Zechariah 11

Zechariah 11:1-17

-OR, THE PROPHET’S Zechariah 11:1-17. THE tenth chapter of this volume presents Israel on the mountain-top of privilege and blessing. The experience, however, to which the Prophet refers belonged to the distant future. Zechariah was a Seer, and with the eyes of inspiration he was searching the ages, and so let his gaze rest for a while upon the Alpine heights of Israel’s eventual restoration. All mountaineers know that the very rarity of the atmosphere in which they live permits them to look on lofty peaks which can only be reached by crossing the deepest valleys and accomplishing the most difficult ascents.Truly this eleventh chapter presents one of the valleys of Zechariah’s prophecy. It is a valley of sorrow; a valley of bitterness; a valley of slaughter; a valley of death!Our personal experiences are marvelous illustrations of national trials. With the individual, mountain-top joy is only reached by crossing the valley of sorrow. Joseph comes to the position of Premier of Egypt by the way of hatred, slavery, imprisonment; Daniel obtains to equal honor in Babylon only after he has endured false charges, condemnation, and the lions’ den. Jesus sits at the right hand of God in the Heavenlies, but as He walked toward it He must needs go through Gethsemane and past Calvary. The great nations of the world have attained eminence after a baptism of blood. Why then should we be surprised if we find that Israel must traverse the valley of sorrow on her way to the heights of joy; must be baptized in her own blood before she hears God say, ‘This is My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”The opening verses of this eleventh chapter lead into the valley of sorrow in which we find—THE OF “Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. “Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Basham; for the forest of the vintage is come down. “There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled” (Zechariah 11:1-3). The land is set for punishment. There has been some dispute as to the meaning of the phrase, “Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars”. Many students have supposed this to refer to the Temple, in the building of which the cedars of Lebanon played so conspicuous a part. But when one considers the three verses it is fairly clear that the whole land is compassed. “The cedars of Lebanon,” “the fir trees,” “the oaks of Bashan”—the fringe of timber skirting the Jordan, and known as “the pride of Jordan”—these represent the land, from the river valley to the mountain heights.The order of their appearance also—“the cedar of Lebanon” “the fir tree” “the oaks of Bashan” and “the pride of the Jordan” indicates that the enemy, who is described as “a fire” is to come from without, and press from the borders, where the cedars of Lebanon grew, to the very heart of the nation, where the waters of the Jordan rolled. The objective point of such an enemy would be Jerusalem, and the final work would be against the Temple,— the nation’s heart.We know from history that this Temple was destroyed in A.D. 73, and there comes down to us tradition to the effect that forty years before this time the priests, serving in this holy place, heard at midnight a chorus of voices saying, “Let us depart and as they listened there was a rustle as of the wings of angels going forth. At this same time a certain Jew, a son of Ananus, suddenly appeared in the Temple, crying, “A voice from the East, and a voice from the West!

A voice from the four winds! A voice against Jerusalem, and against the Temple!

A voice against the Bridegroom and the Bride! A voice against the whole people!” The people resented this statement; he was severely beaten, but with every blow he only answered, “Woe; woe to Jerusalem!” According to Milman, for four long years he continued to utter this solemn cry,—“Woe to Jerusalem,” only changing it so far as to say, “Woe, woe to the people, and to the Temple!”One cannot read this bit of history, which is rehearsed more fully in the tract Yoma, without being reminded of Jonah’s work in Nineveh, and impressed with the thought that the same God who commissioned Jonah, inspired the son of Ananus. It is also affirmed from Jewish historians, and for centuries was generally believed by the Jewish people, that at this time “the Eastern gate of the inner Temple which was of brass and very heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, opened of itself at the sixth hour of the night.” Whether these traditions are also true history, we may never determine; but that Zechariah’s prophecy of punishment for the land was fulfilled, no intelligent man questions.It is significant also that the occurrence of these things forty years before the actual destruction was accomplished, takes us back to the very year in which our Lord was crucified. The land, therefore, which comes face to face with the Son of God, and rejects Him, is set for destruction;—its trees, and fields, and cattle, will come under the judgment of this colossal sin.China is still suffering the judgment of Boxer murder of God’s own. When Nero ruled in Rome the very Name of Jesus was despised. What wonder that in the tenth year of his administration the city was afflicted with a fire which reduced the “monuments of Grecian art, and of Roman virtue, trophies of the Punic and Gallic wars, the most holy temples, and the most splendid palaces” to ashes! I tell you, God will avenge His own elect!The people were also sentenced to slaughter.“Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; “Whose possessors slay 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” (Zechariah 11:4-5). It is not to be supposed that the sin which brings judgment against the very trees of the nation will permit the personal offenders to escape. God, through sheer pity for the little children and the dumb cattle of Nineveh, was moved to commiseration toward the penitent people. But when He has mown down the cedars of Lebanon and trampled under the feet of His armies the oaks of Bashan, and consumed the pride of the Jordan, and come unto the very seat of His opponents, He will not stop at the sight of human suffering, if men remain impenitent and rebellious.In our previous study of the Minor Prophets we have seen this whole nation carried captive into Babylon. But severer trials await them!When, in the wars with Titus, death and destruction are’ in the conqueror’s wake, all men beyond seventeen are sent to work in Egypt, and those below are sold into captivity. We have all read how the son of Massinissa slaughtered in cold blood fifty-eight thousand Carthaginians after they had laid down their arms; and how, under Caesar, four hundred thousand Germans perished while pleading a truce; but the Jews taken prisoners during this war with Titus, not to speak of those who perished, numbered a million and a hundred thousand.There is no such a slaughterer as sin! It is a reproach to any people; yes, and if persisted in, whether by the individual or the nation, it is death!The fate of this folk is pitiless.“And their awn shepherds pity them not”. When Jesus came into the world He found three classes of men shepherding Israel,—the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes,—or lawyers. They were as sheep scattered abroad, but these shepherds had no pity upon them! But that is not their greatest misfortune. It is expressed in the sentence which follows,—“For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord”. Wretched, indeed, is his estate when He, whose Name is Compassion, is compelled to withhold all pity from him! There are some things that are impossible to God; among them is that of approving godlessness.

Undoubtedly Christ would have found keenest pleasure in healing the sick and saving the souls of the men and women of Nazareth: but “He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief”.Edith Mary Norris has a poem entitled “The Stone Christ”. It is a pen-picture of the temple in which people gathered to perform the ceremonial worship:— “They came on the morrow thronging, And they filled the holy place With the pomp of wealth and fashion. Proud priests in linen and lace, With singers following after, Passed stately up the aisle, While the mellow organ thundered Triumphant strains the while; And the air was rich with incense, From golden censers flung; And a song like that of the angels The white-robed singers sung! Above, from a niche in a pillared aisle, A stone Christ looked with a pitiless smile.

“They sang with a silken rustle, On their knees, Thy will be done; Come Thy Kingdom on earth as in Heaven,’ They prayed in unison. Then, when the prayers were ended, The preacher took the Word; They settled themselves to listen, But never the sense they heard. He spoke in cultured accents Of love and charity: ‘Who doeth it unto the least of these, Lo, he doeth it unto Me!’ Above, from a niche in a pillared aisle, A stone Christ looked with a pitiless smile.” Beloved, the only time Christ’s heart is ever turned to stone is when men, continuing in sin, attempt to cover away their iniquities from the sight of God by the performance of meaningless ceremonies. It was the Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees that Christ excoriated. His sentences of judgment against such savored of no pity. Truly they were the three shepherds that he “cut off in one month”, and those who persisted in following them perished with them. Every man is responsible for the choice of his leader, and if he deliberately walks after some one of God’s enemies and persists in rebellion to His will, when judgment overtakes him he will have no claim upon Jehovah’s pity. One of the severest sentences in all Sacred Scripture is this,—“Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man hath regarded; “But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; “When your fear cometh as destruction, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. “Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: “They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. “Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. “For the turning away of the simple shall slay them” (Proverbs 1:24-32). But in looking further into this Scripture we are face to face with JEHOVAH’S OF “And I took unto me two starves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. “Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. “Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, 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. “And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. “And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the Word of the Lord. “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they Weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of the Lord. “Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (Zechariah 11:7-14). The Gentle Shepherd is grieved. He had fed the flock; but they had loathed Him! Zechariah combines in these figures a personal experience and a prophecy. He himself had been a true shepherd to his people; but had wearied of them because they loathed him. But his experience was only a type of that greater Shepherd to come,—even Jesus,— whom their children would also reject. By the mouth of His Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:11-16) Jehovah had declared His purpose to shepherd His sheep.

But, when in the Person of His Son He appeared, they rejected Him. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not” (John 1:11).Like the True Shepherd He pitied His sheep. For years He walked among them and called to them. He healed their sick; He caused their lame to leap as the hart; He cleansed their lepers; He raised their dead; in every way possible to Divine ingenuity He courted their favor and wooed their love. They deliberately asserted, “We will not have this Man to reign over us”. Their chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar”, and added, “Crucify Him, crucify Him”!Men now read this history supposing it to be nineteen centuries old, but I tell you it is as new as your rejection of Jesus! The man who turns from Him today is as guilty as was any Jew who resented His claims and refused Him affection;“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly Gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, “And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:4-6). It is written, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man”. When the Shepherd has been rejected, and in grief has turned to others with His overtures of love, let no man,—perishing because he has persisted in sin,—utter one word against the gentle Jesus whose Spirit he grieved away forever II remember that Henry Van Dyke, in his “Gospel for an Age of Sin” asks, “Is there not a welcome in the world today for the Conqueror from Edom?” and quotes the verse:— “Far and wide, though all unknowing, Pants for Thee each human breast; Human tears for Thee are flowing, Human hearts in Thee would rest.” Oh, that it were so! Thank God, with some it is so; and all such will find in Him a Shepherd of the soul,—a Savior from sin. But let no rebel against His love lay the blame of final failure at Jesus’ pierced feet!His services are mocked with silver.“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they Weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of the Lord” (Zechariah 11:12-13). Thirty pieces of silver was the price of an injured slave. “If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned” (Exodus 21:32).It would have been impossible to treat Zechariah with more supreme contempt than was done when these pieces of silver were weighed out to him. The shepherd of God’s flock, the Prophet of God’s Truth, was told, in scorn, that he was worth no more to the nation than a disabled servant. No wonder Jehovah said to him, “Cast it unto the potter”. A price so contemptible was not to be kept within his hands if he would escape the defilement of indignity.But all the Christian world knows that this act was more significant still. The True Shepherd, of whom Zechariah was the type, would be treated after the same manner. They would weigh out thirty pieces of silver as His price (Matthew 26:15).

And Judas, when he had received it, would bring it back and fling it at the chief priests and elders because overwhelmed with his betrayal of innocent blood; and they, in turn, would take these pieces of silver and buy the potted field in which to bury paupers. When that finally transpired it is said,—“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom they of the Children of Israel did value;“And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me” (Matthew 27:9-10).Students of the Scriptures have stumbled because Matthew quotes as from Jeremiah what is expressly found in Zechariah; but let it be remembered that Jeremiah writes before Zechariah and his prophecy is in sufficient accord with what Jeremiah had said in chapter nineteen to justify the reference.Sometime since I called your attention to Zechariah’s prophecy concerning the appearance of the coming King “upon a colt, the foal of an ass”, and to its literal fulfillment on the day when He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. Here again is one of those touches that reveals to men how perfectly the future is known to God. There is no misfortune in your life, no trial, no sorrow but He sees it long in advance of your experience of it; and though it be as severe as was the sale of the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver, He will be present to support you when the trial comes: “I will not murmur when small things go wrong, When plans of mine long cherished, weaken, fall; When hushed upon my lips is life’s glad song! When joys long sought have vanished past recall— God knows—God knows.

“I will not weakly weep the hours away, Though Marah’s waters flow around my feet, Though life’s fair sky be shadowed, leaden, gray, Though rue be mine instead of roses sweet— God knows—God knows.

“I will not drop from weary hands, toil-worn The task unfinished, though a burden sore; Though earth’s fair pleasures from my grasp be torn. Though sorrow’s keenest pain my cup brim o’er— God knows—God knows.” The symbols of Jehovah’s covenant were destroyed.“And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock”. “And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people”. “Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” (Zechariah 11:7; Zechariah 11:10; Zechariah 11:14). If one asks what is the meaning of these two staves,—Beauty and Bands,—let it be remembered what David said in the Shepherd Psalm, “Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me”. The rod was in truth a club for the defense of the flock. With it the shepherd beat down the enemy; while the staff served the shepherd in guiding the sheep to pastures green, and in keeping them together. When, therefore, the Prophet, impersonating Jehovah, broke these two, it meant to the Israelitish on-lookers that God would no longer remain their defender, nor feel it incumbent upon Him to guide and keep them together. That day they were, by a figure, shown how they should fall before their enemies since henceforth they should be without Jehovah for their defense; and Judah and Israel would be no longer one under the guiding hand of God.In the breaking of the first staff the covenant of grace was at an end; and, in the breaking of the second, the brotherhood between Judah and Israel was broken in symbol.Has it not occurred to us that those are the two great misfortunes of this ancient people? When they rejected the Good Shepherd,—Jesus,—and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, they brought an end to God’s covenant of grace and union.

Since that time they have called upon the Lord in vain; and since that time Judah and Israel have been so separated the one from the other that while we know the descendants of Judah, the question of the ages has been, where are the ten tribes? For nineteen hundred years this people,—once the most favored of the earth,—have been without Divine favor, and equally without human fellowship. The kingdom has been taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Jesus seems to have anticipated all of these centuries of sorrow for His people when, on the hill overlooking Jerusalem, He cried,“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39). It seems, indeed, as if one could not consider the present estate of these people without being moved by the very sin of it, and the very sorrow of it, and cry:—“Let Zion’s time of favor come; O bring the tribes of Israel home! Soon may our wandering eyes behold Gentiles and Jews in Jesus’ fold.” The darkest picture remains to be studied. When God’s people rejected the True Shepherd they made possible the coming of the false shepherd, the shepherd of slaughter, whose character, conduct, and fate are found in verses fifteen to seventeen:—“And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. “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 standeth still: but He shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. “Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth 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). THE OF THE FOOLISH It must have been graphic indeed when Zechariah, the Seer, casting down the two staves, in the presence of this people, arrayed himself like the foolish shepherd, and held before their eyes instruments of torture instead of staves of defense and guidance! It was an impersonation never to be forgotten, and the ages to come will make known its meaning. This foolish shepherd is none other than “the man of sin” to be revealed,—“the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).Souls will be slaughtered by his neglect. “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 standeth still”. There is little difference between the conduct of him who sets himself up as a shepherd and neglects the sheep until they die, and that of the sheep-killer. Some time ago in the northern part of our Minnesota a wretched woman threw her child into a river and the child was drowned. When the truth was known she was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to prison for life. Only a few days later in the city of St. Paul, a little babe was found in a side street. It had been left in this out-of-the-way place and exposed to the cold night and had perished.

The conduct of the latter mother was as criminal as that of the former.In Egypt there was a law that whoever had it in his power to save the life of a citizen and neglected that duty was to be regarded as a murderer, and punished accordingly.And if one wants to know the character of the antichrist let him look into Zechariah and see him in the act of leaving those who had put their trust in him, unvisited in their hour of need; unsought when once they are scattered; unhealed when they are broken; unfed when they are starved! There is one character in Revelation that ought to fill all the world with fear, and that is the foolish shepherd of our text,—“the son of perdition”, called by John, “the Beast”.He will selfishly consume such as trust in him.“But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their clews in pieces”. What a picture this of his voracity and cruelty! If we go back into the past we will find some striking illustrations of false shepherds. They existed in Christ’s time in Scribes and Pharisees; they did not feed the flock, they fattened on it. They existed in Luther’s day, and when Tetzel sold his indulgences it was only that the false shepherds might fatten at the expense of the silly flock.Recently the Associated Press was publishing the words of a priest, Deans, of Brussels, in which he says, “We learn with amazement that the Catholic Society of Journalists while collecting money for the Pope has gathered in more than forty thousand francs. In our eyes this is gross misappropriation,—in fact, a scandal.” And then he turns about and contrasts the fact that his ‘Lord Jesus Christ had a stable, while this so-called follower of His demands the most elegant palace in the world,’ and remarks, “The Son of God staggered under the Cross; His representative is borne aloft in a gilded chair under a fringed canopy.”Beloved, it is not difficult to determine between the true and the false shepherd. The True Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep; the false shepherd compels the sheep to lay down their lives for him: and unless prophecy be false, the time is coming when one more bloody than Nero, and more presumptuous than any pope who has ever presided by the Tiber, will demand allegiance of all men, and those who receive his mark will be fleeced by him, and he will consume their fat; and those who refuse it will be slaughtered!

The murder of the Huguenots is a faint symbol of the time of the tribulation! Pray that you may escape out of it!This shepherd shall himself suffer destruction. No true Prophet of God is willing to conclude a picture that leaves the adversary triumphant.“All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword”. “The sword shall he upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall he utterly darkened” (Zechariah 11:17). Let all men have a care of what leader they follow. To reject Jesus is to fit one’s self to follow the foolish shepherd. Remember His Word, “I am come in My Father’s Name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive”. The day will yet break when one will come in his own name. The great day of deception belongs to the future; but the false Messiah,—the antichrist—will find followers in all them who have not yielded to the Son of God.“Choose ye this day whom ye will serve”. The Shepherd who died for you, who, though rich, became poor that you might be rich; or the shepherd who deceives that he may destroy, and who, with all of his followers, must eventually feel the mighty hand of God in judgment, and go to fill the pit!I heard Justin Fulton once say that on all questions of doubt he could tell where he belonged when he discovered where the devil stood; that meant for him the taking of the other side; and, he added, “When the prophecy of Revelation has become history, and that great arch enemy of souls is chained by the mighty hand of God, and goes into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, I want to be present to sing, and shout—“Hallelujah ‘tis done!’ ”God speed the day when the right eye of his cunning shall be blighted forever; and the right arm of his power withered!