A Study of Zechariah 10
Introduction: The United Nations is no friend to Israel. For decades, the UN has been antisemitic in its various proclamations and votes. Now the United Nations is demanding Israel withdraw to its pre-1967 borders within a year. The recent resolution is non-binding only because the UN has no way of making it binding. And to no one’s surprise, the resolution makes no mention of the Hamas attacks on October 7 or the attacks on Israel from Iranian proxy forces around the Middle East.
I wish that the various ambassadors to the United Nations would read Zechariah 10. They are not going to do it, but we are – in this episode of our series known as the Zechariah Zone.
As we come to chapter 10, we have one of those occasional times when the traditional chapter divisions are somewhat unfortunate. Most scholars believe verse 1 really serves to end the final paragraph of chapter 9. So let’s begin there.
Review
Starting with Zechariah 9:14, the prophet is going to describe the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ to us, what Dr. David Jeremiah calls in his newest book The Coming Golden Age. This is the period that follows the Great Tribulation and the Return of Christ when King Jesus will establish His earthly kingdom for a thousand years, and in this way bring human history on the old earth to a close. Let’s read from Zechariah 9:14 to chapter 10, verse 1. I will annotate the reading.
Then the Lord will appear over them [over the armies of Armageddon]; his arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south, and the Lord Almighty will shield them [the people of Israel].
[And with the Lord’s help] They will destroy and overcome [the forces of the antichrist] with slingstones [like David did with Goliath].
They [the Israelis] will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar. The Lord their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock.
This is the first time the Messiah is pictured as a shepherd in the book of Zechariah, but now this theme will unfold in the next two chapters.
Continuing verse 16: They [the people of Israel] will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.
And what do we need for grain and new wine to fill the land? Rainfall. So the prayers of Israel for prosperity will be answered. Look at chapter 10, verse 1:
Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.
And this brings to an end the incredible chapter 9 of Zechariah, which predicts the coming of Alexander the Great, and the first coming of Christ into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the second coming of our Lord, who will usher in His Kingdom, which, according to Revelation 20, will last one thousand years.
Zechariah 9 is an incredible chapter because, as we’ve seen, it gives us historical prophecy and Messianic prophecy, which has already been fulfilled. Then it concludes with the future prophecies we’ve just read.
Now that bring us to Zechariah 10. In this chapter, the Lord is going to warn the false prophets and corrupt leaders; He is going to amplify the concept of the coming Messiah as the Good Shepherd; and He is going to describe in a series of fresh terms the coming Battle of Armageddon, the return of Christ, and His Millennial Reign.
Why? Why is Zechariah continuing to expound on these themes?
Remember, he was preaching to a group of people who had returned from Babylon to try to reestablish the Jewish presence in Judah and to rebuild the temple. They were worn down and discouraged, and Zechariah was a prophet of encouragement. He was telling them how it would all end—that God was going to do things for His people, His nation of Israel, that they could hardly believe.
And that is really the overarching message for us. I’ll end the podcast on this note, but the great lesson for you and me is this—one of the ways to combat depression and discouragement is to remind ourselves that God is still working, He has not forgotten us, His promises to us are binding, and His future for us is fantastic.
One of the ways to understand the frustrations of our current world conditions and national politics is to remind ourselves of Who is really in control and how He will bring it all together for His own purposes in the last days.
We live in the present, but we have a telescope in our hands called the Word of God, which can give us a clear and wonderful view of the future.
1. Don’t Listen to Mistaken Commentators (Verses 1 – 3)
In Zechariah 10:2, the prophet condemns the false teachers who are proclaiming a different message. He says, in essence, “Don’t listen to mistaken commentators. Don’t pay any attention to those who are trying to discourage you.” Look at verse 2:
2 The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders…
This is pretty straightforward, and today most of the voices we hear speaking into our world events, into our politics, and into our personal lives are wrong. There is a tremendous amount of deception. Zechariah calls these people false shepherds who are scattering the flock.
Earlier this month, my mobile phone rang and I didn’t answer it because I didn’t recognize the number. The person on the other end, a man, left a message asking me to call the sheriff’s office and ask for him. He was a sergeant or a lieutenant or some such. It seemed valid and so I called the number.
He said he was following a file on me because I hadn’t shown up for jury duty. I told him I had received two text messages and a letter that excused me from jury duty, and I gave him the dates and facts about that.
He said this was a federal jury, and that he needed to follow up because I had not responded to a summons. He gave me lots of information and facts and told me I should talk to the captain. I’m ashamed to admit it, but my heart was pounding a little too fast and I felt a streak of anxiety. It was all so official. He transferred to his captain who said I needed to come down to the sheriff’s office.
Well, I am not totally gullible, so, being at my desk, I did a quick computer search of federal jury scams, and I began to suspect this whole call was a deception. Then I put the man on hold, looked up the number of the real Davidson County Sheriff’s department, and called it. Before I could even finish the first sentence of my question, the young lady on the other end told me it was a common scam they were trying to deal with, to hang up on the man.
I clicked back to my call and said, “I’ve come to realize you are lying to me and that you’re nothing but a scam artist.” He hung up on me. My only regret is that I didn’t take the opportunity to warn him that Jesus Christ will judge him for evil and that he should repent at once and be saved. If that happens to me again, I’ll be better prepared to share the Gospel.
My pastor, Allen Jackson, warns us about the fact that many people in the media, in the national spotlight and in the government, and in the universities are lying to us. That’s nothing new. Zechariah was confronting the same thing in his day. We must be wise and discerning because the whole world is trying to scam us. They are false shepherds.
2. Follow the Good Shepherd (Verses 3-5)
Now, starting in the middle of verse 3, the Lord tells us we should listen to the Good Shepherd, to the one who truly cares for the flock. And now he is going to give us some more incredible predictions about the coming Messiah.
…for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.
Notice the tremendous shift in metaphor. It’s stunning. The Lord is going to turn His humble sheep into battle horses. He will care for His flock of sheep and turn them into proud horses in battle.
And who is going to bring about this amazing transformation? The coming Messiah. And the Messiah is described here in several different ways. Look at this amazing fourth verse:
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.
First, the Messiah will be from the tribe of Judah. This isn’t new information. It goes all the way back to Genesis 49:10, when Jacob blessed his son Judah and told him that a great ruler would one day emerge from his family line, from the tribe of Judah.
Genesis 49:10 says, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.”
There’s a very easy translation of the Bible called the International Children’s Bible. This is the way it renders that verse: “Men from Judah’s family will be kings. Someone from Judah will always be on the throne. Judah will rule until the real king comes. And the nations will obey him.”
King David was from the tribe of Judah and God made a covenant with him that his dynasty would always rule Israel and that one day the ultimate king would come from his line, from the tribe of Judah.
Zechariah 10:4 reaffirms that, and says, secondly, that this king will also be the cornerstone. Look at verse 4 again: From Judah will come the cornerstone….
This is a frequent Old Testament description of Christ. Just as the cornerstone anchors the entire building, so Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the nation of Israel, for His church, and for His future kingdom.
Jesus is referred to as the cornerstone in the Psalms, in Isaiah, here in Zechariah, and in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, and 1 Peter.
Third, the messiah is described as a tent peg. This might be the most unusual Messianic prediction in the Old Testament. Jesus is a tent peg. What does that mean? Well, in biblical times when people lived in tents and when powerful wind and sandstorms raged across the desert, the entire stability of a person’s domestic life depended on the tent pegs being driven into the earth deep and strong. A tent peg was to a tent what a cornerstone is to a building. It anchors the whole thing.
When we encounter windstorms and sandstorms, we don’t need to fear collapse because the one who anchors us is a tent peg that will never yield to the tempest.
Finally, we’re told that not only will the Messiah come from Judah and be a cornerstone and tent peg, but He will also be a bow that’s ready for battle: 4 From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.
He will be a warrior. And now, having told us to ignore the false shepherds and to listen to the Good Shepherd, we’re told we should keep our eyes on Israel because the Messiah is going to deliver them and lead them to victory. This is the essence of verses 5-12:
3. And Keep Your Eyes on Israel (Verses 5-12)
Verse 5 says: Together they [the Messiah and the people of Israel] will be like warriors in battle trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets. They [the nation of Israel in the Eschaton, the Last Days] will fight because the Lord is with them, and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.
The theme of Israel’s future victory is found throughout the Old Testament. For example, here’s a passage from Micah 4: Many nations are gathered against you [Israel]. They say, “Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. “Rise and thresh, Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron; I will give you hooves of bronze, and you will break to pieces many nations.”
The opposition formed against Israel in our own day is overwhelming. In a military sense, it’s from all the surrounding nations including Iran. In a diplomatic sense, it’s centered in the United Nations. All this is building up to the events of the Last Days. But at the end of those Last Days, the Lord is going to deliver Israel, and turn the sheep into horses of war, and give them horseshoes so powerful it will break and shatter the opposition of the nations.
Now let’s go onto verse 6. We’re told that in those days the Messiah will reunite the ten lost tribes of Israel with the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the entire nation of twelve tribes will be restored. Look at verse 6: I will strengthen Judah….
That’s the name for the southern kingdom, which is composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
And I will save the tribes of Joseph.
That is shorthand for the northern ten tribes, which had been banished by the Kingdom of Assyria in 772 B.C.
The verse goes on to say: I will restore them [the northern tribes] because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them. 7 The Ephraimites [Ephraim was the son of Joseph and signifies the Northern tribes] will become like warriors, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
Let me recap. Zechariah is preaching to a remnant of Jews who had returned from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord. This group of people were discouraged.
Zechariah said they should be exuberant at what God was going to do through them. They shouldn’t listen to the false shepherds who were lying to them. The true shepherd was on this way. One day the ruler from the tribe of Judah would show up, and when He comes He will be the stability of Israel—like the cornerstone of a building or the peg of a tent. He will turn the sheep of Israel into war horses that will shatter the enemy, and He will fill the nation with gladness as with wine and the children will see it and be joyful. He will restore the twelve tribes of Israel and bless them and rule over them and give them peace and prosperity.
This is the ultimate future of Israel.
Right now, it seems that Israel is a fledgling nation beset by problems and opposition. That was true in Zechariah’s day and it’s true in ours. But things will change very quickly when the Messiah returns.
Verse 9 says, “I will signal for them and gather them in.” This is another unusual metaphor. Literally it is, “I will whistle for them.” The idea is similar to our concept for whistling for a dog. When I was a child I trained my dog to come when I whistled for him. Well, here the concept is of a shepherd giving a whistle or blowing his pipe to call His sheep to follow Him.
8 I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before.
God will save and redeem the Jewish people when Jesus returns. We’ll deal more with this when we look at Zechariah chapters 12, 13, and 14. What Zechariah is telling us now in summary form will be explained in much more detail in the final chapters of his book.
Verses 9 and 10 is a prediction that God will bring the Jewish people from all over the world back to the land of Israel, a process that started with the Zionist movement of the 1800s and 1900s and resulted in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and which will be completed during the Millennium.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. 10 I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria.
Verse 10 says the population will be so great that Israel’s borders will be enlarged: I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them.
Gilead is the northern portion of the modern nation of Jordan, and Lebanon is in the news right now. You know where that nation is and what’s going on. The population of Israel in the Millennial period will spill over into the territories of surrounding nations.
Verses 11-12 say: They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria’s pride will be brought down and Egypt’s scepter will pass away. 12 I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will live securely,” declares the Lord.
The future of our planet and the drama of the Last Days involves the nation of Israel. They will go through a time of Tribulation, one that will come upon all the earth. The nations will put them through a sea of trouble, but the Messiah—the cornerstone, the tent peg, the ruler of the Tribe of Judah, will return and declare victory. The lost sheep of Israel will become battle stallions, and God will expand the borders of Israel, give them peace and joy, and in His name they will live securely.
Zechariah was telling the remnant of Israel what the future held to encourage them in their current struggles.
In my opinion this is the most difficult chapter in Zechariah, but it helps to realize this is a prelude to what we’re going to read in chapters 12, 13, and 14. Next week we’ll tackle chapter 11, which continues the shepherd theme and tells us about two competing shepherds. And then we’ll come to the climatic final three chapters that give us a picture of the return of Christ such as we have nowhere else in the Bible, not even in the New Testament.
Conclusion:
The lesson for us in this is simple.
One of the ways to combat depression and discouragement is to remind ourselves that God is still working, He has not forgotten us, His promises to us are binding, and His future for us is fantastic. We need to think of the future. I know we’re upset about politics and elections. And we should certainly be aware of those things and we should be involved and we should vote. We need to articulate our biblical worldview to our culture because our culture needs it. But we don’t need to wring our hands like other people do. The Bible is our telescope into the future.
This is such a practical matter for me that even my grief as a widower is assuaged by my excitement over the coming reunion I’ll have with my loved one in the not-so-distant future.
As my pastor said when I was growing up: We know who holds the future, and we know He holds our hands.