Zechariah 11:1-8

1 Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

2 Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

3 A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

4 Thus said Jehovah my God: `Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5 Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed [is] Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

6 For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

7 And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

Zechariah 11:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 11

This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of the Jews, and shows the causes and reasons of it; and is concluded with a prediction concerning antichrist. The destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, is signified by figurative expressions, Zec 11:1,2 which occasions an howling among the shepherds or rulers of Israel, on account of whose cruelty and covetousness the wrath of God came upon them without mercy, Zec 11:3,5,6 but inasmuch as there were a remnant according to the election of grace among them, named the flock of the slaughter, Christ is called upon to feed them; who undertakes it, and prepares for it, Zec 11:4,7 but being abhorred by the shepherds, whom he therefore loathed and cut off, he determines to leave the people to utter ruin and destruction, Zec 11:8,9 and, as a token of it, breaks the two staves asunder he had took to feed them with, Zec 11:10,11,14 and, as an instance of their ingratitude to him, and which is a justification of his conduct towards them, notice is taken of his being valued at and sold for thirty pieces of silver, Zec 11:12,13 but, in the place of these shepherds cut off, it is suggested that another should arise, who is described by his folly, negligence, and cruelty, Zec 11:15,16 to whom a woe is denounced, Zec 11:17.