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... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE TERAPHIM HAVE SPOKEN VANITY - Rather, “spake vanity.” He appeals to their former experience. Their father had sought of idols, not of God; therefore they went into captivity. The “teraphim” were used as instruments of divination. They are united with the “ephod,” as forbidden, over against t... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE ANGER WAS KINDLED AGAINST THE SHEPHERDS - As Ezekiel continued, “Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand” Ezekiel 34:10. I PUNISHED THE HE-GOATS - The evil powerful are called the “he-goats of the earth: Isaiah 14:9; and in Ezekiel G... [ Continue Reading ]
OUT OF HIM CAME FORTH - Or rather, “From him is the corner,” as Jeremiah, “Their nobles shall be from themselves, and their governor shall go forth from the midst of them” Jeremiah 30:21. Her strength, though given by God, was to be inherent in her, though from her too was to come He who was to be “... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY - (the house of Judah , of whom he had said, He hath made them as the goodly horse in the battle) shall be as mighty men, trampling on the mire of the streets Micah had said, “she shall be a trampling, as the mire of the streets” Micah 7:10, and David, “I did stamp them as the mire of the s... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BRING THEM AGAIN TO PLACE THEM - Zechariah seems to have condensed into one word two of Jeremiah, “I will bring them again” unto this place, and “I will cause them to dwell” safely Jeremiah 32:37. Kimchi. It is not a confusion of forms, but the blending of two words into one. So also Ibn Ezra... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EPHRAIM, THEY SHALL BE LIKE A MIGHTY MAN - Prophecy, through the rest of the chapter, turns to Ephraim, which had not yet been restored. With regard to them, human victory retires out of sight, though doubtless, when their wide prison was broken at the destruction of the Persian empire, many wer... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HISS FOR THEM - Formerly God had so spoken of His summoning the enemies of His people to chastise them. “It shall be in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria, and they shall come, an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SOW THEM AMONG THE NATIONS - Such had been the prophecy of Hosea; “I will sow her unto Me in the earth,” as the prelude of spiritual mercies, “and I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy, and I will say to not-my-people, Thou art My people, and they shall say, my God” . Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BRING THEM AGAIN ALSO OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT - Individuals had fled to Egypt ; but here probably Egypt and Assyria stand, as of old, for the two great conflicting empires, between which Israel lay, at whose hands she had suffered, and who represent the countries which lay beyond them. Hosea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE - that is, Almighty God, shall pass through the sea, affliction As He says, “When thou walkest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not oveflow thee. And shall smite the waves in the sea” Isaiah 43:2, as in Isaiah, “The Lord shall utterly destroy the ton... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL STRENGTHEN THEM IN THE LORD - As our Lord said to Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and Paul said in turn, “When I am weak, then am I strong. And in His Name shall they walk up and down,” have their whole conversation (Dionysius), “in Him according to His will, and diligent in... [ Continue Reading ]