Chapter 10
2024 - This seems to start an entirely different prophecy. This is not a continuation of the things going on in Chapter 9. This thing about rain seems more about the return from Babylon, and the people not restoring the Temple but doing their own thing.
1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. [Ezr 5:1 ESV]
14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; [Ezr 6:14 ESV]
I can't find it now, but I know there is a place where a prophet chastises the people for living in their own houses and trying to grow crops while the walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins. They are told that God is withholding the rain and that their crops are poor because of this. I looked a long time. I cannot find it. (2025 - Still cannot find it. I know it's there.)
Begins by telling the people to look to God for answers to prayer, ask the maker of storm clouds for rain, not diviners and idols.
In vs 2b, it says the people wander for lack of a shepherd. We saw this before, almost exactly this same accusation. Here are a couple of those verses and several more are in Eze 34:
2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ... 10 Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them. [Eze 34:2, 10 ESV]. And in Zechariah, it is phrased like this:
2 For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd. [Zec 10:2 ESV]
This contrasts prayers to the living God with the fake "power" of both idols and diviners. In the absence of those who speak God's truth, man does what he can to fill the void. The void is there in each person, and the need to fill it is overwhelming. We will place things there that no rational person would ever believe had any power - idols of wood, stone, and metal, which are completely inanimate - and people who claim special insight and powers beyond mere men, who can be tested and proven false very easily. But a true shepherd leads the sheep to real pasture, to where he can prosper and grow - to God Almighty. Possible FB post here.
2020- 3 "My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle. [Zec 10:3 ESV]. This verse is even more like the verses in Ezekiel. But look at what is next. The Lord cares for His flock - the house of Judah. It does not say Israel here. Zechariah is writing as Judah returns from Babylon. Hmm...these captives were originally taken from Judah as the northern kingdom had been gone a long time. So perhaps it is meant in that sense. At that time, it was pretty much ONLY the Southern Kingdom coming back home. (Except for that sermon on the radio last Sunday, talking about the verse that says they returned home, each to his own city, and when they had the gathering of returned exiles, some came to Jerusalem from northern cities. That preacher used that story to say that Jews returned to all of Israel at that time, all 12 tribes, and therefore there are no lost tribes of Israel. So the US is not those 10 tribes was his point. We do know that when the Kingdom split, and Jeroboam built the two calves for the north to worship, that many many people left the north and moved into Judah. But given the Jew's penchant for genealogy, they would certainly know where their original city was, and what tribe they descended from. So maybe this is how the 12 tribes are all preserved - by that mass migration out of the north when the Kingdom first split. This seems to make a LOT of sense, and answers a lot of question. It was once again the faithful from the north that were preserved, and the unfaithful families went into Assyrian captivity, never to be heard from again. Those houses of Israel were annihilated, but not their tribes. The tribes had to be preserved. Those returning to northern cities as they came home from Babylon prove that they had been preserved, and explains the animosity of the Samaritans toward them "resettling" their ancestral lands. Those in Samaria at the time had been resettled there by the Assyrians. We have those stories. And then in Zechariah's time, the descendants of the true tribes resettled there, creating long term resentment that we see still present in Jesus' time.)
This verse:
4 From him shall come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler--all of them together. [Zec 10:4 ESV]
We hear a lot about the cornerstone, not so much about tent pegs, battle bows, and rulers. NT calls Jesus the chief cornerstone - so there may be many, but I've not seen these others used. MSB makes them also symbols of the Messiah...though none quoted from NT. The whole chapter so far is referencing a future time - and still future to us I believe - when God will judge the shepherds, and send one of His own to feed the sheep. This is what Jesus was referencing when he told people He was the good shepherd. I never realized he was tying himself to these prophecies.
2026 - The rider on the white horse has a bow. There's that. And vvs 5 is about some battle in the streets. Jerusalem invaded by riders on horses. I think this speaks to a foreign invasion aimed at Zion. When/where is that in scripture. Can I gather up the verses that seem to reference this battle. What characteristics separate this battle from Armageddon or the battle at the end of the Millennial? The fact that it is in Jerusalem seems to be a big one...though that post-Millennial battle may be there. Pin that down.
This promise to the house of Judah:
6 "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them. [Zec 10:6 ESV]
Still another reference to the severity of the judgement on Judah and Jerusalem. The "double repayment" required of them because they had fallen so very far.
2020-Joseph is added to Judah here. Joseph is Ephraim and Manasseh, and in the blessing that Jacob gave his grandsons back in Egypt, it was said that Ephraim would be synonymous with national Israel. Judah here may be about the Davidic covenant, and Joseph about the Abrahamic, since Jacob "adopted" Ephraim and Manasseh to inherit from him directly. The whole Joseph thing was long before the Exodus, so God may be saying here that He is going back to before the Mosaic Covenant, to the Abrahamic, and also preserving the Davidic. So as we saw previously in reference to God renewing his choice of Jerusalem as the city where He will dwell, here, He reminds us that it is only the Mosaic that has been abrogated, while the Abrahamic and the Davidic will continue into the future.
2026 - Note the phrase "I will bring them back" in 6b. This is all about the return of Jews to Jerusalem from all over the world. There are so many OT prophecies of this return. Maybe someone, the MoL is the best candidate, who will get nervous about how many Jews are in Jerusalem and the Dragon will think to wipe them all out at once during this time and attack the city? Does that fly?
2024 - Judah and Joseph. So is this about Zechariah's time or a prophecy of Jesus' time. Jesus was pretty hot at the shepherds. But I think it would be unusual to have a prophecy of Jesus' life. We see his coming, but not much about his life. We know that Nehemiah got pretty hot at the shepherds for allowing a merchant to keep inventory in the Temple. Zechariah, Haggai, Ezra, and Nehemiah were contemporaries. So it would make sense that they have similar messages. I think the best bet is that Zech is talking here about the same things that Nehemiah chastised the priests about.
2024 - But if it is about that time, what is this about Judah and Joseph? Judah, Ephraim and Manasseh. I am not aware of them assuming leadership at that time, and in reality, Ephraim and Manasseh were in the Northern 10. Yet Zechariah repeatedly says Judah, not Israel. Hmm....there is that line that seems to say E and M will be as though God had never rejected them.
More about the coming restoration:
8 "I will whistle for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as they were before. [Zec 10:8 ESV]
A reference to the calling home of the children of Israel. We have seen this countless times now. At the end, God will restore Israel - it population, it's bounty, it's divine protection - to what it once was. I believe the "yard stick" for completion of this promise will be comparison to Solomon's kingdom. This continues in the next verse:
9 Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. [Zec 10:9 ESV]. So...there could be Jews who don't know they are Jews out there still. Overriding the speculation above that the 12 tribes all returned from Babylon. Of course...they are to be scattered yet again in 70 AD, and perhaps it is from that scattering that they will ultimately realize their heritage and come home to Israel. The next verse continues this whole theme of bringing home the descendants of Abraham:
10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria, and I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them. [Zec 10:10 ESV] Many fled to Egypt ahead of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. Many were already gone to Assyria. Zech would surely know about those still scattered in those areas. Perhaps the way to look at it is that those returning from Babylon represented all 12 tribes, and then these verses - 8 to 10 - are about the regathering at the end, prior to the Millennial. They will be brought to Lebanon...perhaps Lebanon is ultimately to be annexed into Israel? Where exactly is Gilead? East side of the Jordan from Galilee down to the Dead Sea.
2026 - vs 10 - So many coming home that there isn't room for them in Israel. This is a big deal. This is an event in the end times that we don't talk about. This is a massive repopulation of Israel by Jews. A massive revival, a turning to God and Jesus as the Messiah. They are going to gather there. When/where on the timeline is this taking place?
2024 - Vss 8-12 seem to be looking way out again. It is possible that the reference to Joseph is in fact about restoration of the Northern 10, not exclusively about the two half-tribes. The implication is that there are countless Israelites scattered abroad since the Assyrian captivity, when many were taken away and others fled to Egypt. If we do that, we can fit these verses into the end times when the Jews come home. I think this is during the Millennial that they will return.
2024 - In verse 11, we have Assyria mentioned and Egypt mentioned. These words look like prophecy to me. Put these together with Greece, and you have three of the spiritual realms, and Israel is a fourth. There are only three others. What are they? Will Zechariah name them also before this is over? So...looking back at where the four chariots went, two went north, one south, and we have no idea about the red horses. I believe one that went north went to Assyria. The other, at this point, I would suggest went to Greece. But Magog and Rosh are up there too.