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Zechariah Chapter 11

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¹ Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.

⁸ Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ 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.

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Richard H Priday's Zechariah Chapter 11 comment on 9/20/2023, 3:04pm...

Zechariah 11.

We also see Lebanon and the wicked in Israel described; likely part of the 2/3 perishing in chapter 13. (verses 1-4). The forest could symbolically represent people; also of course there will be literal burnings of one third of the trees in the Trumpet judgments. Verses 5 and 6 of course could be speaking of the Diaspora and mass starvation during the Roman invasion and massacre of AD 70. The king mentioned in verse 6 could be the final Antichrist. Verses 9-10 show destruction coming to the land; and Verse 11 shows how the poor understand about the covenant being broken. This would imply the new covenant under Christ perhaps with shades of Isaiah 61:1 with the Good News to the poor. Symbolic terms are used here for the old covenant (Beauty and bands). Of course we also see the prophetic 30 pieces of silver which is sarcastically mentioned as what was considered Christ's worth. The field of a potter was determined for "blood money" once Judas repented of what he did (which was to avoid consequences not to seek forgiveness from God Himself), He hung himself; and later his bowels fell out. (verse 12-13; Acts 1:18). We must keep in mind that later verses describe God dealing with Israel then judging the nations that attacked them at the end of the Book of Zechariah.

Clearly the final Antichrist is mentioned here as well as the injury to his right arm and eye. (verses 15-17). This is the "worthless shepherd" and reminds us of verses in John 5:43 of another coming in his own name who they will worship.

Chris's Zechariah Chapter 11 comment on 6/13/2023, 7:23pm...

That's correct Jorge. To reinterpret Zechariah 11:17, to read, "Woe to the (idle) shepherd that leaveth the flock!" would be quite wrong. In the phrase: the "idol shepherd", the Hebrew word (elil) clearly implies that "idol" references something that is 'worthless', just as an idol is a useless, worthless structure that does nothing for anyone. So too, such is a shepherd as one who is worthless if he deserts his flock - he resembles an idol that does nothing when he is needed the most. So, 'idle' wouldn't correctly describe such a shepherd.

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