Zechariah 10:2 Commentary and Bible Study

There then proceeds a passage which is really about the destruction of Judah's leaders or Israel's leaders in the New Testament age. Idols have come back; there have been all kinds of superstitions (verse 2), and the priests who are not particularly mentioned – the term shepherd is used in the passage – have betrayed the truth and are speaking things contrary to the truth. The Jewish people have always been looking for the wrong blessings: physical blessings, political greatness, prestige for their capital city. When the gospel age comes it will be evident that these are not the things that really matter. They are not of the essence of the kingdom of God; this is not what they should have been seeking. ‘Your diviners have kept you earthbound by encouraging you in such things’, says the Lord. Therefore God is against them as a nation, they and their shepherds. They didn’t pray to him, but many even hoarded up idols in their homes, and their idols and the false shepherds who claimed to speak for them have given the people ruinous counsel. They claimed to be inspired by God, but it was all fabrication. The message they gave the people comforted them when it ought to have called them to repentance and to turn back to God. ‘Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds and I punish the goats, for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah.’ These verses are going to be about the bringing down of the princes of Israel, the priests and the leaders. Ultimately (especially in chapter 11) it is about the abolition of the priesthood, so that when Christ comes there will be a priesthood of all believers, and there will be no intercessory priests required. These verses are about the purging of the priesthood and the bringing in of faithful shepherds into the New Testament church.