Albert Barnes Commentary Zechariah 10:11

"And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up; and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart." — Zechariah 10:11 (ASV)

And He—that is, Almighty God—shall pass through the sea, affliction. As He says, When you walk through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. And shall smite the waves in the sea (Isaiah 43:2); as in Isaiah, The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea (Isaiah 11:15). The image is from the deliverance of Egypt. Yet it is said that it should not be an exact repetition of the miracles of Egypt; it would be as the Red Sea (Exodus 14:10, Exodus 14:12), which would as effectually shut them in, and in whose presence they might again think themselves lost, through which God would again bring them.

But it would not be the Red Sea itself, for “the sea” through which they should be brought would be “affliction,” as our own poet speaks of “taking arms against a sea of troubles.”

Cyril writes: “The promise of help to those who believe in Christ is under the likeness of the things given to those of old. For as Israel was conveyed across the Red Sea, braving the waves in it—for the waters stood upright as an heap (Exodus 15:8), God bringing this to pass marvelously—and as they passed the Jordan on foot (Joshua 3:17), so He says, those who are called through Moses to the knowledge of Christ and have been saved by the ministries of the holy Apostles, shall pass the waves of this present life, like an angrily foaming sea; and, being removed from the tumult of this life, shall, undisturbed, worship the true God. And they shall pass through temptations, like sweeping rivers, saying with great joy, in the same way, Unless the Lord had been for us, may Israel now say, the waters had drowned us, the stream had gone over our souls (Psalms 124:1–5).”

He shall smite the waves in the sea. There, where the strength of the powers of this world is exerted against His people, He will bring it down. All the deeps of the river shall be dried up—that is, of the Nile. The Nile, as a mighty river, is substituted for the Jordan, symbolizing the greater exertion of God’s power in the times to come.

And the pride of Asshur shall be brought down—Ribera comments: “When the good receive their reward, then their enemies shall have no power over them but shall be punished by Me, because they injured My elect. - By the Assyrians and Egyptians he understands all their enemies.”