The Doomed Flock
1Open your doors, O Lebanon,
that the fire may consume your cedars!
- ZECH 11:1[NOTE]OPEN YOUR DOORS, O LEBANON. A short poem by the prophet, so it prints black.
2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen;
the majestic trees are ruined!
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
for the dense forest has been cut down!
3Listen to the wailing of the shepherds,
for their glory is in ruins.
Listen to the roaring of the young lions,
for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
4This is what Yahweh my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter, 5whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
- ZECH 11:4[PROPHECY]The Shepherd sent to the doomed flock would be detested and rejected, and God would break His staff of favor with the people → JN 10:11; MT 23:37-38; LK 19:41-44; JN 19:15MEDIUM
6For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares Yahweh, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”
7So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. 8And in one month I dismissed three shepherds.
- ZECH 11:7[NOTE]FAVOR AND UNION. Zechariah acts out the part of a shepherd. His own words print black.
My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me. 9Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”
- ZECH 11:8[NOTE]THREE SHEPHERDS. One of the hardest verses in the Bible. Scholars have made dozens of guesses about who they were.
Thirty Pieces of Silver// Matthew 27:3–10
10Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh.
12Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
- ZECH 11:12[PROPHECY]Thirty pieces of silver thrown into the house of the Lord to the potter → MT 26:14-15; MT 27:3-10
- ZECH 11:12[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → MT 27:9-10
- ZECH 11:12[NOTE]THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER. The price the law set for a slave gored by an ox, Exodus 21:32. An insult. Matthew 27:9 to 10 quotes it, and Matthew 26:15 echoes it, so it prints in italics.
13And Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter”— this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of Yahweh.
- ZECH 11:13[NOTE]THROW IT TO THE POTTER. Only God's words in the quote marks print red. In the Hebrew, God says the price at which I was valued by them. Many see this as one reason Matthew applies it to Jesus. See Why Does Matthew Say Jeremiah?
14Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15And Yahweh said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.
- ZECH 11:16[PROPHECY]God would raise up a worthless shepherd who would devour the flock → STILL TO COMEMEDIUM
17Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May a sword strike his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered
and his right eye utterly blinded!”