In The Word
Read: Zechariah 11
The Doomed Flock
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
So that a fire may feed on your cedars.
2 Wail, juniper, because the cedar has fallen,
For the magnificent trees have been destroyed;
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
Because the impenetrable forest has come down.
3 There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,
For their splendor is ruined;
There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.5 Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 For I will no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will let the people fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will not rescue them from their power.”
7 So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, therefore also 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. 8 Then I did away with the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was tired of me.9 Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to perish, let it perish; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 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.14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or provide for the one who is exhausted, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
Who abandons the flock!
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.”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
This chapter in Zechariah is a prophecy of Matthew 26-27. The priests in Jesus’ time were worthless shepherds that didn’t care about the people. Instead, they only cared about losing their control. Those priests wanted Yeshua out of the way, and Judas Iscariot was the inside person to seemingly make that happen. Even though Judas was in the Lord’s presence all the time, he never really knew the Lord. Judas was all about his needs, his way, and his timing.
Jesus knew that He would be betrayed, and He gave Judas an opportunity to consider what he was about to do. But instead of considering the consequences of his actions, Judas denied with his mouth what was in his heart (Matthew 26:25). Judas realized in Matthew 27 that Yeshua wasn’t going to be manipulated to use His power and might to be a physical King. The priests took the thirty pieces of silver Judas returned and bought the Potter’s field as a cemetery for strangers fulfilling every detail of the prophecy from more than 400 years earlier.
We need to be careful not to fall into a selfish trap. Our life is not about us, it is about Him. It is not about our way, our will, or our timing. We shouldn’t try to manipulate situations thinking that we need to help God out. We don’t tell God what to do; He knows what is best. Submit to His will and follow Him on His Ancient Paths.