Zechariah 11
PATThe prophet, representing the person of the Messias, declares the ungrateful requitals the Jews had made him, when he undertook the office of a shepherd, in guiding and governing them; how they rejected him, and valued him and his labours at the mean price of thirty pieces of silver. Hereupon he threatens to destroy their city and temple, and to give them up into the hands of such governors, as should have no regard either for their spiritual or temporal welfare. Ver.l. \J PEN thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.] By Lebanon most interpreters understand the temple, whose stately buildings resemble the tall cedars of that forest. Thus the word is commonly understood, Habak. ii. 17. There is a remarkable story mentioned in the Jewish writers to this purpose: “Some time before the destruction of the temple, the doors of it opened of their own accord; a circumstance attested’by Josephus, (Bell. Jud.Jib. vii. cap. 12.) Then It. Johanan, a disciple of R. Hillel, directing his speech to the temple, said, I know thy destruction is at hand, according to the prophecy ofZechariah; open thy doors, O Lebanon,’* &c. The words may likewise denote the destruction of Jerusalem, elsewhere called by the name of & forest; her lofty buildings resembling the stately ranks of trees in a forest. (Compare Jer. xxi. 14. xxii. 7. 23. Ezek. xx. 4G.) the north-west parts of Judea, and joined herewith Bashau that lay south-east, may denote that the calamity shall be general. Bashan was famous for its stately oaks. (See Isa. ii. 13.) Vcr. 3. There is a. voice of the howling of the shepherds.’] By shepherds are meant the chief rulers of the Jews. (See the note upon x. 3.) / A voice of the roaring of young lions.’] So he calls the princes and governors of the Jews, becausethcy devoured the people by their oppressions. (See Zeph. iii. 3.) So Achilles calls Agamemnon A?ytoj3opoc Ba<n\zi>e, a bloodsucking king. (Iliad, i.) For the pride of “Jordan is spoiled.] The lion may be called the pride of the forest, as being the stateliest beast that rules there; as beasts that prey upon others are called the children, of pride, Job xli. 34. Lions are styled here the pride of Jordan, because they lay in the thickets about the banks of Jordan. The words may be rendered, the swells ing of Jordan, as they are translated, Jer. xlix. 19. At the time of the swelling, or overflowing of Jordan, the lions were raised out of their coverts, and infested the country. (See the note upon that text) of the gospel: they were to be my peopte no longer, (See Dan. ix. 26. Hos. i. 9. and the note upon xiii. 9. of this prophecy.)
Zechariah 11:2
Howl, fir-tree; for the cedar isfallen; becansethe mighty are spoiled. By the several sorts of trees are meant the several orders and degrees of men, who shall be sharers in the common destruction. (See Isa. ii. 13. x. 33, 34. and the notes there.) Howl, ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is cut down.] Or, The defenced forest, as it is in the margin, according to a different reading of the Hebrew text, which gives a proper representation of Jerusalem, with the fortifications about it. If we follow the reading of the English text, the forest of the vintage may probably mean Carrael; (see the note upon Isa, xxxvii. 24.) which being placed in
Zechariah 11:4
Thussaith the Lord my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter. A learned prelate, in his Defence of Christianity from the ancient Prophecies, (chap. iii. 1.) observes, that, the actions of the prophets are sometimes typical; *. e. they represent in themselves the persons and circumstances of others. (Sec the note upon iii. 8.) So here Zechariah’ was commanded by God to act the part of Christ, the good Shepherd, and to feed the flock of the slaughter, that flock which their shepherds destroyed, instead of feeding them.
Zechariah 11:5
JVhose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, &c. Whose* rulers deal with their flock as so many butchers; and think they have a right to slay or sell them, and thank God that they have a good market: or believe that they may lawfully make merchandise of their souls for their own lucre and advantage. (Compare 2 Pet. ii. 3. Rev. xviii. 13.) Ver. G. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, &c] Nor shall their condition at all grow better, saith God, for I will shew no more pity for the main body of the people than their rulers do. Tlie inhabitants of the land are to be distinguished* from the poor of the flock in the following verse. As to the former, God declares by his prophet, that he will leave some of them to perish by their mutual and intestine divisions, (see ver. 9.) as many of the Jews did when the Roman army invaded Judea. Others of them he would deliver into the hands of Vespasian, whose predecessor the Jews had owned for their king, at the same time when they disclaimed their Messias, and disowned his right to reign over them, (John xix. 15.) and his army shall smite the land with utter destruction. (Compare Mai. iv. G.) Vcr. 7. And [or, but] I will feed the flock of the slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock.] Or, Even, or especially, thepoor of the flock. Zechariah, representing the person of Christ the true Shepherd, saith, he entered upon his office, and undertook the care of the slaughtered flock, chiefly out of a regard to the meek and humble among them; for to such arc the benefits of the gospel peculiarly promised. (See Isa. xi. 4. lxi. 1. Zeph. iii. 12. and the notes upon those texts.) And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands.] A staff or crook is the. proper ensign of a shepherd: the shepherds of old time had two rods or stayes; one turned round at top, that it might not hurt the sheep; this was for counting them, and separating the sound from the diseased: (see Lev. xxvii. 32.) the other had an iron hook at the end of it, to pull in the stray sheep, and hold them fast while the shepherd corrected them:’ the Psalmist mentions both these, Psal. xxiii. 4. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. - The first staff he called Beauty, or delight, as the word Naom may be rendered, i. e.his favour, gentleness, orkindness, towards his people: so the word signifies, Psal. xc. 17. and this was remarkably verified in our Saviour Christ, whose gracious words and beneficial works were conspicuous through the whole course of his, life. The other staff he called Bands, by which is meant that bond of the new covenant, (as the words of Ezekiel may be understood, xx. 37.) whereby he intended to unite both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah under himself as their head and king; (see Ezek. xxxvii. 22.) and then afterward to unite the Jews and gentiles into one church, by breaking down the partition-wall that was between them. (See John x. 16. Ephes. ii. 14.),,
Zechariah 11:8
Three shepherds also I cut off in one month. We may probably explain these three shepherds of the chitf priests, scribes, and elders of the Jews. Christ exposed these as blind guides, and thereby lessened their authority among the people; which contributed very much to “the spreading of the gospel: (see John xii. 19.) one month seems a proverbial expression for a short time. (See Hos. v. 7.) And my soul loathed them, and they also abhorred me.] Or, My soul was straitened Jtoxvards them, as the Hebrew may be literally translated; i.e. I was straitened in my affections to them: so the Greek word aTtvoxu>$u.v%ai, to be straitened, is used, 2 Cor. vi. 12. which exactly answers the Hebrew katsar. I was less tender towards them, than towards the poor of the flock, because they shewed themselves averse to my person and doctrine.. The Hobrew word bachala, abhorred, is never met with but here: Maimonides supposes that it alludes to Chebel, or Chobelim, Bands, vcr. 7. the two words differing only by a transposition of letters. (More Nevoch. lib. ii. cap. 43.) Such allusions are frequent in Scripture. (See the notes upon Isa. xxiv. 17. Jer. i. 11, 12.)
Zechariah 11:9
Tlien said 1,1 will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die, &c. 1 found in a little time that my labour did not meet with a suitable return, a great part of my sheep proving nntractablc: so I resolved to be their shepherd no longer, but leave them to be consumed by the common calamities of death, famine, &c. or to be cut off by their enemies, the Romans, just as the lesser cattle are pushed and gored by the greater; (sec Ezek. xxxiv. 21.) and those that escape those calamities shall destroy one another by theit civil discords. (See ver. G. and compare Isa. ix. 21. xlix. 20.) The word translated ait off, signifies likewise being consumed, or ready to perish. (See ver. 1G.)
Zechariah 11:10
So I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all my people. Thus the covenant which I had made with the whole nation of the Jews was broken, and I excluded them from having any benefit in the second covenant, that
Zechariah 11:11
And it was broken in that day: so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the ivord of the Lord. Or, And in that day it was broken: the poor of the flock, &c. The few believing Jews that attended upon my preaching, (ver. 7.) wero convinced that this was God’s doing, and the fulfilling thoso judgments which ho had threatened by his prophets.
Zechariah 11:12
Andlsaidunto them,. Or, Ihadsaidunto them; i. e. before I broke my staff, called Beauty, or delight, ver. 10. If ye think good, give me my price [or, my hire]; and if not, forbear.] Christ still persists to act the character of a shepherd, and, in an humble manner, demands of the Jews what price they put upon his labour. Ho was Tesolved to use no constraint, but leave it to themselves to continue or discharge him. In the samo style our Lord himself speaks, (John xii. 47.) If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.] To shew how littlo they cared for me or my service, they valued it but at thirty shekels of silver, the price of the meanest slave. (See Exod. xxi. 32.)
Zechariah 11:13
And the Lord said untome, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I ivas prized at of them!. God commanded the prophet in a vision, as personating Christ, to cast the money in a contemptuous manner to the potter, as a reward only suitable to his labour, and a price only fit for such wares as he sold, which were of the meanest value. (See Lam. iv. 2.) And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to [or, for] the potter in the house of the Lord.] I cast them back into the treasury in the temple, where afterward they were laid out for tho use of the potter. This whole transaction performed by Zechariah in a vision, was designed to be an exact representation of the several circumstances that attended the betraying the Messiah by Judas, the price the chief priests put upon him (to whom as the governors of the temple the money was returned), and the use to which the money was applied. (See Matt, xxvii. 6. 10.) This whole prophetic scene is represented in the single person of Zechariah, just as Ezekiel sustains the type or figure both of the Chaldean army that should besiege Jerusalem, and of the Jews themselves that were besieged. (Ezck.iv. 1. 12.) This is one of those prophecies, whose literal sense is fulfilled in our blessed Saviour, and cannot be applied to any other person, but in a very remote or improper sense. The like instances may be seen in Psal. xxii. 1G. 18. lxix. 21. Hos. xi. 1. The Jews themselves have expounded this prophecy of the Messiah. Christoph. Helvicus, in his Elenchus Judseorum, quotes Bereshith Rabbi on Gen. xlix. as bringing in the Messiah speaking the very words of the twelfth verse here, in his own person. And Dr. Alix, against the Unitarians, p. 336. cites Rabbi Menahem, applying the selling the just for silver, mentioned here and Amosii. 6. of the selling the Schechinah, by which they understood the Messias, whom they often speak of as being the true God. (See the same author, p. 286.)
Zechariah 11:14
Then I cut asunder my other staff, even Bands, that I might break thebrotherhood between Jndah and Israel. As they refused to bo united under me their head, sp in breaking ray other staff, I foreshewed the destruction of Jerusalem, the bond and cement bt all their tribes, being the seat and centre both of their civil power and of the Divine worship. (See Psal. exxxii. 3—5.) The consequence of that was the entire dissolution of the nation, and the dispersion and confusion of all their tribes, whose families could no longer be distinguished after the loss of their genealogies.
Zechariah 11:15
And the Lord said unto me, Take thee yet. [or, once more. the instruments of a foolish shepherd.] As Zechariah in the foregoing vision had acted the part of the true Shepherd, so here he is commanded to take upon him the character and furniture of a foolish or unprofitable shepherd. (See ver. 17.) Folly in Scripture is equivalent to wickedness; so it may mean not only unskilful, but likewise ill-designing governors, who should only intend their own advantage, and have no regard for the good of the flock, or people, committed to their charge. The instruments of such a shepherd must be suitable to his own indiscretion; viz. a scrip with holes, and a stick or crook made to push and hurt the flock, not to protect or defend them.
Zechariah 11:16
For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land. A shepherd in the singular number denotes a succession of such governors as are described in the following words: so the succession of priests is represented under the single person of Levi, Mai. ii. 5, 6. Since the Jews had rejected the true Shepherd, God threatens to send, or permit, such shepherds to rule over them, as should be notorious for their negligence and avarice, their cruelty and oppression. This may be understood either of the blind guides, who conducted their consciences with avarice and tyranny, or of the false Christs and false prophets, who often misled them to their ruin [or it may be meant of the miseries which they suffered under Hadrian, and other Roman emperors, as St. Jerome interprets it]; or else it may be expounded of the latter times of the Roman empire, during its administraticn under the ten horns, (Rev. xvii. 12.) by whom they have been at divers times plundered, persecuted, and destroyed, without mercy; as may be seen particularly in Basnage’s History of the Jews, book vii. Who shall not visit that which is cut off.] The LXX. render it, that which is missing; and it may signify, that which is ready to perish. (See ver. 9.) Nor seek the young one.] Or, That which is scattered, or wandering. So all the ancient interpreters render it, reading noar in the Hebrew, where the word is now pointed naar. Nor feed that which standeth still] Which continues in the flock sound and well, in opposition to those that wander, or arc. diseased. The words may be translated, Nor number that tvhich standeth still. It is the business of a careful shepherd to number his flock, and see that none bo wanting. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear [or, break] their claws in pieces.] i. e. He shall enrich himself by oppressing those that are of substance, and deprive them of all ability of defending themselves. (Compare Ezek. xxxiv. 3.)
Zechariah 11:17
Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock. Who taketh no care of the flock, and minds nothing but making his own profit out of them. Such a shepherd is no