Zechariah 10:1

Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. Call to prayer to Yahweh, as contrasted with the idol-worship which had brought judgments on the princes and people. Blessings promised in answer to prayer: (1) Their rulers shall be of themselves; (2) The conquest of their enemies. (3) The restoration and establishment of both Israel and Judah in their own land in lasting peace and piety. ASK YE OF THE LORD RAIN - on which the abundance of grain promised by the Lord () depends. Yahweh alone can give it, and will give it on being asked (; ). Rain in...

Zechariah, after having shown that God would be bountiful towards the Jews, so that nothing necessary to render life happy and blessed should be wanting, now reproves them for their unbelief, because they did not expect from the Lord what he was ready fully to bestow on them. As then it depended on them only, that they did not enjoy abundance of all blessings, he charges them with ingratitude: for though he exhorts them to prayer, there is yet an implied reproof. One by merely reading over the words may think that a new subject is here introduced, that the Jews are directed to ask of the Lord what he had previously promised them; but he who will more minutely consider the whole context, will easily find that what I have stated is true — that the Jews are here condemned, and on this account, because they closed the door against God’s favor; for they were straitened in themselves, as all t...

1-5 Spiritual blessings had been promised under figurative allusions to earthly plenty. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which we may ask of God when there is most need of it, and we may look for it to come. We must in our prayers ask for mercies in their proper time. The Lord would make bright clouds, and give showers of rain. This may be an exhortation to seek the influences of the Holy Spirit, in faith and by prayer, through which the blessings held forth in the promises are obtained and enjoyed. The prophet shows the folly of making addresses to idols, as their fathers had done. The Lord visited the remnant of his flock in mercy, and was about to renew their courage and strength for conflict and victory. Every creature is to us what God makes it to be. Every one raised to support the nation, as a corner-stone does the building, or to unite those that differ, as nails join the diffe...

CHAPTER X _The promise of prosperity and plenty in the close of the_ _preceding chapter leads the prophet to suggest, next, the_ _means of obtaining them; supplication to Jehovah, and not to_ _idols, whose worship had already proved a fertile source of_ _calamities_, 1-3. _The rest of the chapter (like the preceding) promises to the_ _Jews a restoration to their own land under rulers and_ _governors, victory over their enemies, and much increase and_ _prosperity; and this in a manner so miraculous, that it is_ _described_,

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 Isaiah 2:5; Jeremiah 44:15. He had promised, “If ye shall hearken diligently unto My coramandments, to love the Lord your God, I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, and I will send grass in thy field for thy cattle” Deuteronomy 11:13. God bids them ask Him to fulfill His promise. The “latter rain” alone is mentioned, as completing w

EXPOSITION ZECHARIAH 10:1, ZECHARIAH 10:2 § 4. A connecting link between the last section and the next. _The condition for obtaining the promised blessings is that they are to be sought from the Lord, not from idols._ ZECHARIAH 10:1 ASK YE OF THE LORD RAIN. The promise of abundance at the end of the last chapter suggests to the prophet to make a special application to the practice of his countrymen. They must put their trust in God alone for the supply of temporal as well as spiritual bounties. THE LATTER RAIN was due at the time of the vernal equinox, and was necessary in

ASK YE OF THE LORD RAIN IN THE TIME OF THE LATTER RAIN,.... There was the former and the latter rain, of which see Hosea 6:3. The former rain was in autumn, a little before or about seed time; the latter was in the spring, and a little before harvest, which is here referred to. So Hesiod g calls those rains the autumnal and vernal rains; and between these two rains there was seldom any more. Jerom says h that he never saw in the eastern countries, especially in Judea, any rain at the end of the month of June, or in July; and now, at Aleppo, a little more northerly, for three or four months after May, they have scarce so much as any dew upon the ground, as Pemble on the place observes. So Dr. Shaw says i, little or no rain falls in this climate (of Algiers and Tunis), during the summer season; and in most parts of the Sahara, particularly in the Jereede, they have seldom any rain at all....

Zechariah 10:1. _Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field._ The atheistic philosopher of the present day laughs at such a verse as this, and sneeringly asks, « What possible connection can there be between men and women praying to God and the showers of rain which fall upon the earth?» «Why!» saith he, «according to the laws of nature, showers fall at such-and-such seasons; and if the atmosphere should not happen to be in such-and-such a state, all the praying in the world cannot produce a single drop of rain.» But faith can clearly see where reason is blind; and the prayer of faith moves the arm of God, and the arm of God controls what the philosopher calls the laws of nature, and so the rain descends. Let us learn, from this precept and promise, the power of bel

LATER RAIN Compare (Hosea 6:3); (Joel 2:23); (Zechariah 12:10). There is both a physical and spiritual meaning: Rain as of old will be restored to Palestine, but, also, there will be a mighty effusion of the Spirit upon restored Israel....

II. THE TWO PROPHETIC BURDENS--THE GREAT PROPHECIES OF THE FUTURE I. The First Burden (9-11) CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The burden of the land of Hadrach (Zechariah 9:1) _ 2. Zion's King of Peace (Zechariah 9:9) 3. The near-event of the invasion by Antiochus Ephiphanes (Zechariah 9:13; Zechariah 10:1) Zechariah 9:1. The final section of Zechariah is of still greater interest. The Deliverer, King Messiah, is revealed in this section as suffering, rejected, pierced, slain. The great finale leads us up to the