Lesson 20 - Zechariah Chapter 10
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THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH
Lesson 20, Chapter 10

We barely opened Zechariah chapter 10 last time before we needed to stop.
So, we only got through the first verse. Let’s start things off by re-reading the
entire chapter.

RE-READ ZECHARIAH CHAPTER 10 all

Verse 1 could be summed up by saying it was a summons to prayer, with the
prime directive of the prophet being to “ask Yehoveh”. The underlying
meaning is that Israel should only approach their own god, Yehoveh, for any
and all of their needs. They shouldn’t approach any other god. This reality can
bother Believers because there is this assumption, especially within
Christianity, that ancient Israel only believed in one God: The Father…
Yehoveh. This is a false understanding and comes from not reading what the
Bible actually says or from not knowing history.

The Hebrews right up through the end of the Old Testament believed that they
had only one God, but that hardly precluded there being many other gods in
existence. They fully accepted the several other pantheons of gods that
various nations worshipped, and thought of those gods as quite real. It was
common (but wrong) for Israelites to approach the Canaanite gods of fertility
and rain when they wanted and needed those things they thought those gods
were in charge of. This is one of the reasons for this “ask Yehoveh”
exhortation that we find in verse 1. It was primarily BECAUSE they tended to
approach other gods for some of their needs that Yehoveh stirred up Babylon,
and then later Assyria, to conquer and exile His people as punishment for their
idolatry.

The other part of the meaning is that prayer to God ought to be a regular
occurrence. For us in the modern era, we need to make more time to pray
about more things. Not so much as long and elaborate prayers, but rather as
brief but explicit prayers as we daily face what might seem as rather minor
decisions on mundane matters, or as praise for even the small things in our

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lives, and especially as we encounter serious matters that can have longer
term effects.

Verse 2 moves to the practice of divination with the use of teraphim.
Teraphim were house-deities and even deity objects used by pagan priests in
religious services, which were employed in the worship of other gods, most
typically when asking for the exact blessings God just said that only He ought
to be approached. Remembering that Zechariah is speaking only to Israelites
(not to pagan gentiles), then it is inescapable that this oracle reveals that
some of these same Israelites were still using these worship objects, even
after all that had happened to them. Old habits and beliefs are very hard to
break, because when we are chastised for it, we often think “surely these
things that I do cannot be what this is speaking about”. If that is our thought
pattern, then most of the time we can rest assured that those things that we
do are EXACTLY what is being addressed.

But, what did these teraphim look like? Much new, and some old,
archeological evidence and more recent literary gleanings from ancient
documents make the case that rather than the teraphim attempting to
represent the unique image of one god or another, or of animal/human
hybrids as the Egyptians tended to do, for Hebrew culture they were more
likely meant as images of their ancestors. Ancestor worship was very much
part of the Hebrew worship system, even though it wasn’t supposed to be so.
Ancestor worship, itself, was very fuzzy about exactly how it was practiced,
and it seems that practically every family had their own view of it. I’ll meddle
(and likely offend) for a minute.

Ancestor worship has been practiced in various religions as far back as history
can take us, and is still practiced within many modern-day religions. And, even
when not explicitly practiced, borrowed remnants of it remain and often
unnoticed. Bits and pieces of ancestor worship was the norm in pretty much
every culture and society in ancient times; thus, that was the lens through
which everyone tended to operate. It was so automatic and embedded in
practice, that thinking deeply about it, or challenging it, rarely happened. We
need to be careful in judging Israel too harshly, because we, today, still have
elements of all sorts of pagan things explicitly outlawed by God as part of our

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lives. We overlook them, because we think that these practices just can’t be
what God is talking about.

While I’m sure the practitioners never think of it this way, the worship and/or
consultation of Saints is nothing less than a form of ancestor worship done in
the guise of Christianity. The idea that deceased people are venerated by a
religious organization, and that as a result their prior existence somehow
elevates them to a special spiritual state that can be consulted by the living, or
used to protect, or that prayers can be directed to them concerning certain
needs, is absolutely a principal feature of ancestor worship. Many of our
modern burial practices reflect it as well, or when we tell one another that a
cherished but deceased family member is “looking over us”. This stuff is so
normal for us, that we don’t back away and realize what it amounts to. It was
the same for ancient Israel with their use of teraphim and diviners.

There is much scholarly debate on who, exactly, these diviners and prophets
are that used these teraphim objects. And, is this oracle dealing with things
that used to happen in Israelite society, but don’t any longer, or was it a
current problem? While on the one hand it doesn’t explicitly say so, I have no
doubt that it must be talking about a current and ongoing issue among Israel,
otherwise what is the point? The biblical prophets and their prophecies were
aimed at the Hebrews, not other peoples who worshipped other gods , so this
certainly is not speaking about pagans. And, the exile of God’s people is so far
in their rearview mirror at this point, and why God caused it to happen has
been so thoroughly explained, that it makes no sense for this to once again
remind Israel of what happened in the past.

Thus, God is saying, “quit it!” These teraphim have given you nothing but
grief because what they supposedly reveal is nonsense. And the diviners who
either use the teraphim in their conjuring or who seek truth and wisdom in
dreams, are self-deceived. Oh, they are actually quite sincere about their
profession; they truly believe in the power of these ritual objects and in what
they think the answers are to the questions that are asked. So, when you,
Israel, listen to them, you are listening to and intend to follow nothing more
than delusions. Once again, it is the same for us, especially in the case of
Christianity, when there are those who fancy themselves as modern day

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diviners and prophets, and regularly want to tell someone “I have a word from
the Lord for you”, or are certain they know of something (like a fire or a flood)
that is going to happen on such and such a day, but in the end rarely if ever
get it right. Nonetheless, they keep on doing it. And people keep on listening
to them and keep on passing along what they say. Rarely, out of politeness,
are they challenged. But they ought to be. This is the same thing that
Zechariah is speaking about in verse 2. So, for those of you that do this, or for
those of you who put stock in what these folks say, think again.

One of the saddest aspects that is brought up in this passage is in the false
comfort these objects and their diviners offer. Telling the unknowing and
vulnerable parents of a deceased child that their child is now an angel. Or that
a lost loved one looks over them. Or that even though the deceased never
professed Christ, that they were a good person is good enough to go to
Heaven. Or that if someone just has enough faith they will get well and defeat
some horrible disease (implying that if they do die it is a lack of their faith that
is the cause)… all of these are false comforts because none of it is true. Truth
is always the best comfort; lies never are because at some point they will be
exposed and then cause greater pain. So, it is the source we seek for truth
that matters.

The final words of verse 2 explain the outcome of such folly, and again the
rather standard sheep/shepherd metaphor is used to explain it. Perhaps the
#1 characteristic of sheep without a shepherd is that they are not likely to
thrive or even survive. But, to think that they can “go their own way” without
a shepherd to lead them and care for them also says they will inevitably get
lost and never make it to the intended destination. So, since sheep and
shepherds are metaphorical representatives of certain groups, in our passage
who do the sheep and the shepherds represent? Verse 3 gives us the answer.

God says that His anger burns against these shepherds. And, a bit later says
that the flock is the people of Judah. The shepherds then are certain of Israel’s
leaders. The next question concerns the “when” of it. Is this talking about
Israel’s current leadership, past leadership, or a later leadership? I suspect it
is partially about all of the above, but proportionally only a little concerning
the current, even less about the past, and it is much more about the End

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Times leadership. We find very similar use of the sheep/shepherd metaphor in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel that points to the End Times, so, here, too, it is likely
pointing towards a future matter of Israelite leadership… an End Times
scenario.

Since the way the term shepherd is used in this case is decisively negative,
this is referring to irresponsible civil or religious leadership, or perhaps false
prophets, who lie and tell people things that keep them from knowing the
truth. False prophets don’t necessarily have to be prophets in the technical
biblical sense that concerns an official office called Prophet. Rather, it can be
spiritual leaders of any kind who teach the people incorrect things about their
faith, claiming to come in the name of God when they are not, or it could be
politicians that lie and make promises and claims things that do harm to the
nation… bad, corrupt leadership on every level. For God, a bad shepherd is no
shepherd at all; he’s a wolf come to devour the flock. The result of such bad
leadership is that people suffer under it.

Therefore, God’s anger spills over against these charlatans, and the passage
says that God will punish the he-goats. The Hebrew term we translate as he-
goat is attud. The use of animals as figurative for human leaders is usual in
the Bible. In Jeremiah 50:8 we read this:

CJB
Jeremiah 50:8 Flee from Bavel! Leave the land of the Kasdim! Be
like male goats leading the flock;

So, here a he-goat leads the flock and that is how we should take in
Zechariah. In this context it is these civil and religious leaders who are most to
blame for leading Israel away from the truth, away from God, and into
troubles. A recurring biblical principle is the heavy load of responsibility that
Yehoveh puts upon leadership. Leadership will be held to a higher standard of
behavior and judgment than the followers because they have the duty to lead
sacrificially and beneficially, and therefore have the capacity to cause people
who they lead to adopt lies and to behave wrongly. They can lead those people
into conflict with God, and into bad decisions and choices. They can teach evil
as good and good as evil. Even in the common modern English language,
when we use the term sheep to describe people, it is meant in the sense that

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people are so easily led. That people, like sheep, left to themselves, will
wander aimlessly and get lost without leadership. Sheep usually don’t realize
that or believe it. So, leadership is a must among humankind ; that is how God
created us and ordered us. Some leaders who understand this take advantage
by convincing the easily suggestable to follow them and their falsehoods, or
they maliciously manipulate people for their own personal gain. Rabbis and
Pastors are he-goats. Prophets are he-goats. Civic leaders and elected
politicians are he-goats and so are patriarchs of families. So, it’s not that he-
goats are a bad thing; they are a necessary thing. But, a bad or fraudulent he-
goat can be a disaster for those he has authority and sway over, and leads
people down a dark path.

In autocratic nations or dictatorships, the people have more excuse for their
predicaments that these bad he-goats put them in. But, in democratic nations,
we have much less of an excuse to blame all our troubles on our leaders since
we, collectively, selected them. Democracy is only a recent, modern system.
In Bible times, there was no such thing as a leader voted into their office by
the people. Thus, that national leader bore even greater responsibility than he
does today.

So, to be clear, the statement to open verse 3 “My anger burns against the
shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats” is constructed poetically with
shepherds and he-goats being the same things. They caused harm to the flock
and now they will bear a special divine punishment.

Although nearly all English Bibles will say that what comes next are the words
“The Lord of Hosts”, or in the case of the CJB its Hebrew equivalent Adonai
Tzva’ot, both are incorrectly translated. The original Hebrew is Yehoveh of
Hosts. Although this term is used many times in various books of the Old
Testament, is it used most in Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. It is not really
understood why this coupling of words is used so much by this group of
prophets when it is to refer to God. What I feel quite certain about is that
every time we see 2 or 3 words strung together to refer to the God of Israel, it
is meant to impart a certain attribute or characteristic of Him. Typically,
Yehoveh of Hosts is thought to picture God as a military leader (His army
being the heavenly hosts… a military of angel warriors). To me that makes a

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lot of sense and seems to fit, and I’m pretty content to leave it there
acknowledging that might not be the correct nuance.

We are told that Yehoveh Tzva’ot has attended to (paqad in Hebrew) His
flock, which is the House of Judah. Paqad is variously also translated as
visited, cares for, remembered and a couple of other terms. The main point is
that it is a positive term. It is meant to oppose the previous term al hara
meaning to burn against the bad shepherds. God is angry and will act against
the bad he-goats, but he will care for or attend to the flock that has been
badly led. Interestingly, because the grammar of these words is in the perfect
tense, that means that it is an action that has already begun and is ongoing.

What we see happening here is that God is replacing the bad leadership of
Israel with His own perfect leadership, and He is going to, first, rescue the
Judeans (The House of Judah), and then, second, lead them in order to rescue
the remainder of Israel (Ephraim, the 10 Lost Tribes). Recall that I told you
that beginning with chapter 9, the focus was on the Northern Kingdom,
Ephraim, commonly known today as The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel. Let me put
this another way: because the perfect tense is used to describe what God is
doing, then it lends full credibility to what we are reading as meaning that
since God has already rescued and restored the Southern Kingdom (the House
of Judah)… that is, He has returned the Babylonian exiles… now He can begin
the process of rescuing the other half of Israel, which is the House of Ephraim.
Judah is going to be given the privilege of being a prime participant in the
redemption of their brother tribes, Ephraim.

God says He is going to make the restored Judah like a majestic horse or
better a war-horse as used in battle. War-horses were the ultimate battlefield
weapons of that era. I want to take this opportunity to again point out
something that Christianity typically chafes at and usually denies. God is as
much a God of war as He is a God of love. God always uses war to make big
changes on earth, and among people and nations. Wars that he directly starts
are even called Holy Wars. Humans are inherently war-like creatures. We
weren’t created to be that, but becoming that way is one of terrible effects of
Adam and Eve listening to Satan and not trusting God, which led them into sin
and The Fall. From that moment forward, mankind would use violence to bring

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about change. And, God would use that war-attribute of humans to bring
about the progression of His plan of redemption because humans are always
the tools God uses on earth to effect change. Thus, to constantly refer to God
as being only a God of love is to make Him into Cupid. It completely
mischaracterizes Him. This false characterization in no way reflects what we
read in the Bible. It is but another in a centuries’ long series of manmade
doctrines that misleads. And, we just read what God thinks of leaders who do
not properly lead.

As we move into verse 4, I want to immediately address a translation issue
that matters significantly. The first words in the CJB version are: “Out of them
shall come forth”. Other versions say “Out of him shall come forth”.
Sometimes instead of “from” it says “out of”; either way it expresses the same
thing. This is speaking of either a single entity or a collective. The problem is
the identification of just who or what these things are that come forth “out of”.
The leading two candidates are that this is speaking either of the House of
Judah or it is of Yehoveh. Therefore, the proponents of “them” are those who
think this means the House of Judah, as opposed to the proponents of “him”
who think this means Yehoveh. And, there are those Christian scholars that
extrapolate from Yehoveh that this is actually meaning Yehoveh’s Son, the
Messiah.

I favor “them” because of its clear connection (at least it is clear to me) to the
previous verse. In verse 3, it ends with Judah being made a powerful military
that God would use to rescue the House of Ephraim from its long exile. So,
when the next words (verse 4) begin “out of” either them or him, it makes
more sense that this has to be referring to the House of Judah, and so “them”
is the better fit. I cannot reconcile the alternative of verse 4 suddenly
switching to talking about Yehoveh, although I also cannot say it is impossible.

We then get a sequence of phrases beginning with “from” or “out of”. There is
a total of 4 of these in verse 4. The prophecy is that God is going to rescue the
10 Lost Tribes from their exile using the House of Judah, so Judah (who is
tasked with this rescue) is going to have to be very strong. And on this earth,
strength will first and foremost be measured in military might. Sad, but true.
That the timing of when this is going to happen is expressed by the words

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shall or will come, means it hadn’t happened yet in Zechariah’s time. It is a
future matter, which means nearly certainly from the context that this is an
End Times matter since that is the furthest out that any of these prophecies
can look. And, by the way, Hebrew and Christian scholars agree on that much,
at least.

One of the 4 things that is to come out of Judah is the cornerstone. In Hebrew
this is pinnah. This is same word and probably the same thing that Isaiah is
speaking about in his book in chapter 28.

CJB
Isaiah 28:16 therefore here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Look, I
am laying in Tziyon a tested stone, a costly cornerstone, a firm
foundation-stone; he who trusts will not rush here and there.

This is another passage that Hebrew and Christian scholars agree is speaking
of a Messiah. Sometimes pinnah is translated as foundation stone or as
premier stone. That is, it is the first stone to be laid, or it is the one from
which (when laid) is the starting point and measuring point from which all
further building is to take place. Often, it is used ceremonially as an official
beginning to a building project. A word of caution: this is a metaphor. Far, far
too much in traditional Christian Churches, Pastors use these metaphors as
though they are exact equivalents… down to the last detail… of the person or
object or event that it is being compared to. So, for instance, if Christ is the
cornerstone, then exhaustive allegorical homilies are contrived using what is
known about cornerstones and they are expected to fit as exact
representations in every detail to Christ. Metaphors are approximations, rough
examples, simple illustrations, not precise twins. It is the general
understanding of the use and purpose of a commonly known object or creature
or activity as a metaphor that is used to create a mental comparison to what it
is being compared to.

So, if a new government is involved, then the cornerstone of it is
representative of the supreme leader. If a new structure is being built, then
the cornerstone is the starting point and perhaps the first load bearing piece of
it. Thus, it was always a king that laid the cornerstone of a new temple. Since
we find the term cornerstone used to speak of a coming Messiah in several

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places in the Bible, then that is how we ought to take it here. And, of course,
as the 1
st
century Jews learned, indeed the Messiah came out of the House of
Judah.

The next term is tent peg; some translations say “nail”, which I think is off the
mark. The tent peg speaks of two different things depending on the era and on
the circumstance. It is used to refer to a permanent house, mud brick or
stone, that has a row of pegs embedded in the walls upon which to hang
things. It is also used to refer to tents and other temporary shelters where
these pegs are used to secure the tent firmly to the ground. In The Book of
Judges, Yael drives one of these wooden tent pegs through Sisera’s head to kill
him. It can also be thought of, then, as a kind of mooring… a secure place..
then. Still, it is difficult to grasp, exactly, the mental image that is being
conjured up, here.

Interestingly, what might be of help is a passage out of the Book of Ezra that
is from the same general historical era as Second Zechariah. The CJB puts it
this way:

CJB
Ezra 9:8-9
8
Now, for a brief moment, ADONAI our God has shown
us the favor of allowing a remnant to escape and giving us a secure
foothold in his holy place, in order for God to make things look
brighter to us and revive us a little in our slavery.
9
For we are slaves.
Yet our God has not abandoned us in our slavery, but has caused the
kings of Persia to extend grace to us, reviving us, so that we can
rebuild the house of our God, repair its ruins, and have a wall of
defense in Y'hudah and Yerushalayi m.

Here is a more literal version of this passage that better demonstrates the
issue of a tent peg or nail.

NAS
Ezra 9:8 "But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from
the LORD our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a
peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant
us a little reviving in our bondage.

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So, the NAS says “give us a peg (a tent peg) in His Holy Place”, while the CJB
says “giving us a secure foothold in His Holy Place”. The tent “peg” is a literal
translation of the Hebrew, but a “secure foothold” is the editor’s attempt to
explain what the tent peg does, to an audience that has no idea what a tent
peg has to do with anything. If we can extrapolate that to our Zechariah
passage (which I think we can), then we get the idea that the tent peg is used
metaphorically or figuratively as a way of alluding to a person of the future
who will either be part of, or will facilitate, the rule of a Davidic King. That is, it
speaks of the future political structure and the one who will firmly secure it.
That’s not unlike in more modern terms using our expression to “cement”
something. That is, while cement literally means the construction material that
hardens like stone, or a very powerful glue, the idea is that it creates
something secure and firm. Only modern people in the Western world would
even understand this use of “cement” as a metaphor. So, don’t be surprised
that no one in our era quite gets what a tent peg represented as a metaphor
2500 years ago. But, I am confident that the meaning I just gave you is on the
mark, and so, now you know!

Next is the bow of war, or war-bow. This is representative of all weapons of
war. So, this is a clear military meaning. This is saying that the House of
Judah will one day have its own independent and powerful military. This can
only happen when a nation is sovereign and independent, and has the means
and national will (usually emanating from a strong leader) to build such an
army. With an army, a nation can project its power beyond its borders, as well
as ably defend itself against enemies. Now, with a powerful Judah, Yehoveh
will use them to rescue the exiles of the Kingdom of Ephraim and to attack
God’s enemies. For sure, this is speaking of a time far future to Zechariah.
And, all one has to do is to pay attention to current events to know that Israel
has built one of the most powerful and effective militaries in the world. So, by
my estimation, this prophecy of God readying Judah for war and for getting
the 10 Lost Tribes back home, has happened and we have been eye witnesses
to it.

The final words of verse 4 are: “from them all the rulers together”. Or in other
versions: “out of them every captain”. The word for rulers or captain,
sometimes also rendered masters or exactors, is nagas (some say it is

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noges), but it is simply an issue of how to verbally pronounce the word. It
means to exert pressure. This is referring to Judah’s military leaders and
perhaps is extended to certain governing officials that hold sway over the use
of the military. The idea is that it is those humans that will actively see to it
that God’s will is carried out through their military. This is a positive term. In
the end, this is the final one of the 4 terms explaining how God will use the
restored and made powerful House of Judah to advance His plans and intents.

Verse 5 continues this line of thought. These noges will be like
gibborim…mighty men…heroes… the most powerful and elite of Judah’s
warriors. When it says they will be “like”, it does not mean they will all actually
be gibborim, such as was King David. It’s only that the common soldiers will
have a high level of courage. It is interesting that in the end, Israel will be
battling against nations larger than themselves; even against a superpower.
Under typical means, it would seem impossible that little Judah could defeat
them all. But, with Yehoveh leading the way, and Judah’s army fighting as
though every combatant was a hero, they will achieve victory.

When next we are told that Judah’s military will trample down the enemies in
battle, it means a decisive victory. A victory that brings discouragement to
their enemies. And why will they fight so fiercely, and win so decisively?
Because, we’re told, that Yehoveh is with them. Their successes will be totally
dependent on Yehoveh. Believe this. All throughout the Bible, we’re reminded
that whatever power a worshipper of Yehoveh holds, it is because of God’s
presence. He is the actual source of that power. This passage ends by
explaining that the enemy on horseback will be confounded. That is, they will
be confused and thrown into chaos. The horse, and the horse with chariot,
were in the biblical era the most powerful battlefield weapons in existence.
They were very nearly invincible. I think this is exactly speaking about
superpowers of the world and their most advanced weaponry that will be
thrown in staggering amounts at Israel (Judah), but to no avail. While
everything one would expect to happen in a battle where one side has superior
weaponry and superior numbers of soldiers, it doesn’t. That is what confounds
those who attack Israel.

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I have an acquaintance who is Egyptian. In the 3 week-long war of 1973,
Israel was attacked by the superior forces of Egypt and Syria. Those 2 Arab
nations were quickly and soundly beaten. My Egyptian friend was one of
thousands of captured Egyptian soldiers. He remains dumbfounded to this day.
This was the 2
nd
time in 6 years that a powerful coalition of Arab states
attacked Israel, and lost. It made no sense how that could happen. He told me
how the imprisoned soldiers spoke to one another and could not believe that
they could lose in such a manner. They had everything going for them.

Interestingly, this soldier was a Coptic Christian and was literally conscripted
against his will to fight. He now understands better how God is on Israel’s
side. But at the same time, from a purely earthly standpoint, Egypt’s defeat
makes no sense. I think this was but a mini-fulfillment of what is coming in the
End Times. Israel is simply not big enough, no matter how clever or prepared,
to take on armies far larger than their own. And yet they have, and they have
won. And in the End Times, the size of the enemy army will dwarf anything
ever thrown at Israel until then. And still, Israel will win because God is with
them.

We’ll pause here and pick up at verse 6 next time.