Zacharias 11:9

9 And I said, I will not tend you: that which dies, let it die; and that which falls off, let it fall off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of his neighbour.

Zacharias 11:9 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 11:9

Then said I, I will not feed you
That is, any longer; either personally, or by his apostles; he fed them himself, during his public ministry; and afterwards by his apostles, whom he ordered to preach the Gospel to the Jews first; but that being contradicted, blasphemed, and despised by them, they were ordered to turn away from them, and go to the Gentiles: this shows that not the shepherds only, but the body of the people, abhorred Christ and his Gospel: and therefore it was taken away from them: that that dieth, let it die;
literally, by the pestilence, that going by the name of death in Scripture; and spiritually, they that are dead in sin, let them continue so; let them die through famine of the word they have despised; let them die in their sins, and die the second death, they justly deserve: and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off;
literally, by the sword; spiritually, the meaning is, that whereas some were in righteous judgment appointed to ruin, vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; let them be left to themselves, to a judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, and be cut off as unfruitful branches, and be no more in a church state here, and hereafter cast into everlasting burnings: and let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another;
through famine; or destroy each other in their internal divisions, which was the case of the Jews, when Jerusalem was besieged; see ( Galatians 5:15 ) .

Zacharias 11:9 In-Context

7 And I will tend the flock of slaughter in the land of Chanaan: and I will take for myself two rods; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Line; and I will tend the flock.

8 And I will cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul shall grieve over them, for their souls cried out against me.

9 And I said, I will not tend you: that which dies, let it die; and that which falls off, let it fall off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of his neighbour.

10 And I will take my beautiful staff, and cast it away, that I may break my covenant which I made with all the people.

11 And it shall be broken in that day; and the Chananites, the sheep that are kept for me, shall know that it is the word of the Lord.

Footnotes

• [a] fails.