10:1–2. The unit opens with a call to ask Yahweh for rain ‘in the season of spring rain’, considered to be March/April (Smith 1984: 261). If the rain did not come at this time, it meant crop failure and famine, something experienced in Zechariah’s day (cf. Hag. 1:10–11). The reason for asking God for rain is that he is the one who ‘makes thunderbolts’ and ‘will give a rain shower’ (cf. 14:17–18). He is the one who is sovereign over the weather (cf. Pss 65:9; 68:9; 104:13; 135:7; Job 38:24–28,
Page 230