Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Zechariah 11: A Bad Shepherd

Jesus referred to Himself as "the good shepherd."  Zechariah 11 presents us with a picture of one who could only be described as "a bad shepherd!"

In Zechariah 11, we first meet shepherds who "have no pity" on their sheep (vs. 5).  Though their flock is doomed to slaughter, the shepherds do not care.  They are interested only in the buying and selling, and getting rich off of the suffering of their sheep.

Therefore, God intervenes to be a good shepherd.  "So, on behalf of the sheep merchants, I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep" (vs. 7).  After a month of resistance and dealing with bad shepherds, however, the Lord is ready to quit.  He resigns, breaking the staff of Favor, thus annulling the covenant.

We then hear an interlude that will be later applied to Judas, powerfully foretelling some of the details of his betrayal of Christ: "I then said to them, 'If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.' So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.  Then the Lord said to me, 'Throw it into the treasury'—this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the Lord" (vs. 12 and 13).  All this would come to be fulfilled in the life of Christ.

The chapter ends with God intentionally raising up a bad shepherd in place of the good one, one who deserves a curse rather than praise.  The prophet writes on behalf of the Lord, "Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd.  For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.  Oh, my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!  May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!  Let his arm be completely withered, his right eye utterly blinded!" (vs. 15-17)

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