Verse 3
"Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle."
Although stated in the future tense, this passage refers to something that God had already done to the shepherds and he-goats of Israel; but the use of the future here indicated that the same anger of the Eternal would fall upon any future sins like the ones already punished. Of course, that occurred. When the shepherds and he-goats of the people led Israel in the rejection of their Messiah, the anger of God fell upon them and their city again, Jerusalem being utterly destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. That Zechariah certainly had that in mind is evident from Zechariah 12:2.
"The he-goats ..." "These are the emblems of headstrong wantonness and offensive lust."[10] Our Lord spoke of the reprobate as "the goats" (Matthew 25:32).
"House of Judah ..." Both this term and "Ephraim" used later are references to the spiritual Israel of the new dispensation. The only Israel of God when Zechariah wrote was contained within the remnant of the returnees from Babylon. Thus it was appropriate to speak of them as "the house of Judah."
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