Zecharyah 11:3

3 Hear the sound of the wailing of the ro’im (shepherds); for their glory is destroyed; the sound of the roaring of young lions; for the ga’on of the Yarden (Jordan) is laid waste.

Zecharyah 11:3 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 11:3

[There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds
Which may be understood either of the civil rulers among the Jews, who now lose their honour and their riches; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Ezra, interpret it of kings; or of the ecclesiastical rulers, the elders of the people, the Scribes and Pharisees: for their glory is spoiled;
their power and authority; their riches and wealth; their places of honour and profit; their offices, posts, and employments, whether in civil or religious matters, are taken from them, and they are deprived of them: a voice of the roaring of young lions;
of princes, comparable to them for their power, tyranny, and cruelty: the Targum is,

``their roaring is as the roaring of young lions:''

for the pride of Jordan is spoiled;
a place where lions and their young ones resorted, as Jarchi observes; (See Gill on Jeremiah 49:19). Jordan is here put for the whole land of Judea now wasted, and so its pride and glory gone; as if the waters of Jordan were dried up, the pride and glory of that, and which it showed when its waters swelled and overflowed; hence called by Pliny ^F24 "ambitiosus amnis", a haughty and ambitious swelling river.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 15.

Zecharyah 11:3 In-Context

1 1 Open thy delatot (gates), O Levanon, that the eish (fire) may devour thy cedars.

2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar is fallen; the mighty is despoiled; wail, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the dense forest is toppled.

3 Hear the sound of the wailing of the ro’im (shepherds); for their glory is destroyed; the sound of the roaring of young lions; for the ga’on of the Yarden (Jordan) is laid waste.

4 Thus Hashem Elohai said: Shepherd the tzon haharegah (the flock marked for slaughter);

5 Whose buyers slaughter them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Baruch Hashem, I have become rich! And their own ro’im (shepherds) spare them not.