Zechariah
Chapter
11
{The
5th Cycle of Discipline Administered was recorded in Leviticus 26.
In Zechariah 10:3 we saw that Israel had enemies within as well as
without. The enemies within were the shepherds, the apostate leaders
of Israel in the past. The goats were the enemies without - the
Seleucid dynasty. This context amplifies the shepherds. The shepherd
carries a staff. In this case the shepherd is going to carry two
staves - verse 10. The first one is called "beauty", which
is really grace. The second one is called "bands" or
"unity" and it is broken in verse 14 - also a description
of something that happened in 70 AD - the 5th cycle administered by
Rome.}
{Verses
1-11: False Shepherds}
{Verses
1-3: 10 lines of Hebrew Poetry}
1-3~~
Open your doors, O Lebanon.
{refers to the 2nd temple built in 516BC and upgraded by Herod.
This temple had become a source of blasphemy when from 30 AD
until its destruction in 70AD - Sacrifices continued in the temple -
'crucifying Him afresh' - since He had come. Basic structure of the
temple was the cedars from Lebanon.}
That
the fire may devour your cedars
{this fire was started by the Roman soldiers}. 2~~
Be
Caused to scream, O fir tree; for the cedar is fallen
{the Jews screamed in the streets when the Romans came
in and slaughtered them and also because the temple was
destroyed 'Fir tree' refers to common people and 'cedar' is the
temple}.
For
the glorious ones are destroyed
{the Jews held out tremendously so that the Romans were very
cruel when they crushed the resistance - torture, rape, death,
and slavery for the few survivors}.
Scream,
O oaks of Bashan
{oaks of Bashan - religious unbelievers - often called bulls of
Bashan - see Psalms 22:12}.
For
the fortified forests have come down
{reference to the fantastic fortifications of Jerusalem - a three
walled system that finally fell to the Romans}. 3~~
The
voice of screaming of the shepherds
{screams of the Jewish religious leaders of the day -
thinking is usually gone when screams come}.
For
their glory is destroyed
{their glory is the tremendous wealth of the temple -
materialistically speaking - which is what they were interested in}.
The
loud roaring of young lions
{screams of the political leaders}.
For
the pride of Jordan is also destroyed
{the state was fallen - their leadership also was destroyed
Isaiah wrote on this in 518 BC describes this}.
{Principle
of Grace Before Judgement}
4~~Thus
said Jehovah/God my 'Elohiym/Godhead.
Feed
the flock of the slaughter. {this is a command}
{Note: This is a command to the communicators of doctrine. Zechariah is a prophet. Once he receives the message from God, it is written down. The priests then have the responsibility to feed their flocks this information. The 5th cycle comes only when the people leave the Way of God - and this often is the result of no correct feeding of the flock - either false doctrine or no doctrine is taught.}
{Verses
5-6: Prose Prophecy of the 5th Cycle}
5~~Whose
possessors slay them
{possessors here refers to the Roman conquerors who controlled
the Jews under the 4th cycle of discipline for many years. Now
they will slay over a million Jews in the 70AD siege and assault
that put down a Jewish revolt against Rome}, and they hold
themselves not guilty (the Romans were putting down a challenge
to their authority started in 67 AD - the historian Josephus said in
book 5, that the Roman leader Titus saw the destruction of his
soldiers that he raised his hands to God and said I am not guilty of
these things.}
and
they who sell them say,
'Blessed
. . . {be} Jehovah/God
for
I am rich {from the sale of the slaves}
and
their own shepherds pity them not
{the Romans said as they sold 97,000 Jews that they are better
off in slavery than under their own religious leaders}. 6~~
For
I {God} will no more pity the inhabitants of the land
{under Grace they have every opportunity to turn to Him and did
not},
said
Jehovah/God,
"but,
lo, I will deliver every man into his neighbor's hand
{natural infighting and robbery in Jerusalem under the siege},
and
into the hand of his king
{emperor Vespasian (69 -79 AD) who was now emperor and his son
Titus (emperor after his father in 79 to 81 AD) took over the final
conquest of Jerusalem under him}
and
they {the Romans} shall smite the land,
and
out of their hand
I
{God} will not deliver them
{the Jews did go out again in 70AD - they were warned
for hundreds of years first}.
{Two
Shepherd Staves (the plural of 'staff')}
7~~And
I {God} will feed the flock of slaughter,
even
you {the Jewish nation in 70 AD}
{they would continue to receive bible doctrine - giving them
a chance to the very end to 'change their mind about God and His
Word'},
O
poor of the flock.
And
I took unto me two staves;
the
one I called No'am/Grace
{no`am - another word for grace - God's Grace in protecting a
nation},
and
the other I called Unity/Bands
{chabal - refers to internal unity and function for protecting a
nation - law and order};
and
I fed the flock
{God through Zechariah continued to teach God's Word}.
{Note: As long as God permits the two staves within a national entity the national entity is not going to be destroyed. But without the two staves no nation can survive. When the two staves exist within a national entity then there is the probability of the nation hearing Bible doctrine. The first staff is grace, God's grace in protecting the nation, especially from enemies without. The second staff is unity and has to do with the internal activities of a nation. When God breaks the first staff the nation is involved in war which usually destroys it, or in which it is defeated. When God breaks the second staff there is internal disorder and dissension.}
{Verse
8: Judgement of the Three Shepherds}
8~~Three
shepherds also,
I
'cut down' {kachad} them
in
one month {August of 70AD}.
And
My {God's} soul 'cut short'/loathed {qatsar} them,
{nephesh - reference to His 'Thinking' - 'mentality of the soul'}
and
their soul {nephesh} also abhorred/loathed {bachal} Me.
{Note: RBT says Simon bar Gioras, John of Giscalla, and Eleazar bar Simon in the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 are possibilities for the three shepherds, but it won't work out for a simple reason that they were not destroyed within one month. Instead, RBT says the three shepherds refer to the spiritual and political leadership of the Jews so were: the prophet (taught the spoken Word of God), the priest (taught the written Word of God), and the political ruler - all were gone in one month.}
{Verse
9: Judgement of the People in Jerusalem}
9~~Then
said I {God through Zechariah},
I
will not feed you
with
the result that . . . that dies . . . 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.
{Note: This is the destruction of the food. In the siege of Jerusalem the food supply was destroyed. Two of the zealot parties started fighting each other by the granaries and one party set fire to the granaries. There was enough grain to supply them for about 25 years and it was all destroyed in one big fire. The historian Josephus said: "Immediately after the most awful depredations were committed to obtain food. Young strong men snatched food from children and from the aged. In many cases people would break into homes during meal times and take half-swallowed food right out of the throats of people. Soon the population was reduced to eating rats, bugs, dogs, etc. Soon they were eating dead bodies, shoes, belts, leather shields, bark off of the trees. They finally resorted to murder and cannibalism of their victims - even their own children - terrible, terrible conditions.}
{Verse
10: Breaking of the 1st Staff}
10~~And
I took My staff,
the
one called No'am/Grace {see verse7},
and
I cut it asunder,
that
I might break My covenant
which
I had made with all the people
{RBT says is Gentiles here}.
{Note: None of this could happen unless God permits it. No nation ever goes down unless God breaks the staff. God has a staff, as it were, for each nation called grace - the preservation of that nation.}
{Note: RBT says the covenant here is the one whereby God told the Gentiles to lay off attacking the Jews in Jerusalem. The covenant was actually a means whereby God protected the people of Israel. Breaking the staff means that the Jews are now vulnerable to conquest.}
{Verse
11: Biblical Orientation of Believers in this Greatest of Catastrophes}
11~~And
it was broken in that day {August of 70 AD}
so
that the humble/'grace oriented' of the flock
{spiritually mature believers with doctrine in their souls}
who
waited {to be on guard duty} upon Me
{they understand 'Faith Rest' - to 'Rest in the Lord'}
they
kept on knowing {from doctrine resident in their souls} {yada`}
that
it was the word/'doctrinal communication' {dabar}
of
Jehovah/God.
{RBT
says a Chapter Break Should Be Here}
{Verse
12-14: Final Siege of Jerusalem - end of the Tribulation and The
Good Shepherd}
{Verse
12: Rejection of the Good Shepherd - Jesus Christ Betrayed - 30
pieces of Silver}
12~~And
I said unto them,
If
it is good in your eyes
{idiom meaning if you think this is correct
and 'the good' here is 'divine good' and refers
to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross}
give
Me My price
{If you recognize what Christ did for you, then give God His price.
What is God's price? 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall
be saved'};
and
if not, forsake
{The other side of the coin - choice of believing in Christ or
rejecting Him}.
So
they 'weighed out shekels'
{these Jews made their decision - against Messiah/Christ}
for
My price thirty pieces of silver.
{Note: Per Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave gored by a bull was 30 pieces of silver. This was literally fulfilled in Matthew 26:15. (The goring by a bull is a picture of the physical abuse of Jesus Christ on the cross).}
13~~And
Jehovah/God said unto me,
"Cast
it unto the potter the precious price {30 pieces of silver}
'that
I was 'prized at'/'by which I was evaluated'
by
them.
And
I {Judas Iscariot acted this out}
took
the thirty pieces of silver,
and
cast them to the potter
{for a plot in the potter's field where indigents were buried}
in
the house of Jehovah/God.
{Note: This was acted out by Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of the Lord. He took the money and threw the coins down in the house of God and said, "These go for a potter's field". Once again the Jews have a warning from God via Judas Iscariot. Always God's grace gives maximum warning before the 5th cycle of discipline - which came roughly 40 years later in 70 AD. }
{Verse
14: Breaking of the 2nd Staff}
14~~Then
I cut asunder My other staff,
called
Unity/Bands {see verse 7},
for
the purpose that
I
might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
{Note: This is the breaking of the nation into parties that are hostile to each other. This was one of the marked peculiarities of later Jewish history. This was true in 70 AD and this will be true again in the Tribulation.}
{Verses
15-17: Prophecy of the Future Tribulation}
{Verses
15-17: Idol Shepherd - Dictator of Palestine in the
Tribulation}
15~~And
Jehovah/God said unto me,
"Take
unto you yet the instruments
{reference to the staves again - no protection from God and
internal dissention}
of
a foolish {'eviliy} shepherd."
{Note: RBT says this is the dictator of Palestine in the Tribulation. He is called in Genesis 49:16-18 'Dan the serpent'. In Daniel 11:36-40, he is called the 'willful king'. In Revelation 16:13 and 19:20 he is called the false prophet. In Revelation chapter 13:11 and following, he is called the 'beast out of the land'. Here in verse 15 he is called the 'foolish shepherd', in verse 16 he is called 'he that will eat the flesh'. In verse 17 he is called the 'idol shepherd'. This is the rise of the last great dictator of the Jews, a Jewish dictator who is the false prophet. And he is to be the warning of the terrible events of the last half of the Tribulation.}
{Note: The instruments are a reference to the staves again. There will be internal dissension and then God will withdraw His protection and there will be the invasion of the king of the north and the invasion of the 'kings of the sun rising' - the pan-Arabic bloc, etc.}
16~~"For,
lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land,
who
shall not visit those that be cut off,
neither
shall seek the young one,
nor
heal that that is broken,
nor
feed that that stands still.
But
he shall eat the flesh of the fat
{killing and destruction of the people},
and
tear their claws in pieces
{picture of torture}.
{Note: The foolish shepherd will not perform the normal functions of a ruler, the protection and care for his people. This is an analogy to sheep. The sheep that are cut off, the shepherd goes and gets them, but not the foolish shepherd. Healing the young sheep is again the work of a shepherd. Feeding is the work of a shepherd. These are analogous to the possibilities of political leadership and all of these are going to be removed.}
{Note: Finally, this shepherd will 'eat their flesh'. RBT says this means that this dictator will actually destroy Jewish people. He will also be involved in destroying Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses. The claws refers to torture; the eating to outright killing.}
17~~Woe
to the idol shepherd
{the idol put up in the Holy of Holies}
who
leaves the flock!
The
sword shall be upon his arm
{his nation will be cut down by attack},
and
upon his right eye
{sign of intelligence - his clear thinking will be knocked out}.
His
arm shall be clean dried up,
and
his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
{Note: The dictator here is called an 'idol shepherd' because of the 'abomination of desolation' - he agrees to have the idol put up in the Holy of Holies. Therefore the idol shepherd is going to have his arm cut with the sword, which means that his nation will be brought down. Then 'his right eye will be destroyed' is a picture of his intelligence - he can not 'see' and understand what is happening. This means that with all of his intelligence he cannot cope with the events at the end of the Tribulation.}
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