Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
against the shepherds--the civil rulers of Israel and Judah who abetted idolatry.
punished--literally, "visited upon." The same word "visited," without the upon, is presently after used in a good sense to heighten the contrast.
goats--he-goats. As "shepherds" described what they ought to have been, so "he-goats" describes what they were, the emblem of headstrong wantonness and offensive lust (Isaiah 14:9, Margin; Ezekiel 34:17; Daniel 8:5; Matthew 25:33). The he-goats head the flock. They who are first in crime will be first in punishment.
visited--in mercy (Luke 1:68).
as his goodly horse--In Zechariah 9:13 they were represented under the image of bows and arrows, here under that of their commander-in-chief, Jehovah's battle horse (Song of Solomon 1:9). God can make His people, timid though they be as sheep, courageous as the charger. The general rode on the most beautiful and richly caparisoned, and had his horse tended with the greatest care. Jehovah might cast off the Jews for their vileness, but He regards His election or adoption of them: whence He calls them here "His flock," and therefore saves them.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Isaiah 14:9
Jeremiah 25:34
Ezekiel 34:17
Zechariah 10:1
Zechariah 10:5
Zechariah 10:7
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