Context No. 3121 of 4322 · Zechariah

Zechariah 11:7-17: in context

7So I fed the flock to be slaughtered, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor” and the other I called “Union”, and I fed the flock. 8I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. 9Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.” 10I took my staff Favor and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the LORD’s word. 12I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13The LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter—the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the LORD’s house. 14Then I cut apart my other staff, Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15The LORD said to me, “Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the meat of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces. 17Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will strike his arm and his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”

In a strange, dark, symbolic action, the prophet shepherds the doomed flock with two staffs, Favor and Union, and then breaks them. The flock detests him; so he asks for his wages, and they weigh out thirty pieces of silver, the lordly price at which I was valued by them. And the LORD says, throw it to the potter, so he throws the silver to the potter in the house of the LORD. Then a worthless shepherd is raised up who abandons the flock.

This passage foreshadows the gospel with startling precision. The good shepherd is valued at thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave, and it is thrown to the potter in the temple, exactly what happens with the money of Judas's betrayal of Jesus. The rejection of God's true shepherd, and the raising up of a worthless one who devours the flock instead of tending it, sets a pattern: the world often prizes the false shepherd and despises the true. And God pronounces woe on the worthless shepherd who deserts the sheep. It calls us to recognize and follow the true Shepherd.

Do I recognize and treasure the true Shepherd, refusing to follow the worthless shepherds who exploit the flock rather than tend it?

Sources

Zechariah 11:12: "So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver."
Zechariah 11:17: "Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock!"
John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."