The Foolish Shepherds

4 Thus said Jehovah my God: 'Feed the flock of the slaughter, 5 Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed 'is' Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.' 7 And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock. 8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me. 9 And I say, 'I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.' 10 And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples: 11 and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it 'is' a word of Jehovah.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Zechariah 11:4-11

Commentary on Zechariah 11:4-14

(Read Zechariah 11:4-14)

Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds wofully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend about little matters.