This chapter begins by presenting a picture of complete judgment and devastation of Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel would come to an end when the Messiah died and rose again, Galatians 3:23-26. When the nation of Israel turned to Christ, then the Old Testament law was removed, Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Matthew 5:17-18 / Galatians 3:21-25.
Although Zechariah 10, was a prophecy of hope concerning the coming of the Messiah, this chapter is a picture of the total tragedy of those who would reject Jesus as their Messiah. The temple and Jerusalem were once again going to be destroyed at the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70, Matthew 24:1-35.
The doors mentioned here, are the doors of the Jewish temple which were made from the cedar trees of Lebanon, Zechariah 11:1 / Matthew 27:51 / Zephaniah 2:14 / Isaiah 14:8 / Isaiah 37:24 / Jeremiah 22:6-7 / Ezekiel 17:3 / Ezekiel 17:12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jerusalem, or the temple, were, after those times, burned by the Romans only. The destruction of pride, opposed to Christ, was prophesied by Isaiah in connection with His Coming, Isaiah 10:34 / Isaiah 11:1.’
The cedars, juniper, and oaks are the false shepherds of Israel, Zechariah 11:2, who possessed the wealth and glory of Israel, Isaiah 10:34 / Isaiah 11:1 / Luke 16:19 / Matthew 21:13. The shepherds and the lions, Zechariah 11:3, which are usually opposed to each other will join together in the wailing, Jeremiah 25:34 / Jeremiah 25:36.
It appears that some habits just keep on returning. Before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. there was a huge problem of God’s shepherds leading His people away from God, Zechariah 11:4 / Ezekiel 34 / Mark 7:1-9. Once again, this was going to happen in the times of the Messiah. Zechariah here speaks of the Good Shepherd who was to come, John 10:11, but he also speaks of other shepherds who would come and lead God’s people astray again, Jeremiah 23:1-8 / Ezekiel 34:1-31 / Ezekiel 37:24-28.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The prophet here is made a type of Christ, as Isaiah sometimes was and these verses show that, ‘For judgment, Christ came into this world’, John 9:39, for judgment upon the Jewish nation, which were at that time hopelessly corrupted. He would have healed them, but they would not.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning ‘the flock marked for slaughter’ Zechariah 11:4.
‘Those who were, even before the end, slain by their evil shepherds whom they followed, and who in the end would be given to the slaughter, as the Psalmist says, ‘we are counted as sheep for the slaughter’, Psalms 44:22, because they would not hear the voice of the True Shepherd, and were not His sheep.’
The people described here thought because they were rich, they were justified in doing what they were doing. They were selling and killing God’s sheep, Zechariah 11:5, which they counted as their personal possessions, Hosea 12:7-8. The people described here had the same attitude as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, in the days of Jesus.
The scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day had little concern for the people, they had ‘no pity’, their only concern was power and prosperity, Micah 3:9-11 / Amos 4:1 / Amos 4:6-12 / Luke 11:52 / Luke 16:18. These were the leaders who were supposed lead people to the Good Shepherd but instead, they led the people away from Him.
He would give them over to destruction, Zechariah 11:6, because of their rejection of King Jesus, John 19:15, just as He had given Israel over to the Assyrians and Babylonians. Who is the king mentioned in Zechariah 11:6?
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘They shall be delivered every one into the hand of his king, that is, the Roman emperor, whom they chose to submit to rather than to Christ, saying, We have no king but Caesar. Thus they thought to ingratiate themselves with their lords and masters. But for this God brought the Romans upon them, who took away their place and nation.’
God says He will ‘not deliver them’, Zechariah 11:6, that is, He will not save these so-called leaders, from the hands of the Romans. God had delivered the captives out of their Babylonian captivity but He won’t deliver those who reject the Messiah.
Zechariah now pictures himself as the Lord, a shepherd, representing Jesus, Zechariah 11:7. God promises that the Good Shepherd, Jesus would feed His flock, Isaiah 40:10-11 / Ezekiel 34:22-23 / Ezekiel 37:24 / Luke 6:20. All shepherds carried a staff with them to defend off predators but here we see this Shepherd carrying two staffs, Zechariah 11:7. This speaks of Christ having double care for His flock, He looked after both the body and the soul of His people, Psalm 23:4.
Henry, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Other shepherds had but one staff, but Christ had two, demoting the double care of his flock, and what he did both for the souls and for the bodies of men. David also speaks of God’s ‘rod and his staff’, Psalms 23, a correcting rod and a supporting staff.’
The staff named ‘Favour’, Zechariah 11:7, or ‘Grace’, as some translations have it, symbolises the favour that God extended toward His people. The one named ‘Union’, Zechariah 11:7, symbolises the union between Judah and Israel, and so, they represent the whole house of Israel.
God got rid of three shepherds in one month, Zechariah 11:8, because they began to lead God’s people astray once again, Jeremiah 2:8 / Jeremiah 2:26. Who are the three shepherds mentioned in Zechariah 11:8? The text doesn’t say but many commentators believe the three shepherds are the Pharisees and scribes and lawyers, whom Jesus address in a series of woes, Luke 11:44-46.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘These ‘three Shepherds’ then, priests and judges and lawyers, who remained in their own orders and places, until the coming of Christ, were very justly taken away ‘in one month.’
The labour and care of the shepherd wasn’t appreciated, Zechariah 11:8 / Deuteronomy 31:17, and so, the flock must reap the consequences of rejecting all that God had done for His people by sending them the Saviour. In other words, the nation of Israel was coming to end when the Romans destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in A.D. 70, Matthew 24:1-35.
Gill, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Zechariah 11:9.
‘Here the prophet states his intention not to feed the flock but to let it die. This brings to mind two key passages. One in which Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because of her historic failure to heed the prophets, Luke 13:33-35, and the other one in which he predicted the destruction of the city, Luke 21:5-6.’
The breaking of the staff of ‘Favour’, Zechariah 11:10, signified that the relationship was at an end, the covenant God had made with all the nations was now over. It was Jesus Himself, as the Messiah who came and fulfilled the law and the covenant, Zechariah 11:10 / Matthew 5:17-18.
The Jews didn’t understand that God’s covenant with them pointed toward Christ and with the coming of Christ, the Old Testament covenant was abolished, Jeremiah 31:31-34 / Romans 7:1-4 / Colossians 2:14 / Hebrews 8:1-13. In other words, ‘Favour’ for the preservation of the nation of Israel was terminated when ‘Favour’ for spiritual Israel was poured out through Jesus Christ, Titus 2:11.
It was the oppressed, Zechariah 11:11, who received Jesus, as the Messiah, Matthew 5:3-11 / Mark 12:37, but those who were rebellious didn’t accept Him as the Messiah, John 1:11. Notice Zechariah asks for His wages and they pay Him ‘thirty pieces of silver’, Zechariah 11:12, which is the price of an injured slave, Exodus 21:32. And, as we know, this was the price that Judas sold out Jesus for, Matthew 26:15 / Matthew 27:3.
In the last few verses we saw Zechariah was the representative of the Lord, but here, the Lord Himself speaks directly, Zechariah 11:13. Though Zechariah thought that the price of thirty pieces of silver was sufficient, the Lord said to throw it away to the potter, Zechariah 11:13 / Matthew 27:9.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jehovah calls the price of his prophet his own price and commands that it should not be accepted, but given to a potter, to foreshadow the transaction related, Matthew 27:7.’
The miserable amount measured their value of the Lord’s shepherding of them as a flock, Zechariah 11:13. This again is speaking of something which would happen when the Messiah came, especially concerning Judas’ body, Matthew 27:7 / Acts 1:17-19.
Coffman, in his commentary, gives us this useful summary of this prophecy.
‘This prophecy of the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot for thirty pieces of silver is one of the most remarkable in the Bible. It is not a single prophecy, merely, but a whole constellation of prophecies.
1. The Good Shepherd himself shall be bought and sold. This is a unique reference to Christ and cannot be applied to any other.
2. The Shepherd himself makes the ‘deal’, which Jesus did in the person of his servant, Judas.
3. The amount of money was the price of a slave ‘gored to death’ by an ox, indicating that those who paid it considered the Lord to be already dead, as was the case, in their purpose.
4. The amount of money would be ‘weighed out’, a fact Matthew took pains to relate, Matthew 17:15.
5. The money would be cast unto the potter in the house of the Lord. This occurred when Judas, remorse stricken, flung the money at the feet of the High Priest in the temple.
6. That it would also be to the ‘potter’ was fulfilled when the evil shepherds, reluctant to put blood money in the treasury, bought a field from a potter, Acts 1:17-19.
7. Observe what was here revealed about that thirty pieces of silver.
The amount would be weighed, by Judas. He would throw it into the house of the Lord. Those hypocrites were unwilling to put it in the treasury. So they put it into the purchase of the potter’s field. There is not another example of tracing the exact money through four separate transactions in the entire history of the ancient Roman empire!
8. Note, also, that the evil shepherds, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, i.e., the Sanhedrin, by revealing their purpose of slaying Christ in the very purchase-price accepted, also sealed their own fate, for the ancient law legislated that a ‘slave gored by an ox’ could be redeemed for thirty pieces of silver, all right, but that THE OX WOULD HAVE TO BE STONED!
In addition to all of the above, which anyone can easily see and understand, we have the additional testimony of the sacred historians Matthew and Luke who affirm the truth of all of this and who unhesitatingly applied the fulfilment of Zechariah’s prophecy exactly as we have here. We hold their testimony to be incontrovertible, true, inviolate, inspired, and certain. It is a big order that the critics have accepted in their efforts to get Christ out of Zechariah 11.’
Notice God took the staff of ‘Union’ and broke it, Zechariah 11:14. This is another reference to the end of the nation of Israel with the coming of Christ, Galatians 3:23-26 / Hebrews 11:32-40. We must remember that the church is now called the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, Matthew 19:28 / James 1:1 / Galatians 6:16 / Revelation. 7:4 / Revelation 21:12.
Zechariah now presents himself as a ‘foolish shepherd’, Zechariah 11:15. Notice, that he doesn’t care for his sheep, he doesn’t care about those sheep which are lost and he doesn’t go looking for the young sheep who desperately need their shepherd. He doesn’t heal those sheep which have been injured, Zechariah 11:16. He will eat the meat of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves, Zechariah 11:16.
His actions and attitude as a shepherd are totally opposite to what a Good Shepherd should be like. A Good Shepherd would lay done His life for His sheep, John 10:11. Zechariah had already played the part of the Good Shepherd but here, he plays the part of a ‘foolish shepherd’, Zechariah 11:15.
The shepherd’s responsibility is to watch over the flock. To have a spirit of disinterest over the welfare one is entrusted with will by no means go unpunished. The sword will come to this man and the eye that should be watchful will be blinded, Zechariah 11:17.
This curse upon the worthless shepherd fell repeatedly upon the worthless shepherds who, in turn, exploited and destroyed the ancient covenant people, after their final rejection of their true King and their choice of Caesar as the leader they would follow.