Zechariah - Chapter 11
THE REJECTION OF THE TRUE SHEPHERD
ZECHARIAH 11
In the final reign of the Messiah (1,000 year reign) God's sovereignty will be fully seen and it is proper to note that when He rules He will do so as one who is glorious in holiness, infinite in wisdom, far more powerful than all others, but also one who is filled with compassion and whose very nature is love. Peace and joy will be His hallmark to the long sin filled earth. This great deliverance will be for a nation no longer split but a unified Israel. It is also worth mentioning that God long ago promised a land to them that will be far larger than the area they now control. Just as the prophecy for the chosen people to be scattered was a literal promise (fulfilled after 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple) so will the regathering of His own be a literal happening. These matters are prophecies of the true and living God, revealed through His appointed prophet. These matters are not parables but are factual truths, just not yet seen.
In verses 1-3 we are given a view of the devastation that will occur because the chosen people will reject the true shepherd, Jesus, and the resulting consequences will be horrid. God's judgment, in the form of the Roman army, will come from the north, through Lebanon with a fire of destruction that is represented by the cedar trees (long the treasure of that nation) burning. Wailing shepherds and roaring lions will both see the destruction passing through toward Israel.
In verses 4-7 God tells Zechariah to actually feed a flock and warns the prophet He will not deliver Israel from the hand of the coming army. The prophet obeys, and feeds an actual flock for slaughter, representing the people of Israel. The prophet here represents the Lord allowing coming judgment. Zechariah uses two staffs, which are named “beauty” (meaning grace) and “bonds” (meaning unity).
Now in verses 8-11 the covenant is symbolically broken. The prophet then states that he has (acting as the Lord) dismissed three shepherds. These were the teaching leaders (described here as prophets), priests (Jewish Temple masters) and kings. The offices of prophet, priest, and king were removed from Israel after the Roman conquest and have never been restored, because they have been filled by Jesus Christ since those days. God withdraws His hand of protection which in the previous covenant had prevented military conquest of His chosen land after the return from captivity. Now the people are open and undefended from attack. God says “I will not feed you”. He says “let those who are left eat each other's flesh” and that did actually happen literally during the Roman siege when hunger prevailed and the Jews ate their own children.
In verses 12-14 Zechariah, as an actual shepherd, asks his employer for his wages for his work. So his wages were weighed out and he was given 30 pieces of silver and the Lord told him to cast them away as this amount was the lowest price that could be paid for a slave (Exodus 21:32) which said to the prophet that he was considered as no more than a slave. This moment also speaks prophetically of Jesus, who was betrayed for the same amount, so Jesus also was considered as the lowest value possible under Jewish law. Here the Lord advises his prophet to thrown the 30 pieces at the potter, and we see in Matthew 27:7 that the 30 pieces Judas received for the betrayal was used to buy a potter's field.
In verses 15-16 we are given a prophecy of another shepherd to come, but this time a false one. So Zechariah acts out physically the position of a shepherd who does not care for his flock. The foolish shepherd:
Will not care for those cut off or lost as a good shepherd would do.
He would not seek the young who are surely in need of being found.
Will not heal the hearts of the broken or mend those hearts in love.
Will not feed those who are left while a good shepherd would do so.
Would eat of the flesh itself (his sheep) but a good shepherd will die for the sheep.
The people had forsaken the good shepherd as John 10:1-18 teaches but they would receive another one who was not God sent as John 5:43 teaches. The forsaken action began when the people forsook Jesus and called for Barabbas to be freed instead (Matthew 27:20-22) and the forsaken action will end when they will finally accept the Antichrist as a Messiah in the first half of the tribulation period.
Verse 17 advises judgment on the foolish and worthless shepherd. He will feel the sword of God's judgment on his arm and his eye, harsh blows to dispose of him. Revelation 13:3 and 13:12-14 teach us that the Antichrist will suffer a severe wound yet survive, later to reside in the lake of fire, confirming this prophecy from long ago in Zechariah.