Gracious things and glorious ones, very glorious and very gracious, were promised to this poor afflicted people in the foregoing chapter; now here God intimates to them that he will for these things be enquired of by them, and that he expects they should acknowledge him in all their ways and in all his ways towards them - and not idols that were rivals with him for their respects.

I.The prophet directs them to apply to God by prayer for rain in the season thereof. He had promised, in the close of the foregoing chapter, that there should be great plenty of corn and wine, whereas for several years, by reason of unseasonable weather, there had been great scarcity of both; but the earth will not yield its fruits unless the heavens water it, and therefore they must look up to God for the dew of heaven, in order to the fatness and fruitfulness of the earth (Zac 10:1): "Ask you of the Lord rain. Do not pray to the clouds, nor to the stars, for rain, but to the Lord; for he it is that hears the heavens, when they hear the earth," Hos 2:21. Seasonable rain is a great mercy, which we must ask of God, rain in the time of the latter rain, when there is most need of it. The former rain fell at the seed-time, in autumn, the latter fell in the spring, between March and May, which brought the corn to an ear and filled it. If either of these rains failed, it was very bad with that land; for from the end of May to September they never had any rain at all. Jerome, who lived in Judea, says that he never saw any rain there in June or July. They are directed to ask for it in the time when it used to come. Note, We must, in our prayers, dutifully attend the course of Providence; we must ask for mercies in their proper time, and not expect that God should go out of his usual way and method for us. But, since sometimes God denied rain in the usual time as a token of his displeasure, they must pray for it then as a token of his favour, and they shall not pray in vain. Ask and it shall be given you. So the Lord shall make bright clouds (which, though they are without rain themselves, are yet presages of rain) - lightnings (so the margin reads it), for he maketh lightnings for the rain. He will give them showers of rain in great abundance, and so give to every one grass in the field; for God is universally good, and makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust.

II.He shows them the folly of making their addresses to idols as their fathers had done (Zac 10:2): The idols have spoken vanity; the teraphim, which they courted and consulted in their distress, were so far from being able to command rain for them that they could not so much as tell them when they should have rain. They pretended to promise them rain at such a time, but it did not come. The diviners, who were the prophets of those idols, have seen a lie (their visions were all a cheat and a sham); and they have told false dreams, such as the event did not answer, which proved that they were not from God. Thus they comforted in vain those that consulted the lying oracles; all the vanities of the heathen put together could not give rain, Jer 14:22. Yet this was not the worst of it; they not only got nothing by the false gods, but they lost the favour of the true God, for therefore they went their way into captivity as a flock driven into the fold, and they were troubled with one vexation after another, as scattered sheep are, because there was no shepherd, no prince to rule them, no priest to intercede for them, none to take care of them and keep them together. Those that wandered after strange gods were made to wander, into strange nations.

III.He shows them the hand of God in all the events that concerned them, both those that made against them and those that made for them, Zac 10:3. Let them consider, 1. When every thing went cross it was God that walked contrary to them (Zac 10:3): "My anger was kindled against the shepherds that should have fed the flock, but neglected it, and starved it. I was displeased at the wicked magistrates and ministers, the idol-shepherds." The captivity in Babylon was a token of God's anger against them; in it likewise he punished the goats, those of the flock that were filthy and mischievous; they were set on the left hand, to go away into punishment. Though the body of the nation suffered in the captivity, yet it was only the goats and the shepherds that God was angry with, and that he punished; the same affliction to others came from the love of God, and was but a fatherly chastisement, which to them came from his wrath, and was a judicial punishment. 2. When things began to change for the better it was God that gave them the happy turn. "He has now visited his flock with favour, to enquire after them, and provides what he finds proper for them, and he has made them as his goodly horse in the battle, has beautified them, taken care of them, managed and made use of them, as a man does the horse he rides on, has made them valuable in themselves and formidable to those about them, as his goodly horse." It is God that makes us what we are, and it is with us as he appoints.

IV.He shows them that every creature is to them what God makes it to be (Zac 10:4): Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nails. 1. All the power that was engaged against them was from God. Out of him came all the combined force of their enemies; every oppressor together (and the oppressors of Israel were not a few) did but what his hand and his counsel determined before to be done; nor could they have had such power against them unless it had been given them from above. 2. All the power likewise that was engaged for them was derived from him and depended on him. Out of him came forth the corner-stone of the building, the power of magistrates, which keeps the several parts of the state together. Princes are often called the corners of the people, as Sa1 14:38, marg. Out of him came forth the nail that fixed the state, the nail in the sure place (Isa 22:23), the nail in his holy place, Ezr 9:8. Out of him came forth the battle-bow, the military power, and out of him every oppressor, or exactor, that had the civil power in his hand; and therefore to God, the fountain of power, we must always have an eye, and see every man's judgment proceeding from him.

The idols have spoken vanity - This is spoken of the Jews, and must refer to their idolatry practiced before the captivity, for there were no idols after.

Therefore they went their way - They were like a flock that had no shepherd, shifting from place to place, and wandering about in the wilderness, seeking for pasture, wherever they might find it. Some think that the idols and diviners were those of the Seleucidae Greeks, who excited their masters with promises of success against the Maccabees. Others think that the Babylonish captivity is foretold; for a determined future event is frequently spoken of by the prophets as past.

For the idols have spoken vanity,.... The vanities of the Gentiles cannot give rain; if they promise it, they speak vain things; God only can give it, and therefore it must, be asked of him, Jer 14:22. The word for idols is "teraphim", the same as in Gen 31:19 and here signifies worshippers of idols, as the Targum interprets it; and may be understood of the idolatrous Papists who worship idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, Rev 9:20 and who speak lies in hypocrisy, great swelling words of vanity, and even blasphemy against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, Ti1 4:1. Jarchi on Kg2 23:24, says, the teraphim are images that speak by sorcerers or sorceries; and to such evils the followers of the man of sin are addicted, Rev 9:21 and the Jews (l) have a notion that those images were so formed, that they were capable of speaking and talking with men; see Hos 3:4 they seem to confound them with the "talisman":

and the diviners have seen a lie; delivered it out, and others believed it, being given up to judicial blindness, because they received not the love of the truth, Th2 2:10. The Targum is,

"the diviners prophesy falsehood;''

or preach false doctrine, as the Romish clergy do, who are meant by the diviners:

and have told false dreams; about transubstantiation, purgatory, &c. which are visionary things; false doctrines are compared to dreams, Jer 23:25,

they comfort in vain; by works of supererogation, by selling pardons, and praying souls out of purgatory:

therefore they went their way as a flock; as a flock of sheep straying from the fold. The Targum is,

"they are scattered as sheep are scattered;''

that is, the Jews, being hardened against the Christian religion, by the idolatry, lies, and dreams of the Papists, wander about in their mistakes and errors concerning the Messiah; which is their case to this day, and will be until the man of sin is destroyed:

they were troubled, because there was no shepherd; or, "no king", as the Targum paraphrases it; that is, the King Messiah, according to them, is not yet come; which is their affliction and trouble, that they are as sheep without a shepherd: or, "they answered", that there "is no shepherd" (m); they replied to the diviners, the tellers of false dreams and idolaters, and affirmed that the Messiah is not come, and that the pope of Rome is not the shepherd and bishop of souls.

(l) Targum Jon. in Gen. xxxi. 19. R. Eliezer Pirke, c. 36. fol. 40. 1. (m) "testificati sunt nullum fuisse pastorem", Junius & Tremellius, Heb.; "responderunt", Piscator; "respondebunt quod non sit pastor", Burkius.

idols--literally, "the teraphim," the household gods, consulted in divination (see on Hos 3:4). Derived by GESENIUS from an Arabic root, "comfort," indicating them as the givers of comfort. Or an Ethiopian root, "relics." Herein Zechariah shows that the Jews by their own idolatry had stayed the grace of God heretofore, which otherwise would have given them all those blessings, temporal and spiritual, which they are now (Zac 10:1) urged to "ask" for.

diviners--who gave responses to consulters of the teraphim: opposed to Jehovah and His true prophets.

seen a lie--pretending to see what they saw not in giving responses.

comfort in vain--literally, "give vapor for comfort"; that is, give comforting promises to consulters which are sure to come to naught (Job 13:4; Job 16:2; Job 21:34).

therefore they went their way--that is, Israel and Judah were led away captive.

as a flock . . . no shepherd--As sheep wander and are a prey to every injury when without a shepherd, so the Jews had been while they were without Jehovah, the true shepherd; for the false prophets whom they trusted were no shepherds (Eze 34:5). So now they are scattered, while they know not Messiah their shepherd; typified in the state of the disciples, when they had forsaken Jesus and fled (Mat 26:56; compare Zac 13:7).