John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 10:3

"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)

He had said that the Jews had been driven into exile and had been oppressed by their enemies because they had no shepherd; not indeed to lessen their fault, for they were wholly inexcusable, since they had willfully renounced God, who would have otherwise been their perpetual shepherd: but he now turns his discourse to the false teachers, to the false prophets, and to the wicked priests.

Although they were all unworthy of pardon, yet God here justly summons the shepherds first before His tribunal, who had been the cause of leading others astray: just as when a blind man leads the blind into a ditch, so ungodly pastors become the cause of ruin to others.

We have elsewhere observed similar passages in which God threatened priests and prophets with special punishment because they had unfaithfully discharged their office; yet He did not absolve the common people, for from the least to the greatest they were guilty. It is also certain that men are punished for their obstinacy and wickedness whenever God gives free rein to the devil and deceives them by ungodly teachers.

We now see the order observed by the Prophet. At the beginning of the chapter, he declares that the Jews were without excuse because they had again turned aside to their own superstitions, though God had severely punished the sins of their fathers, and thus they had profited nothing. He also shows that they were acting perversely if they clamored against God that He supported them scantily or badly, for they did not look for anything from Him, nor did they solicit by prayer what He was prepared willingly to grant them.

Having thus generally reproved the wickedness of the whole people, the Prophet now assails the ungodly priests and says that judgment was near both the shepherd and the he-goats.

He gives the name of pastors to wolves, which is a common thing. And here the Papists betray their folly, laying hold of words only and claiming to themselves all power because they are called pastors in the Church, and as though Antichrist were not to reign in the temple of God. Does not Zechariah give an honorable name to these wicked men who destroyed the Church of God? Indeed, he brings a very heavy charge against them, that they scattered and trampled under their feet the whole kingdom of God, and yet he calls them pastors, simply because they held the office of pastors, though they were very far from being faithful and in no way attended to their duties.

He then concedes the name of pastors to those who had been called to rule the people and to whom this office had been divinely committed; yet God declares that He would visit them because they had aroused His just displeasure.

The same is said of the he-goats, by which metaphorical name He means all those who were governors or were in rank above the common people. Those who injured and cruelly treated the sheep had been called he-goats by other Prophets, and especially by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:17). So then, He adds the he-goats to the pastors because the poor and the lower orders had been led to ruin through their misconduct.

And hence it appears how dear to God is the salvation of men, for He denounces vengeance on pastors, though they had not exercised tyranny except on men worthy of such punishment. For it was the just wages of their sins that the Lord gave them wolves instead of shepherds. But though the Jews had merited such a judgment, yet God was angry with the pastors on account of His constant solicitude for His Church.

And the reason is also added, For visit will God His flock, the house of Judah; as though He had said that He would not regard what the Jews were, but would regard His own election. For greatly valued by God is His own adoption; and as He had been pleased to choose that people, He could not have allowed them to be destroyed.

When therefore He saw that His Church had been so much exposed to destruction through the fault of the pastors, He alleges here as a reason for His future vengeance that He could not endure His favor to be brought to nothing. Nor is it to be doubted that He mentions here the house of Judah because He had restored and consecrated that people to Himself, that He might be served by them.

He then takes away from the false pastors every pretense for an excuse when He brings forward His own election, as though He had said, “Though this people had provoked Me a hundred times and deserved a hundred deaths, yet I intended you to be pastors, because the house of Judah has been made sacred to Me.”

But the visitation of the flock is different from that of the shepherds; for God visits the reprobate, being armed with vengeance, and He visits His own people by aiding them. Now the visitation of the flock refers to the whole house of Judah, and this was owing, as we have said, to their gratuitous adoption; yet the Lord suffered many to rush headlong into ruin because He delivered only His own elect. It is indeed a mode of speaking that often occurs in the Prophets—that God would help the children of Abraham when He means only those who were Israelites indeed, and not the degenerate.

He adds that they would be as a splendid horse in war. A contrast is here no doubt implied between splendid horses and asses or oxen; for these shepherds who had tyrannically oppressed God’s people are said to be like violent riders who ride on asses and shamefully abuse them, or like herdsmen who treat their own oxen inhumanely.

God then says that He would ride His people in another manner, even as the horseman who sits splendidly on his horse when going to battle. For even kings, after having ridden a horse in battle, afterwards wish it to be well taken care of; they show much solicitude for their horses and even go to the stable that they may see, if possible, with their own eyes, that they are properly attended to.

God then thus intimates that He indeed required obedience from His people and intended to retain His own right, to ride as it were on His own people; yet He would not oppress them, and on the contrary, He would make them like a splendid horse. We now perceive why the Prophet turns his discourse here especially to the false shepherds, not indeed to extenuate the fault of the whole people, for none among them was worthy of pardon.