Zechariah 10:10-11

(10, 11) These verses are evidently worded after the analogy of Isaiah 11:11-16. Compare especially the mention of Egypt and Assyria, the reference to the dividing of the Red Sea, and the unity of Ephraim and Judah, as spoken of by Isaiah (Isaiah 10:13), and by our prophet in the foregoing passage.

Egypt is, no doubt, mentioned here as the typical oppressor of Israel (Hosea 8:13; Hosea 9:3), as the exodus is the typical deliverance (Isaiah 11:16).

Assyria may be mentioned (and not Babylon or Persia), because it was thither that the ten tribes (Ephraim) were carried away; or “out of Egypt and Assyria” may be looked upon as a stereotyped expression for deliverance; or, again, “Assyria” may actually denote Persia, as in post-captivity times the king of Persia in Babylon is often called the king of Assyria (e.g., Ezra 6:22; 2 Kings 23:29; Jdt. 1:7; Jdt. 2:1; Herod. i. 178-188). The second interpretation seems to us the best, in view of the figurative reference to the passage of the Red Sea in Zechariah 10:11.

Gilead and Lebanon represent the old territory of the ten tribes on the other side and on this side of Jordan.