Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1937

Zechariah 11:1-11¹Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. ²Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. ³There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. ⁴Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; ⁵Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. ⁶For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. ⁷And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. ⁸Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. ⁹Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. ¹⁰And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. ¹¹And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord. (Zechariah 11:1‑11)

THE eleventh chapter is very instructive. It begins with a Gentile invasion (verses 1-3) of the land of Israel, when the Jews will be settled there again in unbelief. See Isaiah 18, which foretells both the mass return of the nation (a yet unfulfilled prophecy, notwithstanding the constant emigration of Jews to Palestine of late), and the taking away of their peace and prosperity when they are about to enjoy them.

The enemy who will despoil the Jews at this tune is the “king of the north” of Daniel 11:40-45,⁴⁰And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. ⁴¹He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. ⁴²He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. ⁴⁴But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. ⁴⁵And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. (Daniel 11:40‑45) the invader of Isaiah 5:26²⁶And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: (Isaiah 5:26); Joel 2:1-17¹Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; ²A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. ³A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. ⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. ⁵Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. ⁶Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. ⁷They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: ⁸Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. ⁹They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. ¹⁰The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: ¹¹And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? ¹²Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: ¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. ¹⁴Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: ¹⁶Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. ¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? (Joel 2:1‑17); Psalms 79 and 83, called “the king of Assyria” or “the Assyrian” in Isaiah 8:7-10⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: ⁸And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. ⁹Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us. (Isaiah 8:7‑10) and 10:1-14, 24-34. Daniel 8:23-25²³And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. ²⁴And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. ²⁵And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:23‑25) tells more of this enemy, and Isaiah 28:14-20¹⁴Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁵Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. ¹⁷Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. ¹⁸And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. ¹⁹From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. ²⁰For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. (Isaiah 28:14‑20) calls him the “overflowing scourge.”

The stately and strong trees of verses 1 and 2 are figures representing the leaders or shepherds of Judah who will suffer from the invasion. The marginal note referring to the last clause of verse. 2 is a more accurate rendering than is given in the text. The “pride of Jordan” (verse 3), is a term used to express the resources and power of the nation.

In verses 4 to 14 the prophet speaks for Christ. At the time of the end, the believing remnant of the Jews will be hated by the unbelieving majority; they are the flock of slaughter (verse 4). Their feelings at this time are expressed in many of the Psalms; see Nos, 10-12, 28, 42, 56, 60, 71, 79. But the flock of slaughter, the poor of the flock, will be spared and cared for (verse 7), though the sword goes through the land.

Two staves express the authority committed to Christ: “Beauty”, to bring the world into blessing through Israel; and “Bands”, to bring together as one nation Judah (the two tribes we know as the Jews) and Israel (the long lost ten tribes). Who or what were the three shepherds is not revealed in Scripture; they must necessarily be heads of the Jews; but Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s and John’s Gospels show very plainly the fulfillment of the latter half of verse 8: “And my soul loathed” (or more correctly translated, “was vexed, or grieved with”) “them”—the shepherds of the Jews when the Lord was on earth— “and their soul also abhorred Me,” Their ways repelled Him, and, besides, they hated Him, without a cause.

The unbelieving mass of the Jews He therefore gave up to the immediate result of their course—the siege and capture of Jerusalem by the Romans which were marked by fearful scenes (verse 9). Consequently the staff, “Beauty,” was broken the promise of blessing: to the Gentiles must wait for another day, when the state of the Jews will be such before God that He can bless both them and the Gentiles. See Genesis 19:10¹⁰But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. (Genesis 19:10); both there and in the tenth verse of Zechariah 11, the word should be peoples, not “people,” —referring to the nations.

The present work of God in grace among the Gentiles is but dimly forecast in the Old Testament and is not referred to in Zechariah’s prophecy.

Verse 11: “the poor of the flock” who give heed to the Word of God have intelligence in divine things.

ML 09/26/1937

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.