The parable here in Chapter 11 either involves the Lord asking Zechariah to act out what the Good Shepherd (the Messiah) will do later, or else the Lord is speaking to the Messiah Himself. Bible scholars are divided in their opinion on this. I feel it's easier to read the chapter if we assume Zechariah acts out the parable by taking a leadership role that symbolizes the role the Messiah will take. I think it's likely that Zechariah "shepherds" his people by preaching and prophesying to them. His words will be rejected, just as the words of many of the Old Testament prophets before him were rejected, just as the words of the prophets after him were rejected, and just as the words of the Lord Jesus were rejected.
We concluded yesterday with Zechariah telling us he shepherded he flock, giving special care to those who were weak and oppressed. He carried two staffs, calling one "Favor" and the other "Union". Now he tells us that one of his first administrative duties is to remove three wicked shepherds from their posts, "In one month I got rid of the three shepherds." (Zechariah 11:8a) The identity of these three shepherds is not clear. They may have been three literal persons, such as priests or prophets who were speaking falsehoods to the people in Zechariah's day. They may represent three classes of people, such as kings and priests and prophets, since the Good Shepherd will be all three rolled into one: Prophet, Priest, and King. Another possibility is that these three shepherds represent the final three kings of Judah whose reigns were short and ended suddenly. Yet another possibility is that these shepherds are the classes of religious leaders who most despised Jesus when He came: the priests and Pharisees and scribes.
We would expect the "flock" to care for a shepherd who loves them and who has their best interests at heart, but this is not the case. "The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, 'I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh." (Zechariah 11:8b-9) We have to keep in mind that Chapter 11 deals with a fall of Jerusalem and a destruction of the temple that was still far in the future in Zechariah's day. This would occur after the literal Good Shepherd has been rejected, when God will say, "I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands." (Zechariah 11:6)
This prophecy refers to the destruction of the city by the Romans in 70 AD when Emperor Nero sent an army to quell the rebellion against Roman rule over Judea. While the fight for the holy land was going on, Nero killed himself and General Vespasian was called home from the battle to be crowned Emperor. Vespasian's son Titus, whom we studied several days ago, orchestrated the siege on Jerusalem, intending to starve the people into surrendering. This was a common tactic in ancient times when cities were protected by walls. It was easier to trap the people behind the city walls until they gave up than to fight a long and bloody battle. During a lengthy siege the people trapped inside a city often resorted to eating the dead, which may be what verse 9 is referring to when it says, "Let those who are left eat one another's flesh." Zechariah does not go into detail about what a dreadful day it will be when Jerusalem falls, but the tragedy of 70 AD caused the death of more Jews than did the Holocaust. In addition, another 97,000 were taken prisoner to be sold as slave laborers, while thousands of others were taken to the Roman arenas where they were torn apart by lions for the amusement of the spectators.
When Zechariah finds he is hated by the flock, he tells us he does this, "Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord." (Zechariah 11:10-11) The words "in that day" are believed to be the day in which the Messiah, the Good Shepherd, is rejected by His people. In that day the staff of Favor will be broken.
In Chapter 10 we saw a glorious future for Israel. Today's passage is not meant to negate the beautiful promises of our previous chapter. I believe God had to give His people the good news before the bad news. How else were they going to hang on? The fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD put an end to any semblance of a Jewish state until Israel once again became a sovereign nation in the world in 1948. During those long centuries the people needed a hope to cling to, and that hope comes from God's word. In verses 10 and 11 God is saying He's going to take His protective hand off the nation for a period of time and that He will no longer hold back the nations from doing what they want in the holy land.
Zechariah, acting out his role as shepherd, is done with this flock. He wants to be given his severance pay. "I told them, 'If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.' So they paid me thirty pieces of silver." (Zechariah 11:12) He says, "If you think my work was worth anything, give me my pay. If not, then don't." In order to insult him, they weigh out thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Not only was this the price of a slave, but it was the price of a dead slave in Exodus 21:32. If a man owned an ox that was known to be violent, and if that ox pierced another man's slave through, the owner of the ox had to pay the slave's master thirty pieces of silver. The ox then had to be stoned to death.
The flock is saying to Zechariah, "You are no more use to us than a dead slave." Zechariah's nation is the flock that will pierce the Good Shepherd through and will consider Him worth no more than a dead slave." When David foresaw the suffering of the Messiah, he said, "They pierce My hands and My feet." (Psalm 22:16) The prophet Isaiah said of Him, "He was pierced for our transgressions". (Isaiah 53:5) Not only was Jesus pierced through the hands and feet during the crucifixion, but to determine whether death had occurred a Roman soldier pierced His side. (John 19:34) John then quotes the book of Zechariah where it is prophesied that the flock who rejected the Good Shepherd will someday, "Look on Me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son." (Zechariah 12:10) But all is not lost, for when Zechariah foresees the people mourning the One they have pierced, it is in a day when the Lord once again shows them His favor. It is in a day when they will turn to the Good Shepherd and will desire His leadership over them. But before that day comes, the flock will face the penalty for having pierced their Shepherd, just as in the book of Exodus the ox who pierced a slave had to bear the penalty of its actions.
What is Zechariah to make of this paltry sum he has been paid? "And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter"---the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord." (Zechariah 11:13) This parable that's being acted out in Zechariah's day was literally fulfilled when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus of Nazareth for thirty pieces of silver. This is the "handsome price" at which the Good Shepherd was valued by the religious leaders of His day. Jesus was followed by thousands because of the miracles He performed. He was thronged on every side whenever He went out in public. He could barely take a step without the crowds pressing in on Him. And yet the religious leaders delighted in insulting His work, the kingdom of God work, by valuing His services at no more than they would value the services of a dead slave.
Judas may have been a member of the Zealots, the rebels who wanted to overthrow Rome's rule over the holy land. He may have believed Jesus was the One behind whom the nation would rally. Jesus did things no other man had ever done and He was of the royal line of David, so He must have looked like the perfect candidate to lead a successful rebellion. It's believed by a large number of scholars that Judas intended to force Jesus' hand by betraying Him, that Judas thought the people would rise up in His defense, that Jesus would miraculously deliver the nation from foreign rule, and that He would be crowned king. But instead Judas saw Jesus condemned to death, so he tried to take back his betrayal by returning the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. They scoffed at him and informed him his sins were on his own head. "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.' So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners." (Matthew 27:5-7)
Thus the words of our chapter today were fulfilled. Zechariah threw the thirty pieces of silver into the house of the Lord just as Judas threw the thirty pieces of silver into the temple. Zechariah says the thirty pieces of silver were thrown to the potter, and this was fulfilled when the thirty pieces of silver Judas gave back were used to buy the potter's field. The thirty pieces of silver paid upon the death of a slave was "blood money" just as the thirty pieces of silver paid for Jesus was "blood money". It was the price of a man's life. It was the price paid for the priceless blood of Christ who gave Himself for us. He was valued at so little because He considered us worth any price. We were the ones who were slaves, held captive by our sins. But He was willing to take our place to set us free.
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