Chapter 11
This chapter is titled "The Flock Doomed to Slaughter"
Starts off in "verse" format, and seems directed specifically at Lebanon. Much ruin is coming to Lebanon. In vs 4, back in plain format, Zephaniah is told to "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter..." The land, of Lebanon, literally I believe, is going to fall. The land will be crushed and none delivered.
In vs 7, Zechariah says he assumed this role, shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter by the sheep traders. MSB infers that this looked forward to the conquest of the whole area by Rome, and ultimately to 70 AD. I don't see that yet...Sheep traders could refer to warring, powerful enemies, with the "sheep" the common people, being little more than livestock in the way of armies - run over, devastated, slaughtered without a thought. Notes in MSB continue to reference 70 AD. Talks about how Israel is called "sheep for the slaughter", about how a million Jews died in the assault in 70 AD. Could be...
MSB notes totally allegorize the two staffs. Not very satisfactorily though. This verse, which must reference a specific event(s), and tie to the near fulfillment:
8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. [Zec 11:8 ESV] MSB says very difficult to interpret. A challenge. Possibly refers to the three "classes" of leadership in Israel, which were eliminated at this crucifixion: Priests, elders, and scribes. Certainly all played their negative parts in the life of Christ. All three were regularly rebuked.
2025 - The idea from MSB is that this is about the elimination of priests, elders,and scribes - the leaders of the people at the time of Christ since there'd been no King since 586 BC, and who would not recognize their Messiah - and their replacement with the New Covenant - a nation of priests. One month means God brought this about quickly - from the crucifixion to 70 AD was what, about a month of years?
9 So I said, "I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another." [Zec 11:9 ESV]
The words of Zechariah, but certainly these same words could have been from Jesus as he looked over the city of Jerusalem when he arrived for that last Passover:
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! [Mat 23:37 ESV]
They were not willing, Jesus went to the cross, and the second destruction descended on the city. The second destruction of God's temple, which remains destroyed to this day.
2025 - Surely this is about God abandoning Jerusalem, and leaving them to their fate. If they die they die. After the crucifixion, God walked away from his city and his people, for the second time. First it was Babylon, now Rome. He has not returned. They still suffer from blind eyes and deaf ears.
Oh my!!! Every verse is a revelation. I have not seen this one before:
10 And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. [Zec 11:10 ESV]
Annul, as if it never was. Required sacrifices annulled. Priesthood annulled. Dietary restrictions annulled. All that was contained in the Covenant of Sinai is annulled - because the line was crossed by Manasseh, and the people just got worse and worse. The temple was only rebuilt to be destroyed again even as it was replaced by the New Covenant! The remnant is only protected as it is because of the unconditional promises to Abraham. Else there would be no Jews at all. And yet...the Sinai covenant will be renewed, reinstated, put back into full force and effect for the thousand years of the Millennial reign. HOW CAN THERE BE DOUBT given this, just a few verses later:
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. 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. [Zec 11:12-13 ESV]
400 years in advance. The good shepherd was rejected, and "priced" as if he were nothing at all. A peripheral incident to those who did it, and yet this sealed the annulment in vs 10. And this staff, Favor, takes on more meaning. Israel would no longer be a special nation in God's eyes, it would no longer be favored as the covenant nation.
2025 - Note that the crucifixion, the betrayal of Jesus by the religious leaders of Israel at that time, and the annulment of the covenant are tied together here in that the verses are consecutive. Yes, the New Covenant to the Gentiles came in at this time, but we ought to be keenly aware that this is also the "cutting of favor" toward the Jews. To say that they are favored to this day is to ignore these verses. They will come back - I think even now they are the "resurrected soldiers in the valley of dry bones", but they breath earthly air, and the breath of God is not in them.
14 Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. [Zec 11:14 ESV] Hmm...Oh!!!! The unconditional covenant with Israel via Abraham, is here separated from the Covenant with the Nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai!!! MSB says this one symbolized the nation's unity. NOT SO! That was broken under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and was never restored. YET, all 12 tribes receive land in the Millennial. This is about covenants! In light of the verses above, that spoke of Judah and Joseph being restored, Israel here represents the nation under the Sinai covenant. So the superimposing of the nation of Israel (Sinai covenant) on the underlying Abrahamic Covenant is removed. THIS IS HOW YOU EXPLAIN IT! First, Israel's status as a nation favored by God is annulled by breaking Favor, in Zech 11:10. Then National Israel's place as conflated with (in union with) the promises to Abraham's descendants, is undone. We are back to the Abrahamic only.
2025 - Oh my...First, Favor is broken. The NATION of Israel is no longer receiving special protection from God. Whoever dies dies. Then, with the breaking of "Unity", the promises of the Sinai Covenant are separated from the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Sinai Covenant is just gone, fallen under it's own terms. God exercised his exit clause when the religious leaders - who were in charge of compliance with the contract terms - in fact killed the Messiah sent to fulfill the contract on God's part. Up until here, both the Abrahamic and the Sinai covered the same people. The Sinai fell and Favor was broken. Then Unity is broken, to show that even though the Sinai fell, the Abrahamic remains! What we will see fulfilled in the Millennial Reign are the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant - the descendants of Abraham.
The first (Favor) removes the Sinai Covenant completely.
The second (Union) removes Israel from her place as the people ruled exclusively by the line of David. Now, Gentiles too will ultimately be ruled by the Davidic line, which is exactly what the church age is about. And note the two verses just before the breaking of Union! They speak to the betrayal of the Davidic line of Kings, with Jesus the current heir apparent.
The conditional covenants that were offered to those assembled at Sinai were NOT offered to the whole world, but exclusively to what would be the NATION of Israel. They didn’t hold up their end, so it was their exclusivity that they lost at the Babylonian conquest. Perhaps God’s side continues, however, such that at least some of the sacrifices are still continued into the Millennial.
They were given exclusive rights to receive the blessings of the Davidic covenant also, but that exclusivity went away when they rejected Jesus in the first century and were destroyed in 70 AD.
The good shepherd is to be replaced - for a time - by one who cares nothing about the sheep. This is how the bad shepherd is described:
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!" [Zec 11:17 ESV]
I am thinking this is a physical description of the Antichrist who will rise and lead the Jews astray at the end. I am thinking that the "wound miraculously healed" is here identified. He will lose the use of one arm and his right eye. Doesn't say which arm, but one arm and a right eye should be easy to identify.
2020-MSB pretty much agrees that this is Antichrist. There was another verse, not long ago, that spoke of Antichrist and had another clue about who he is or how he can be recognized. I cannot remember where that was or what it said, and this morning I have not been able to find it. It was something along the line of "description....this is wisdom". Searched for "this is wisdom" and did not find the exact phrase. But it was something like this. My point is that there is more than the one trait for identifying Antichrist. 666 is just one. Here are two more - an eye patch maybe and a withered arm. And there was at least one more in these OT prophets that I cannot find. I really really want to pull that one back up.
2024 - Is this why Arafat wore the eye patch? But his arm was fine, so far as I know. He was not 666.