Zech 11
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Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Be Heroic 3. Messiah Rejected by His People (Zech. 11:1–17)
This chapter explains the nation’s rejection of the true Messiah and how they will accept a false messiah, the Antichrist, who will appear at the end of the age and deceive the whole world. The key image in the chapter is that of the shepherd, and three different shepherds are presented.
WAILING SHEPHERDS
WAILING SHEPHERDS
1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! 2 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! 3 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!
this lushness of this land is destroyed. from Lebanon, (Syria and Damascus area down along the Jordan.
English Standard Version Chapter 11
The sound of the wail of the shepherds
Shepherds = “political leaders” = those that lead, protected and provided for the people, and lead them astray into sin are now receiving the due penalty
34 “Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, and roll in ashes, you lords of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and dispersion have come, and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
remember hoe teh leaders of Jerusalem “cut off” Jesus and because they missed the day of their visitation they faced the roman destruction of their temple (and many starved and killed) and the rest were scattered.
TRUE SHEPHERD
TRUE SHEPHERD
4 Thus said the Lord my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 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. 6 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.” 7 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. 8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 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.” 10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
God commanded Zechariah to play the role of the true Shepherd. He became a type of the Messiah at the time when our Lord was ministering on earth
Do you think this an “action sermon” that he actually acted out? Isaiah Jeremiah and especially Ezekiel are known for them. how can you tell? v11 “they were watching him”
what did he do as a shepherd?
tended the sheep - fed and protected them for 1 month v7
destroyed three unfaithful shepherds
named 2 staves
after on month broke both staves
God’s favor had come to an end - the covenant union was broken.
the unity of the north and south kingdoms were
the Staff Beauty/Favor/Grace
How long is God’s Long suffering? when waiting for sinful man?
is there a limit? yes, v9 “I will not be your shepherd”
but it is very long time that god waits.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
to get go’d punishment like this requires a strong and consistent process fo r rejecting God.
Are there multiple warning (harbingers) of God’s judgement? yes. we see these warning repeated among Jeremiah, Ezekiel and now Zecheriah.
was Zech discouraged? did he want to quit?
he wanted to quit!, give them back teh wages and quit his job.
what time period is this prophetic judgment for?
this happened when Jesus the Messiah came to earth the first time.
how can you tell?
NT applies this section to Judas:
1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. 3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
note that this is ascribed to Jeremiah! but we read it in Zechariah, what is up with that?
If we have a high view of inspiration, we can’t simply dismiss this statement as a mistake or a scribal error; nor can we escape by saying that Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, but Zechariah wrote it in his book. Wouldn’t you expect to find it in Jeremiah’s book? Perhaps the solution lies in understanding the way ancient authors used texts from other writers.
First of all, how does Jeremiah get into the picture? It appears that Matthew alludes to Jeremiah’s actions recorded in Jeremiah 19, when he broke the jar and pronounced judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. He announced that the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, outside Jerusalem, would become a cemetery because of the sins of the people (Jer. 19:11). Note that this event took place near the entrance of the east gate, which was the Potter’s Gate leading to a potter’s field (vv. 1–2), and note also the phrase “innocent blood” in verse 4, a phrase that Judas used when he returned the silver to the priests (Matt. 27:4). So, from Jeremiah, Matthew borrowed the images of a potter’s field, innocent blood, and a cemetery.
Matthew cited Zechariah 11:12–13 concerning the thirty pieces of silver which were thrown down to the potter in the temple. Why would a potter be in the temple? Since the priests used many different kinds of vessels, the services of a potter would certainly be necessary. So, from Zechariah, Matthew borrowed the temple, the thirty pieces of silver which were thrown down in the temple, and the potter to whom they were thrown.
Now, it’s obvious that Zechariah’s words don’t perfectly parallel the events described in Matthew 27:1–10. In Zechariah, the money was given to the prophet while in Matthew, it was given to Judas the traitor. The prophet gave the money to the potter in the temple, but Judas gave his wages to the priests who then bought a potter’s field. What Matthew did was unite (the technical word is “conflate”) elements from both Jeremiah and Zechariah, but since Zechariah was a minor prophet, he named only Jeremiah, the major prophet.
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Heroic, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: ChariotVictor Pub., 1997), 140.
the amazing thing is that Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver and it was thrown in the temple, and used to by a potter’s field. this section of scripture is clearly messianic
The FALSE (Foolish) SHEPHERD
The FALSE (Foolish) SHEPHERD
15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. 17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”
Zech is now asked to be a foolish “foolish shepherd.”
“foolish” doesn’t mean “stupid” but “morally deficient, corrupt”
because he doesn’t receive God’s truth.
He’s also called “a worthless (idle) shepherd,” because he doesn’t care for the sheep.
Like
Unlike the Good Shepherd,
he doesn’t seek the lost,
he doesn’t care for the young,
he doesn’t feed the flock,
he doesn’t heal the injured.
All he does is slaughter the flock to feed himself! (See Ezek. 34.)
what does a good shepherd do?
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
what is this like for Israel in the future?
Because Israel rejected their true Shepherd, Jesus Christ, they will one day blindly accept and obey the false shepherd (Antichrist) who will lead them astray. Those who reject the light inevitably accept the darkness. “I have come in My Father’s name,” said Jesus, “and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5:43, NKJV).
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Heroic, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: ChariotVictor Pub., 1997), 141.
According to Daniel 9:27, the Antichrist will actually be able to make a covenant with the Jews for seven years. Probably this is for the purpose of protecting them so they can rebuild their temple and resume their sacrifices. But after three and a half years, he’ll break the covenant, put his own image in the temple, and force the world to worship him (2 Thes. 2:1–12; Rev. 13).That God’s chosen people, who possess the inspired Scriptures, should reject Him who is “the truth” (John 14:6) and came from the Father, and follow one who is a liar and is energized by Satan, is incredible to comprehend, but it will happen just as the Scripture says. However, the Lord will judge this false shepherd by breaking his power (his right arm) and confusing his mind (right eye), and then Messiah will come from heaven and confine him to the lake of fire for a thousand years (Rev. 19:11–21).During that thousand years, Christ will reign in His glorious kingdom, Israel will receive the blessings promised by the prophets, the church will reign with Him, and all creation will enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21, NKJV).Thy kingdom come!