In our study of Zechariah chapter eleven, we look at the contrast between the good and bad shepherds. The Hebrew word for shepherd is roeh and is made with three symbols. The first symbol (resh) is the ancient picture of the head of a man. The second is ayin which is related to seeing while the third is hey which is the symbol of divinity and the Spirit of God. We often think of shepherds as being meek and lowly but, as we see in the Hebrew, they were not thought of in that manner throughout the Bible. The biblical picture of a shepherd is of an all knowing, all powerful, defender of man and it ultimately speaks of Yeshua Messiah.
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Open your doors, L'vanon, so that fire can consume your cedars. Wail, cypress, because the cedar has fallen, those splendid trees are ruined. Wail, oaks of Bashan, because the thick forest has been felled. Listen to the wail of the shepherds, because their glory is spoiled. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the Yarden's thickets are plundered.
The phrase open your doors speaks of preparing for the judgement that is to come and the cedar trees were the pride of the nation of Lebanon but, here, we see that the pride of Lebanon is going to be judged. The fir (cypress) tree was second in its importance to Lebanon and we see that the judgement on the pride of Lebanon brings mourning and a sense of dread to those that are left. Next, we see the judgement affecting Bashan which is in northern Israel in what is called the Golan Heights area and it continues into the modern country of Jordan.
ADONAI my God says this: "Shepherd the flock for slaughter. Their buyers kill them and go unpunished; while those who sell them say, 'Barukh ADONAI! Now I'm rich!' Even their own shepherds show them no pity. I will no longer show pity to the inhabitants of the land," says ADONAI. "No, I will hand every one of them over to the power of a neighbor and to the power of his king; they will crush the land; and I won't rescue them from their power."
Now, the judgement turns to the people of Israel and we see that the Jewish people are being led to destruction by their leadership. The leaders of Israel are selling their flock for slaughter instead of protecting them. The result of this is conflict among the people.
So I shepherded the flock for slaughter, truly the most miserable of the sheep; and I took two staffs for myself. I called the one No'am [pleasantness], the other I called Hovalim, and I shepherded the flock.
Here, we see that God is taking over the duties of the shepherd as he cares for the sheep that have been afflicted. We see that God takes two staffs and writes pleasantness on one and bandits on the other.
"In a single month I got rid of three shepherds, because I grew impatient with them; and besides, they detested me. I said, 'I'm not going to shepherd you. Whichever one is going to die, let it die; whichever is going to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and the rest can all devour each other.'"
In the role of the good shepherd, God drove out three false prophets and we see that the people were unhappy with him. These bad shepherds were telling them what they wanted to hear while God was telling them the truth. Finally, he sees that they have rejected the truth and are doomed. The part about eating each other's flesh is reported (by Josephus) to have happened in the year A.D. 70 with the Roman siege of Jerusalem. We see that there were three shepherds that were sent by the bad shepherd (Satan) and are reminded that he tries to duplicate the things of God. In the last days, we will see a rise of the unholy trinity.
I took my staff No'am and snapped it in two, "in order to break my covenant, which I made with all the peoples." On that day when it was broken, the most miserable of the sheep who paid attention to me knew that this was indeed a message from ADONAI.
God's grace was removed from the people that rejected him. With the removal of grace also came the removal of God's protection and the nations were freed to attack Jerusalem. The same type of thing will occur during the last days. As the people reject God, he will remove his hand of protection and provision from the earth. God will also remove his restraint on evil and the world will become a very dark place.
I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; if not, don't." So they weighed out my wages, thirty silver [shekels, that is, twelve ounces].
The phrase "If it seems good to you" is a Hebrew idiom that basically means that you need to make a choice. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave during this period of time. In paying this price, they showed contempt for the things of God. This is the same thing that the Jewish leaders did as they paid Judas this amount to betray Jesus (see Matt. 26:14 & 15). In so doing, they bought the King of Kings for the price of a slave.
Concerning that "princely sum" at which they valued me, ADONAI said, "Throw it into the treasury!" So I took the thirty silver [shekels] and threw them into the treasury in the house of ADONAI.
The Lord had Zechariah reject the insulting payment. He uses sarcasm as he describes the payment as a "handsome price". In the same way, Judas tried to return the payment but the religious leaders would not accept it. The payment was returned so that we might see that salvation is a gift from the Lord and cannot be bought at any price.
Then I snapped in two my other staff Hovalim, in order to break up the brotherhood between Y'hudah and Isra'el.
Then, God broke his staff representing the fact that their would be division among the Jews. This is what happened when Yeshua went to his people. The apostles were Jews but they were separated from the rest of the Jews and persecuted by the religious leaders. Even today, there is much division among the Jewish people. This will continue until the return of Yeshua Messiah as he will bring unity during the Millennial Reign.
ADONAI said to me, "This time, take the equipment of a worthless shepherd. For I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who won't bother about the ones who have been destroyed, won't seek out the young, won't heal the broken and won't feed those standing still; on the contrary, he will eat the meat of the fat ones and break their hoofs in pieces. "Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the sheep! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm be completely withered and his right eye totally blinded."
With the rejection of the Good Shepherd (Yeshua) comes the rise of the bad shepherd (the anti-christ). We are reminded that it is God who allows him to rise in the land. This shepherd will speak of peace and prosperity but, as we see, this shepherd is characterized by his lack of compassion. We also see that he is cursed and the end is already set. His arm is withered representing his loss of strength or power and, on the final day, his armies will be destroyed in an instant.
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