Desolation by Ungodly Shepherds

Zechariah 11:1-17 

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That fire may devour your cedars.

2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the mighty trees are ruined.
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the thick forest has come down.

3 There is the sound of wailing shepherds!
For their glory is in ruins.
There is the sound of roaring lions!
For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins.

Prophecy of the Shepherds

4 Thus says the LORD my God, "Feed the flock for slaughter, 5 whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich'; and their shepherds do not pity them. 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD. "But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor's hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand."

7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock. 8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, "I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other's flesh." 10 And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12 Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter. 14 Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the LORD said to me, "Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. 16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.

17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
Who leaves the flock!
A sword shall be against his arm
And against his right eye;
His arm shall completely wither,
And his right eye shall be totally blinded."

The desolation of fallen Israel and her ungodly shepherds brought down her former glory in God’s and the surrounding nations’ eyes.  The pride of Judah was no longer heard as the roaring lion, but unseen to them the Lion of the tribe of Judah to come, the Messiah, would restore them as the only trustworthy Shepherd of their souls.  The earthly shepherds did not lead the people anywhere but to ruin and destruction in immortality and idolatry.  The people became sheep prepared and led to slaughter by these irresponsible ones standing in the place where a true shepherd should have been.  Because they did these things as they pursued their own gain without pity, remorse, or guilt, God would likewise reward them as they deserved, with no pity.  These had the audacity to 'Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich' as they blasphemed His name with lies and made the sheep suffer.  He allowed them to be led to the slaughter as He broke the covenant which was made with them as portrayed by the staff called Beauty cut in pieces and left the staff called Bonds in place as their bondage to sin was now their only shepherd.  This was seen by the poor as the word of the LORD because they lacked everything and could best understand loss and suffering which the evil shepherds had brought to them all.  He symbolically asked for wages of thirty pieces of silver as a foreshadowing of the betrayal of Judas much later (Matthew 26:15).  These pieces of the price which they set on God were thrown to the potter as a foreshadowing of the field of the potter to which Judas threw them (Matthew 27:3, 4, 8-9) before his suicide after betraying the Lord.  Then the staff called Bonds was cut in half as a testimony of the breaking up of Israel and Judah to dissolve their unity as His people because of their sin.  They would be given an even worse shepherd at that time until the restoration of all Israel (Acts 3:21).  Nonetheless, woe would be doled out on this worthless shepherd who did not care for the flock as he should and he would be desolated.  Only the true and divine Shepherd would ever be able to lead them with proper care and compassion in truth and righteousness.  That is Jesus Christ the Anointed of God who alone can lead His people without malice or selfishness because He is our Creator who spoke us into being (Genesis 1:1, 26-27, John 1:1-3, 10, Colossians 1:16).  Because of His coming as the Shepherd who leads we His people as the sheep of His eternal pasture, we now have under-shepherds who are able to humbly lead His people as servants (1 Peter 5:2-4) and not for selfish gain.  May all of us who are given this responsibility take it to heart as we consider the end of these self-seeking ones which Zechariah spoke against in the accountability of judgment who led the people to desolation with ungodly and selfish counsel.