. also Zechariah 13:2, and ote on Malachi 3:5.)
Went their way.—Better, migrated—viz., into captivity.
Troubled.—Or, humbled.
o shepherd.—i.e., none to GUIDE and lead them aright. This is the interpretation
which the context seems to require, and is in accordance with the use of the
expression in Ezekiel 34:5; Ezekiel 34:8, as it is also our Lord’s application of the
idea (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34); but some take “shepherd” here to mean native
king. The paraphrase of the LXX., “because they had no healer” (meaning probably
“because the True Shepherd of Israel had ceased to guide and protect them”) might
possibly be defended.
PETT, "Verses 2-12
God’s Anger At False Shepherds Who Lead His PEOPLE Astray, But God will
Ensure The Coming Restoration (Zechariah 10:2-12).
The picture now changes for a moment. If God is so powerful why are His people in
their present straits? And the answer lies in whom they are listening to. The theme
of Zechariah, as of all the prophets, is the present wrong and the FUTURE hope.
The future may be filled with hope but at present God’s people are unresponsive
and disobedient, ill taught and badly led. They gain their knowledge of the future
from anywhere but the prophets. Of course in the future this will be remedied by
God Himself, and He will act to bring it about. But prior to that there will be an
unspecified time in which the false shepherds will bring disaster on the people
(Zechariah 11:4-17). The future is thus seen as a whole. To them there was but one
future. And that was indeed so. But it was a future that was more complicated than
they could ever have imagined.
We looking back can see its many facets. The encouraging of the people through

24. time, the raising of them from the low state in which they were, the re-establishing
of His people in the land, the coming of the Messianic king, the spiritual
transformation of His people along with those who would unite themselves to them,
the reaching out of God’s truth to the world and the final consummation. All this
was encompassed by the prophets, but in terms of their own day. But it was still a
future dream because of their false teachers.
Zechariah 10:2
‘For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they
have told false dreams, they comfort in vain. Therefore they go their WAY like
sheep, they are afflicted because there is no shepherd.’ .
Zechariah has now come down to earth. The shepherds of the people have been false
shepherds and have deceived them. The people have been hearing the future from
lying sources. That is why the people are wandering like sheep with no shepherd.
They are without protection and defenceless. This will be dealt with in detail shortly
(Zechariah 11:4-17). Compare Jeremiah 27:9; Jeremiah 29:8; Micah 3:7 which
demonstrate that those who were supposed to be shepherds of God’s people
regularly did USE these methods.
‘The teraphim have spoken vanity.’ Teraphim were linked with divination and
spiritist practises (Judges 17:5; Ezekiel 21:21; 2 Kings 23:24). They were almost
always condemned in Scripture (1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24; Judges 17:6). We
do not know what form they took or what material they were made of, although
they are linked with household gods (e.g. Genesis 31:30 with 34). The word probably
links with the Hittite ‘tarpis’, a type of spirit sometimes seen as evil and sometimes
as protective. The reason that Rachel stole the teraphim may have been in ORDER
to enjoy their protection (Genesis 31:34-35). The latter idea would fit the context
here in that the false shepherds have failed to give protection. But whatever their
function, rather than giving protection they have spoken only what has brought
harm and trouble (’awen).
‘The diviners have seen a lie, and they have told false dreams. They comfort in
vain.’ It is clear that the ‘shepherds’ of the people have been using many means to
obtain messages from the beyond. But here we are told that their methods are
useless and vain and clearly to be condemned. They have no message for God’s
people. Their messages are lies. The result is that God’s people are misled and suffer
harm. And it is ever so. There are always those who ignore the word of God and
proclaim vain words of comfort and false dreams which are not in accordance with
its teaching.
In these days when astrology, TAROT CARDS, ouija boards, spirit writing and
such like abound we need to recognise their futility and their condemnation by God.
PULPIT, "Zechariah 10:2
For. The prophet supports his exhortation to pray to Jehovah by showing the

25. worthlessness of trust in idols. Idols; teraphim. What these were is not known for
certain. They seem to have been images of human form and sometimes of life size,
corresponding in some degree to the lares or penates of the Romans (Genesis 31:19;
1 Samuel 19:13). They were supposed to be capable of bestowing temporal blessings
and giving oracles ( 17:5; 18:5, 18:24; Ezekiel 21:21). Have spoken vanity. Gave
worthless, misleading responses. The mention of teraphim in this passage is thought
to indicate a date anterior to the Captivity; but the prophet is speaking of past
events, of the results of these base superstitions in former, not present, time. Three
kinds of superstition are mentioned. Septuagint, οἱ ἀποφθεγγόµενοι, "speaking"
images. These are the first. Secondly come the soothsayers, the diviners, persons
who pretended to predict the future (Jeremiah 27:9; Jeremiah 29:8; Ezekiel 21:21;
Habukkuk 2:18). Have told false dreams; Vulgate, somniatores locuti sunt frustra;
LXX; τὰ ἐνύπνια ψευδῆ ἐλάλουν, "spake false dreams." The Vulgate seems to be
correct, "dreams, i.e. dreamers, spake deceit." This is the third class among the
practisers of superstitious observances. They comfort in vain, when they promise
temporal blessings (Job 21:34). Therefore they went their way as a flock. Because
they trusted in these vain superstitions, the Israelites had to leave their own place,
were led into exile like a flock of sheep driven away for sale or slaughter (Jeremiah
1:17). They were troubled. They were and are still oppressed by the heathen.
Because there was (is) no shepherd. Because they had no king to guard and lead
them, they fell under the power of foreign rulers, who ill treated and oppressed
them (Ezekiel 34:5; ehemiah 5:15).
BI, "
The idols have spoken vanity
The world’s oracles
There are not many who think for themselves; and even those who are reckoned to do so,
depend for the materials of thinking upon what they hear, or see, or touch.
In the things of God this must be so, much more than in others. God’s place is to speak,
and ours to listen. He expects us to listen, for He has a right to speak. But it is irksome to
be always in the attitude of listeners; at least, of listeners to God. We prefer guessing, or
speculating, or reasoning. If we find that we must have recourse to some authority
beyond ourselves, we betake ourselves to any pretender to wisdom,—and above all, to
any one who professes to be the representative of the invisible God, and to speak in His
name. Hence the Gentiles resorted to their “oracles,” and the apostate Jews to their
“witchcrafts,” and to the household gods or teraphim. These are the “idols” referred to
by Zechariah. They whom you consult as the depositories of Divine wisdom, who
pretend to guide you, and to utter truth, have spoken vanity; they have cheated you with
lies. Such was Israel’s history. They trusted in faithless oracles. They became the dupes
of these to whom they had come for guidance in the day of perplexity. Their teraphim
spoke vanity. This has been man’s history too, as well as Israel’s. He has chosen another
counsellor, instead, of God; it may be the Church, or reason, or public opinion. The
world’s teraphim have not been few; nor has their authority been either weak or
transient. There is “public opinion,” that mysterious oracle, whose shrine is nowhere,
but the echo of whose voice is everywhere. There is the standard of established custom—
schools of literature, and philosophy, or theology. There is what is called the “spirit of
the times.” There is the idol of personal friendships, or of admired authors, or of revered
teachers. Mark on what points these teraphim mislead us. They misrepresent the real

26. end and aim of life, assuring us that the glory of the God who made us cannot be that
end, inasmuch as that is something quite transcendental, something altogether, beyond
our reach, or our reason, or our sympathies. Why are men thus misled and befooled?
They have no confidence in God Himself; nor have they learned to say, “Let God be tree,
and every man a liar.” They seek not the Holy Spirit, nor submit themselves to Him as
their teacher. Men do not like the teaching that they get from God and His Word; it does
not suit their tastes. Hence they choose the prophets of smooth things, the teraphim that
utter lies and vanity. But how do these teraphim speak their vanities? They do not need
to do so by uttering gross error. They mingle the true and the false together; so that the
true is neutralised by the false, and the false is adorned and recommended by the true.
And why do these oracles speak thus? They are fond of speaking, and they like to be
listened to. It is a great thing to be consulted as an oracle, and to be quoted as an
authority. They have no high and sure standard of their own, and hence they can only
speak according to their own foolishness. It is as the angel of light that Satan is now the
world’s oracle, or rather, the inspirer of its oracles. He has changed his voice as well as
his garb and aspect. He has hidden his grossness, and modified his language to suit the
change. There are those who cleverly substitute philosophy for faith, reason for
revelation, man’s wisdom for God’s; who prove to us that, though the Bible may contain
the thoughts of God, it does not speak His words; who artfully would reason us into the
belief that sin is not guilt, but only a disease; a mere moral epidemic; who maintain, with
the philosophic Buddhist, that incarnation, not death, is the basis of Divine
reconciliation; that the tendencies of creaturehood are all upward, not downward. As an
angel of light, all his snares and sophistries partake, more or less, of light. He instructs
his oracles to appeal to man’s natural humanity; to our intuitions of virtue and
uprightness. The illumination coming from the Sun of Righteousness is one thing, and
that proceeding from Satan, as an angel of light, is quite another. Shun the idols that
speak vanity. Listen to no voice, however pleasant, save that which is entirely in
harmony with God’s. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.
BAR ES, "Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds - As Ezekiel
continued, “Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will

27. require My flock at their hand” Eze_34:10.
I punished the he-goats - The evil powerful are called the “he-goats of the earth:
Isa_14:9; and in Ezekiel God says, “I will judge between cattle and cattle, between rams
and he-goats” Eze_34:17; and our Lord speaks of the reprobate as goats, the saved as
sheep Mat_25:32. God “visited upon these in His displeasure, “because” He “visited His
flock, the people of Judah,” to see to their needs and to relieve them.
And hath made them as the goodly horse - As, before, He said, “I made thee as
the sword of a mighty man” Zec_9:13 Judah’s might was not in himself; but, in God’s
hands, he had might like and above the might of this world; he was fearless, resistless; as
Paul says, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds” 2Co_10:4.
CLARKE, "Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds - Bad kings and
bad priests. I will punish the goats; these were the wicked priests, who were shepherds
by their office, and goats by the impurity of their lives.
As his goodly horse in the battle - The honorable war horse, or the horse that
carried the general’s equipage. In the unaccountable variation of interpreters on these
chapters, this, among other things, is thought to be spoken of Matthias, and Judas
Maccabeus, who assembled the people from all quarters, as a shepherd gathers his sheep
together; and led them against the sons of Greece, the Seleucidae Greeks. Others refer
every thing here to times before the captivity.
GILL, "Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds,.... The Targum
interprets it of "kings"; as the "goats" of "princes", in the next clause; by whom,
according to Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, are meant the kings of Greece;
but rather the antichristian kings are designed, the kings of the earth, who have
committed fornication with the whore of Rome, which is the cause of the anger of the
Lord being kindled: or else ecclesiastical rulers are meant, the Romish clergy, the chief of
them, as cardinals, archbishops, bishops, &c. who may fitly be represented by the
shepherds of Israel in the times of the prophets for their name, professing to be of Israel,
or to be Christians; and by them for their ignorance, covetousness, luxury, disregard to
the flock, tyranny and cruelty over it, and murder of it; see Isa_56:10, against these the
fire of God's wrath will be kindled, and with it will they be destroyed:
and I punished the goats; not the Seleucidae, as the above Jewish writers; though
they may with propriety be so called, since they were the successors of Alexander,
signified by the he goat in Dan_8:5 rather the monks and friars, comparable to these for
their filthiness and uncleanness; and because they pretend to be guides of the people,
and to go before them, and yet use them ill, and push them with their horns of power;
wherefore God will punish them, and kill those children of Jezebel with death, Rev_
2:22,
for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah; by sending the
Gospel to them, and his Spirit with it, to make it effectual to their conversion; which will
be at the time that the antichristian hierarchy will be destroyed; then the Lord's flock,
who have gone astray, shall be returned to the true Shepherd and Bishop of souls, and
shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall be saved by him: a
gracious visitation this will be!

28. and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle; this denotes that the
Jews, when converted, will be bold in their God; valiant for the truth on earth;
courageously fight the good fight of faith, and be victorious over their enemies; and that
they will be in great honour and esteem among the saints, though so mean and justly
despicable now: the sense is, that as the horse shows its strength and courage i
HE RY, " He shows them the hand of God in all the events that concerned them,
both those that made against them and those that made for them, Zec_10:3. Let them
consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked contrary to them (Zec_
10:3): “My anger was kindled against the shepherds that should have fed the flock, but
neglected it, and starved it. I was displeased at the wicked magistrates and ministers, the
idol-shepherds.” The captivity in Babylon was a token of God's anger against them; in it
likewise he punished the goats, those of the flock that were filthy and mischievous; they
were set on the left hand, to go away into punishment. Though the body of the nation
suffered in the captivity, yet it was only the goats and the shepherds that God was angry
with, and that he punished; the same affliction to others came from the love of God, and
was but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from his wrath, and was a judicial
punishment. 2. When things began to change for the better it was God that gave them
the happy turn. “He has now visited his flock with favour, to enquire after them, and
provides what he finds proper for them, and he has made them as his goodly horse in
the battle, has beautified them, taken care of them, managed and made use of them, as a
man does the horse he rides on, has made them valuable in themselves and formidable
to those about them, as his goodly horse.” It is God that makes us what we are, and it is
with us as he appoints.
JAMISO , "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; Eze_34:17; Dan_8:5; Mat_25:33). The he-goats head the flock.
They who are first in crime will be first in punishment.
visited — in mercy (Luk_1:68).
as his goodly horse — In Zec_9:13 they were represented under the image of bows
and arrows, here under that of their commander-in-chief, Jehovah’s battle horse (Son_
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.
K&D 3-4, "To this there is appended in Zec_10:3. the promise that Jehovah will take
possession of His flock, and redeem it out of the oppression of the evil shepherds. Zec_
10:3. “My wrath is kindled upon the shepherds, and the goats shall I punish; for
Jehovah of hosts visits His flock, the house of Judah, and makes it like His state-horse
in the war. Zec_10:4. From Him will be corner-stone, from Him the nail, from Him the

29. war-bow; from Him will every ruler go forth at once.” When Israel lost its own
shepherds, it came under the tyranny of bad shepherds. These were the heathen
governors and tyrants. Against these the wrath of Jehovah is kindled, and He will punish
them. There is no material difference between ‫ים‬ ִ‫ּע‬‫ר‬, shepherds, and ‫ים‬ ִ‫וּד‬ ַ‫,ע‬ leading goats.
‛Attūdım also signifies rulers, as in Isa_14:9. The reason assigned why the evil shepherds
are to be punished, is that Jehovah visits His flock. The perfect pâqad is used
prophetically of what God has resolved to do, and will actually carry out; and pâqad c.
acc. pers. means to visit, i.e., to assume the care of, as distinguished from pâqad with 'al
pers., to visit in the sense of to punish (see at Zep_2:7). The house of Judah only is
mentioned in Zec_10:3, not in distinction from Ephraim, however (cf. Zec_10:6), but as
the stem and kernel of the covenant nation, with which Ephraim is to be united once
more. The care of God for Judah will not be limited to its liberation from the oppression
of the bad shepherds; but Jehovah will also make Judah into a victorious people. This is
the meaning of the figure “like a state-horse,” i.e., a splendid and richly ornamented war-
horse, such as a king is accustomed to ride. This figure is not more striking than the
description of Judah and Ephraim as a bow and arrow (Zec_9:13). This equipment of
Judah as a warlike power overcoming its foes is described in Zec_10:4, namely in 4a, in
figures taken from the firmness and furnishing of a house with everything requisite, and
in 4b, etc., in literal words. The verb ‫א‬ ֵ‫צ‬ֵ‫י‬ of the fourth clause cannot be taken as the verb
belonging to the ‫וּ‬ ֶ ִ‫מ‬ in the first three clauses, because ‫א‬ ָ‫צ‬ָ‫י‬ is neither applicable to pinnâh
nor to yâthēd. We have therefore to supply ‫ה‬ֶ‫י‬ ְ‫ה‬ִ‫.י‬ From (out of) Him will be pinnâh, corner,
here corner-stone, as in Isa_28:16, upon which the whole building stands firmly, and
will be built securely, - a suitable figure for the firm, stately foundation which Judah is to
receive. To this is added yâthēd, the plug. This figure is to be explained from the
arrangement of eastern houses, in which the inner walls are provided with a row of large
nails or plugs for hanging the house utensils upon. The plug, therefore, is a suitable
figure for the supports or upholders of the whole political constitution, and even in Isa_
22:23 was transferred to persons. The war-bow stands synecdochically for weapons of
war and the military power. It is a disputed point, however, whether the suffix in
mimmennū (out of him) refers to Judah or Jehovah. But the opinion of Hitzig and others,
that it refers to Jehovah, is overthrown by the expression ‫וּ‬ ֶ ִ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ ֵ‫צ‬ֵ‫י‬ in the last clause. For
even if we could say, Judah will receive its firm foundation, its internal fortification, and
its military strength from Jehovah, the expression, “Every military commander will go
out or come forth out of Jehovah,” is unheard-of and unscriptural. It is not affirmed in
the Old Testament even of the Messiah that He goes forth out of God, although His
“goings forth” are from eternity (Mic_5:1), and He Himself is called El gibbōr (Isa_9:5).
Still less can this be affirmed of every ruler (kol-mōgēs) of Judah. In this clause,
therefore, mimmennū must refer to Judah, and consequently it must be taken in the same
way in the first three clauses. On ‫ן‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫צ‬ָ‫,י‬ see Mic_5:1. Nōgēs, an oppressor or taskmaster,
is not applied to a leader or ruler in a good sense even here, any more than in Isa_3:12
and Isa_60:17 (see the comm. on these passages). The fact that negus in Ethiopic is the
name given to the king (Koehler), proves nothing in relation to Hebrew usage. The word
has the subordinate idea of oppressor, or despotic ruler, in this instance also; but the
idea of harshness refers not to the covenant nation, but to its enemies (Hengstenberg),

30. and the words are used in antithesis to Zec_9:8. Whereas there the promise is given to
the nation of Israel that it will not fall under the power of the nōgēs any more, it is here
assured that it is to attain to the position of a nōgēs in relation to its foes (Kliefoth).
‫שׂ‬ֵ‫ל־נוֹג‬ ָⅴ is strengthened by ‫ו‬ ָ ְ‫ח‬ַ‫:י‬ every oppressor together, which Judah will require in
opposition to its foes.
CALVI , "He had said that the Jews had been driven into exile, and had been
oppressed by their enemies, because they had no shepherd; not indeed to lessen their
fault, for they were wholly inexcusable, since they had wilfully renounced God, who
would have been otherwise their perpetual shepherd: but he now turns his discourse
to the false teachers, to the false prophets and to the wicked priests. Though then
they were all unworthy of pardon, yet God here justly summons the shepherds first
before his tribunal, who had been the cause of making others to go astray: as when a
blind man leads the blind into a ditch, so ungodly pastors become the cause of ruin
to others. We have elsewhere observed similar passages, in which God threatened
priests and prophets with special punishment, because they had unfaithfully
discharged their office; but yet he did not absolve the common people, for from the
least to the greatest they were guilty; and it is also certain that men are punished for
their obstinacy and wickedness, whenever God gives loose reins to the devil, and
deceives them by ungodly teachers.
We now then see the order observed by the Prophet: At the beginning of the chapter
he declares that the Jews were without excuse, because they had turned aside again
to their own superstitions, though God had severely punished the sins of their
fathers, and that thus they had profited nothing; he also shows that they were acting
perversely, if they clamored against God, that he scantily or badly supported them,
for they did not look for any thing from him, nor solicited by prayer what he was
prepared willingly to grant them. Having thus reproved generally the wickedness of
the whole people, the Prophet now assails the ungodly priests, and says that
judgment was nigh both the shepherd and the he-goats.
He gives the name of pastors to wolves, which is a common thing. And here the
Papists betray their folly, laying hold of words only, and claiming to themselves all
power, because they are called pastors in the Church, and as though Antichrist was
not to reign in the temple of God. Does not Zechariah give an honorable name to
these wicked men who destroyed the Church of God? Yea, he brings a most heavy
charge against them, that they scattered and trampled under their feet the whole
kingdom of God, and yet he calls them pastors, even because they held the office of
pastors, though they were very far from being faithful, and in no respect attended to
their duties.
He then concedes the name of pastors to those who had been called to rule the
people, and to whom this office had been divinely committed; and yet God declares
that he would visit them, because they had elicited his just displeasure. The same is
said of the he-goats, by which metaphorical name he means all those who were