Charles Spurgeon Commentary Zechariah 10:3

Charles Spurgeon Commentary

Zechariah 10:3

1834–1892
Baptist
Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon Commentary

Zechariah 10:3

1834–1892
Baptist
SCRIPTURE

"Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle." — Zechariah 10:3 (ASV)

Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats:

Whenever people are afflicted with unfaithful ministers, when God comes to visit these people, he will not only punish the ministers, but the religious leaders, the false professors in those churches, the he-goats who led the flock astray. Oh, what a plague and a curse will an unfaithful minister be found to have been at the last day! A well which only yields bitter water like that of Marah, merely mocks a temporary thirst; but a minister who does not preach the gospel, and who does not live the gospel, mocks the soul's eternal thirst.

Whatever I may be, God grant that I may never be an unfaithful preacher of his Word! Surely, if there is an innermost hell, a place where the soul's feet will be more firmly fixed in the stocks of the pit than anywhere else, it will be reserved for the man who, professing to be an instructor of the ignorant, and a leader of the flock, taught them falsehood, and led them out of the way. May the Lord save us from a shepherd against whom his anger must be kindled!

For the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

As an expert horseman skillfully controls his caparisoned steed, and turns it as he pleases in the day of battle, and makes it obey him alone, so does the Lord rein in and direct his Church, so that she becomes like a "goodly horse in the battle."