Minor Prophets · Chapter 11 of 14
Zechariah 11
A grim prophecy portrays Zechariah as a shepherd over a doomed flock. He takes two staffs named Favor and Union and shepherds sheep marked for slaughter. When the flock detests him, he resigns, breaking the staff Favor and asking his wages, which they weigh out as thirty pieces of silver. God tells him to throw this price to the potter. He breaks the second staff and portrays a worthless shepherd who abandons the flock.
What happens in Zechariah 11
The chapter opens with a taunt against Lebanon's cedars and its ruined shepherds. God commands Zechariah to shepherd the flock marked for slaughter, whose owners kill them without guilt while their own shepherds show no pity. Zechariah takes up two staffs, naming one Favor and the other Union, and tends the afflicted flock, cutting off three shepherds in one month. But he grows weary of them and they detest him, so he announces he will no longer shepherd them.
He breaks the staff Favor, annulling a covenant with the peoples. He asks for his wages, and they weigh out thirty pieces of silver. The LORD sarcastically calls it a lordly price, and tells Zechariah to throw it to the potter in the house of the LORD, which he does. He then breaks the second staff, Union, severing the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Finally God raises up a foolish, worthless shepherd who devours the flock, and pronounces woe upon him.
Zechariah 11 in context
This is one of Scripture's darker prophetic dramas, a symbolic enactment about rejected shepherding. The flock marked for slaughter represents God's people abused by their leaders. The prophet embodies God's own shepherding care, which the people reject, valuing it at the price of a slave.
The passage looks ahead to a rejected shepherd and to the judgment of a worthless one who will devour rather than tend, a warning against leaders who exploit those in their care.
Main themes of Zechariah 11
Zechariah 11 (KJV)
1Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. 3There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. 4Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, 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. 10And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 14Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. 15And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. 17Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Verses to carry from Zechariah 11
“And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.”Zechariah 11:7
“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.”Zechariah 11:12
“And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.”Zechariah 11:13
New Testament quotation
How Zechariah 11 points to Jesus
Matthew sees this prophecy fulfilled in the betrayal of Jesus. When Judas takes thirty pieces of silver to hand over Jesus, then throws the money into the temple in remorse, and the priests use it to buy the potter's field, Matthew cites this passage about the thirty pieces of silver thrown to the potter in the house of the LORD. Zechariah's rejected shepherd, valued at a slave's price and spurned by the flock, foreshadows the Good Shepherd priced at thirty silver coins and rejected by the people he came to save.
The broken staffs of Favor and Union, and the coming of a worthless shepherd, warn of the consequences of rejecting the true one. In Jesus, the shepherd despised and sold becomes the very means of the flock's salvation.
Questions about Zechariah 11
Why are the thirty pieces of silver so significant?
Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave in the law of Moses, so weighing out this sum for the shepherd's wages was a deliberate insult, valuing his care at the cost of a slave. God's ironic label, a lordly price, underscores the contempt. Matthew records that Judas was paid exactly thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus, and the money ended up buying a potter's field, matching Zechariah's detail of throwing the silver to the potter in the temple.
What do the two broken staffs mean?
The two staffs, named Favor and Union, represent God's gracious care and the unity of his people. Breaking Favor pictures the withdrawal of protective grace when the flock rejects its shepherd, and breaking Union pictures the fracturing of the people's brotherhood. The broken staffs dramatize what is lost when the true shepherd is despised: both the covenant favor that shielded them and the bonds that held them together come apart, leaving the flock scattered and exposed.
Reflection
This sobering chapter shows what it costs to reject the shepherd who truly cares. It is possible to value God's tender leadership at the price of a slave and turn instead to those who exploit us. Consider whether you have cheapened the Good Shepherd's care, and return to the one who was sold for your sake.
A prayer from Zechariah 11
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