Devotional Commentary on Zechariah 10
Kliefoth (1862: 138ff) understood 10:1
as the Latter Rain that will allegorically come before the Second Coming of the
Messiah sent only to Israel. Kliefoth is onto something here. Köhler did not agree and it seems as
if Hengstenberg, Delitzsch also were quiet about this (Köhler 1860: 61 footnote
1). SookYoung Kim in her devotional and Phillip Samaan in his commentary understood
it correctly as the Latter Rain experience at the End of Time. The minority
view of these Lutheran friends is that it is the Latter Rain and the majority
view among them is that it is not. Kliefoth suggested that we need to
find more in these words than what the exegetes are suggesting. The close
connection with 9:17 in which blessings come from the Lord is continued in 10:1
according to him. It does not make sense that they now have to pray for rain.
It rather refers to a ripening process of His people as harvest at the End of
Time, says Kliefoth. Ellen White and Kliefoth sees eye to
eye here except that he wrote in German and she could not understand German and
secondly, she was directed by the Holy Spirit on her ideas: “The latter rain,
ripening earth's harvest, represents the spiritual grace that prepares the
church for the coming of the Son of man. But unless the former rain has fallen,
there will be no life; the green blade will not spring up. Unless the early
showers have done their work, the latter rain can bring no seed to perfection.”
Ellen White in Testimonies to Ministers, p. 506. Ellen White also said something about
individual responsibility to receive the Latter Rain: “Unless we are daily
advancing in the exemplification of the active Christian virtues, we shall not
recognize the manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain. It may be
falling on hearts all around us, but we shall not discern or receive it.” Ellen
White in Testimonies to Ministers, p. 507. It is in the Hebrew and these scholars
missed it. Delitzsch said nothing and Köhler
slipped over it. “and He shall give them rain”. Them? = lhm? It is not the
countries (plural) here but persons. How do you know it? The next word: “to
each person”= l’yš.
The preposition /l/ = “to” is used before hm = “them” (plural pronoun
masculine). The same preposition /l/ = “to” is used before ‘yš = “man”.
This is very interesting that each should receive it portion of rain
individually. Ellen White did not know Hebrew but the Holy Spirit did. “For” in the next verse, (verse 2)
starting the verse, links/connect it with the first verse because it is
providing the reason why the Latter Rain of the Spirit will come. It will be in
difficult times to preach the gospel when the Latter Rain comes. The digital
generation cannot preach any longer or properly win over people for evangelism.
“For the teraphim spoke futility, and the
soothsayers envisioned lies, and dreamers speak lies, they console with vanity”
(verse 2). “Therefore, they travelled like sheep;
they were humbled, for there is no shepherd”. This is the condition of the world
when the Latter Rain is needed: ministry collapsed and a vacuum is left. People
do not listen to anyone any longer for their brains are programmed by
flash-flash-read one minute- flash-flash-read one minute-next-flash-flash ….
This is a never-ending use of the finger on their smartphones in short
telegrammic knowledge-building strategies. Books are no longer read. The Bible
is no longer read. Visual rather than textual overheat the brains. A world-wide
cognitive collapse is imminent. Thus the Latter Rain is needed as miracle and
last call. “My wrath is kindled upon the
shepherds…” (verse 3). This is at that time in our near future. “For the Lord of Hosts has remembered
His flock”. He remember His remnant. They are called the “house of Judah and He
has made it as His majestic horse in battle”. The remnant are not battling as
the Warrior at the Hell event. They are the instrument accompanying Him as
Warrior Messiah to the gate of Zion (Psalm 24) and when He returns from the
Battle (also Psalm 46). “Out of them shall come the
cornerstone, out of them the stake, out of them the bow of war. Out of them
shall come every oppressor together”. The Son of David, of Joseph and Mary,
Christ was the cornerstone that came out of the remnant. He is the one out of
them that will supply the stake and bow of war for the Hell event. Zechariah 14
will still explain this. “And they shall be like mighty men,
treading the mire of the streets in battle and they shall shame the riders of
horses”. At this point one needs to know Hebrew for the sentence, if voweled
with another vowel, can mean “and He…” The Hebrew consonants whyw especially
the last /w/ is a pronominal affix that is currently voweled by the Masoretes
of the ninth century CE with a dot in the middle of the /w/ thus reading “they”
but if that dot is placed [my suggestion] above the /w/ it is “He”. This makes
more sense since Christ is the cornerstone of the previous verse and it is His
battle that is outlined here. The remnant is never in a battle. Translate thus: “And [He] shall be
like mighty men, treading the mire of the streets in battle and [He] shall shame
the riders of horses.” (verse 5). The Lord then said: “And I [Lord] will
strengthen the house of Judah [by the Latter Rain Holy Spirit experience] and
the house of Joseph [synonymous parallelism] I will save. And I will cause them
to settle [at the Second Coming because Jesus promised in John 14:1-3 that He
is going to prepare a place for them] for I have bestowed mercy upon them”
(verse 6). It is all about Christ here not about
the remnant’s actions. It is about mercy not deeds. The deeds are divine ones.
No human efforts. The Lord promise to answer them
because He did not forsake them. Again in verse 7 beginning one can
vowel it differently like above. “And He shall be like a Mighty Man,
Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as if wine” (verse 7). Is there going to
be alcohol boozing? No. Is boozing legitimized here? No. Noisy happiness is
what it is going to be. “Their heart shall be joyful with the
Lord” (verse 7). There you have your joy in the Lord. “I will whistle to them and I will
gather them for I have redeemed them. And [on the newly created earth] they
shall multiply as they multiplied” (verse 8). They shall multiply as they
multiplied? Yes. With the Latter Rain miracle a church with 10 people will
increase with 110 (Zechariah 7:23 for the formula of influx due to the Latter
Rain). From the Hell and New earth event, the
prophet Zechariah rewind time-wise a couple of decades to earlier events close
to these but before to what he just said. Verse 9 “And I will sow them among the
peoples” referring to the migrationism worldwide to take place before the
Latter Rain. Ripening and reaping happens after sowing and sowing is before the
harvest of the Latter Rain. Thus it precedes it. In verse 10, the Lord took Zechariah
further back in time. Also in the end-time and as a signal of His grace, He
will let something happen in Egypt and Assyria in the form of spiritual
awakening. Not the Arab spring which is a political awakening. That is a false
awakening and will sidetrack us if we apply it to that awakening. “And I will return them [faithful
remnant] from the land of Egypt and from Assyria I will gather them” (verse
10). It may sound that all the faithful will only be in Egypt and Assyria. They
would be brought to Gilead and the Lebanon. It is not to Canaan. “And it shall
not suffice for them”. The Ammon area is not suitable for them. This verse is either within the
confines of our own time or preteristically in the time of Zechariah when in
his future Jews from Elephantine [408 BCE] and Assyria from centers there where
they still remained, be brought to come and dwell in the northern parts of
Israel but southern parts of current Syria. “And trouble shall pass through the
sea and He shall strike the waves of the sea and dry all the depths of the
river” (verse 11). Tsunami disasters will take place. “And the pride of Assyria shall be
brought down and the rod of Egypt shall turn away” (verse 11). This cannot
refer to the past since Assyria was humiliated in 612 BCE and Zechariah
received his messages after 520 BCE. There is no sense to speak of “will” when
it is already passed. Is that pride the CNN disgrace of Saddam Hussein after
being caught in the pit where he was hiding with uneasy hair? As King of the
North Daniel 11:40 said that “he shall be in his hair” [the root hair is used
here]. “The rod of Egypt shall turn away”.
Again the Egyptian empire was not enough to regain any power after Zechariah. Is
this the current Arabic dominoes or jasmine revolution that we saw there
mentioned here as a signal of the closeness of the time of the end? “And I will strengthen them in the
Lord and in His name they shall walk, says the Lord”. The ownership name of the Lord is
Seventh-day Adventist because keeping the Sabbath shows that one is a peculiar
person who worships on His day not human created and self-sanctified days. It
commemorates the salvation out of Egypt and from sin and also the Creatorship
and ownership of Christ over everything. Thus, a fitting name.
Dear Lord Captivate us with Your Name and bring
us in the fold to be Shepherd by You and ready for the Latter Rain. In Jesus
Name. Amen.