Zechariah 10:11-12

Zechariah 10:11-12. And he shall pass through the sea with affliction The sense might be more properly expressed, And he [Israel] shall pass through the straits of the sea: so the LXX. and the Vulgate understand the word. And [God] shall smite the waves of the sea, &c. The expressions allude to the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red sea, and the river Jordan; and to God’s destroying the Egyptians, and the Assyrian, or Babylonian empire, in order to the deliverance of his people. And the verse imports that God would, in a future time, do as great things for them as he had done formerly for their fathers. In this sense the Chaldee expounds the word. Egypt and Assyria, it must be observed, being two potent kingdoms, bordering upon Judea, and being by turns either allies to the Jews, or their conquerors; and the Jews frequently either going thither for refuge, or being carried thither as captives; therefore, when the prophets foretel the general restoration of the Jewish nation, they often express it by their returning from Egypt and Assyria. We may observe, likewise, that God’s bringing his people again from these countries, and especially from Egypt, was a proverbial expression to signify any deliverance, as great or greater than these. Thus, the next clause, And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart, signifies, the enemies of God and his truth shall all be subdued, and broken in pieces, when Christ shall come in his glorious power to set up his kingdom on the earth: see Daniel 2:33-34; Isaiah 60:12.

And I will strengthen them in the Lord That is, I will strengthen them in myself, or I will be their helper, and give them all needful strength and protection. And they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord Their evils and actions shall be under the influence of his grace, and under the government of his laws, and he shall give them success answerable to their upright intentions.