Zechariah 10:2

2. The exhortation to appeal to Jehovah is supported by a reference to the inability of the idols to help those who put their trust in them (compare Hosea 2:5 ff.; Amos 2:4).

Idols Better, R.V., “teraphim.” See on Hosea 3:4.

Have spoken vanity In promising rain and fertility which they could not give.

Diviners The men who claimed to be able, by the use of various illegitimate means, to determine the will of the deity. The mass of the people seemed to be unable to distinguish between the true prophet and the fraudulent diviner, and at times the latter appears to have been exceedingly popular (Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 3:2).

Have seen a lie In the visions in which they claimed to have received the divine revelation.

False dreams Dreams were a second means of divine revelation (Numbers 12:6) which was imitated by the diviners; they gave instructions which they claimed had come to them from God in dreams.

They comfort in vain Their words are powerless; they remain unfulfilled, and therefore do not help the people in their distress. That the prophet, when speaking of the helplessness of the idols, is thinking of past experiences of the nation is made plain by the rest of the verse, though R.V. uses present tenses.

Therefore Because the people appealed to teraphim and diviners rather than to Jehovah.

They The Israelites.

Went their way as a flock Literally, pulled up their stakes. The metaphor is taken from the pulling up of the stakes of a tent or sheepfold. The reference appears to be to the exile. The verb form indicates that the act itself took place in the past but that its effects continue to the present (G.-K., 106g.).

Were troubled R.V., “afflicted”; or, oppressed; by the hostile powers. The form of the verb is not the same as the preceding; it expresses continuity of action; they were oppressed continually.

Because there was no shepherd The last word is equivalent to ruler (see p. 603). There was no ruler strong enough to guard and care for the people (Numbers 27:17; Hosea 10:3; Hosea 10:15; Hosea 13:10-11; compare Jeremiah 23:4), or to ward off the calamity. The use of the term shepherd prepares the way for the next oracle.