Zechariahchapter 10
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Speaks with:Zechariah 9×4Ezekiel 34×3Zechariah 10×2James 5×1Isaiah 44×1Matthew 7×1
Summary
Chapter summary
'Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain', go to the God who makes lightnings, not to the teraphim that speak vanity and the diviners who tell false dreams. The flock wanders 'because there is no shepherd,' so God's anger burns against the shepherds and he visits his flock himself, making them his goodly horse in the battle. 'From him shall come forth the corner-stone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow', leadership rising out of Judah rather than imported. He will strengthen Judah and save Joseph and bring them back 'as though I had not cast them off,' whistling for them and gathering them out of Egypt and Assyria until no room is left.
Context
Prophecy · Zechariah — Zechariah overview
- A. 1–5 Ask rain of the LORD, not of the teraphim
- B. 6–8 I will whistle for them and gather them in
- C. 9–12 Brought back from Egypt and out of Assyria
The outline
A.Ask rain of the LORD, not of the teraphimvv. 1 to 5
Read vv. 1 to 5 →B.I will whistle for them and gather them invv. 6 to 8
Read vv. 6 to 8 →C.Brought back from Egypt and out of Assyriavv. 9 to 12
Read vv. 9 to 12 →
The world behind this chapter
Zechariah 10The history
The chapter starts with weather, because in that country everything started with weather. "Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain." The latter rain fell in spring and filled out the grain before harvest; without it the crop failed in the last few weeks. Farmers under pressure went to whoever promised rain.
That is why teraphim and diviners appear in the next breath. Teraphim were household idols — Rachel hid some under a camel saddle, and Michal put one in a bed — and divination was the standard way to get a forecast or a decision in the surrounding cultures. The verdict here is blunt: the idols have spoken vanity, the diviners have seen a lie, they comfort in vain.
Then the anger turns on the shepherds — the leaders — and God says He will punish the goats and visit His flock, and out of Judah will come the corner stone, the nail, and the battle bow. A nail here is the peg driven into a wall that a household hangs its weight on.
The rest of the chapter is about gathering people home. Ephraim — the northern tribes, deported by Assyria in 722 BC and never returned as a nation — is named. God says He will hiss for them (the sound a shepherd or beekeeper uses to call), gather them, and bring them out of Egypt and Assyria into Gilead and Lebanon, until there is no room for them.
Egypt and Assyria stand here for the two directions the scattering went, which is why they appear even though Assyria as a state was long gone by Zechariah's day.
What it meant to them
For a community of returnees, this said the return was not finished. The people who came back under Cyrus were a fraction; the rest were still out there, and God intended to whistle for them.
And the promise about rain grounded the whole thing. The God who gathers scattered tribes is the same one you ask for spring rain, and He is not to be swapped for a household idol when the sky stays clear.
Sources cited
- Edwin Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Zechariah 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.