A. Judgment coming upon the flock of God.
1. ( Zechariah 11:1-3 ) The creation groans in anticipation of the coming judgment.
O Lebanon, open your gates, and let fire consume your cedars. Howl, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are cut down. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest is cut down. The voice of the howling of shepherds, for their splendor is laid waste; the roaring of young lions, for the glory of the Jordan is destroyed.
a. O Lebanon, open your gates, and let fire consume your cedars : This describes the destructive armies of judgment that will come from the north, through Lebanon. The gates of Lebanon are the mountain roads between Lebanon and Israel.
i. Boice comments on how this prophecy was fulfilled in the Roman campaign against Judea. “These verses might have described the Babylonian invasion if they had been written earlier; but that was a past history in the time of Zechariah. There is nothing in the history of the people that could refer to such a comprehensive destruction of the land earlier than this terrible destruction ordered by Vespasian and Titus, his successor.”
b. Howl, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen : The cedars illustrate the strength of Lebanon, and once they have fallen, the lesser forests of cypress and oak will also be destroyed, and they will also howl .
c. Voice of howling shepherds…roaring of lion cubs : In addition to the trees, the shepherds and lions will also howl because of the judgment on the earth – which is coming because Israel has rejected the Good Shepherd.
2. ( Zechariah 11:4-7 ) Zechariah acts out a prophecy of judgment.
Thus says the LORD my God: He feeds the sheep for slaughter, which their buyers kill, and they do not hold themselves guilty; and he who sells them says, “Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich,” and their shepherds do not pity them. Therefore I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD; for, behold, I will give men each into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king; and they will lay waste the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hand. So I fed the sheep for slaughter, that is, the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs; I called the one Grace and the other Bands; and I fed the sheep.
a. He feeds the sheep of slaughter : Zechariah acts out this prophecy by feeding a literal flock of sheep, which represent God’s people. As the shepherd, Zechariah represents Jehovah, who has appointed this flock to him for the season of judgment.
b. I took for myself two staffs : Zechariah’s two staffs were called “ Grace ” ( beauty ) and “ Bonds ” ( unity ). The staff was a common tool for a shepherd ( Psalm 23:4 ).
i. “ Favor symbolizes Israel’s favored status as God’s chosen people. Unionsymbolizes the inner harmony of the people that was lost at the time of the harvest of Jerusalem.” (Boice)
3. ( Zechariah 11:8-11 ) The covenant, symbolically broken.
And I destroyed three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also hated me. Then I said, I will not feed you; the one that dies, let it die; and the one that is lost, let it perish; and the ones that are left, let each one eat the flesh of its companion. Then I took my staff Grace and broke it, to break my covenant which I made with all the people. And it was dissolved that day; and the poor of the flock who looked to me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
a. And I destroyed three shepherds in one month : We know that Zechariah is acting prophetically, but it is difficult to identify these three shepherds whom Zechariah hated, and who hated him.
i. “The best explanation is probably the older one, which sees the three shepherds not as three individuals, but as three classes of individuals, by name: the prophets, the priests, and the kings of Israel.” (Boice) The offices of prophet, priest, and king were taken from Israel after the Roman conquest of Judea and have never been restored – for they are now fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
b. I will not feed you; he who dies, let him die : In bringing judgment by letting them die , God merely retracts His hand of protection. At one time, God had a covenant with all peoples , preventing them from attacking His people, Israel. When God decides to break His covenant , His people will be attacked.
c. And those who remain, let each one eat the flesh of her companion : This actually happened during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
d. The poor of the flock knew that it was the word of the Lord : This is the faithful remnant, who knew that even the harsh words are from God.
4. ( Zechariah 11:12-14 ) The shepherd is paid with contempt.
And I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, leave them alone. And they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, Throw it into the treasury; for a good price they have valued me at. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD. Then I broke the other staff, Bands, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
a. Give me my wages : Zechariah is “acting out” this prophecy by employing himself as a shepherd over a flock. Now he asks his employer for his wages, and they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver .
b. What a handsome price they have priced me at! Zechariah is speaking sarcastically here. Thirty pieces of silver was not an insignificant amount, but it was the price of a slave ( Exodus 21:32 ). It was the lowest they could pay, and he was telling Zechariah, “We think of you as a slave.”
i. This speaks prophetically of Jesus, who was betrayed with contempt for thirty pieces of silver ( Matthew 26:15 and 27:3) – the price of a slave.
ii. Matthew 27:9-10 says, “This was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Then they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one who was valued, according to the price set by the children of Israel, and put them into the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me . ’” This is a problem, because Zechariah clearly records the passage mentioned in Matthew 27:9-10 . There are generally three solutions offered for this problem:
· Some think it is a mistake, but not by Matthew – an early copyist made a mistake. Perhaps Matthew wrote Zechariah , but an early copyist put Jeremiah in his place.
· Some think that Jeremiah spoke this prophecy, and that Zechariah recorded it. This may have been the word spoken by Jeremiah, but recorded by Zechariah.
· Some think that Matthew is referring to the scroll of Jeremiah, which included the book of Zechariah.
c. I threw them into the treasury of the house of the LORD : Interestingly, Zechariah says that the thirty pieces of silver were to be thrown into the house of the LORD , but they were also given to the treasury . This was an exact fulfillment of what Judas did with his thirty pieces of silver ( Matthew 27:3-10 ).
i. The money to betray Jesus – His purchase price – was to buy a potter’s field ( Matthew 27:7 ). A potter’s field was a wasteland, where he dumped his broken, damaged, or rejected clay pots. Jesus actually bought the potter’s field – the place where broken, rejected, useless people like us were scattered.
d. Then I broke the other staff, Bands, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel : After the exchange of the thirty pieces of silver, the staff of Bands (unity) was broken. This was a fulfillment when Israel was scattered by the Romans after their rejection of their Shepherd Jesus.
B. A false prophet to come.
1. ( Zechariah 11:15-16 ) God will allow foolish shepherds to come to His people.
And the LORD said to me, Take again the tools of a foolish shepherd: for, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, that will not visit the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor carry the weary; but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and break their hoofs.
a. He still takes the tools of a foolish shepherd : Now Zechariah acts like a foolish shepherd who does not take care of the sheep, which a shepherd should have.
· A foolish shepherd will not visit the lost , but a wise and godly shepherd will seek the lost.
· The foolish shepherd will not seek the little one , but a wise and godly shepherd knows that the little oneneeds to come to the Lord, just as the big people do.
· A foolish pastor will not heal a broken leg , but a wise and godly pastor seeks to care for broken hearts and lives, and mends them with love and the word of God.
· A foolish shepherd will not carry the weary sheep , but a wise and godly shepherd will faithfully carry the sheep.
· A foolish shepherd will eat the fat sheep’s flesh and break their hooves , but a wise and godly shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep ( John 10:11 )
b. I will raise up a shepherd on the earth : This foolish shepherd is singled out and set up by God as a judgment because His people forsook the true shepherd. This was fulfilled in Israel’s rejection of Jesus. They rejected the Good Shepherd ( John 10:1-18 ) but received another shepherd ( John 5:43 ).
i. We often assume that all people need is the right leader. Here we see that even the ultimate leader can be rejected and a worthless leader elected. The value of democracy is that it respects man’s fallen nature and spreads power – but even the majority can be very wrong, and will prefer the foolish shepherd to the Good Shepherd.
ii. The foolish shepherd received by Israel was partially fulfilled in their election of Barabbas ( Matthew 27:20-22 ) but will finally be fulfilled in their reception of the Antichrist and their covenant with him ( Daniel 9:27 ).
2. ( Zechariah 11:17 ) Judgment on the useless shepherd.
Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons his flock! The sword will strike his arm and his right eye; his arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be completely darkened.
a. Woe to the unwise shepherd! Although God singled out the unwise shepherd in light of Israel’s rejection of the Good Shepherd, it does not mean that God approves of the unwise shepherd. God will judge the unwise shepherd who harmed His flock .
b. The sword strikes his arm and his right eye : The useless shepherd feels the sword of God’s judgment against his arm and his right eye . The arm expresses strength and the eyeexpresses intelligence, so this will be a hard blow against the useless shepherd.
i. Revelation 13:3 , 12-14 tells us that the Antichrist will suffer a mortal wound, but will still survive. This confirms that the unprofitable shepherd is finally fulfilled in the Antichrist.