Following the Right Shepherd

That word glory in verse 3 is a Hebrew word that literally means “cloak” or “coat” or “garment.” It was used in Jonah 3:6 to describe the regal raiment of a king, symbolizing his dignity and power. These shepherds—human leaders who had depended on their own strength, their own wisdom, their own resources, their own cleverness, and their own ingenuity, at the expense of humbly following the leadership of the Lord, the true Shepherd of Israel—found their glory and their dignity ruined by defeat and destruction.

As we think about the wailing of these fallen shepherds at the destruction of Jerusalem, we see this: human leaders always fall short. Human leaders always—not sometimes, but always—fall short! That is true for political leaders, spiritual leaders, family leaders, academic leaders, business leaders—whatever category of leader you want to name. Human leaders will always fall short.

If we place faith and trust totally in a person, if we look to a person and say, “I’m placing my hopes and my dreams in you,” we will be disappointed. Even at their very best, human shepherds fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

Human shepherds always fall short. And that’s why they are wailing in this passage: because their glory has been ruined. The first three verses of this chapter point to our need for a greater shepherd, a shepherd not tainted with sin and selfishness, a shepherd who far surpasses the shortcomings of human shepherds, a shepherd like our Lord Jesus.

Beginning in verse 4 of the text, God calls the prophet Zechariah to be “shepherd of the flock intended for slaughter.” In essence, God is commanding Zechariah to become a living picture of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Apart from the life of the Lord Jesus, it is nearly impossible to interpret Zechariah 11:4-14. If we do not understand that this passage is pointing to Jesus, it makes no sense at all. But in light of Jesus, God’s wise but forsaken Shepherd, we can understand this passage.

Notice in verse 7 how Zechariah began to shepherd this flock. He says that he “took two staffs.” The shepherd’s staff was used to guide the sheep, sometimes to correct the sheep, sometimes to rescue the sheep. Zechariah had two staffs. One staff he called “Favor.” That means God’s blessing, joy, and promise to His people. The other staff he called “Union.” That speaks, first of all, of the union between God and His people, but also of the union of God’s people together, bringing Israel and Judah together under one shepherd.

Zechariah says that he led God’s people in such a way that he supplanted and replaced all of their other shepherds very quickly (v. 8). This phrase is very hard to interpret and to identify. Who are these “three shepherds”? Historically, more than 40 different interpretations have been offered, but the one of the oldest interpretations seems to be best: These three shepherds are the three classes of leader that God gave to Israel (Mitchell, Haggai and Zechariah, 306–7). He gave them kings, He gave them priests, and He gave them prophets. In every regard, the kings and the priests and the prophets of Israel failed. The kings of Israel turned away from the living God and started following after idols. The priests of Israel stopped being holy men of God and started abusing the people. The prophets of Israel stopped being God’s spokesmen and started saying things just to please the people and the kings.

As a result, in a very short time the Messiah destroyed and replaced all of those inadequate shepherds. He came and ruled over God’s people with favor and with union. He replaced all of the inadequate shepherds that had come before Him because He is the only wise and true shepherd, God’s Messiah. As we continue in verse 8, we can see how God’s people responded to this wise shepherd. Largely, the flock rejected Him: “I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.” Jesus came to rule over God’s people with wisdom, but they rejected the Messiah as their Shepherd.

As we think about Israel’s rejection of Christ, it brings to mind the question, Why do people reject Jesus? Some people reject Jesus because they don’t want to admit that He is God. Some refuse to give up control of their lives to Him. Others reject Him because they think they’ve heard everything about Him and they find Him to be outdated and outmoded. They want someone or something they feel is more sophisticated and intellectually challenging. Some reject Jesus because they’re embarrassed to follow Him in a culture that increasingly mocks and ridicules His name. Still others don’t want to follow Jesus as their Shepherd because it would mess up their religion and the pride they have in it. When Jesus walked on this earth, the people of Israel used all of those reasons to reject Him.

What did the Shepherd do when His sheep rejected Him? The wise Shepherd, though rejected and forsaken, is no pushover. When His people rejected Him and detested Him, He said He would not be their shepherd. He took the staff called “Favor” and broke it, and later did the same thing with the staff called “Union.” He left them without a good and wise shepherd.

After resigning as a shepherd over his flock, Zechariah asked for his wages, which leads to one of the most striking messianic prophecies in Scripture. Zechariah11:12 was written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, but prophesies exactly how He would be rejected, in great detail: “Then I said to them, ‘If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.’ So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.” In Exodus 21:32 the same amount of silver was what someone paid for a slave who had been injured to the point that he was no longer able to work. An able-bodied slave would receive twice that amount of money. So basically, the people said to their shepherd, who had ruled over them and guided them with such wisdom and love, “You are worthless to us. We will only pay as much as we would pay an injured slave.” In the life of our Lord Jesus this prophecy was fulfilled when Judas Iscariot betrayed his Lord and Master for the same amount: 30 pieces of silver.

Christ came as God’s great, wise shepherd, and yet, Jesus was forsaken (John 1:11). Here’s the truth we see illustrated in these verses: We must not reject Jesus, because He’s the Shepherd we need the most. If we reject Jesus, He will ultimately reject us (Matt 23:37-38). Rejecting Jesus leaves us with the only alternative: following shepherds who will hurt us. When we refuse to follow the Lord as our Shepherd, we will inevitably follow someone or something that will lead us to destruction.

In the final portion of this chapter God calls Zechariah to do something very unusual. Earlier he had portrayed a good shepherd, but now he is asked to portray a foolish, evil, and worthless shepherd. The word foolish in verse 15 indicates someone who is morally deficient and corrupt. Verse 16 shows that this kind of shepherd will not care for the sheep, will not seek them when they wander away or heal them when they are hurt. Instead, his only purpose will be to devour and destroy them totally, even to the point of tearing off their hooves.

The prophet’s actions are designed to show that, despite having God’s Messiah, Israel will turn to false shepherds. Jesus spoke of this when He said, “I have come in My Father’s name, yet you don’t accept Me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him” (John 5:43). These false shepherds would come to abuse the people of Israel. They would take advantage of them and harm them mercilessly. Many conservative interpreters (e.g., Boice, Minor Prophets, 542; Wiersbe, Be Heroic, 141) say that the ultimate expression of the foolish shepherd is the Antichrist of the end times, who will deceive and abuse not only Israel but the entire world (Rev 13:7). Verse 17 ends with a word of condemnation for this false shepherd. He would be struck in his arm, representing his strength, and his eye, representing his intelligence. Ultimately, the true Shepherd will triumph over the false (Rev 19:19-20).

A group of tourists was visiting Israel. They were on their bus, and their tour guide had his microphone in hand, describing sight after sight. As they were coming out of the city of Jerusalem, going into the Judean hills, he said, “When we get into these hillsides, you’ll see Bedouin shepherds. They tend to their sheep in much the same way that shepherds did during the time of Jesus. They still wear the same type of clothing, and still do the same type of things that the shepherds did hundreds and hundreds of years ago.”

The tour guide continued, “You’ll notice that the Bedouin shepherds always lead their sheep. They stand out in front and call them, or they lead them with their rod and staff.” Then he said, “But the shepherds will never get behind the sheep and drive them.”

When the bus reached the hill country, the tourists saw a flock of sheep. They saw a man, dressed in Bedouin clothing, with the sheep. He had a whip in one hand and a stick in the other. He was beating those sheep and driving them.

One of the guys in the back of the bus asked the question that everybody on the bus was thinking: “We thought you said that the shepherd always led his sheep. Why is that shepherd driving the sheep?”

The guide said, “Ah, my friend, that is not the shepherd; that is the butcher!”

Where and how you wind up depend on whom you follow. False shepherds always wind up being butchers. They always drive God’s people to destruction. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us to life.