Zechariah 11:1-3

The Doomed Flock

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, That a ¹fire may feed on your ²cedars.

2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the glorious trees have been destroyed; Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the impenetrable forest has come down.

3 There is a sound of the shepherds' ³wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a ⁴sound of the young lions' roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

Zechariah 11:1-3 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.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 22:6, 7
• 2. Ezekiel 31:3
• 3. Jeremiah 25:34-36
• 4. Jeremiah 2:15; Jeremiah 50:44

Footnotes

• [a] Or "juniper"
• [b] Another reading is "forest of the vintage"
• [c] Or "jungle"