Zechariah 11 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Zechariah 11

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

11:1   Open your doors, O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
2   Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
  Wail, oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
3   The sound of the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
  The sound of the roar of the lions,
    for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

4 Thus said the LORD my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the LORD said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17   “Woe to my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
  May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
  Let his arm be wholly withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!”

Commentary

v1-3: Desolation in Lebanon; the result of failing to trust in God.

v4-17: Worthless shepherds and the Great Shepherd.

v4: The children of Judah, the flock marked out for slaughter.

v5: The unfaithful under-shepherds;

they feel no guilt, no pity towards those in their care;
they are grateful for the benefit they receive from mistreating others.

v6: See 8.10; judgment from God. There is chaos, as each one falls into the hand of his neighbour.

v7: The Lord Himself is the chief shepherd; He has pastured the flock, although it remained marked for slaughter. He held the shepherd's staff, indicating His authority.

v8: Three under-shepherds dismissed; this may refer to three kings, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jehoiachin. Still the whole flock rejected the Lord and His ways. The removal of the evil kings did not change the people's hearts.

v9-11: The relationship to be broken, the covenant broken, signified by Zechariah's broken staff.

v12-13: The pay for the hired shepherd; in the image, dismissed by the owner of the flock. There is a picture of enmity, which the Lord Jesus also endured, and was also sold for 30 pieces of silver.

v14: The brotherhood between Judah and Israel; this has long been a difficult relationship.

v15-16: The judgment for Israel and Judah is to endure the worthless shepherd, one who does not care for the sheep. It is possible that this may refer to Nebuchadnezzar, or one of the other Gentile kings who ruled over the whole region.

v17: The curse upon the worthless shepherd.

There is the clear lesson for those who would lead, that they are held accountable before God.