Zechariah Bible
Study #15
Zechariah Chapter
10
What Israel's
Shepherd-King Will Be And Do For His People
10:1 Ask rain
from the Lord at the time of the spring rain—
The Lord who makes
the storm clouds;
And He will give them showers of rain,
vegetation in the field to each man.2 For
the teraphim speak iniquity,
And the diviners
see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in
vain.
Therefore the
people wander
like sheep,
They are afflicted, because there is no
shepherd.3 “My anger
is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the male
goats;
For the Lord of
hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah,
And will
make them like His majestic horse in battle.4 “From them
will come the cornerstone, From them the tent
peg,
From them the bow of battle, From them
every ruler, all of
them together.5 “They
will be as mighty men,
Treading down the
enemy in
the mire of the streets in battle;
And they will fight, for
the Lord will
be with
them;
And the riders on horses will be put to shame.6 “I
will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the
house of Joseph,
And I will bring them back, Because I have
had compassion on them;
And they will be as though I had not
rejected them,
For I am the Lord their
God and I will answer them.7 “Ephraim
will be like a mighty man, And their heart will be glad as
if from wine;
Indeed,
their children will see it and
be glad, Their heart will rejoice in the Lord.8 “I
will whistle for them to gather them together, For I have
redeemed them;
And they will be as numerous as they were
before.9 “When
I scatter them among the peoples, They will remember Me in
far countries,
And they with their children will live and come
back.10 “I
will bring them back from the land of Egypt And gather them from
Assyria;
And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and
Lebanon
Until no room can
be found for them.11 “And
they will pass through the sea of distress
And
He will strike the waves in the sea, So that 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 “And
I will strengthen them in the Lord,
And
in His name they will walk,” declares the Lord.
David
Baron sums up this section with this long sentence. “The blessed
and prosperous condition of restored and converted Israel under the
care and leadership of their true Shepherd-King.”
Verse
1 - “Ask rain” This is literal rain, needed for the life of man
and beast in this dry land. It comes typically twice a year, the
early and latter rain. God gives it and He can with hold it. He
will give it, but He wants to be asked.
Verse
2 - “Teraphim” is an important word mentioned only 8 times in the
Bible, it is a very specific kind of idolatry. An idol that speaks.
An idol that 'gives answers' in response to questions. Ouija boards
is the only thing that I can compare it to. The pattern is the
people disobeyed God, He with held revelation and direction, instead
of repenting, they would turn to 'other means' to obtain, direction,
wisdom, revelation. I wonder if, some of what is called science, is
actually a turning away from God to find answers that do not require
us to bow to Him. The false speaking, visions, and dreams, are all
to do one thing, provide “false comfort.” Our protection is to
receive the “love of the truth.” Without receiving the love of
the truth, refusing God's offer, brings a terrible consequence, God
sends a deluding influence and people believe what is false.
(2
Thes. 2:11,12)
Verse
3 – Leadership is a huge responsibility and requires that we be
praying for our leaders in the faith. God surveys this false comfort
and a people wandering away from Him to false things and declares
that He will come and be a good Shepherd and His first act will be to
remove the false shepherds. Not only does He deliver them from false
shepherds, but He also forms us into an army, ready for battle. The
picture is actually that of a horse that the king rides off to
execute His judgments.
Verse
4 – David Baron, a Hebrew and Old Testament expert calls this, “one
of the richest Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.” He
spent about 10 pages just on this verse. Every time the NASB uses
“them” in this verse, there is a note that says the word is
literally, “him.” I have no idea why they decided to change it,
but at least they put the notes in to alert us of the change. Since
verse 3 references the 'house of Judah', that points us to the
Messiah. There are 4 parts to this verse. The first is the
'cornerstone' referencing Isaiah 28:16 “
Therefore
thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone forthe
foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in
it will
not be disturbed.”
This is the answer to the questions, “How does the Jew persist?”
“How does the church continue?” Jesus is the foundation that the
safety and stability of the building depends on. The fact that God
can build His church out of frail, imperfect human materials, is a
testimony to the greatness of the foundation stone. In Matthew 21:42
Jesus gave Himself this title. Jesus
*said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The
stone which the builders rejected,This
became the chief corner stone;This
came about from the Lord,And
it is marvelous in our eyes’?
And
the cornerstone becomes even more amazing when you consider that its
purpose was to “unite the two walls at the corner.” The stone
“faces both ways and is the bond of union between the two walls.”
Eph. 2:14,15 For
He Himself is our peace, who made both groups
into one
and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
by abolishing
in His flesh the enmity, which
is the
Law of commandments contained in
ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one
new man, thus establishing peace,
Only God could write this story, that just becomes more and more
evident as we study the scriptures.
The
second thing mentioned in this verse is the “tent peg.” Baron
sees this as the 'strong peg inside the oriental tent on which is
hung all the valuables.' A nail in a sure place on which to hang our
burdens. Also on this peg could be hung everything that the family
considered valuable, the things they wanted all who entered to see
and admire. Our hearts, our salvation we attribute to Him, we
proclaim that He and He alone is holding us up.
There
are 2 more phrases to be examined and both of them speak of the
second coming of Jesus. The battle bow is seen in Isaiah 63:2-4
speak of a conquering executor of the judgment of God returning with
blood on his garments. Revelation 19:11-16 repeat the same image.
This is the age of mercy, but at the second coming that age is over.
The
“every ruler” either means, all rulers combined into one ruler,
or he that exercises all rule. Either way it is a comfort to the
righteous and a terror to the wicked.
Verse
5 - Now we observe the transformation that comes under a people when
the leadership improves, they go from being a wandering, disorganized
flock to 'mighty men' winning battles because the Lord is on their
side.
Verse
6 – The uniting of the divided kingdom is here pointed out by
mentioning Judah and Joseph. Also it should be noted that the house
of Joseph would have been in an even more hopeless condition because
most of them had not returned at the time of Zechariah and were still
in exile. They had been in exile 135 years longer having been
conquered first. The “I will” and the “I have” statement are
the most precious promises in the Bible because they speak of God
acting upon us. The rejection of God is real, but it is temporary
and designed to cause His people to cry out to Him.
Verse
7 – Again, God gets to the heart of a parent and says, not only
will this bless you, but your children will continue in the blessing.
Only He could make such a promise because each individual stands
before God on his own.
Verse
8 – If any of us had ever lived in the Middle East or been
privileged to see a shepherd and their sheep, this verse would come
alive. When they pull a whistle out of their pocket and begin to
play a tune that the flock knows, the flock comes from all corners
and gathers together and move on. Soon after he begins playing, the
lone shepherd, is surrounded by his flock who obediently answer the
call. “For I have redeemed them” this gathering is from a good
cause and for a good purpose. The Ezekiel resurrection of the dead,
is one explanation for, they will be as numerous as they were
before... I don't know, it could just mean with generations of peace
their numbers will be growing again.
Verse
9 – This word for 'scatter' is sow. That means this scattering has
good connotations. Hosea 2:23 “I
will sow her for Myself in the land.
I
will also have compassion on her who had not obtained
compassion,
And I
will say to those who were not My people,
‘You
are My people!’
And they
will say, ‘You
are my
God!’”
Again, the tremendous comfort of “and your
children.”
Verse 10 – The promise is to gather them from the
two lands most famous for holding them captive and to bring them into
the very large plot of land that was originally promised, (approx.
the size of France) and even that will not be enough to hold them
all.
Verse 11 – God's faithfulness in the past, is meant
to, encourage us about His faithfulness to us now. He has brought us
through distress, He will bring us through distress. He dried up the
Jordan, He will dry up the Nile. He has overcome the powers of Egypt
and Assyria and He will again. Gentile world powers, will not
continue in their dominance, God will rule from Jerusalem.
Verse 12 - Zechariah
10:12 And
I will strengthen [Israel] in the Lord, and they shall walk up and
down and glory
in His name, says the Lord. Amplified We can take
this promise for our lives, but we can not take it from them!
We can appropriate it, but we can not steal it.
It is THEIR promise,
and we are not allowed to completely remove it from them. God
is big enough, to give the promise to them and then help us with it
ALSO. NOT, NOT, NOT, instead of.
I'm telling you 60%
or more of the church is willing to say, “The church gets the
blessings, Jesus took the curse, All prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD.
The nation of Israel is no different than any other nation. The
Hebrew people are no different than any other people. They quote
scripture and they make it sound so good. The church comes out
smelling like a rose, Israel as a national entity is held in derision
because of rejecting Jesus. Individual Jews who turn to Christ are
in the church but there is no blessing left for the Jew and the
nation of Israel. We must proclaim the truth. If God breaks His
many, unconditional, “I will” promises about this people and this
land, than He is not to be trusted. He is not faithful and true. If
our interpretation of scripture insists on a tearing down of this
people we have fallen into the trap of pride, set by God in
Romans 11:25 For I
do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so
that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that
a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and
so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,
“The
Deliverer will come from Zion,He
will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”27 “This
is My
covenant with them,When
I take away their sins.”
Them
is obviously Israel, Their
is obviously Israel.
May
God in His grace and mercy, remove the veil from those who can not
see this.
