Zechariah 10
Big idea: Ask God for rain, not the household gods — a small instruction that sets up the whole chapter, which is about who the people have been relying on. The shepherds are the target, and the promise is a flock gathered from Egypt and Assyria and made able to fight on its own feet.
The anger at the shepherds here is the setup for chapter 11, where the prophet is told to act one out.
10:1–5 — The cornerstone and the tent peg
Rain in spring is the second rains, the ones that fill out the grain before harvest — the exact thing Baal was consulted about, and the chapter opens by telling them where to ask. Then the reason: the household gods speak nonsense, the diviners see lies, and the comfort they give is empty, so the people wander like sheep without a shepherd.
1 Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field. 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 oppressed, because there is no shepherd. 3 My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats, for Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle. 4 From him will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. 5 They will be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle. They will fight, because Yahweh is with them. The riders on horses will be confounded.
10:6–12 — I will bring them back
Both kingdoms are named — the house of Judah strengthened and the house of Joseph saved — which matters, because the northern tribes had been gone for two centuries by the time this was read. The promise is that they will be as though God had never rejected them, which is as close as the prophets come to saying a break can be made not to have happened.
6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, for I have mercy on them. They will be as though I had not cast them off, for I am Yahweh their God, and I will hear them. 7 Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine. Yes, their children will see it and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in Yahweh. 8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them. They will increase as they were before. 9 I will sow them among the peoples. They will remember me in far countries. They will live with their children and will return. 10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and there won’t be room enough for them. 11 He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart. 12 I will strengthen them in Yahweh. They will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).