Zechariah 11

Zechariah 11:1-3

Though many of the Jewish nations received the Lord’s Christ, for the most rejected does, for which their deans is now demanded. It is, I have, 1. A prediction of the destruction itself that should come upon the Jewish nation, ver. 1-3. 2. The passing of it into the hands of the Messiah. (1.) He is charged with the mighty of that flock, ver. 4-6. (2.) He undertakes it, and bears rule in it, ver. 7, 8. (3.) Finding it perverse, he gives it up, ver. 9. Breaks his shepherd’s flesh, ver. 10, 11. Rejects the indignities done him, and the contempt put upon him, ver. 12, 13. And then breaks his other flesh, ver. 14. (4.) He turns them over into the hands of foolish shepherds, who, instead of preventing, shall complete their ruin, and both the blind leaders and the blind followers shall fall together into the ditch, ver. 15-17.

1. OPEN thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2. Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of the vintage is come down. 3. ¶ There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled; a voice of the roring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

The destruction of the Jewish temple and nation is here foretold.

1. They are devoted to ruin. Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars, which may be understood of the temple; in building which, much cedar of Lebanon was employed; or of the gates of Jerusalem, both of them being forced open, and burnt by the Roman soldiers. The fir-tree and the cedar, the mighty men of war, the princes and rulers, are doomed to fall, and given up to the spoil; and this being sure to the divine decree, is spoken of as already done. The oaks of Bashan, the mightiest, are now hewn down, and the forest of the vineyard, or the fortified forest, Jerusalem, strong and filled with inhabitants, is destroyed; their glory is joined, their treasures plundered; the pride of Jordan is spoiled, the whole land of Judea wafted; at which the lions, who defiled the banks of this river, roar, the emblems of the princes and judges who oppressed and harassed the poor people.

2. This will make an howling among the shepherds, the great men of the nation, who will with bitterest grief behold their desolations, and be themselves terribly involved in them. They who roared over their prey, and were the terrors of others, have now in just judgment these terrors turned upon them. Now, In a day of recompense, wicked and careless shepherds in church and state, will meet the heaviest doom.

3. Thus saith the LORD my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter. 5. Whose possessors stay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them, say, Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but in, I will deliver the men, every one to his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king, and they shall fume the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, roar you, O poor of the flock: and I took unto me two slaves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Hands, and I fed the flock. 8. These shepherds all, I cut off in one month, and my soul I lorted them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9. Then said I, I will not feed you: that that ditch, let it die: and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of § another. 10. ¶ And I took my staff,

Pore Beauty, and ‘cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11. And it was broken in that day: and I do the poor of the flock that waited upon me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12. And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear: so I they weighed for my price thirty paces of silver. 13. And the LORD said unto me, Caft it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty paces of silver, and caft them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 14. Then I cut asunder mine other staff, corn Bands, that ‘I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Zechariah 11:4-14

The people of the Jews are called the flock of the daughter, as being so severely treated by their shepherds, or as devoted to the sword. The prophet, as the type of Christ, is commanded to God them, muniting his gospel among them, that the remnant of the poor among them might be fed with the word of God, whilst others ripened for destruction. We have,

1. An account of their miserable plight. Their paffifers, who, as good shepherds in church or in re, should have taken all care of them, for them; their priests, scribes, and pharisees, by false doctrines destroyed their souls; and bold theophor not guilty, blinded by price in their errors; and they who fell them fury, blifled be the Lord, for I am rich, making long prayers, though laden with the spoils of widows hoofer, and valuing themselves on their external piety and goodness, when their burnt-offerings were robbers, and their hearts abominable; showing no pity towards the souls of the people. And sad is that church’s cafe, where such canless, trifles, enormous potters rule.

2. For this God gives them up to destruction. I will no more force the inhabitants of the land, who were involved in the general guilt, and doomed to sink in one promiscuous rain: their own intestine divisions will pave the way, and the Roman emperor, the king they choir, John xix. 15. shall complete their defoliation.

3. Before their judgment comes, Christ undertakes to feed the flock of daughter, the poor of the flock, the choirs remnant among them, chiefly poor people, who were made partakers of the Saviour’s grace, and all the blessings of his gospel, whilst the rulers and great men in general rejected the counsel of the Lord against their own souls, and hereby filled up the measure of their iniquities. To execute his pastoral office the great Shepherd takes two slaves, the one he calls Beauty, the other Bands; concerning the meaning of which there is great diversity of opinions: the most probable from to be, either that these signify the gospel, and the ordinances thereof, whereby the members of the church are united together; or they refer to the different sections of the flock, some of whom would walk before the Lord in the beauty of holiness, whilst others continued under the power of sin, and were doomed to the bands of captivity; or there may denote the beauty of the service of the sanctuary, and the bands of civil government among them: and he fed the flock, as he had undertaken to do. These shepherds also he cut off in one month; which may refer to the punishment of the wicked shepherds in general; or to the princes, priests, and prophets; or the three fools of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians; or perhaps it may relate to some singular judgment on these notorious offenders, of whom we have no record remaining.

4. For their obstinacy and impenitence the Jews in general are rejected. My soul lished them, and their soul also abhorred me; they could not bear his high pretensions as the Method, nor endure his sharp rebukes: and whilst the future peddle in his enmity against God, he must be an abomination in his fight. They said I, I will not feed you; will take no more care of them, nor continue his gospel any longer among them: that that doth, let it die; and that that is cut off, let it be cut off: he devotes them to the ruin they have provoked, and consigns them over to the pestilence and the sword: and let the rest out every one the flesh of another, through the severity of famine, or the rancour of their mutual animosities. And, in token of this utter rejection of them, I took my staff, corn Beauty, and cut it asunder, to signify the ceasing of his pastoral office, and his abandoning them to destruction, the covenant of peculiarity being henceforth broken and abolished; and it was broken in that day, when Christ rejected them, for Matt. xxi. 43. or when he died; and this was evident when Shortly after Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed: and the poor of the flock that waited on me, the disciples of Christ who attended his ministry, and were generally of the poorer fort, the kingdom of God being chiefly compelled of such, knew that it was the word of the Lord, it being mixed with fools in their hearts, and they fully satisfied that every little would come to pass as Jesus had spoken.

5. We have a particular instance of their contempt of Christ. I said unto them, Give me my price; and if not, forbear: a discharge me, if you like not my service; or, if you think me would nothing, pay me nothing. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver, the price of a servant, Ezek. xxi. 32.

goodly price, faith be ironically, that I was wicked at of them: with disdain therefore he calls it to the potter, in the house of the Lord. To what this refers we cannot be at a loss, for Matt. xxvii. 9, 10. this being the price for which Judas told his master; and with this sum, which in remorse the traitor had cast down in the temple, the chief priest bought the potter’s field, a walle ground where clay had been dug, to bury strangers in.

6. Their whole civil state and polity is hereupon disloved. Then I cut asunder my other staff, corn Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel, a spirit of dissonance being fowed among them, which batheed their destruction, and, when destroyed by the Romans, they were separated and dispersed as captives into all lands. Thus, when unpublished abounds, the bonds of civil society are looted, and such a wicked people hailen their own dissonance.

John Clark 1st.

15. ¶ And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of ‘a foolish shepherd. 16. For lo, I will raise up ‘a shepherd in the land, ‘which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor ‘feed that that Randeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the far, and tear their claws in pieces. 17. ‘Wo to the idol shepherd that leave the flock: the sword shall be ‘upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Zechariah 11:15-17

Having rejected the good Shepherd Christ I sin, the Jewish people are given up to wicked and foolish shepherds, whom the prophet is here commanded to presulate, such as were the scribes and pharisees, who deceived and deluded the people with false positions and vain hopes, preciing upon them instead of feeding them, and, far from fearing to fare that which was lost, or healing the wounded, they neglected their charge, or made their prunity as Icernuled more the children of hell than they were before; for which, heavy curbs are denounced upon them: and the character and worn belong to others besides them, who in the Christian church pretending to feed the flock of the Lord, in reality betray and destroy them. We may read here,

1. The character of every foolish idol-shepherd. (1.) He (seventh the flock), he neglects the duty of his ministry, resides not among the people committed to his care, and for some poor pittance gets a hirving to supply his place. (2.) He doth not visit those that be cut off, takes no pains to recover lost souls, nor ever goes round his parch or district to admonish and exhort the people. (3.) He doth not seek the young one, by catechizing and early instruction defining to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (4.) He doth not heal that which is broken, but, if a poor finner applies to him under conviction of sin, with a bleeding heart, he is a physician of no value; he knows not what advice to give, and wickedly and ignorantly heals the hurt slightly, crying peace, peace, when there is no peace; thus making the evil words. (5.) He doth not feed that which Randeth still, and through weakness and hunger is ready to faint, the famished flock look up and are not in; the huts of dry morality, or the hemlock of false doctrines, such as men’s dignity and freewill, justification by works, and self-sufficient endeavours, are laid before them to their ruin. (6.) He eats the flesh of the far, and tears their claws in peace: though he hates the work of the ministry, yet he is rapacious in exacting the wages of it, and in luxury and safe devours the flesh as we li as the fleece of the poor flock.

2. The curle is sure and heavy upon him. His arm shall be dried up, and his right eye darkened; judicial blindness shall feel him up under wrath, his power to oppress the flock shall be destroyed, and the sword of wrath overtake him. We therefore to the idol shepherd.