Zechariah 10:2

2 For simulacra spake unprofitable things, and diviners saw leasing; and dreamers spake vainly, idly they comforted; therefore they be led away as a flock, they shall be tormented, for a shepherd is not to them. (For idols spoke unprofitable things, and diviners saw lies; and dreamers spoke in vain, yea, they comforted in vain; and so the people be led away like a flock of sheep, and they shall be tormented, for they do not have a shepherd.)

Zechariah 10:2 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 10:2

For the idols have spoken vanity
The vanities of the Gentiles cannot give rain; if they promise it, they speak vain things; God only can give it, and therefore it must, be asked of him, ( Jeremiah 14:22 ) . The word for idols is "teraphim", the same as in ( Genesis 31:19 ) ( Hosea 3:4 ) and here signifies worshippers of idols, as the Targum interprets it; and may be understood of the idolatrous Papists who worship idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, ( Revelation 9:20 Revelation 9:21 ) and who speak lies in hypocrisy, great swelling words of vanity, and even blasphemy against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, ( 1 Timothy 4:1 1 Timothy 4:2 ) ( Revelation 13:6 ) . Jarchi on ( 2 Kings 23:24 ) , says, the teraphim are images that speak by sorcerers or sorceries; and to such evils the followers of the man of sin are addicted, ( Revelation 9:21 ) ( 18:23 ) and the Jews ^F12 have a notion that those images were so formed, that they were capable of speaking and talking with men; see ( Hosea 3:4 ) they seem to confound them with the "talisman": and the diviners have seen a lie;
delivered it out, and others believed it, being given up to judicial blindness, because they received not the love of the truth, ( 2 Thessalonians 2:10 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ) . The Targum is,

``the diviners prophesy falsehood;''

or preach false doctrine, as the Romish clergy do, who are meant by the diviners: and have told false dreams;
about transubstantiation, purgatory, &c. which are visionary things; false doctrines are compared to dreams, ( Jeremiah 23:25 Jeremiah 23:27 Jeremiah 23:28 Jeremiah 23:32 ) : they comfort in vain;
by works of supererogation, by selling pardons, and praying souls out of purgatory: therefore they went their way as a flock;
as a flock of sheep straying from the fold. The Targum is,

``they are scattered as sheep are scattered;''

that is, the Jews, being hardened against the Christian religion, by the idolatry, lies, and dreams of the Papists, wander about in their mistakes and errors concerning the Messiah; which is their case to this day, and will be until the man of sin is destroyed: they were troubled, because [there was] no shepherd;
or, "no king", as the Targum paraphrases it; that is, the King Messiah, according to them, is not yet come; which is their affliction and trouble, that they are as sheep without a shepherd: or, "they answered", that there "is no shepherd" ^F13; they replied to the diviners, the tellers of false dreams and idolaters, and affirmed that the Messiah is not come, and that the pope of Rome is not the shepherd and bishop of souls.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Targum Jon. in Gen. xxxi. 19. R. Eliezer Pirke, c. 36. fol. 40. 1.
F13 (her Nya yk wney) "testificati sunt nullum fuisse pastorem", Junius & Tremellius, Heb.; "responderunt", Piscator; "respondebunt quod non sit pastor", Burkius.

Zechariah 10:2 In-Context

1 Ask ye of the Lord rain in late time, and the Lord shall make snows, and rain of might of cloud; and he shall give to them, to each by himself, herb in the field. (Ask ye of the Lord for a late rain, and the Lord shall make snows, and rain out of the might, or out of the power, of the clouds; and he shall give to all, to each one in his turn, grass, or hay, in his field.)

2 For simulacra spake unprofitable things, and diviners saw leasing; and dreamers spake vainly, idly they comforted; therefore they be led away as a flock, they shall be tormented, for a shepherd is not to them. (For idols spoke unprofitable things, and diviners saw lies; and dreamers spoke in vain, yea, they comforted in vain; and so the people be led away like a flock of sheep, and they shall be tormented, for they do not have a shepherd.)

3 On shepherds my strong vengeance is wroth, and on the bucks of goats I shall visit; for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath put them as an horse of his glory in battle. (My strong vengeance is very angry against the shepherds, and I shall punish the goat-bucks; for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them like a horse of his glory in battle.)

4 Of him shall be a corner(stone), and of him a little pale, of him a bow of battle, and of him each exactor, either unjust asker, shall go out together. (From out of them shall come a cornerstone, and a little post, or a peg, and out of them a bow of battle, and every oppressor, or all the commanders, shall go out together.)

5 And they shall be as strong men, defouling (in the) clay of ways in battle, and they shall fight, for the Lord is with them; and riders of horses shall be confounded. (And they shall be like the strong men, who defile, or who trample, the clay of the ways in battle, and they shall fight, for the Lord is with them; and the riders of horses shall be confused, or shall be routed.)