Deeper Commentary

Zechariah Chapter 11

Zechariah 11:1 Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars- The tone of Zechariah changes as the prophecy progresses. All the wonderful potentials were not being used by the exiles, and so judgment and rejection was to come. The returned exiles from Assyria could have lived in Lebanon, as stated just a few verses earlier in Zech. 10:10. But God in this chapter is now as it were breaking up all those potentials. The cedars of Lebanon were to be devoured by fire. Finally this came true in the sense that the cedars which characterized the temple were destroyed by fire in AD70.

Zechariah 11:2 Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down- As noted on :1, the potential just stated in Zech. 10:10 was not now going to come about. The exiles didn't want to return, and so they would not live in Bashan; rather, the oaks and forests there would be burnt. This initially applies to the breaking of all the potentials in Zechariah's time, but the prophecy came to a fulfilment in the destruction of the northern areas of Palestine in the Roman advance of AD70, and will likely have another fulfilment in the last days. The relevance to the first century becomes more apparent later in the chapter. The "stately ones" uses the same word for the "nobles" in Judah at the time of the restoration (Neh. 3:5; 10:29). They could have become the leaders of the restored kingdom of God in Israel at Zechariah's time; but that potential was rejected by them, and now broken by God.

Zechariah 11:3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined- The wailing of shepherds and the roaring of lions create the idea that the invaders [lions] came as a result of the failure of the shepherds. This was why Judah had gone into captivity (Ez. 34), and sadly they didn't reform and so their final destruction in AD70 was a result of their bad shepherds. "The wailing of the shepherds" occurred when Babylon took Jerusalem (same phrase in Jer. 25:36). The Jordan was the famed habitat of young lions; the idea is that the destruction of their habitat made them roam.

Zechariah 11:4 Thus says Yahweh my God: Feed the flock of slaughter- Zechariah was asked to act out a parable of a shepherd. God had decided to slaughter the flock, and they were to be prepared for that by their own shepherds. The slaughter of the post-exilic community didn't come until AD70; this again was a reflection of God's huge patience.

Zechariah 11:5 Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them- The buyers and sellers of the flock are presented as worshippers of Yahweh. The slaughter of the flock was to be in the first century when the covenant was finally broken; but the abuses of the Jews against each other was effectively a slaughtering of the flock for their own enrichment. Nehemiah records how the rich enslaved the poor during the famine. And they "repent not" (LXX; NEV "Go unpunished"). There was not the required repentance of the exiles, but rather a simplistic desire for personal wealth out of the situation in Judah (see on Hag. 1).

Zechariah 11:6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh- God had often stated in Ezekiel that He would not pity Judah. But at the restoration, He did pity them, by absolute grace (Ez. 36:21 s.w.). But this pity is now as it were withdrawn; they were to be destroyed, and only God's true remnant would find His pity (Mal. 3:17 s.w.).

But, behold, I will deliver the men, every one of them, into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them- Earlier in Zechariah, God had enthusiastically explained that Zerubbabel and then Joshua could have been the Messianic king of the restored kingdom. But both those men and their people didn't want that, and returned to remain under the kingship of the Gentiles. And so Judah was to be destroyed by each other, and also by the one they had chosen king. When they crucified the Lord, they stated that Caesar was their only king (Jn. 19:15), and he was the one who was to destroy them in AD70.

Zechariah 11:7 So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock- LXX "And I will tend the flock of slaughter in the land of Chanaan". The returned exiles would grow into the 'Judea' of the first century. But they were to be led by their shepherds, whose role Zechariah played, towards their final slaughter in AD70. Or consider the GNB: "Those who bought and sold the sheep hired me, and I became the shepherd of the sheep that were going to be butchered".

I took for myself two staves. The one I called Grace, and the other I called Union, and I fed the flock- Grace is to be the basis for unity between God's people. The covenant relationship experienced with God naturally binds us in union with others in that same covenant. Unity with God and with our brother is therefore connected. It could be deduced that division between brethren is therefore a reflection of how some have not grasped the wonder of personal, covenant relationship with God through His grace. All interpersonal issues take on a completely different colour in the face of God's grace. And is this which is the stave or rod which will guide the flock rightly. But those staves were to be broken; without an awareness of Divine grace and unity between brethren, God's people are really without any shepherding. It had been God's intention to reunite Israel and Judah at the restoration, on the basis of the fact that both would accept His grace as offered in the new covenant.

Zechariah 11:8 I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me- GNB "I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me". God had patiently waited for Judah to respond, there had been several potential Messianic shepherd figures (Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah), and yet His patience had limits.

Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah returned from Babylon and were intended to be leaders who would crown Joshua / Jesus as the Messiah-Priest-Branch who would rebuild Jerusalem. See on Zech. 6:10,14. But nothing is heard of them further. Perhaps it is to them that this refers. They had gone into captivity because of poor shepherds, and now at their return they again lacked men willing to be their Saviours; and God is saying that He would not do the shepherding job which He had delegated to others. It could be that Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah all died in one month as a result of Zechariah’s prophecy at the time of Ezra 5:1. 

 

Zechariah 11:9 Then I said, I will not feed you- GNB "I will not be your shepherd any longer". In this acted parable, Zechariah is reflecting God's feelings. The shepherds were unwilling to manifest God to the people, and the flock / people didn't want His shepherding. They would not 'return' to Him.

That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh- This was finally fulfilled in the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem in AD70. It is the spirit of Rev. 22:11: "He that is unrighteous, let him continue to do unrighteousness, and he that is filthy, let him remain filthy, and he that is righteous, let him continue to do righteousness, and he that is holy, let him remain holy". We get the impression that this calamity was intended for Zechariah's time, but by grace and God's continual efforts and longsuffering it didn't come about until AD70; and it yet will come true in the last days.

Zechariah 11:10 I took my staff Grace, and cut it apart, ‘That I might break My covenant that I had made with all the people’- The breaking of "grace" meant breaking the "bands" of unity between Israel and Judah. The basis for interpersonal unity is response to God's grace, rather than an academic, technical agreement on theology. The basis of the new covenant offered to Israel at the restoration was grace. By that grace, God was willing to accept the unspiritual exiles if they came to Him. But they didn't, they refused covenant relationship with Him. And so having spurned and broken the covenant, He broke it from His side too. God will not break His covenants; but He is here confirming that His people had broken the covenant.

Throughout Zechariah we have seen multiple allusions to the work of the Angels. This was in that time how God revealed Himself to men, and invited them to conceive of Him. We recall the words of the Angel in Jud. 2:1 "And an Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers: and I said, I will never break My covenant with you". The subsequent rebuke of Israel by the Angel makes this passage imply that although the Angel had promised never to break the Covenant, He could and would do so- reflecting the God of Hosea, who has emotion and can change His mind in accordance with the mind of His people. Now, the Angel speaking to Zechariah does break the covenant. There is another Angelic reference in :6: "I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord" (cp. Is. 63:9 regarding the wilderness Angel: "in His love and in His pity" He redeemed Israel from Egypt). Although the Angelic covenant was broken, it is to be re-established: "I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant (i.e. you've broken the covenant, I'll do the same). Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee... and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant... thou shalt receive thy sisters... and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy (former) covenant. And I will establish My covenant with thee" (Ez. 16:59-62). This covenant was a marriage covenant. "For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God" (Michael the Angel?), Is. 54:6. This is all referring back to the Angel calling Hagar, showing that God's Angel was figuratively 'married' to Israel; thus Judah were invited to understand that it was the Angel representing God who divorced and will take back Israel.

Zechariah 11:11 It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of Yahweh- LXX "The Chananites, the sheep that are kept for me, shall know that it is the word of the Lord". There was a minority amongst the returned exiles who did respond to Zechariah's teaching; perhaps the Lord alludes here when commenting that "to the poor the Gospel is preached" (Lk. 7:22). There's no doubt that "the poor" in whatever sense, be it poverty of spirit or finances, are those more likely to respond to God's word of the Kingdom. "The poor" perceived that Zechariah's breaking of the staff meant that the covenant was broken; what had been possible for returned Judah now wasn't.

Zechariah 11:12 I said to them, If you think it best, give me my value; and if not, keep it. So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver- In the acted parable, Zechariah asks the sheep merchants what wages they will give him for having kept their flock for slaughter. The implication is that they had now arrived at the time for slaughter, and he was handing the flock back to them which he had prepared for slaughter. The time of slaughter was in the first century. The Lord Jesus was the shepherd who had tried to save the flock but His very efforts with them, and their rejection of them, made them the generation that had to be slaughtered. In this sense He shepherded the flock to slaughter. Zechariah at this point therefore becomes a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way he asks them if they wish to pay him, leaving the choice with them, perhaps again hints at the huge freewill Judah were allowed; they need not have gone ahead with the path that led to the betrayal and murder of their own Messiah.

Zechariah 11:13 Yahweh said to me, Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!- This appears to be sarcasm, as if it was a very low price for his work. It was the price of a slave; and all Judas could buy with it was a field of muddy clay soil, not much use for anything. It is incredible that Judas did what he did for so little; but this is the power of avarice, greed, insisting blindly upon our own agenda and jealousy.

 

I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of Yahweh- This clearly looks forward to Judas throwing down the thirty pieces of silver in the temple, and the money being used to purchase the potter's field. It has been suggested that there were earthen, potter's vessels in the temple, and Zechariah threw the coins to a potter who was in the temple at the time, perhaps in connection with the earthen vessels there. Zechariah has been speaking in this chapter of how because the exiles had refused God's offer of a new covenant, the community would be judged and rejected. This came to its full term in the first century, and so his acting out the rejection and betrayal of the Lord Jesus is appropriate and in context.

Zechariah 11:14 Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel- At the time of Zechariah, that brotherhood was already broken. Repeatedly in Zechariah, there has been the message that Judah and Israel would be reunited at the restoration. This didn't happen, as the majority of both groups preferred to remain in the lands of their exile. But that unity was potentially prepared. But it seems now God breaks that, He takes away that potential because it is clear that in Zechariah's time, that was just not the wish of God's people to make use of it. And we have surely all seen potentially unity between groups and persons being broken by God in response to the way that the humans involved just didn't want it. We note again that union between individuals is related to our acceptance of grace, the first 'staff' which was to guide the flock.

Zechariah 11:15 Yahweh said to me, Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd- This final acted parable appears to speak specifically of the failure of Zerubbabel, the one who could have been the shepherd. Just as the shepherd leaders of Judah had been foolish and this had led Judah into captivity (s.w. Hos. 9:7), so now the restored community likewise were foolish and had foolish shepherds.

Zechariah 11:16 For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land- "Raise up" is the language of restoration (s.w. Am. 9:11 and often). God had raised up a shepherd in the land, indeed it seems when Zerubbabel failed, Joshua was raised up, and even Nehemiah. But despite this initiative of God, the shepherds were like those before the captivity.

Who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces- This is the language of Ez. 34 concerning the shepherds of Judah before the exile. Now those who had been restored were behaving the same way. The leadership of Judah were not interested in the spiritual welfare of people, but rather just their own material benefit from them. This came to full term in the generation which led Judah to crucify their King, the Lord Jesus the Messiah.  The “great mountain” of Babylon was to become a plain before Zerubbabel (Zech. 4:7)- a clear allusion to Dan. 2:44, in which the little stone of Messiah destroys the Kingdoms of men and becomes a great mountain to replace the statue headed by Babylon. But Zerubbabel didn’t destroy Babylon- according to Jewish tradition he returned there after ‘giving up’ in Jerusalem. He was “the worthless shepherd” who didn’t gather “those that be scattered”, who didn’t encourage the Jews scattered in Babylon to return to the fold of Zion, and who didn’t care for their spiritual wellbeing. And so the prophecy that Babylon would be destroyed before Zerubbabel has to be reapplied, and will be fulfilled at the return of the Lord Jesus. "That which is broken" would then refer to the walls and buildings of Jerusalem and the temple. These were not rebuilt as potentially possible.

Zechariah 11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock!- I suggested on :16 that this refers to Zerubbabel leaving the flock of Judah in the land and returning to Babylon.

The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!- This could also speak of leprosy. Was this how he ended his days, we wonder? Yet he, the ‘shoot out of Babylon’ as his name means, could have been the promised Messianic shoot out of the withered stem of Jesse. He could have been the Messianic shoot out of the dry ground of Babylon (Is. 53:2) who would accompany the return of the temple vessels from Babylon (Is. 52:11). But he disappears strangely out of the record. Thus the events of Nehemiah 8, where the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles as well as the dedication of the wall are all recorded, make no mention of the High Priest or Zerubbabel officiating. He, Joshua and indeed anyone who could have taken their place somehow didn’t rise to the occasion. And so Is. 51:17-18 lamented, prophetically: “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury [at the end of the 70 years captivity]... [but] There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up”. Perhaps Zerubbabel, or whoever could have been the Messianic prince, was smitten with a stroke which left his arm withered and his right eye blinded. That language certainly sounds like a stroke. And those who had heard Zechariah's words would immediately have perceived their fulfilment.