Bible Commentaries
Zechariah 11

Verses 1-17

1. THE BAD SHEPHERD! (11:1-14)
   1. Weeping Woods! (1-3) (cedars, pine tree, oaks)
      1. The woods are weeping due to a forest fire.
      2. Why are they weeping? because of the bad shepherds! (4-17)
   2. Sheep Slaughter! (4,5)
   3. A shepherd was to lead & guide,…not slice & dice!
   4. They are not there to feed the sheep, but to but to feed on the sheep!
      1. Q: We have this same problem today in our churches don’t we?
   5. 2 Sticks! (7-14) [action sermon]
   6. A shepherd carried 2 staffs. “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
      1. Q: How do both bring comfort?
      2. The Rod was to ward off beasts & the staff to aid the sheep in difficult places! [Rod took care of the enemies; staff took care of the sheep]
      3. Beauty(Grace, favor)
         1. Cut Beauty in two (10) – The Severance of Relations between Nations.
      4. Bonds(Unity)
         1. Cut Bonds in two (14) – The Severance of Relations within their Nation. (i.e. Judah & Israel)
            1. Discord w/in the nation was 1 of the factors that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
   7. (9) Eat each other’s flesh – Josephus the Jewish Historian describes the cannibalistic “eating of each other’s flesh” as taking place during theRoman destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
   8. (12) 30 pieces of silver! –Probably intended as an insult to the shepherd.
      1. The price of a gored slave – “If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.” Ex.21:32
      2. This was far worse then outright rejection. Messiah was placed on par w/an injured slave.
   9. (13) Throw it…for the potter – To show divine displeasure w/their estimate of His Son.
   10. That princely price – or “the handsome price”(NIV) Obvious use of irony.
       1. This prophecy was fulfilled in Judas.
2. THE ANTI-SHEPHERD! (11:15-17)
   1. Foolish = suggests a person who is a coarse, hardened fool.
      1. He is morally deficient & corrupt, because he doesn’t receive God’s truth.
   2. Worthless = because he doesn’t care for the sheep.
      1. He doesn’t seek the lost, care for the young, feed the flock, or heal the injured.
   3. Arm indicating his strength; Right eye indicating his intelligence.
      1. Most commentators I found don’t see this as literal wounds. (Rev.13:3{resurgence of Gentile power}, 17:8{his empire brought from the pit})
   4. When you reject the true, it is much easier to accept the false.
      1. Jn.5:43 “I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.”
      2. Those who reject the light inevitably accept the darkness!
      3. God will strike him & judge him, “Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” Rev.19:20
      4. Today will this man look more like a Saddam or like Pres. Bush?
         1. A man seeking to bring peace to the Middle East!
      5. Conclusion: Jeremiah said, “…I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”4.5.1. We all need a shepherd, so be sure you follow the right one!
      6. Read Ps.23
      7. The Lord and I are in a shepherd/sheep situation, and I am in a position of negative need. He prostrates me in a green-belt grazing area, and conducts me directionally parallel to a non-torrential aqueous liquid.
         
         He restores to original satisfaction levels my psychological make-up.
         
         Notwithstanding the fact that I make ambulatory progress through the non-illuminated inter-hill mortality slot...terror sensations shall not be observed within me due to the proximity of the omnipotence.
         
         Your pastoral walking aid and quadruped pickup unit introduce me into a pleasurific mood state.
         
         You design and produce a nutrient-bearing furniture type structure in the context of non-cooperative elements, and my beverage utensil experiences a volume crisis.
         
         You enact ahead related folk ritual utilizing vegetable extracts.
         
         Surely it must be an ongoing non-deductible fact that your inter-relational, emphatical and non-vengeful capacities will pursue me as their target focus for the duration of this non-death period.
         
         And I will possess tenant rights in the housing unit of the Lord on a permanently open-ended time basis.