Zechariah 10:5-7

Zechariah 10:5-7. And they The Jews, under the conduct of their captains; shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies God shall inspire them with courage to subdue their enemies, and trample upon their carcasses. This it seems must be understood of the victories obtained by the Jews under the Maccabees, or of those which they shall obtain over their enemies in the latter times, to which the latter part of the chapter seems ultimately to relate. And the riders on horses shall be confounded The cavalry of Antiochus seems to be intended by this. We have a description of this cavalry in some heathen writers, which shows it to have been a very formidable one. And I will strengthen the house of Judah I will not only give courage to attempt, but also strength to go through with and finish the undertaking. This was remarkably verified in the wars of the Jews against the Seleucidæ, in which wars they had wonderful difficulties, and as wonderful courage and success. And I will save the house of Joseph The remnant of the kingdom of Israel, the residue of the ten tribes. And I will bring them again Both Judah and Joseph, out of captivity, or from their various dispersions; to place them In their own land and in their own cities. This promise is understood by many interpreters to relate to the general restoration of the Jewish nation upon their conversion, a subject which seems to be treated of in many passages of the Old Testament, in which Judah and Israel are represented as equal sharers of this blessing: see the note on Isaiah 11:11, and compare Ezekiel 37:16. And they shall be as though I had not cast them off They shall be in as flourishing a condition as they were before I cast them off. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man Ephraim is put here for the ten tribes, as the house of Joseph is, Zechariah 10:6. And their heart shall rejoice as through wine

Their heart shall be made as glad by their victories, as if they had been made merry through wine. Yea, their children shall see it and be glad The children and youths, not yet fit for war, shall partake of their fathers’ joy.