The Lord’s Compassionate Care for Judah and Joseph (10:1-12):

10:1–2 Two verses forge a connection with the abundant crops of 9:17, that needed God-given rain (v. 1), and also connect with the unreliable shepherds (v. 3) who did not fill the leadership vacuum of verse 2. In these verses, both a hymnic description of divine provision (v. 1; cf. Job 38:25–27) as well as a critique of false intermediaries who do not give God’s word (v. 2) support the admonition to rely on the Lord alone.

Seeking rain from the right deity in the right way, and seeking divine guidance from the right intermediary by the right method, had been closely related core issues in Israel’s relationship with God. The northern kingdom had credited Baal with the gift of food brought to fruition by the rain (Hos. 2:5, 8), and…