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, the invader of Isaiah 5:26; Joel 2:1-17; Psalms 79 and 83, called “the king of Assyria” or “the Assyrian” in Isaiah 8:7-10 and 10:1-14, 24-34. Daniel 8:23-25 tells more of this enemy, and 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 19:10; 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