John Trapp on Zechariah 14:17

Verſe 17. Even upon them ſhall be no rain] i. e. Nullam miſericordiam aſſequentur, ſaith Theodoret: They ſhall get no good at Gods hand. Judaea was ſumen totius orbis, as One ſaith, a very fat and fertile countrey: but yet ſo, as that her fruitfulneſſe depended much upon ſeaſonable ſhowres, the former and latter rain: and the Prophet ſeemeth here to allude to that of Moſes, Deut. 11.10, &c, If God did not hear the heaven, and the heaven the earth, the earth could not hear the corn, wine, and oil, nor thoſe hear Jezreel, Hoſ. 2.19. Judaea was not like that countrey in Pliny, ubi ſiccitas dat lutum, imbres pulverem, where drought made dirt, rain made duſt: but if the heaven were iron over them, the earth would ſoon be braſſe under them, and not yeeld her increaſe, (See Pſal. 65.9. Eſay 30.23.) and then where would they be quickly? ſith Animantis cujuſque vita in fuga eſt, life would be loſt, if not maintained by daily food. Rain is in Scripture put 1. Properly, for water coming out of the clouds, Deut. 11.11, Prov. 16.15. nouriſhing the herbs and trees. 2. Metaphorically for Chriſt, his Goſpel, and his graces, wherewith the ſouls of men are made fruitfull in good works, Eſay 45.8. Deut. 32.2. Hoſ. 6.3. The want of rain is on the contrary made here, and Rev. 11.5. a ſigne of a curſe. It waiteth not for the ſonnes of men, Mic. 5.7. but it accompliſheth what God appointeth, Eſay 55.10, 11. Why it falleth here, and now, we know not, and wonder.