Zechariah 10:6

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them. AND I WILL STRENGTHEN THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, AND I WILL SAVE THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH - i:e., both the kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, and that of the ten tribes. The distinct mention of both Judah and Israel shows that there is yet a more complete restoration than that from Babylon, when Judah alone, and a few Israelites from the other tribes, returned. The Maccabean deliverance is here connected with it, just as the painter groups on the same canvas objects in the foreground and hills far distant; or, as the comparatively near planet and the remote fixed star are seen together in the same firmament. Prophecy ever hastens to the glorious final...

Zechariah pursues the same subject, — that the work of redemption, the beginning of which the Jews saw, would not be incomplete, for the Lord would at length fulfill what he had begun. The Jews themselves could not acquiesce in those beginnings, which were not a hundredth part of what God had promised; it was hence necessary for them to raise up their minds above, that they might hope for much more than what was evident before their eyes. And this truth is very useful to us, for we are wont to confine God’s promises to a short duration of time, and when we thus include him within narrow limits, we prevent him as it were to do what we stand in need of. Let then the example of the return of the people of Israel ever come to our minds, for the Lord had promised by his Prophets that they would become very eminent, and in every way rich and happy; but when this did not take place after their...

6-12 Here are precious promises to the people of God, which look to the state of the Jews, and even to the latter days of the church. Preaching the gospel is God's call for souls to come to Jesus Christ. Those whom Christ redeemed by his blood, God will gather by his grace. Difficulties shall be got over easily, and effectually, as those in the way of the deliverance out of Egypt. God himself will be their strength, and their song. When we resist, and so overcome our spiritual enemies, then our hearts shall rejoice. If God strengthen us, we must bestir ourselves in all the duties of the Christian life, must be active in the work of God; and we must do all in the name of the Lord Jesus....

Verse Zechariah 10:6. _I WILL STRENGTHEN THE HOUSE OF JUDAH_] I doubt whether the _sixth, seventh, eighth_, and _ninth_ verses (Zechariah 10:6) are not to be understood of the future ingathering of the Jews in the times of the Gospel. See Jeremiah 3:14; Jeremiah 23:6; Hosea 1:2; Hosea 6:11....

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): “The two ideas are here both implied, he will cause them to return to their land, and will cause them to dwell there in peace and security.” FOR I WILL HAVE MERCY UPON THEM - Dionysius: “For the goodness and lovingkindness of God, not any merits of our’s, is the first and principal cause of our whole salvation and grace. Therefore the Psalmist says, ‘neither did their own arm save them; but Thy right hand and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance, because Thou hadst a favor unto them’...

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

AND I WILT STRENGTHEN THE HOUSE OF JUDAH,.... Both with internal and external strength, so that they shall be able to stand their ground against enemies of every sort: AND I WILL SAVE THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH: the ten tribes, such of them that shall be found, for all Israel shall be saved, Romans 11:26 not only temporally, but spiritually, with an everlasting salvation: AND I WILL BRING THEM AGAIN TO PLACE THEM; there is but one word in the original text; it is composed of two words, as Kimchi observes, of שוב, "to return", and ישב, "to sit" or "dwell" o, quietly, constantly, and at ease; and our version takes in both senses: the meaning is, that these people should be returned from the state and condition and from each of the places they are in, and be settled either in their own land, or in Gospel churches, under a Gospel ministry, enjoying G

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

CHAPTER 10:1-12 _ 1. The apostasy of Israel in the last days (Zechariah 10:2) _ 2. The victory over the enemies (Zechariah 10:5) 3. Deliverance and restoration (Zechariah 10:8) Zechariah 10:1. Idolatry was the great sin of both Judah and Israel. They practiced the occult things of heathendom and worshipped their false gods; they had teraphim used for divination. On account of this the wrath fell upon the former generations, and the Lord's anger was kindled against their leaders, the shepherds, and they were dispersed. We have called attention before to...

This is made up of several fragments. Zechariah 10:3_ a_ is apparently the beginning of a denunciation of Israel's leaders founded upon Ezekiel 34, whereas Zechariah 10:3_ b_ describes the Lord as visiting His distressed sheep, and making them as his warhorse. The cue which has caused Zechariah 10:3_ b_ to be attached to Zechariah 10:3_ a_ is the word visit, which the EV renders punish in the first instance. The Jewish sheep became warhorses in the Maccabean struggle. Zechariah 10:4, which is a later insertion, pr