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More Zechariah commentaries
Zechariah 8:1-13
God’s Favor Extended to Both Jews and Gentiles
Zechariah 8:14-23
God Expects His People to be Truthful
Zechariah 9:1-10
Rejoice in the Coming King
Zechariah 9:11-17
God Helps His People Fight Their Battles
Zechariah 10:1-17
Strengthening in the Lord of Victory
Zechariah 11:1-11
The Rejection of the Worthy Shepherd
Zechariah 11:12-17
Thirty Pieces of Silver
Zechariah 12:1-14
Israel Transformed in The Day of The Lord
Zechariah 13:1-9
National Cleansing for Israel
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The Rejection of the Worthy Shepherd
Zechariah 11:1–11
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
In 1858 the Illinois legislature-using an obscure statute-sent Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate instead of Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln had won the popular vote. When a sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt, he said, “Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am t … More
This chapter is probably the darkest chapter of Israel’s history. It can be divided as follows:
In this passage God told Zechariah to act out the roles of two different kinds of shepherds. The first type of shepherd demonstrated how God would reject his people (the sheep) because they rejected Him (vv. 1-14). The second type of shepherd demonstrated how God would give over His people to the evil shepherd (vv. 15-17). This is what the Lord said to me, Zechariah. ‘My people are like sheep. There will be a time when men will buy them. And then they will kill them. But feed them until that time (v. 4). Those men who buy the sheep will kill them (v. 5). Nobody will punish them. They will sell them. And they will say, “Thank you Lord, because I am a rich man.”
The foreign kings will do very bad things to the country, but I will not come to help (v. 6).’ So I was a good shepherd to the sheep that men would soon kill. I thought specially about the weakest sheep. Then I took two sticks. And I called one stick ‘Grace’ and I called the other stick ‘Together’. I fed the sheep (v. 7). In one month, I sent away three shepherds. They did not like me and I was not patient with them (v. 8). I said to the sheep, ‘I will not be your shepherd and you will die. The sheep that do not die will eat each other (v. 9).’I took ‘Grace’, which was my first stick. I broke it into two pieces (v. 10). The Lord’s promise to his people finished. On the day that the Lord’s promise finished, the oppressed sheep watched me. They knew that it was the Lord’s message (v. 11).Application
In this chapter the leaders of Israel have failed. If I fail as a leader in my home or ministry He will hold me accountable like he did the leaders in that day.
Zechariah 11:1-11 (English Standard Version)
Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined! Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich,' and their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the LORD. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand." So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another." And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »
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