MOVED BY COMPASSION
Opening Prayer
Lord, we deplore all forms of idolatry.
Read ZECHARIAH 10
The Lord Will Care for Judah
10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
and plants of the field to everyone.
2 The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler.
5 Together they[a] will be like warriors in battle
trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.
6 “I will strengthen Judah
and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though
I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
and I will answer them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
Their children will see it and be joyful;
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will signal for them
and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
they will be as numerous as before.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,
yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive,
and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
and there will not be room enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
the surging sea will be subdued
and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s pride will be brought down
and Egypt’s scepter will pass away.
12 I will strengthen them in the Lord
and in his name they will live securely,”
declares the Lord.
Footnotes:
a Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / 5 They
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22, 23)
Think Further
Israel had an agricultural economy, dependent on the seasonal rains. Its neighbors worshipped personifications of the forces of nature, which brought about fertility. This idolatrous worship violated the moral demands of Israel’s covenant God. Many of the kings (“shepherds” 3) of Israel and Judah yielded to the temptation to worship these gods, leading their people astray like wandering sheep. This has provoked God’s anger, but out of compassion he now promises to take care of his flock and to send them a leader or leaders (4; may refer to more than one) from the tribe of Judah, who will reinvigorate and save them. The image of the “cornerstone” (either a foundation stone or capstone) is used in the Old Testament of the Davidic king and of a future deliverer (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16). In the New Testament, this imagery is applied to Jesus (1 Peter 2:6, 7). When Jesus says “I am the good shepherd” he is fulfilling this and other passages that promise God would care for his “flock” and provide them with a true shepherd (John 10:11; Jeremiah 23:1–4; Ezekiel 34:23). His ministry is marked by compassion (Matt 9:36).
Zechariah’s prophecy envisages God bringing back the exiles from both the former southern kingdom (Judah) and northern kingdom (Joseph/Ephraim) to form once again a united people of God. It uses imagery drawn from the Exodus. In the New Testament the united people of God, including both Jews and Gentiles, are depicted as a new temple built on Jesus Christ as the cornerstone and as a single flock with Jesus as its shepherd (Ephesians 2:14–22; John 10:16). Jesus’ death on the cross for the sins of the world makes this possible. Both Jew and Gentile can then be brought together, reconstituted as a new people of God by a worldwide proclamation of the gospel by Jesus’ followers.
Apply
Can you think of practical ways in which you could show Christ-like compassion, either to people you know or by supporting a caring agency in some way?
Closing prayer
Lord, we are honored to be included into Your new covenant with both Jew and Gentile on equal footing.
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