This week we are studying Zechariah 10. Our previous chapter ended with the promise of such agricultural fertility that “grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women” (9:17). The guarantee of satiated bellies carries over into today’s reading with Zechariah reminding the petition the Lord and he will send the “spring rain” and “the vegetation in the field” (10:1).
After encouraging the people to pray to Yahweh for their needs, the prophet warns them not to seek their protection and provision through other means. He cautions the people against falling back into idol worship, reminding them, “the teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; the dreamers tell false dreams and give empty consolation” (10:2).
During the divided monarchy, the people of Israel and Judah were fond of merging Yahwism with the occult. But, even before the age of the prophets, God’s people had been flirting with all kinds of pagan divination. Rachel brought her father’s statues (Gen. 31) into Canaan. Right after the Exodus, when they should have been thanking God for his saving grace, they constructed the golden calf at Mount Sinai (Ex. 32). And there is even the strange scene in 1 Samuel of King Saul consulting a medium to conjure up the ghost of Samuel (1 Sam. 28).
For the most part, biblical historians believe that idol worship stopped being a big problem after the exile. The Bible indicates this was the case and the archaeology confirms it. The prophets Hosea and Ezekiel prophesied that after the ordeal of captivity, the people would eradicate idol worship (Hos. 3:4; Ezek. 37:23). Hosea foresaw a time when “the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or teraphim” (Hos. 3:4).
