Zechariah 11:12

12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my hire; and if not, forbear. And they weighed for my hire thirty silver-pieces.

Zechariah 11:12 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 11:12

And I said unto them, If ye think good
Not to the poor of the flock that waited on him, and knew the word of the Lord, and valued it; but to the other Jews that despised Christ and his Gospel:

give me my price;
or, "give my price" F9; what I am valued at by you, to Judas the betrayer: or the price due unto him for feeding the flock, such as faith in him, love to him, reverence and worship of him. So the Targum paraphrases it, "do my will". Kimchi says the price is repentance, and good works:

and if not, forbear;
unless all is done freely, willingly, and cheerfully; see ( Ezekiel 2:5 Ezekiel 2:7 ) or, if worth nothing, give nothing:

So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver;
the price a servant was valued at, ( Exodus 21:32 ) see the fulfilment of this prophecy in ( Matthew 26:15 ) . The Jews own F11 that this prophecy belongs to the Messiah; but wrongly interpret it of thirty precepts given by him: in just retaliation and righteous judgment, thirty Jews were sold by the Romans for a penny, by way of contempt of them F12.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (yrbv wbh) "date mercedem meam", Vatablus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.
F11 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 98. fol. 85. 3.
F12 Egesippus de Urb. excidio Anacep. p. 680.

Zechariah 11:12 In-Context

10 And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11 And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock that gave heed to me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my hire; and if not, forbear. And they weighed for my hire thirty silver-pieces.
13 And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty silver-pieces, and cast them to the potter in the house of Jehovah.
14 And I cut asunder mine other staff, Bands, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.