Zechariah 11
11
God Will Overthrow Mighty Empires
1Open your borders, # 11:1 Or “your doors.” Lebanon.
Let fire consume your cedar trees.
2Cry in sorrow, cypress,
for the towering cedar trees have toppled—
the high and mighty ones are destroyed.
Wail, oaks of Bashan, # 11:2 The “cypress,” “towering cedar trees,” and the “oaks” are all metaphors for the pride and arrogance of the leaders of the empires that failed to come to Israel’s aid. Zechariah was dealing with three of the key borderlands of Israel: the northwest (Lebanon/Phoenicia), the northeast (Bashan/southern Syria), and east (Transjordan). Israel’s neighbors showed little solidarity with her as the Assyrians and then the Babylonians came in and ravaged the land.
for the thick forest has been felled.
3Listen! It’s the sound of the wailing of shepherds.
Their glory is gone, their rich pastures destroyed.
Listen! It’s the sound of the young lions roaring.
The thickets of the Jordan have been ravaged.
The Two Staffs
4This is what my God, Yahweh, says: “Shepherd the inhabitants of this land, for they are like a flock doomed for slaughter. 5-6Those who buy them slaughter them without remorse. And the merchants who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, I have become rich!’ Even the hirelings—their own shepherds—show no pity for the sheep. I will no longer show mercy to the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh. “Instead, I will cause each one to fall into the clutches of his neighbor and into the clutches of his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their power.”
7So I # 11:7 That is, the prophet himself, Zechariah, became a “stand-in” shepherd. became a shepherd for the sheep doomed for slaughter, especially for those sheep who had been trafficked. I took two staffs in my hand; one I named “Affection,” # 11:7 Or “Pleasantness” (NET), “Favor” (NIV), “Beauty” (KJV), or “Mercy” (CEV). and the other I named “Union,” # 11:7 This participial Hebrew verb form chobelim derives from the verb chabal with the sense of “to bind [someone] by a pledge.” So in this context, this symbolic name for the second shepherd’s staff may denote the “union” of brotherhood. and I cared for the sheep myself. # 11:7 How grateful we can be that our mighty God holds these two staffs: Affection and Union. They become the great powers to shape our lives, to protect us, to care for us, and to instruct us. We need God’s affection (grace), and we need to realize our union with Christ to access the fullness of God. The Hebrew word translated “affection” (noʿam) can also be translated “pleasant.” How pleasant it is when we dwell in union with Christ and unity with one another! See Ps. 133. 8So I removed three shepherds in one month, for I ran out of patience # 11:8 This is a Hebrew idiom, “my soul was short.” with the sheep-traffickers, and they hated me. 9And I told them, “I am not going to be your shepherd anymore. Those doomed to die can die; those doomed for destruction can perish; and the rest can devour one another.” 10Then I took my staff, “Affection,” and broke it in half to revoke the covenant that I had made with the whole nation of Israel.
11So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep-traffickers, who were watching me, realized that Yahweh was speaking through me. 12Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; if not, never mind.” So they weighed out my wages: thirty shekels of silver. # 11:12 Thirty shekels of silver was the amount of compensation an ox owner paid to a slave’s master if the owner’s ox injured the slave (see Ex. 21:32). In effect, this was a statement of devaluing Zechariah and his ministry, and it was ultimately an insult to the Lord, who spoke through Zechariah. Judas betrayed (sold) Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Zechariah was told to throw his silver to the treasury (or “potter”; see the following footnote). Judas’ silver was used to buy a field from a potter (see Matt. 27:6–10). It seems that the three “shepherds” that God removed were the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes (see Matt. 16:21) who had “trafficked” his sheep. Today, he is raising up shepherds who have his heart (see Jer. 3:15) and who will use his staffs of grace and union to help and guide his flock.
13Yahweh said to me, “Now, hand your silver over to the treasury, # 11:13 As translated from an emendation of one letter of the Masoretic Text. The unamended Hebrew word is “smelter [silversmith]” or “potter.” these thirty pieces of silver—this wonderful sum at which they valued me.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and handed them over to the treasury in the house of Yahweh. # 11:13 Or “I cast them into the treasury in the house of the Lord.”
14Then I broke in half my second staff, “Union,” to symbolize the breaking of brotherly bonds between Judah and Israel. # 11:14 This breaking of the brotherly ties of Israel and Judah points to the Samaritan schism. Josephus wrote that it was in about the year 328 BC that the Samaritans built their rival temple on Mount Gerizim. The breaking of “Union” would symbolize the outbreak of foreign oppression (see v. 10) and the resulting schism between Israel and Judah.
15Next, Yahweh said to me, “Once again, act the part of a worthless shepherd and take with you the shepherd’s gear. 16For behold, I am now raising up a shepherd in the land who will not care about the lost, who will not go in search of the stray, who will not heal the injured, who will not feed the healthy sheep, but instead, he will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and even tear off their hooves. # 11:16 Most Jewish commentators view this “shepherd” as the cruel and heartless Herod.
17“Doom is ahead for the worthless shepherd # 11:17 Or “the shepherd of nothingness.”
who deserts his flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and gouge his right eye! # 11:17 The “arm” is a consistent biblical symbol of strength (see Ex. 6:6; Isa. 51:9; Ezek. 30:21). A warrior would hold his shield in his left hand and would peer around the side of his shield with his right eye. A man blinded in his right eye was worthless in battle and unable to stand and fight.
May his arm shrivel completely
and his right eye be totally blind!”
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Zechariah 11: TPT
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