Chapter Ten <*><*><*><*><*><*>
This 10th chapter again addresses the times up to the day of Yahuweh, when He comes as the Moshiya, which means the deliverer and the subsequent coming Millennium, the kingdom of Shalom.
Verse 1.
(When) You (shall) ask from Yahuweh rain in the time of the spring rain. Yahuweh makes the bright clouds and rain showers give on them, to man, green plants in the field.
In the last verse of the previous chapter Yahuweh told us about the abundance in the coming era.
In this verse, He also has an admonition for the time in between. It says ask from Yahuweh and He shall provide but do not trust others to provide.
Verse 2.
Because the teraphiym they promise trouble and the diviners they perceive deception and the dreams the lying they relate, (which are) idle breath to comfort. Therefore they set out (by themselves). As rather than (being) his flock, they (are) depressed because there is no shepherd.
Teraphiym is plural, which is used for Idols in general. It is derived from the word 'raphah' which means healer. Most Idols were thought to have healing qualities for physical and social ails.
Diviners are Biblical regarded as false prophets.
'Idle breath' is a Hebrew expression for empty words and is in other places of the Tanahk used for valse messages from Idols. Among others in Jonah 2:8 where 'idle breath' is used in Hebrew but translations usually give different readings, even from each other
Yahuweh says here, in contrast to Me, who gives the people what they need if they ask, the false Gods only give troubles and the false prophets are giving deceptive information that cannot be of comfort to them.
They are going about as not belonging to His flock and therefore are a flock without a shepherd and therefore miserable.
Verse 3.
Against de shepherds burns my anger and to the rams I pay attention because attention pays Yahuweh Tzevaot to His flock, to house Yehudah and make them like horses splendour in Battle.
Yahuweh is angry with the shepherds, who are the rulers and He keeps his attention on the Rams, which are the leaders of the peoples.
When we compare the attitude of the rulers and leaders of Israel with the written Torah in this time, which is the year 5761 (2000CE),we see that they fall short of the requirements set out by Yahuweh, compare Jeremiah 10:21. Also compare the previous verses to Jeremiah Chapter 23.
The flock, which has set out by themselves with out proper leadership, has the attention of Yahuweh and He shall make them ready and able to go unafraid into battle, like fierce battle horses.
Verse 4.
From him corner from him peg from him bow-battle from him come out all to be drivers together.
The context of this scripture is the coming battle, we have therefore to look at the terms the way they might have been used for army purposes.
With corner most likely is meant the leader of a battle group, the vanguard.
The Hebrew Yathed, translated as peg, is also used as a weavers tool to keep things compact and together. In the context it might mean someone who keeps the fighting men together.
The battle bow was the most formidable weapon, which could be employed in several tactical ways.
The Hebrew 'nagas' means to drive or to exert pressure in order to squeeze something out. In the context of a battle it probably means the driving together of the enemy, either to kill or to capture.
Verse 5.
And they have to be as mighty men to be trampling in mud streets in battle and they shall fight because Yahuweh with them. And they be dried up the riders on horses.
The word enemy that some translations are using is not in the Hebrew text.
We have to look at this text in the way of a sort of comparison.
Usually soldiers trampling in the mud are at a great disadvantage when they have to attack soldiers on horseback and are usually defeated. However, since they fight with Yahuweh on their side, the people on horsebacks are defeated.
They dry up like the Hebrew text says.
This might indicate that something happened to them.
Lets look closer at this. In Zecharyah's time a horse and his rider were a battle unit.
In our times, we see that a battle unit consists of men on mechanical devices, which need fuel to be able to proceed.
The coming war shall not be on horseback but shall use mechanical devices.
Now if Zecharyah had mentioned Tanks or Jeeps they would have said; 'he is meshoucha (mesjogge or crazy).' He therefore used horses, which was familiar to the people of his time and still is understood by us as being an implement of war.
The fact is that mechanical devices can dry up, in other words run out of fuel and be useless.
What seems at first a strange expression, which various translators have given different meanings to, can be just a straightforward literal happening.
Verse 6.
Then I make strong the house Yehudah and the house Yosef, save and settle them.
Because mercy to them they have to be as like not cast off, because I Yahuweh (I am) their Elohiem and act in response to them.
The house of Yehudah and the house of Yosef are references to the two parts of Israel.
The house of Yosef is sometimes referred to as Eprayim (Ephraim) and also as Israel.
However, we have to keep in mind that the name Israel came down from Ya'akov (Jacob) and therefore really is applicable to all descendants of Ya'akov. This again is a sign that the future of whole of Israel is meant, because both houses shall be together, Ezekiel 37:21-22.
In Yahuweh's mercy it shall be like they were never cast off.
Israel was and is at the present still cast off as a nation because of their unwillingness to adhere to Yahuweh's rules.
This is according to His word in Deuteronomy 28:58-66 and be sure to read Torah, which means teaching, when the translators use Law.
The dispersion of Israel after 3830 (70CE) was not because they executed Yeshua, like many think.
It was because at that time the rules Yahuweh had set out for the Levitical succession were not adhered to and also His torah was mutilated by the many man made additions.
They had put their own rules forward to override the rules of Yahuweh and justified it by claiming they were the oral commandments of Moshe (Moses).
In the time to come however, it will be like they never were cast off. Yahuweh in His mercy has done away with all the trespasses that caused the separation from Him. We must also remember that although the nation was cast off, Yahuweh always kept a true believing remnant of Israel to Himself.
Yahuweh act in response to them, this means that Yahuweh's actions are regulated by Israel's needs.
Verse 7.
He must be but strong Eprayim and rejoice to their hearts as from wine. Then their children they (shall) see and they (shall) rejoice gladly to their hearts because of Yahuweh.
In the Hebrew grammar 'To be' is here in the imperative, which means it is a command and therefore to be translated as 'He must.'
Verse 8.
To hiss to them to gather them like to ransom them and multiply like to become numerous.
A beekeeper would use a hissing sound (soft whistle like) to draw the bees to the hives.
To be ransomed or redeemed, there is a price to pay. Yahuweh paid the price through Yeshua.
They have to become numerous because that was the promise to Abraham, Genesis 13:16.
Verse 9.
And sown by me among peoples and distant places I remember them and they live through their children and they return.
We are all witnesses of this to day. Yahuweh scattered them like seed all over the world. But He still remembered them and they continued to exist as a separate people through their children and these children shall return.
Verse 10.
And cause to return them from the land Mitzrayim (Egypt) and from Ashour (Assyria) take them away and upon land Gilad (gilead) and Lebanon bring them and not to be found (or to be encounted) to them (the countries of exile).
Yahuweh says that he shall return them from the lands on the south and the lands of the North, indicated by Egypt and Assyria.
And now notice this, He shall bring them upon the land of Gilead, which is Jordan, the kingdom that never was until England instituted it, and upon the land of Lebanon. They should thereafter not be found anymore in the countries they were returned from. This is how I interpret this text.
Yahuweh foresees what we can see with our own eyes today; there is no room for all Israel to return to what at the present is allotted to them. However, Yahuweh shall make room for them.
Verse 11.
And go through the waters of trouble and strike the waters waves and he dry up all the depths Nile and to be taken down pride Ashour (Assyria) and the mark of authority Mitzrayim (Egypt) comes to an end.
To accomplish the complete return of Israel, they will encounter much troubles this is compared with going through seas with high waves but Yahuweh shall strike or smooth the waves.
He shall dry up the waters of the Nile and its associate's waters to keep the Egyptians from troubling them.
Assyria is giving the nation Israel a lot of trouble but Yahuweh shall take care of them, Isaiah 31:8.
The prophecies against Egypt in the Tanakh are many, but the one in Isaiah Chapt. 19, gives a pretty good indication of what is meant in this text.
Verse 12.
And they made to be strong in Yahuweh and in His name they walk declares Yahuweh.Acting or walking in the name of someone, means acting or walking in the teachings of that person. Walking in the name Yahuweh, is going according to the Torah.
This chapter again was an indication of what Yahuweh is going to do concerning Israel in future. But Yahuweh is not finished with his warnings and revelations via Zecharyah, as we shall see in the following chapters.
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