Zechariah 11:1-17
“Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. ” (Zechariah 11:1-6)
A family I know hired a man to herd their sheep. Agreeing to pay him a certain amount each month. After a couple of months they noticed the herd seemed smaller than before and they suspected he wasn’t paying as much attention to ethe sheep as he needed to. They started checking and found where he had butchered one of the sheep instead of using the groceries they had provided, that kind of upset them, but they shrugged it off because it is hard to find sheepherders, and he said it had gotten hurt and was going to die anyway..
Later they went and found the sheep out with no one watching them. Fearing something had happened to the herder they started asking the neighbors where he normally took the sheep. One of them said that he had spent the last several days at a bar several miles away. They went to get him and learned that he had sold several of the sheep to a trader to get money to get drunk on. They fired him and filed charges against him for stealing their sheep.
Because of their sin God had turned Israel over to the surrounding countries to teach them to serve God. Like the shepherd my friends hired, these neighbors took advantage of the situation killing off God’s people or selling them out to others. Now God is going to punish them for what they have done to his people. Unlike the Jews, he will have no pity on them.
“And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.” (Zechariah 11:7-8)
God took back his people to care for them, dividing them into two bands, Israel and Judah. Because of their treatment of his people, God overthrew three of the groups he had placed to teach the Jews to serve God. He refers particularly to those who occupied Lebanon, the Egyptians, and the Syrian, Moabite and Ammonites who occupied what had originally been the land of Bashan in present day Jordan. All had been subjected by the Babylonian and Persian Empires, and all of them were trying to stop the worship of God at this time. Zechariah is performing the actions God has prescribed to provide a visual illustration of what God is planning.
“Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.” (Zechariah 11:9-11)
Because the nation of Israel had rejected God completely, God refused to provide the blessings he had promised in his covenant, chopping the walking stick up to make it clear the covenant was broken and God would focus primarily on Judah from that time on. Some of the poor and less proud people understood this was God‘s plan and would serve God for a time.
Notice that God speaks in the present tense. In John 8:57-58, the Jews challenged Christ. “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” God is omnipresent, eternally in the present, and not bound by time. Even though it would not happen for almost five hundred years, he was able to be present at Judas’ betrayal of Christ.
“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” (Zechariah 11:12-13)
In his betrayal of Christ, Judas typifies the attitude of most people, that they will go along as long as they get what they want, but when a decision is needed, they will choose the immediate benefit over the eternal. Judah was no different, considering a grave site as worth more than their own salvation.
“Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” (Zechariah 11:14)
Zechariah then cut up the second staff to demonstrate that when Judah rejected Christ, God would refuse to protect them in the same way he had earlier refused to protect Israel, leaving them on their own.
“And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.” (Zechariah 11:15-16)
Next Zechariah was instructed to take up the tools of an uncaring shepherd, unsuitable clothing, and a broken shepherd’s crook or a staff that is too short and weak to be effective since he doesn’t intend to work with the sheep anyway. Judah will be subject to nations who have no interest in them or God and will only seek to extract as much as possible from them without concern that they are destroying the source of their income.
“Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zechariah 11:17)
Unlike the Babylonian and Persian empires, these future rulers will not benefit from controlling the land of Judah. Instead it will be a source of conflict and an ongoing expense they never recoup. A study of the history of Israel since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans shows that to be a true prophecy.
“Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. ” (Zechariah 11:1-6)
A family I know hired a man to herd their sheep. Agreeing to pay him a certain amount each month. After a couple of months they noticed the herd seemed smaller than before and they suspected he wasn’t paying as much attention to ethe sheep as he needed to. They started checking and found where he had butchered one of the sheep instead of using the groceries they had provided, that kind of upset them, but they shrugged it off because it is hard to find sheepherders, and he said it had gotten hurt and was going to die anyway..
Later they went and found the sheep out with no one watching them. Fearing something had happened to the herder they started asking the neighbors where he normally took the sheep. One of them said that he had spent the last several days at a bar several miles away. They went to get him and learned that he had sold several of the sheep to a trader to get money to get drunk on. They fired him and filed charges against him for stealing their sheep.
Because of their sin God had turned Israel over to the surrounding countries to teach them to serve God. Like the shepherd my friends hired, these neighbors took advantage of the situation killing off God’s people or selling them out to others. Now God is going to punish them for what they have done to his people. Unlike the Jews, he will have no pity on them.
“And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.” (Zechariah 11:7-8)
God took back his people to care for them, dividing them into two bands, Israel and Judah. Because of their treatment of his people, God overthrew three of the groups he had placed to teach the Jews to serve God. He refers particularly to those who occupied Lebanon, the Egyptians, and the Syrian, Moabite and Ammonites who occupied what had originally been the land of Bashan in present day Jordan. All had been subjected by the Babylonian and Persian Empires, and all of them were trying to stop the worship of God at this time. Zechariah is performing the actions God has prescribed to provide a visual illustration of what God is planning.
“Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.” (Zechariah 11:9-11)
Because the nation of Israel had rejected God completely, God refused to provide the blessings he had promised in his covenant, chopping the walking stick up to make it clear the covenant was broken and God would focus primarily on Judah from that time on. Some of the poor and less proud people understood this was God‘s plan and would serve God for a time.
Notice that God speaks in the present tense. In John 8:57-58, the Jews challenged Christ. “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” God is omnipresent, eternally in the present, and not bound by time. Even though it would not happen for almost five hundred years, he was able to be present at Judas’ betrayal of Christ.
“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.” (Zechariah 11:12-13)
In his betrayal of Christ, Judas typifies the attitude of most people, that they will go along as long as they get what they want, but when a decision is needed, they will choose the immediate benefit over the eternal. Judah was no different, considering a grave site as worth more than their own salvation.
“Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” (Zechariah 11:14)
Zechariah then cut up the second staff to demonstrate that when Judah rejected Christ, God would refuse to protect them in the same way he had earlier refused to protect Israel, leaving them on their own.
“And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.” (Zechariah 11:15-16)
Next Zechariah was instructed to take up the tools of an uncaring shepherd, unsuitable clothing, and a broken shepherd’s crook or a staff that is too short and weak to be effective since he doesn’t intend to work with the sheep anyway. Judah will be subject to nations who have no interest in them or God and will only seek to extract as much as possible from them without concern that they are destroying the source of their income.
“Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” (Zechariah 11:17)
Unlike the Babylonian and Persian empires, these future rulers will not benefit from controlling the land of Judah. Instead it will be a source of conflict and an ongoing expense they never recoup. A study of the history of Israel since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans shows that to be a true prophecy.
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