Zechariah 11

Chapter 10 showed Yahweh’s replacement of Israel’s wicked shepherds (10:2-3) when He returns to lead them in military victory (10:4-12). Chapter 11 continues the theme of God’s rejection of the shepherds of Israel.

Do you wonder why Israel’s wicked leaders have regularly misled her ever since Josiah, the last good king? This chapter lays out a thorough explanation of their motives. But before getting to Israel's leaders, God describes the collapse of the leaders surrounding her in verses 1-3:

Open your gates, Lebanon,

and fire will consume your cedars.

Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen;

the glorious trees are destroyed!

Wail, oaks of Bashan,

for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail of the shepherds,

for their glory is destroyed.

Listen to the roar of young lions,

for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

To clarify, these regions—Lebanon, Bashan, and Jordan—represent the border around Israel. Zechariah’s description of “cedar,” “cypress,” “oak” trees, then “thickets of the Jordan,” represent the high-ranking leaders of these regions. All are disgraced and deposed by God’s judgment. Commentators debate when exactly this is fulfilled because it could be describing past conquests by Greece or Rome, or it may refer to the future conquest at Christ’s second coming. It’s a clear message that any leader who doesn’t serve God won’t endure.

Then, God gives a personal call for Zechariah to imitate the way Israel has rejected Him as their shepherd in verses 4-14:

The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord because I have become rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.”

So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the oppressed of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. In one month, I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” Next, I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

“Throw it to the potter,” the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Sometimes prophets have to take on acting roles for God. God wants their prophetic ministry to be so clear that they have to model their message. Since Israel has been mistreated by her leaders, God wants that mistreatment to be perfectly clear.

First, we read God's summary of the problem: the leaders care for Israel only to become rich, showing no compassion, so God will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king who will devastate the land.

Second, God has Zechariah model God's care for Israel as a shepherd. As Zechariah shepherds this flock for a sign to the people, he finds his own shepherds revolt against him. This revolt symbolizes the revolt of Israel's leaders against Yahweh.  he abandons the sheep, and he breaks his staffs, imitating God’s abandonment of Israel for its leaders' unfaithfulness to Him.

Despite this, the people paid Zechariah an enormous sum for his ministry, 30 pieces of silver, which he calls “a magnificent price.” And he got it for only a month’s work (11:8)! Persian historian A.T. Olmstead wrote that in this time period “the wage of an ordinary day laborer was 1 shekel per month.” Commentator Al Wolters writes about this, “The shepherd’s employers…are prepared to pay him handsomely in order to get him ‘off their backs’ …and no longer burden them.”

Now that Zechariah has modeled the way Israel treated their Good Shepherd, God has Zechariah portray a foolish one in verses 15-17:

The Lord also said to me, “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves. Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind!”

Thankfully, God didn’t entrust new sheep to Zechariah at this point; He merely asked him to take up the equipment and act out what a foolish shepherd would be like.

While he has the people’s attention, Zechariah makes it clear that this refers to one final wicked, worthless shepherd. I sympathize with Dr. Charles Feinberg, who writes, “The one spoken of as the foolish and worthless shepherd is undoubtedly the personal Antichrist of Daniel 11:36-39; John 5:43; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; and Revelation 13:11-18.” This is made especially evident by the singular reference “the worthless shepherd,” identifying a prominent, particularly wicked, and cursed leader.

The lesson of this chapter is not to put your trust in human leaders. They are sinners who can seldom fulfill their promises. The world will continue its descent into sin until Jesus Christ personally returns to lead the world into righteousness. Put your trust in Him.

Pastor David