Zechariah 11

Though we may have difficulty interpreting the particular meaning of some of the prophetic texts of the Old Covenant, it is normally clear from a simple reading of these passages whether the prophet is speaking of something very good or something very bad. The ultimate realities of the plan of God which will be seen in the return of the Messiah on the final Day of the Lord include those things that are very bad for some group of people, and those things that are very good for another group of people. As we shall see, these two very different results are closely connected to each other in important ways. After all, it was through the Messiah facing something very bad that we have been given something extraordinarily good. In any case, there should be no mistaking that Zechariah 11 explores the bad side of this picture; the destruction and devastation that will come upon some by the just judgment of God.

In the opening verses we read about fire devouring the trees of the forest, probably representative of towering leaders and important nations who will be brought low by the coming day of God's wrath. This final day has intruded into the history of mankind on many occasions, as the Lord works out His providence in the world in such a way that a taste of His anger against sin is expressed in the events surrounding the fall of nations. These things do not happen without great personal suffering and misery. Hear the Lord speaks of the wailing of the trees, but we know that He is teaching us about great trouble coming upon people.

The imagery of shepherds and sheep is used throughout this chapter, and we can easily see that this is about civil and religious leaders and the flocks that follow them. There are those who take over a position of some authority as shepherds during a time of what would seem to be inevitable decline. Here the Lord speaks of a flock that is doomed to slaughter. Their enemies are used as agents of this slaughter. These adversaries are happy that they have prospered at the expense of others. We see here brutality and slavery as people are treated like animals to be used for profit. The Lord will not intervene, because the end has come for that society.

Even if God Himself became the Shepherd of this flock, according to His sovereign will, they would still be doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. The Lord had once had favor upon them, shining forth the blessing of His beauty upon their land. He had once given them hope of a blessed unity, like the kind of hope that people had in the restoration about the future union again of Israel and Judah. But those who should have followed the Good Shepherd were soon judged to be irreparably corrupt, and their time came to an end. More than that, the Lord withdrew, in some sense, from being Shepherd over this people, which is what took place when He brought the entire Old Covenant system to a conclusion.

There is some sense of detachment here concerning this doomed people. Those who are to die will die, and those who are left for some time longer will have a miserable existence. Who fared better of the two groups? Only the Lord knows, since He has the keys to eternity in His hands, and He has not completely revealed the specific list of the sons of God except in broad outlines. God has brought to an end one covenantal arrangement, and that will have implications for many in this world here below. But the Lord will never annul the Covenant of Grace that He has made with His Son, and with the elect in Him. The blessings of that covenant will surely come to the people of God in the resurrection age, though for now, so very many people will suffer and die.

The key figure for the securing of eternal blessings for those who face varying degrees of temporal curse is the divine Shepherd King who comes as a lowly Servant. In a cryptic jewel tucked away for future generations in verses 12 and 13 there is mention of this Messiah figure who is valued at thirty pieces of silver, the betrayal price that was paid to Judas who would lead the disgraceful shepherds of Israel to the place where Jesus would be identified with a kiss. From there He would willingly go into their custody on His way to the cross. The story of the thirty pieces of silver takes us to the horrible remorse of the betrayer Judas, who tries to return the blood money, finally casting it into the temple. The coins are used for the purchase of the Potter's field that became known as the Field of Blood.

While this is the end of the Old Covenant, it is the beginning of the gospel age and the preaching of this one rejected Messiah, who has become the hope of the nations. The key battle that has secured for us a redemption that goes beyond the Jews took place at the cross. There Christ, the Good Shepherd, took upon Himself the kind of penalty that the wicked shepherds of Israel and Judah and the corrupt rulers and benefactors of the nations deserved.

He was treated there by the Lord as a rejected and foolish shepherd for our sake, according to the Lord's plan of sovereign mercy. He was punished as if He were a man who did not care for his people, who ignored the plight of the weak, and abused the people for His own gain, like one who had deserted His flock, like a worthless shepherd. Of course, nothing was further from the truth. His devotion to us and to His elect from all over the world was powerfully displayed on the cross, where He loved us to the end. He took the punishment that we deserved that we might walk today in His eternal light as free men and women in Christ.