Zechariah 11:1

Israel's Shepherds: Good and Bad

1 Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars.

Zechariah 11:1 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 11:1

Open thy doors, O Lebanon
By which may be meant, either the temple of Jerusalem, which was built of the cedars of Lebanon;

``the gates of which are said ^F23 to open of themselves forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Jochanan ben Zaccai, who lived at the same time, rebuked them, saying, O temple, temple, wherefore dost thou frighten thyself? I know thine end is to be destroyed; for so prophesied Zechariah, the son of Iddo, concerning thee, "open thy doors, O Lebanon".''

So Lebanon, in ( Zechariah 10:10 ) , is interpreted of the sanctuary, both by the Targum and by Jarchi; or else it may be understood of Jerusalem, and of the whole land of Judea, because it was situated by it; it was the border of it on the north side. That the fire may devour thy cedars;
of which the temple was built, and the houses of Jerusalem, which were consumed by fire; unless the fortresses of the land are meant. So the Targum paraphrases it,

``and the fire shall consume your fortresses.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 39. 2.

Zechariah 11:1 In-Context

1 Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars.

2 Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the glorious [trees] are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the stately forest has fallen!

3 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.

4 The Lord my God says this: "Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

5 Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.