Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, the hosts methodically show how Scripture is one cohesive story. Critical Thinking with a little bit of theology and apologetics and you have what this podcast is about. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity today must address woke, deconstruction, and progressive Christianity, all topics that are addressed if we go purposefully through the Bible. Join Glenn and Steve weekly on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S21 || Betrayal, and Another Prophecy Fulfilled || Zechariah 11:7-13 || Session 21 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
What if the leaders you trust are leading you to spiritual ruin? In this compelling episode, join us as we unravel the intense and challenging messages found in Zechariah 11, illustrating the dual nature of God as both loving and serious about justice. Through the metaphor of shepherding a rebellious flock destined for slaughter, they highlight the crucial responsibility of individuals to recognize and hold their leaders accountable to avoid spiritual disaster. We also delve into the prophetic fulfillment found in the New Testament, where Judas's betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver echoes the prophecy in Zechariah. By exploring this connection, we uncover deeper insights into the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah and the implications for understanding the coming of Israel's restored kingdom.
The Old Testament, minor prophet Zechariah gave a very harsh message to his audience, the Jewish people. This message is still harsh to our ears and we would rather view our God as a nice, loving uncle that brings presents on our birthday. But sometimes we have to hear some harsh lessons as well, because our God is both loving and harsh. Today we're going to see both of those as he deals with his rebellious people. Hi, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We have a ministry we call Reasoning Through the Bible, where we go verse by verse and even phrase by phrase through the Word of God and explain it as we go. We trust that you'll be with us as we go. If you have your, we trust that you'll be with us as we go. If you have your Bibles, open it to the Old Testament, book of Zechariah, chapter 11. We'll be starting in verse 7, which says this so I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock and I took for myself two staffs, the one I called favor and the other I called union. So I pastured the flock. Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them and their soul also was weary of me. Then I said I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated, and let those who are left eat one another's flesh. I took my staff favor and cut it in pieces to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock, who were watching me, realized that it was the word of the Lord. I said to them If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, but if not, never mind. They weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The Lord said to me Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd, for behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing. Well, steve, a sword will be on his arm and on his right eye. His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind. Well, steve, we're in a very dense and somewhat troublesome passage. We have our Almighty God here giving a very severe message to his people, the Jewish people. So when we first read this, what impression do you have? When you just hear that read, what do you think of?
Speaker 2:It goes back to our last session, where God, in the previous verse there verse 6, says that he's no longer going to protect the people anymore, he's not going to have pity on them. So as we pick up here in verse 7, he once again says I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter. As we mentioned in last session, this is God describing what's going to happen, describing this flock. It's not a prescription. He hasn't created this flock in order to slaughter them.
Speaker 2:No, what he's saying is is that this flock is doomed to slaughter because they're following. This flock is doomed to slaughter because they're following leaders who are false leaders and have led them astray. And again in the previous verses it says that those leaders don't even really care about you. This is why the flock is doomed to slaughter. I think again, glenn, we who are members of any flock need to know when our leadership is leading us astray or not. I think this is a picture here of these Israelites that they're just following their leadership. So there's a responsibility, like we talked about in last session, of people of the flock to know and realize and hold their shepherds accountable so that they don't get into a situation like this.
Speaker 1:When I read this, the first impression I walk away with is oh my goodness, this is very severe. It's very strident. Our God is showing his harsh side towards people that have been rebellious. He only does this with rebellious people who knew the truth and then rejected it. The Jewish people had done that. We also should be in a place where we realize that our God is quite capable of being harsh. He will deal with sin. He will not wink at it. Sometimes he takes us out to the woodshed and does business with us there. He takes us to a place where he will punish his children because they are his children.
Speaker 1:This is very strong language. I think it's a difficult passage. Even many of the commentators speak of this as a difficult passage for two or three reasons. One is even the parts that are clear. We just don't like to hear it. He talks about annihilating people, talks about slaughtering his own sheep, talks about eating flesh very strong language here that deals with sinful people. Secondly, the Hebrew translators tell us that the language here is sometimes somewhat difficult to translate. I would just encourage you to look at several different translations. You'll see different versions of what's going on here, so the Hebrew is a little difficult. Lastly, there's some of these passages that just don't have a lot of context to them. He talks about annihilated the three shepherds in one month. Well, we're not told who the three shepherds are. There's passages here where he assumes his listener knows what is being spoken of, and we just don't have the context for. The good news, though, is that the main thrust of this is quite clear, and we'll talk about that as we go through it. Let's start back at verse 7 and kind of walk through this Again.
Speaker 1:The previous section that we dealt with in our last session was that he was talking about shepherding a flock. So in verse 7, he says I pastored the flock doomed to slaughter. It appears here that he is either taking the pretend role of a shepherd or actually became a shepherd, either a leader of the people or a actual physical shepherd in the sense of being an object lesson. If you remember, ezekiel would act out many of the things that God told him to do. At one point he locked himself in his house and dug underground until he got out to the street as an object lesson. He laid on his side for a very long time as an object lesson here.
Speaker 1:It's very possible, and I would take it from the context. It actually happened. He became a shepherd, either a leader of the people or an actual physical shepherd so that he could teach a lesson. Now he's saying here that he became the spiritual leader of the Jewish people to give them a message from God. He seems to be acting out this role. Shepherding a flock doomed for slaughter would be a thankless task, wouldn't you think, steve? He made a situation here where he says I am becoming a shepherd of the flock doomed for slaughter. What would go through someone's mind if they took a role like that?
Speaker 2:I get a picture of somebody who is shepherding a flock that maybe won't listen to them. Now, I know that we've talked about previously that the leadership was leading them astray, but this might be a situation where the flock just won't listen to the shepherd, to the good shepherd. When they won't listen to the good shepherd, it's a thankless job because it's a troublesome job. The sheep won't go or won't do what the shepherd wants them to do, and by doing that they'll put themselves in danger. They'll put themselves going into places where predators can get to them or where there might be dangerous things, such as cliffs where one might go off, and sheep are known to kind of hollow. Once one or two go, then the other ones go as well. I think this is kind of describing, possibly, that here's a good shepherd that wants to take them in the right place, but yet they're doomed to slaughter because they just won't listen to what the good shepherd has to say.
Speaker 1:The last half of verse 7, he takes out two sticks, two staffs, and a shepherd would, of course, would have staffs or sticks for the flock. He gives them names, and one of them is named favor, or some of the translations say pleasantness or beauty. The second one is named union, or many of the translations say bonds or bands or binder. The object lesson here for that is quite clear he has one stick named pleasantness, favor, beauty, and the other named bonds or bands. They're both going to get broken. God is going to both break the favor he has with his people and the bands that hold them together. That's the object lesson and he's going to make that quite clear as he goes through it Again. We've said all along God is sovereign. He created the nation Israel for a special purpose. He gave them many, many blessings. With that came high expectations. They failed. So he is going to break his favor with them and he's also going to break the binds that held them together. That's the message here that we're going to see as we go through this.
Speaker 1:In verse 8, it speaks about these three shepherds, like we mentioned. It's unclear exactly what he's talking about, other than these were false shepherds that he dealt with quickly in one month. Three of them in one month. God, through the prophet Zechariah, dealt with harshly, quickly. That is a pattern we see throughout the scriptures is that God will deal with, especially the leaders. If they're not leading and not doing what they're expected to do, god will deal with them. Just read the history of the kings in Jewish history, and one after the other after the other that disobeyed God. God dealt with them and dealt with them rather soundly. Thoughts on that, steve. Do leaders have a higher expectation and will God deal?
Speaker 2:with them. They do have a higher expectation. In James 3, 1, I believe, is where it is, where it says that teachers teachers of the word of God are going to be held to a higher standard. We talked about that when we went through James. These three shepherds people have looked at this as maybe being the three different classes of king, priests and prophets. Others have looked at it and said maybe this is referring to the last three kings of Judah, but in those situations I do think it's talking about whether it's classes or whether these kings and, of course, these kings were not good, that it is a situation where God has dealt with them because they're not doing the proper things of leading the people in the right way.
Speaker 1:Next, in verse 9, zechariah apparently does not want to be a prophet to the Jews. What he says here in verse 9, I will not pastor you Now. Remember he said he was given the job of being a shepherd of a flock that is doomed for slaughter. Now, a shepherd's job is what A shepherd's job is to protect the sheep supposed to lead them into green pastures, lead them to pleasant places, make sure that they're taken care of, protect them from enemies. Well, if the entire flock is doomed for slaughter, the shepherd sort of throws up his hands and says why am I going to do anything with these when they're doomed for slaughter? He says I will not pasture you, which is to lead them into a spot where they're going to get well fed and well watered If they're going to be slaughtered, I'm not going to waste my time and the grass and the water feeding sheep that are about to be slaughtered.
Speaker 1:He gets rather harsh here Again. Look at 9. What is to die? Let it die. The sheep were destined for slaughter. Why should I do anything to help them? Now, again, he's making an analogy from agriculture with physical sheep to human beings in the nation Israel. Here is that, if God's going to cut off these people? Why am I going to spend any time teaching them valid spiritual things when they've already rejected God over and over again? Why am I going to be a shepherd that's going to try to lead them away from slaughter when they're already destined for slaughter? That is a very harsh message, wouldn't you agree, steve? That is a very harsh message.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't you agree, steve Harsh? But it's also loving in a way. What I mean by that is that he's saying is I'm just going to turn them over and let them do what they want to do. I'm going to turn them over to themselves. They don't want to follow me as a good shepherd. They're going to find themselves in some bad situations. I'm not going to protect them and I'm just going to let die what's going to die. I'm going to let be annihilated. What's going to be annihilated? Those who are left eat one another's flesh. In other words, I'm just going to turn them over to themselves. What's going to happen with them is going to happen with them. I think that's, in a way, a loving God, that he's not going to force us and drag us, kicking and screaming, to worship him. No, if we don't want to worship him, if we don't want to have anything to do with him those people, then he's going to let them go their own way, even though they're doomed for destruction.
Speaker 1:What he's saying here in this passage is that I'm going to let them go and let them cannibalize one another's flesh Very hard thing. I'm going to stop giving them God's messages and let them die. That actually happened, really, when the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD. It was quite harsh. The descriptions that came out of the historians from that period tell us that it was really awful. We have here a description, at least a foreshadowing, of that. At the least, god is very serious when he tells his people to avoid sin. Yes, he's a loving God. Yes, he will heal and yes, he'll put his arm of comfort around his children. But he will also deal with sin, and he will deal with it quite directly and he will not let his children continue in sin. He will deal with his flock and if the flock continues to rebel when they've been sent a prophet, then he will let the flock go to slaughter. Then in verse 10 and 11,. Here's the question what does Zechariah do in verse 10 and 11, and what did it?
Speaker 2:mean he's taking this first staff favor. He's cutting it up into pieces as a representation of breaking he says here a covenant which he had made with his people. Now I think this is talking about the covenant of protection that he had made with them of going into the land because they have disobeyed. I don't think this is the Abrahamic unconditional covenant that he said would last forever, but it is a picture of that. In verse 11, he says that the people that were looking on when he did this now realized that this was the word of the Lord. In other words, they saw something through this act of Zechariah actually breaking this one stick or this one rod or shepherd's rod staff, as something that is a depiction of God getting serious with them.
Speaker 1:I think he says he's going to break favor with them. The stick was named favor and he's going to break favor. Now, obviously is that a message that the Jewish people would want to hear. How would that fall upon their?
Speaker 2:ears, I think, maybe just like how it was in verse 11. All of a sudden they realize oh, this is something that's serious. We need to maybe listen to what Zechariah is talking about.
Speaker 1:So that tends to beg the question what exactly does this mean and how far does it go? Commentators take this to mean he is permanently and entirely breaking all binds and all favor with the nation Israel because of their continued rebellion and rejection. I would disagree, simply because, again, the very next chapter he talks about protecting them again. So what we have here also is we have to compare Scripture with Scripture. The Word of God, taken in its entirety, would tell us that passages such as the Abrahamic covenant, god, over and over and over and over again said I will keep this covenant. It was very intentionally not dependent on the obedience or disobedience of the nation Israel. God knew how they would act when he created that covenant.
Speaker 1:And if you just go back to our lessons on Genesis, specifically chapters 17 and 15, where we go through the Abrahamic covenant in detail, we see that many times over and over. We see that God says because of my name, I will bring you back to the land and cause you to keep my statutes, as he says in Ezekiel, chapter 36. What covenant is he talking about here when he said break my covenant? It's the covenant of the name of the stick, the covenant of his favor, not the covenant of his protection of a people. He's breaking favor with them in the sense that, because of your disobedience, you are no longer in my favor. I'm going to deal with you as someone who has gone out of favor with me. That's what he's saying. He's merely saying you're still my child, but you're not in favor with me anymore. I'm going to deal with you because of your disobedience. They're still his children To strengthen.
Speaker 2:what you just said, glenn, too, is that when God, through his prophets or directly through Moses or other people, when he talks to the people about protection or certain covenants or restoration, bringing them back into the land, and he refers back to the promises that he made to them, he will use terminology such as everlasting, never again, not anymore. That type of terminology that gives a picture of this is something that's going to be perpetual and it's going to continue to happen forever and ever. He doesn't use that terminology here. So this breaking of this covenant, it's a time period he's disciplining them, but he doesn't use the term here that he says I'm going to break this covenant of favor with them forever and ever and it'll be an everlasting break with them. No, he doesn't use that terminology here.
Speaker 1:And that's an excellent point. When we do see passages that talk about everlasting and eternal and forever, it's always when God's making these unconditional promises. Here we don't see it in the opposite way. Excellent point. Moving on, if we look at verse 12, zechariah, as a shepherd, is asking for his wages. If we look at it, the tone here, he seems rather frustrated. The tone here seems like, oh, I should have been getting a little more. So let's explore this because it's got a very important application. Look at verse 12, steve, how much does Zechariah get paid?
Speaker 2:In verse 12, it says that he is going to get paid 30 shekels of silver when do we see that number over in the New Testament we happen to see that number whenever Judas actually strikes a deal with the Pharisees who were after Jesus to kill him, to identify Jesus, for 30 shekels of silver.
Speaker 1:What does the 30 shekels do here in Zechariah in verse 13? Where does he do with them?
Speaker 2:They end up getting thrown back in or given back into the potter's house of the Lord, and that's what we see with Judas. When Judas went back out of remorse to give the money back, the Pharisees, they said no, this is blood money, we can't take it. You got to do it. And so Judas threw it into the temple. Then of course, he went out and he killed himself.
Speaker 1:Very well-known passage in the New Testament when one of Jesus' disciples, judas, betrayed him for only 30 pieces of silver. How much is a human life worth? How much is a life worth of the Messiah, the most valuable human that ever lived? How much is the Lord God worth? I suspect that the whole passage here just reeks with oh, it's only 30 pieces of silver that he got sold out for. Very well-known passage, in fact. It's even quoted over in the New Testament when those events happen.
Speaker 1:So let's look at the implications of this. The implication is that Zechariah was serving as a spiritual shepherd to the Jewish people. They did not value him very much. That's the tone of this passage that we just read. Zechariah got frustrated and threw his wages into the temple. The same idea applies to Jesus. Over in the New Testament, jesus said I am the good shepherd in John 10, 14. The Jewish leaders did not value Jesus very much. He was sold for only 30 pieces of silver. Not much for a human life. For only 30 pieces of silver, not much for a human life. The parallels here between what was going on here. Zechariah didn't think this was very much and it was certainly not much for Jesus. That's the lesson here. Steve, I find this to be such a tremendous, tremendous fulfillment of prophecy. I think it's an example of sort of a double fulfillment here, because you've got the prophecy here as an object lesson with Zechariah and he's applying it to the Jewish people, but it's also applied to Jesus as a person. I just find that to be very interesting.
Speaker 2:Let's add a little bit of background to what we're talking about here in this passage of Zechariah, if I could, over in Luke. In Luke, chapter 19,. Jesus meets Zacchaeus there. At the very end of him talking with Zacchaeus he says for the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Then he goes into a parable. I just want to read a few verses of here, glenn.
Speaker 2:This parable he tells right before the triumphal entry of him coming into Jerusalem. It's in Luke, chapter 19, starting in verse 11. It says while they were listening to these things, jesus went on to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So he said this is the parable a nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return and he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 minas and said to them do business with this until I come back. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us. Then the parable finishes up in verse 27 when it says but these enemies of mine talking of the servant or the person who went off to receive a kingdom, these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence and then, like I said before, the triumphal entry is right after that.
Speaker 2:That's a similar background as to what you were just talking about here. They sold and betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. That's what is talked about here in Zechariah. Zechariah uses the terminology in verse 13, says that's how much they valued me. The parable that I just read goes with everything we've talked about. The people rejected him. They did not want their Messiah Jesus to reign over them at that point in time. Therefore, there's going to be punishment for them.
Speaker 1:That parable that you just read in Luke 19 is a very important clue that our Lord Jesus gave us for interpreting what is the kingdom and when is it going to occur? I think it applies here in Zechariah, because a lot of these prophecies in Zechariah will overlap with that whole concept of when is the kingdom? Is it now, is it future? Well, in Luke 19, the parable of the Minas it was just a few days before he died on the cross and then the resurrection, and then the day of Pentecost, just a very short time prior to that. Luke 19 says he gave this parable because they thought the kingdom would come immediately. And the parable of the Minas then says there was a certain nobleman who went away to a far country to receive a kingdom and then return. He's very obviously saying that he himself was the nobleman that will get the kingdom in the far country, heaven, and come back. The kingdom is not here. Why did he give the parable to the Minas? Because they thought the kingdom was going to come now. He's saying it's not going to come now, I have to go and get it and bring it back.
Speaker 1:So that's our framework that we work under when we interpret these passages in Zechariah, because Zechariah lines up very well with the parable of the Minas and the teachings about the kingdom in the New Testament. We take these passages and we'll continue to look at them and say how do they fit past, present, future? We'll see this as we go through. He has a very severe message here and we're probably out of time for today. But there's a second staff, the first staff. He has broken his fellowship covenant. He didn't break the Abrahamic covenant, but he broke the fellowship and the fellowship meaning I'm not going to protect you from your enemies coming in and you are now sheep destined for slaughter. But there's a second stick that's not broken yet and we'll find out next time what that stick is going to entail.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for watching and listening and, as always, may God bless you.
