Zechariah 11:12 – Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver.
We will now proceed to examine the last part of Zechariah chapter 11. Thus far, we have seen that this chapter was a word of warning/judgment. God gave a vision to Zechariah in which Israel was troubled by spiritual and temporal leaders who led them astray. The end result of this bad leadership was the destruction of the nation and most of its people.
While this situation could be found more than once in Israel’s history, we are focusing our study on the period of the incarnation of Christ. 
During that time, the leaders of Israel were very poor shepherds. They placed their traditions and ideas above the commands of God. They put spiritual burdens on the common people which they themselves would not follow. Furthermore, they enriched themselves at the expense of the people they were supposed to serve and they failed to give justice to the poor, the widows and the orphans.
Worst of all, they rejected Jesus as the Messiah and refused to embrace the sound spiritual doctrine he brought from the Father. Thus, they chose death instead of life.
However, there is good news too. God used the occasion of Israel’s apostasy to open up the gospel to the Gentiles. In addition, he still had the ‘poor of the flock’ or a remnant of the Jews who fully embraced Jesus as the Messiah. For full details, please refer to the prior four posts.
Now let’s continue with our study.
As we already noted, in this particular vision Zechariah represents Christ. In this portion of the vision, he speaks to the corrupt shepherds. There are generally two interpretations for this verse. They are most easily understood by examining two different translations of the Hebrew scriptures.
The first interpretation is expressed well in the English Standard Version of the bible which says:
‘If it seems good to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them.’
If this represents Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day, then what wages is he talking about? Why would Jesus give these corrupt leaders the option of keeping his wages?
The concept of wages implies that some type of work or service was performed in exchange for a benefit. So let’s think for a moment – did the Lord perform any services for the Jews?
Of course he did! He called them out of the world and made them into a nation that was set apart for his glory. He led them to Egypt where their numbers were greatly increased. Afterward, he brought them out of bondage with great wealth/riches. He made an everlasting covenant with them, to be their God and make them his own people. He gave them a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’.
From the time the covenant was made with Abram, God had protected them, led them, blessed them, and provided for them. He appointed priests and prophets to lead them in the ways of righteousness. He appointed kings to reign over them. Now he desired to give them the greatest gift of all - eternal life through the blood of his only Son.
And what benefit or payment did God require for his services? He desired for his people to have faith in him, to cling to him in love, to honor and worship him. He required them to be faithful to his commands. Was that so much to ask? Of course not! And yet, the religious leaders of that day refused to give Jesus even the smallest token of respect or gratitude!
As odd as it seems, God extends the same option to all of us: each and every individual person is free to serve, worship and honor him, but they are also free to completely reject him and give their allegiance to Satan.
Think about that for a minute… Almighty God, the supreme creator and ruler of all things, gives each person the free-will choice to accept or reject him. While he desires for us to live under his authority, love and protection, he will not force us to do so. He simply sets life and death before us and allows us to choose our path.
Moses expressed the thought well in his address to the children of Israel:
Deuteronomy 30:19 - I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live…
The same choice is later presented to Israel by the prophet Elijah:
I Kings 18:21 – If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.
This astonishing choice is also reflected in God’s statement to the corrupt Jewish shepherds; he tells them to pay him his wages if they wish, but he won’t force them to do so.
This is a good time for us to pause and examine our own lives. Think about your past and your present. What has God done for you? How has he blessed you, provided for you, healed you, and comforted you? What sin has he forgiven for you? How has he protected you and delivered you? What prayers has he answered for you?
Furthermore, what about the promises of his future blessing? If you are a child of God, then your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You have a future awaiting you that is so amazing, you can’t even imagine it!
1 Corinthians 2:9 - But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
One day you will be united with Christ in heaven. As a citizen of heaven, you will live a productive, rewarding life free from sin, sickness, disease, chaos and evil. You will never be separated from the Father, Son and Spirit.
Given all that God has done (and will do) for us, how can we not ‘give him his wages’ by faithfully serving him and obeying his commands?
Now let’s examine the second interpretation of this verse. It is expressed well in the King James translation which says:
‘If you think it good, give me my price; and if not, forbear.’
Instead of ‘wages’ this translation uses the word ‘price’. The concept of price implies value. In other words, things that are highly valued (the Mona Lisa for example) have a high price. In fact sometimes we call these things priceless, indicating that they are of inestimable worth. On the other hand, things that have little or no value can be bought for a very low price.
In this interpretation of the verse, Jesus is referring to the price or the value which the Jewish leaders placed upon his life, doctrine and ministry.
While you and I would say that the life or blood of Christ is priceless, the Jewish leaders gave him a very different value – 30 pieces of silver. In case you weren’t aware, that is the price assigned to the least valued slave in Israel:
Exodus 21:32 - If the ox shall gore a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
And as you know, that was the exact price the corrupt Jewish leaders offered to Judas Iscariot to betray Christ to his death:
Matthew 26:15 - …and said unto them, What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
These men not only refused to give Christ the honor and glory he was due, they added insult to injury by assigning his life (and blood) the same value as the lowest slave. Thus, the price of the Messiah’s life was exactly what God predicted it would be hundreds of years before Christ came to earth in the form of a man.
Zechariah 11:13 – Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.
Father God, who is intensely angry with the Jews for treating his Son like garbage, refers to the 30 pieces of silver as a lordly or princely price. Clearly, he is being sarcastic. By assigning the life of Jesus a value of 30 silver coins, the Jewish leaders showed contempt for Christ, his doctrine and his blood. They rejected him and cast him away as something that was vile and worthless.
In the fulfillment of this prophesy, Judas Iscariot flung the thirty pieces of silver back into the temple before he went and hung himself (Matthew 27:5). The Jewish leaders then took the money and used it to buy a worthless piece of ground from the local potter (Matthew 27:6-8). So we see that by the providence of God, the money went from the temple to the potter. 
This is exactly what Zechariah saw in his vision. In fact, it is likely that in the vision Zechariah saw himself casting the coins into the temple and he either saw or knew they ended up with the potter (Matthew 27:9-10).
Zechariah 11:14 – Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Back in verse 7 of this chapter, we saw that the Great Shepherd took to himself two staffs. One was called Grace (or Beauty) and the other Unity (or Bands). At that time, we noted that there were literally dozens of different interpretations for the meaning of these two staffs.
Now we find the Lord breaking the staff of Unity. Naturally, the meaning of this breaking depends on the view you took of the staff back in verse 7, but here are three of the most accepted views:
- It signifies the removal of any form of civil government from the Jews.
- It signifies the abrogation (repealing) of the Mosaic Law. This would include the Jewish ordinances which Gentiles/Christians were forced to adopt for a short time. An example of this would be circumcision. When Gentiles first came to the faith, the Jews insisted they be circumcised, but later it was determined that circumcision had nothing to do with grace, so it was optional (Acts 15:1-30).
- It signifies the removal of unity between the various factions of Jews, particularly those who lived within Jerusalem during the Roman siege. True religion bonds people together in peace. When it was cast aside by the Jews, we see them murdering Jesus and eventually falling upon one another. This led to the victory of Rome.
- It signifies God removing his hand of protection and care from the Jews, only because that was what they wanted.
Whatever you specific interpretation, we can say in general that when the Jews chose to reject the Lord, he in turn rejected them, allowing them to walk away from his grace and mercy. Because they were no longer ruled by the Prince of Peace, the Jews ended up with anarchy, confusion and destruction.
Zechariah 11:15 – Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.”
The word ‘foolish’ is defined as ‘void of understanding, unwise, absurd, despicable, contemptible or without judgment/discretion.’ 
Now God instructs the prophet to once again take up a staff (symbol of authority and leadership), but this time it is the staff of a fool. This means that the Jewish people can expect to have leaders (civil and religious) who are unwise, make absurd decisions, act despicably and generally rule without sound judgment. They will rule the Jewish nation with force and cruelty, taking no real care of the flock or people. The end result of such leadership is always chaos, confusion and eventual destruction. (As an American citizen, I’m having a sense of déjà vu here… what about you?)
In the New Testament, Jesus refers to these leaders as blind guides (Matthew 15:14, Matthew 23:16 & 24) and adds that those who follow blind guides will suffer the same fate they do.
Again, we need to point out that this was NOT what God wanted for his people, but it was their decision to reject the Great Shepherd and when they rejected him, they were left with nothing else.
While this applied to the Jews who died in the war against Rome of 71 AD, many scholars see a still future fulfillment under the rule of the antichrist. These scholars point out that as a whole, the Jews rejected Christ during the incarnation, and they are still rejecting him now.
II Thessalonians 2:9-12 – The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
If they continue to reject him during the great end time harvest, their only option will be to become fooled or ensnared by the false antichrist of the final days. Once that happens, they can expect chaos, calamity and eventual destruction, unless the Lord intervenes on their behalf. (Incidentally, this refers to the Gentiles as well.)
Zechariah 11:16 – “For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.”
What is being revealed about the foolish shepherds of Israel?
They do not care for those being destroyed (cut off), or seek the young: In any flock, the sheep must be trained to follow the shepherd. This is why immature lambs often wander away from the flock. A good shepherd will go in search of those who are lost and restore them to the safety of the group.
Spiritually speaking, God’s children are his flock. If one of them strays from the faith, it is the job of the shepherd to seek them out and restore them. 
But the foolish shepherd will not go after those who have spiritually abandoned the Lord. This is not surprising, since they themselves no longer have fellowship with God.
Jesus, however, is the Shepherd who always goes out to seek the lost lamb; that is the reason he came to earth:
Luke 19:9-10 – And Jesus said to him [Zacchaeus], “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
They do not heal the maimed: People are sinful and as such, we reap sickness and death in many different ways. We need to be healed physically, mentally and emotionally. We often need healing, restoration or even resurrection in our marriages, our relationships, our finances, our careers, etc.
False or foolish leaders have no compassion for the sick and hurting; neither do they possess the means to heal. They will often refuse to give even basic comfort to those who need it.
But Jesus, our Great Shepherd, paid for all our healing during his suffering and death on earth. He is willing and able to heal, restore or resurrect anything in our lives that needs his touch.
Isaiah 53:5-6 – But he [Messiah] was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
They do not nourish the healthy: Foolish shepherds feed their followers a steady diet of what they want to hear, whether it is truth/sound doctrine or not:
II Timothy 4:3 – For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions…
Meanwhile, true spiritual shepherds feed their flock the sound doctrine of scripture. Sometimes that doctrine is pleasing or ‘tasty’ (like ice cream), but the faithful shepherd will also feed his/her flock whatever they need to be healthy Christians, even if that doctrine isn’t so tasty (like okra or liver). Though it might not be especially pleasing, it’s what they need to spiritually grow and mature.
They devour the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs: Shepherds who do not follow God are concerned only with their own wealth, glory and comfort. They are characterized by negligence, selfishness and cruelty. They will devour or destroy those under their authority in order to enrich themselves.
Zechariah 11:17 – “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”
In general terms, we can say that the foolish (worthless, good-for-nothing) shepherds are leaders who accept the title of shepherd while performing none of the duties associated with that office. In fact, they will enrich themselves by killing the flock, if given the chance. Eventually, punishment will be executed upon these wicked leaders.
Specifically, the worthlessness of the foolish shepherd is interpreted in two ways.
In the first theory, the shepherd is worthless because he or she ultimately betrays the flock by abandoning them all together in the time of their greatest need.
John 10:12 – He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
In other words, false leaders will remain in place as long as they get what they want and no harm comes to them. However, once they themselves are threatened in any way, they will immediately flee in an attempt to save themselves.
Of course, Jesus is the complete opposite of these shepherds. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us, regardless of what we walk through (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5, etc). He promises to be with us even to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
The second theory says the worthlessness of the foolish shepherd should be interpreted to mean that the false shepherd is like a religious idol – a worthless thing with no power/ability; a thing full of ‘nothingness’.
While this aptly described the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, most scholars see an additional future fulfillment during the end time rule of the antichrist. Let’s examine this further.
The worthless shepherd described here will eventually find his arm withered and his right eye blinded. What does that mean?
In the scriptures, one’s arm is a representation of strength and power (Psalms 44:3, Job 38:15, Deuteronomy 9:29, etc). So here we have a shepherd (one with civil and/or spiritual authority) who also has great strength and power. Scholars believe this may refer to the civil power wielded by the antichrist at the end of the age. 
A clear right eye signifies intelligence and wisdom. According to scholars, the antichrist will seem both wise and intelligent. At some point, he will pretend to understand the mysteries of God. He will claim to see into the spiritual realm and have more revelation than any former prophet; he will then claim to be the Messiah of the world.
But in reality, it’s all a lie. His only desire is to sit on the throne of the temple like God and receive the worship of men. The Jews (and indeed the world) will trust in him, but he is worthless and full of ‘nothingness’; has nothing to offer mankind.
Here is some good news: Zechariah reveals that this shepherd (antichrist) will eventually find his power withered away and his wisdom blinded. In other words, he will not prevail.
Jesus will destroy him by the power of his word and his very presence. All of antichrist’s crafty schemes will be exposed, and everything he vainly worked to achieve will be taken from him.
II Thessalonians 2:8 – And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
Let me offer you some encouragement and relief:
Today’s post talks about all the amazing benefits that God freely and lovingly gives to his children. These include, but are not limited to, healing, peace, joy, finances, forgiveness, eternal life, wisdom… the list goes on and on. All of us could easily say that, like Israel, God has placed us in a land that flows with milk and honey.
How are we responding to that love? Do we honor, adore and worship him, living in faith to his promises? Or are we like spoiled children who complain and throw tantrums if we don’t get what we want?
If you find that you need to make a change in your relationship with Jesus, I have good news for you – you can do so right now! Scripture tells us that Jesus is constantly knocking on the door of our hearts, desiring to have a closer relationship with us.
The first step in opening the door to your heart is to repent of ingratitude. Ask Holy Spirit to assist you in renewing your mind so that you are constantly reminded of all his good benefits.
Psalms 103:1-5 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Here is something you might want to try: Set an hourly alarm on your watch or phone during your waking hours. When it rings, think of a benefit God has given you and then praise him for it!
Let me offer you some strength:
In this post we noted that God broke the staff of Unity/Bands. Although there may be differences of opinion on exactly what that staff represents, we do know that unity is an important part of the New Testament church.
The apostle Peter tells us that believers should have unity of mind, sympathy and brotherly love, as well as a tender heart and a humble mind (I Peter 3:8). While we cannot condone unrighteousness or allow disobedience in the church to continue without correction, we do need to be able to overlook minor differences in the way we worship and serve the Lord.
God has created each one of us in a unique way. We need to find a way to honor those differences while still coming together in unity so our local church can continue to serve the Lord and bring others into the fellowship of his kingdom.