@Zec 11:1-17. DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE AND JEWISH POLITY FOR THE REJECTION OF MESSIAH.
1. Open thy doors, O Lebanon--that is, the temple so called, as being constructed of cedars of Lebanon, or as being lofty and conspicuous like that mountain (compare @Eze 17:3 Hab 2:17). Forty years before the destruction of the temple, the tract called "Massecheth Joma" states, its doors of their own accord opened, and Rabbi Johanan in alarm said, I know that thy desolation is impending according to Zechariah's prophecy. CALVIN supposes Lebanon to refer to Judea, described by its north boundary: "Lebanon," the route by which the Romans, according to JOSEPHUS, gradually advanced towards Jerusalem. MOORE, from HENGSTENBERG, refers the passage to the civil war which caused the calling in of the Romans, who, like a storm sweeping through the land from Lebanon, deprived Judea of its independence. Thus the passage forms a fit introduction to the prediction as to Messiah born when Judea became a Roman province. But the weight of authority is for the former view.
2. fir tree . . . cedar--if even the cedars
(the highest in the state)
are not spared, how much less the fir trees (the lowest)!
forest of . . . vintage--As the vines are stripped of their grapes
in the vintage (compare @Joe 3:13), so the forest of Lebanon "is
come down," stripped of all its beauty. Rather, "the fortified" or
"inaccessible forest"
[MAURER]; that is, Jerusalem dense with houses
as a thick forest is with trees, and "fortified" with a wall around.
Compare @Mic 3:12, where its desolate state is described as a forest.
3. shepherds--the Jewish rulers.
their glory--their wealth and magnificence; or that
of the temple, "their glory" (@Mr 13:1 Lu 21:5).
young lions--the princes, so described on account of their cruel
rapacity.
pride of Jordan--its thickly wooded banks, the lair of "lions"
(@Jer 12:5 49:19). Image for Judea "spoiled" of the magnificence of
its rulers ("the young lions"). The valley of the Jordan forms a deeper
gash than any on the earth. The land at Lake Merom is on a level with
the Mediterranean Sea; at the Sea of Tiberias it falls six hundred fifty
feet below that level, and to double that depression at the Dead Sea,
that is, in all, 1950 feet below the Mediterranean; in twenty miles'
interval there is a fall of from three thousand to four thousand feet.
4. The prophet here proceeds to show the cause of the destruction just
foretold, namely, the rejection of Messiah.
flock of . . . slaughter--(@Ps 44:22). God's people doomed to
slaughter by the Romans. Zechariah here represents typically Messiah,
and performs in vision the actions enjoined: hence the language is in
part appropriate to him, but mainly to the Antitype, Messiah. A million
and a half perished in the Jewish war, and one million one hundred
thousand at the fall of Jerusalem. "Feed" implies that the Jews could
not plead ignorance of God's will to execute their sin. Zechariah and
the other prophets had by God's appointment "fed" them (@Ac 20:28)
with the word of God, teaching and warning them to escape from coming
wrath by repentance: the type of Messiah, the chief Shepherd, who
receives the commission of the Father, with whom He is one (@Zec 11:4);
and Himself says (@Zec 11:7), "I will feed the flock of slaughter."
Zechariah did not live to "feed" literally the "flock of slaughter";
Messiah alone "fed" those who, because of their rejection of Him, were
condemned to slaughter. Jehovah-Messiah is the speaker. It is He who
threatens to inflict the punishments (@Zec 11:6,8). The typical
breaking of the staff, performed in vision by Zechariah (@Zec 11:10),
is fulfilled in His breaking the covenant with Judah. It is He who was
sold for thirty pieces of silver (@Zec 11:12,13).
5. possessors--The buyers
[MAURER], their Roman oppressors,
contrasted with "they that sell men." The instruments of God's righteous
judgment, and therefore "not holding themselves guilty" (@Jer 50:7).
It is meant that they might use this plea, not that they actually
used it. Judah's adversaries felt no compunction in destroying them; and
God in righteous wrath against Judah allowed it.
they that sell them--(Compare @Zec 11:12). The rulers of Judah,
who by their avaricious rapacity and selfishness (@Joh 11:48,50)
virtually sold their country to Rome. Their covetousness brought on
Judea God's visitation by Rome. The climax of this was the sale of the
innocent Messiah for thirty pieces of silver. They thought that Jesus
was thus sold and their selfish interest secured by the delivery of Him
to the Romans for crucifixion; but it was themselves and their country
that they thus sold to the Roman possessors."
I am rich--by selling the sheep (@De 29:19 Ho 12:8). In
short-sighted selfishness they thought they had gained their object,
covetous self-aggrandizement (@Lu 16:14), and hypocritically
"thanked" God for their wicked gain (compare @Lu 18:11).
say . . . pity--In Hebrew it is singular: that is, each of those that sell them saith: Not one of their own shepherds
pitieth them. An emphatical mode of expression by which each
individual is represented as doing, or not doing, the action of the verb
[HENDERSON].
HENGSTENBERG refers the singular verbs to
JEHOVAH, the
true actor; the wicked shepherds being His unconscious instruments.
Compare @Zec 11:6, For I will no more pity, with
the Hebrew "pitieth not" here.
6. Jehovah, in vengeance for their rejection of Messiah, gave them
over to intestine feuds and Roman rule. The Zealots and other factious
Jews expelled and slew one another by turns at the last invasion by
Rome.
his king--Vespasian or Titus: they themselves (@Joh 19:15) had
said, unconsciously realizing Zechariah's words, identifying Rome's king
with Judah's ("his") king, "We have no king but Cæsar." God took them
at their word, and gave them the Roman king, who "smote (literally,
'dashed in pieces') their land," breaking up their polity, when they
rejected their true King who would have saved them.
7. And--rather, "Accordingly": implying the motive cause which led
Messiah to assume the office, namely, the will of the Father
(@Zec 11:4,5), who pitied the sheep without any true shepherd.
I will feed--"I fed"
[CALVIN], which comes to the same thing, as the
past tense must in Zechariah's time have referred to the event of
Messiah's advent then future: the prophets often speaking of the future
in vision as already present. It was not My fault, Jehovah implies,
that these sheep were not fed; the fault rests solely with you, because
ye rejected the grace of God [CALVIN].
even you, O poor of the flock--rather, "in order that
(I might feed, that is, save)
the poor (humble; compare @Zec 11:11 Zep 3:12 Mt 5:3)
of the flock"; literally, not you, but, "therefore (I will feed)"
[MOORE]. See Margin, "Verily the poor." It is for the sake of the
believing remnant that Messiah took charge of the flock, though He would
have saved all, if they would have come to Him. They would not come;
therefore, as a nation, they are "the flock of (that is, doomed to)
slaughter."
I took . . . two staves--that is, shepherds' staves or rods
(@Ps 23:4). Symbolizing His assumption of the pastor's office.
Beauty--The Jews' peculiar excellency above other nations
(@De 4:7), God's special manifestation to them (@Ps 147:19,20),
the glory of the temple ("the beauty of holiness," @Ps 29:2;
compare @Ps 27:4 90:17 2Ch 20:21), the "pleasantness" of their land
(@Ge 49:15 Da 8:9 11:16), "the glorious land."
Bands--implying the bond of "brotherhood" between Judah and Israel.
"Bands," in @Ps 119:61, Margin, is used for confederate
companies: The Easterns in making a confederacy often tie a cord or
band as a symbol of it, and untie it when they dissolve the confederacy
[LUDOVICUS
DE
DIEU]. Messiah would have joined Judah and Israel in the
bonds of a common faith and common laws (@Zec 11:14), but they
would not; therefore in just retribution He broke "His covenant which He
had made with all the people." Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes, and
Pompey were all kept from marring utterly the distinctive "beauty" and
"brotherhood" of Judah and Israel, which subsisted more or less so long
as the temple stood. But when Jehovah brake the staves, not even Titus
could save the temple from his own Roman soldiery, nor was Jurian able
to restore it.
8. Three shepherds . . . I cut off--literally, "to cause to disappear,"
to destroy so as not to leave a vestige of them. The three shepherds
whom Messiah removes are John, Simon, and Eleazar, three leaders of
factions in the Jewish war [DRUSIUS]. Or, as Messiah, the Antitype, was
at once prophet, priest, and king, so He by the destruction of the
Jewish polity destroyed these three orders for the unbelief of both
the rulers and people [MOORE]. If they had accepted Messiah, they would
have had all three combined in Him, and would have been themselves
spiritually prophets, priests, and kings to God. Refusing Him, they
lost all three, in every sense.
one month--a brief and fixed space of time (@Ho 5:7). Probably
alluding to the last period of the siege of Jerusalem, when all
authority within the city was at an end [HENDERSON].
loathed them--literally, "was straitened" as to them; instead of being
enlarged towards them in love (@2Co 6:11,12). The same Hebrew as in @Nu 21:4, Margin. No room was left
by
them for the grace
of God, as His favors were rejected
[CALVIN]. The mutual distaste that
existed between the holy Messiah and the guilty Jews is implied.
9. Then said I--at last when all means of saving the nation had been
used in vain (@Joh 8:24).
I will not--that is, no more feed you. The last rejection of the
Jews is foretold, of which the former under Nebuchadnezzar, similarly
described, was the type (@Jer 15:1-3 34:17 43:11 Eze 6:12). Perish
those who are doomed to perish, since they reject Him who would have
saved them! Let them rush on to their own ruin, since they will have it
so.
eat . . . flesh of another--Let them madly perish by mutual discords.
JOSEPHUS attests the fulfilment of this prophecy of threefold calamity: pestilence and famine ("dieth . . . die"), war ("cut off . . . cut
off"), intestine discord ("eat . . . one . . . another").
10. covenant which I made with all the people--The covenant made with the whole nation is to hold good no more except to the elect remnant. This is the force of the clause, not as MAURER, and others translate. The covenant which I made with all the nations (not to hurt My elect people, @Ho 2:18). But the Hebrew is the term for the elect people (Ammim), not that for the Gentile nations (Goiim). The Hebrew plural expresses the great numbers of the Israelite people formerly (@1Ki 4:20). The article is, in the Hebrew, all the or those peoples. His cutting asunder the staff "Beauty," implies the setting aside of the outward symbols of the Jews distinguishing excellency above the Gentiles (see on Zec 11:7) as God's own people.
11. poor . . . knew--The humble, godly remnant knew by the event the
truth of the prediction and of Messiah's mission. He had, thirty-seven
years before the fall of Jerusalem, forewarned His disciples when they
should see the city compassed with armies, to "flee unto the mountains."
Accordingly, Cestius Gallus, when advancing on Jerusalem, unaccountably
withdrew for a brief space, giving Christians the opportunity of obeying
Christ's words by fleeing to Pella.
waited upon me--looked to the hand of God in all these calamities,
not blindly shutting their eyes to the true cause of the visitation, as
most of the nation still do, instead of referring it to their own
rejection of Messiah. @Isa 30:18-21 refers similarly to the Lord's
return in mercy to the remnant that "wait for Him" and "cry" to Him
(@Zep 3:12,13).
12. I said--The prophet here represents the person of Jehovah-Messiah.
If ye think good--literally, "If it be good in your eyes." Glancing at
their self-sufficient pride in not deigning to give Him that return
which His great love in coming down to them from heaven merited, namely,
their love and obedience. "My price"; my reward for pastoral care, both
during the whole of Israel's history from the Exodus, and especially the
three and a half years of Messiah's ministry. He speaks as their
"servant," which He was to them in order to fulfil the Father's will
(@Php 2:7).
if not, forbear--They withheld that which He sought as His only reward,
their love; yet He will not force them, but leave His cause with God
(@Isa 49:4,5). Compare the type Jacob cheated of his wages by Laban,
but leaving his cause in the hands of God (@Ge 31:41,42).
So . . . thirty pieces of silver--thirty shekels. They not only
refused Him His due, but added insult to injury by giving for Him the
price of a gored bond-servant (@Ex 21:32 Mt 26:15). A freeman was rated
at twice that sum.
13. Cast it unto the potter--proverbial: Throw it to the temple potter,
the most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying his
trade as he did in the polluted valley (@2Ki 23:10) of Hinnom, because
it furnished him with the most suitable clay. This same valley, and the
potter's shop, were made the scene of symbolic actions by Jeremiah
(@Jer 18:1-19:15) when prophesying of this very period of Jewish
history. Zechariah connects his prophecy here with the older one of
Jeremiah: showing the further application of the same divine threat
against his unfaithful people in their destruction under Rome, as before
in that under Nebuchadnezzar. Hence @Mt 27:9, in English Version, and in the oldest authorities, quotes Zechariah's words as Jeremiah's,
the latter being the original author from whom Zechariah derived the
groundwork of the prophecy. Compare the parallel case of @Mr 1:2,3 in
the oldest manuscripts (though not in English Version), quoting
Malachi's words as those of "Isaiah," the original source of the
prophecy. Compare my Introduction
to Zechariah. The "potter" is significant of God's absolute
power over the clay framed by His own hands
(@Isa 45:9 Jer 18:6 Ro 9:20,21).
in the house of the Lord--The thirty pieces are thrown down
in the temple, as the house of Jehovah, the fit place for the money
of Jehovah-Messiah being deposited, in the treasury, and the very place
accordingly where Judas "cast them down." The thirty pieces were cast
"to the potter," because it was to him they were "appointed by the Lord"
ultimately to go, as a worthless price (compare @Mt 27:6,7,10). For
"I took," "I threw," here Matthew has "they took," "they gave
them"; because their (the Jews' and Judas') act was all His "appointment" (which Matthew also expresses), and therefore is here
attributed to Him (compare @Ac 2:23 4:28). It is curious that some
old translators translate, for "to the potter," "to the treasury"
(so MAURER), agreeing with @Mt 27:6. But English Version agrees
better with Hebrew and @Mt 27:10.
14. The breaking of the bond of union between Judah and Israel's ten tribes under Rehoboam is here the image used to represent the fratricidal discord of factions which raged within Jerusalem on the eve of its fall, while the Romans were thundering at its gates without. See JOSEPHUS [Wars of the Jews]. Also the continued severance of the tribes till their coming reunion (@Ro 11:15).
15. yet--"take again"; as in @Zec 11:7 previously he had
taken other implements.
instruments--the accoutrements, namely, the shepherd's crook and
staff, wallet, &c. Assume the character of a bad ("foolish" in Scripture
is synonymous with wicked, @Ps 14:1) shepherd, as before thou
assumedst that of a good shepherd. Since the Jews would not have
Messiah, "the Good Shepherd" (@Joh 10:11), they were given up to Rome,
heathen and papal, both alike their persecutor, especially the latter,
and shall be again to Antichrist, the "man of sin," the instrument of
judgment by Christ's permission. Antichrist will first make a covenant
with them as their ruler, but then will break it, and they shall feel
the iron yoke of his tyranny as the false Messiah, because they rejected
the light yoke of the true Messiah (@Da 11:35-38 12:1 9:27 2Th 2:3-12).
But at last he is to perish utterly (@Zec 11:17), and the elect
remnant of Judah and Israel is to be saved gloriously.
16. in the land--Antichrist will probably he a Jew, or at least one
in Judea.
not visit . . . neither . . . seek . . . heal . . . broken, nor feed
. . . but . . . eat . . . flesh . . . tear--Compare similar language
as to the unfaithful shepherds of Israel in @Eze 34:2-4. This implies,
they shall be paid in kind. Such a shepherd in the worst type shall
"tear" them for a limited time.
those . . . cut off--"those perishing" [Septuagint], that is, those
sick unto death, as if already cut off.
the young--The Hebrew is always used of human youths, who are
really referred to under the image of the young of the flock. Ancient
expositors [Chaldee Version,
JEROME, &c.] translate,
"the straying," "the dispersed"; so GESENIUS.
broken--the wounded.
standeth still--with faintness lagging behind.
tear . . . claws--expressing cruel voracity; tearing off the very
hoofs (compare @Ex 10:26), giving them excruciating pain, and
disabling them from going in quest of pasture.
17. the idol--The Hebrew expresses both vanity and an idol. Compare @Isa 14:13 Da 11:36 2Th 2:4 Re 13:5,6, as to the idolatrous and blasphemous claims of Antichrist. The "idol shepherd that leaveth the flock" cannot apply to Rome, but to some ruler among the Jews themselves, at first cajoling, then "leaving" them, nay, destroying them (@Da 9:27 11:30-38). God's sword shall descend on his "arm," the instrument of his tyranny towards the sheep (@2Th 2:8); and on his "right eye," wherewith he ought to have watched the sheep (@Joh 10:12,13). However, Antichrist shall destroy, rather than "leave the flock." Perhaps, therefore, the reference is to the shepherds who left the flock to Antichrist's rapacity, and who, in just retribution, shall feel his "sword" on their "arm," which ought to have protected the flock but did not, and on their "eye," which had failed duly to watch the sheep from hurt. The blinding of "the right eye" has attached to it the notion of ignominy (@1Sa 11:2).