Zechariah 10:8-10

Zechariah 10:8-10. I will hiss for them Rather, whistle, as the word שׁרק should be here translated. I will call them from distant countries, as a shepherd calls his flock together with his whistle. For I have redeemed them For I have, and will, by the workings of my divine providence, deliver and redeem them out of their enemies’ hands, and from those who hold them captives. And they shall increase as they have increased Namely, in the most flourishing times, such as were the reigns of David and Solomon. I will sow Rather, I have sown, them among the people Or nations, for it appears beyond a doubt that what had been formerly done is here spoken of. And they shall remember me in far countries Whithersoever they were driven. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt Ptolemy Philadelphus, one of the kings of Egypt, redeemed no fewer than 100,000 of the Jews, and sent them home; God, no doubt, inclining him to be thus remarkably favourable and kind to them. For this, we have the testimony of Josephus’s history; as also, that other kings released many of those who still remained slaves, or servants in Egypt, and sent them back to their own land. And gather them out of Assyria This was done by Alexander, the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and by both the Demetriuses, as Josephus relates. This redeeming and releasing of the Jews, who were captives or servants in divers countries, by several kings, and sending them home at their charge or expense, which Josephus affirms to have been done, is a fact so very extraordinary that it deserves to be attended to; for it is a certain proof that the divine providence can accomplish whatever it pleases. And as this extraordinary particular was repeatedly foretold and promised by God’s prophets, long before it took place, and when there was not the least human probability of it, it is a striking proof of the truth and divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. I will bring them unto the land of Gilead and Lebanon Gilead was taken by the arms of the Maccabees, and the cities of Syria, (here signified by Lebanon, a famous mountain in Syria,) by Hyrcanus and his successors. Gilead and Lebanon were countries remarkable for their fruitfulness. And place shall not be found for them The land shall be too narrow for them. But this verse, and indeed the whole paragraph, has a further and mystical meaning. It relates to the success of the gospel, and the bringing in of the Jews and Gentiles into the Christian Church; and probably also to the restoration of the Jews, and of the whole remnant of the house of Israel from their present dispersions to their own land, as has been observed on Zechariah 10:6.