This section contains an oracle urging the people to turn to God alone and regrets the lack of proper leadership or shepherding.[13] The polemic against the 'bad shepherds' here continues a tradition found in Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34.[14]
Verse 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.[15]
"The latter rain" refers to the period of heavy rainfall in the spring of the year (around March or April) in Palestine.[16]Eschatologically the "latter rain" points to "the end times" when God will pour out blessings (cf. Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:21-25).[16] The wording "bright clouds" in the King James Version is rendered as "storm clouds" in other translations.[17]
Verse 2
For the idols have spoken vanity,
and the diviners have seen a lie,
and have told false dreams;
they comfort in vain:
therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled,
"Have seen a lie": that is "being given up to judicial blindness", because these 'diviners' didn't care for the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10) as the Targum calls "the diviners prophesy falsehood."[21]
"Comfort in vain": literally, "give vapor for comfort" (cf. Job 13:4; 16:2; 21:34).[22]
"There was no shepherd": that is "no king to guard and lead them", so the people fell under the power of foreign rulers, who oppressed them (Ezekiel 34:5; Nehemiah 5:15).[19]
Yahweh's holy war and the return from exile (10:3–12)
Yahweh will punish the bad shepherds (leaders) and will produce a leadership ("the cornerstone, the tent peg and the battle bow" in verse 4) from the "house of Judah", so with YHWH's power alone the people are gathered from their places of exile similar to the Exodus (verse 11).[13]
^ abcExell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On "Zechariah 10". In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes. First publication: 1890. Accessed 24 April 2019.
Boda, Mark J. (2016). Harrison, R. K.; Hubbard, Jr, Robert L. (eds.). The Book of Zechariah. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN978-0802823755.