John Calvin Commentary Zechariah 10:9

"And I will sow them among the peoples; and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and shall return." — Zechariah 10:9 (ASV)

He continues the same subject and employs here a most suitable metaphor — that the dispersion of the people would have a better outcome than what anyone at that time could have conceived, for it would be like sowing. The verb for scattering or sowing is often understood in a negative sense; for when people rested in their country, they should then have considered that they were living under God’s protection.

Dispersion, then, was evidence of a curse, and it is often understood this way by Moses. Now God uses it here in an opposite meaning, as if he had said that he would, according to his will, turn darkness into light. The meaning then is that the people had been dispersed because God was angry with them, but that the outcome of this dispersion would be joyful; for the Jews would dwell everywhere, be God’s seed, and thus be made to produce abundant fruit.

We then see that the meaning is that God’s favor would surpass the wickedness of the people; for those who had been scattered would bear fruit—scattered because God would no longer exercise care over them and defend them in the promised land. As God then had so often threatened through Moses that he would scatter the Jews, he now says in another sense that he would sow them, and for this purpose, so that they might everywhere produce fruit.

It was an instance of the wonderful grace of God that he so ordered his dreadful judgment as to make the dispersion, as has been said, a sowing of the people. For thus it happened that the knowledge of celestial truth shone everywhere; and eventually, when the gospel was proclaimed, there was freer access to the Gentiles, because Jews were dispersed throughout all lands.

The first receptacles (Hospitia) of the gospel were the synagogues. We see that the apostles everywhere went first to the Jews, and when a few were converted, the door was then opened so that more might come, and Gentiles were also added to the Jews. Thus the punishment of exile, which had been inflicted on them, was the means of opening the door for the gospel; and God thus scattered his seed here and there, so that it might in due time produce fruit beyond the expectation of all.

This consideration contributed significantly to moderating the impatient desires of the people; for the Prophet intimates that this alone should have satisfied them—that their exile would be productive of good, for the Lord would thereby gather many people to himself.

Had the Jews been confined within their own borders, the name of the God of Israel would not have been heard of elsewhere. But as there was no part of the East, no part of Asia, and no part of Greece that did not have some Jews—and they inhabited many cities of Italy—thus it was that the Apostles found, as we have said, wherever they came, some already prepared to embrace the gospel.

He afterwards adds, They shall remember me in distant lands. He shows how the memory of God would be preserved: though the Jews did not sacrifice in the temple, though they did not dwell in the holy land, they would still always worship the only true God. Just as seed cast on the ground, though it may not appear and may even seem to be wholly lost, apparently consumed by decay, yet germinates in its season and produces fruit, so God teaches us that the memory of his name will cause this people to bear fruit in their dispersion.

But as God promises this, we therefore learn that it is through his unique kindness that we maintain piety in our hearts when he sharply and severely disciplines us. When, therefore, we do not cease to worship God, it is certain that we are kept by his Spirit; for if this were in human power, this promise would be useless, and even absurd.

He says further, They shall live with their sons, and shall return. He again speaks of sons, so that the Jews would not be overly hasty; for we know that people, having strong desires, rush forward excessively. So that they would not then dictate God’s timing, the Prophet reminds them that it should have been enough for them that the Lord would give them life, as if from the dead, together with their children.

He however promises them a return, not that they would return to their own country, but that they would all be united by the faith of the gospel. Though they did not change their place, nor move even a foot from the lands where they resided, yet a return to their country would be that gathering which would be made by the truth of the gospel, as is well known from the common way of speaking used by all the Prophets.