Verse 17
17. Those who fail to take part in the harvest festival of thanksgiving will be punished by the withholding of rain during the following year, which will result in the failure of crops and in famine. The withholding of rain is mentioned to carry to completion the figure in Zechariah 14:16. As the celebration of the harvest festival symbolizes the conversion of the nations, so the withholding of the rain symbolizes the withdrawal of all God’s blessings.
The text of Zechariah 14:18, as it stands at present, offers considerable difficulty. R.V. differs but slightly in its translation from A.V.; for “that have no rain” it reads “neither shall it be upon them.” All becomes smooth if, following LXX. and Peshitto, we omit one negative and alter the accentuation; then the verse will read, “And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, upon them shall come the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite…”
Family Nation (compare Amos 3:1).
Egypt Egypt is singled out because of the peculiar condition of its climate. It is not dependent directly on rain for fertility, but on the overflowing of the Nile, caused by heavy rainfall in Ethiopia, south of Egypt. The threat of Zechariah 14:18, therefore, would have no special terror for Egypt, and some might think that Egypt could refuse to worship Jehovah. Not so, says the prophet; Egypt also must go or suffer severe punishment.
Plague The context suggests that it also will consist in drought and failure of the crops; there seems to be no reference to the plague of Zechariah 14:12.
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