Zec 11:13 | KingComments | STEP | Here the prophet speaks again, where we hear the Lord Jesus speaking behind him. Here Christ asks the people what He is worth. He does not force them to answer, but they do answer. The answer should be that He is everything to them, that they owe their lives and all their livelihood to Him. But the answer they give speaks of deep contempt. Judas Iscariot asks the question of the value of the Lord Jesus to the leaders of the people: “What are you willing to give me …? ( ). God uses Judas to ask this question. In this way God brings them to a valuation of His Son. The people, through their leaders, do not estimate Him higher than the price of a (dead) slave ( ). “And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him” ( ). The appreciation for Who the Lord Jesus is, is becoming less and less in Christianity. One doubts, or even openly denies, His omnipotence, His virgin birth, His work of reconciliation, His resurrection and even His existence. Also now, the question sounds in Christianity, in which we also find, on the one hand, the afflicted who pay attention to Him and God’s Word and, on the other hand, the mass of confessors: ‘What am I worth, what is your appreciation of My service?’ We have to answer this question personally. In the LORD is going to speak. The LORD says here of Himself that He has been valued by them at thirty shekels of silver. He speaks ironically of a “magnificent price”. Here we see that the Lord Jesus is the LORD, Yahweh , the God of Israel. He is the same as Jesus of Nazareth. He has taken that slave form ( ). He is considered worthy of that price, a despicable price ( ). The LORD throws that prize from Himself. He has the money that is thrown by Judas in His house, thrown to the potter as a testimony of the disgust He has for it. Judas does this as an expression of his repentance for having surrendered his Master ( ), but without confessing his terrible deed. The elders and chief priests buy, after having conferred, for that money “the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day” ( ). The Potter’s Field is worthless for agriculture because of the potsherds the potter throws on it. In the destination of the money – the purchase of a burial place for strangers – we see the irony of God. The whole earth has become one big Field of Blood for Israel, a burial place for Israelites who are scattered around the world like strangers, wandering around there.

‏ Zechariah 11:13

What the Shepherd Is Worth to the People

Here the prophet speaks again, where we hear the Lord Jesus speaking behind him. Here Christ asks the people what He is worth. He does not force them to answer, but they do answer. The answer should be that He is everything to them, that they owe their lives and all their livelihood to Him. But the answer they give speaks of deep contempt.

Judas Iscariot asks the question of the value of the Lord Jesus to the leaders of the people: “What are you willing to give me …? (Mt 26:15a). God uses Judas to ask this question. In this way God brings them to a valuation of His Son. The people, through their leaders, do not estimate Him higher than the price of a (dead) slave (Exo 21:32). “And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him” (Mt 26:15b).

The appreciation for Who the Lord Jesus is, is becoming less and less in Christianity. One doubts, or even openly denies, His omnipotence, His virgin birth, His work of reconciliation, His resurrection and even His existence. Also now, the question sounds in Christianity, in which we also find, on the one hand, the afflicted who pay attention to Him and God’s Word and, on the other hand, the mass of confessors: ‘What am I worth, what is your appreciation of My service?’ We have to answer this question personally.

In Zec 11:13 the LORD is going to speak. The LORD says here of Himself that He has been valued by them at thirty shekels of silver. He speaks ironically of a “magnificent price”. Here we see that the Lord Jesus is the LORD, Yahweh, the God of Israel. He is the same as Jesus of Nazareth. He has taken that slave form (Phil 2:7). He is considered worthy of that price, a despicable price (Exo 21:32).

The LORD throws that prize from Himself. He has the money that is thrown by Judas in His house, thrown to the potter as a testimony of the disgust He has for it. Judas does this as an expression of his repentance for having surrendered his Master (Mt 27:3-5), but without confessing his terrible deed.

The elders and chief priests buy, after having conferred, for that money “the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day” (Mt 27:7b-8). The Potter’s Field is worthless for agriculture because of the potsherds the potter throws on it. In the destination of the money – the purchase of a burial place for strangers – we see the irony of God. The whole earth has become one big Field of Blood for Israel, a burial place for Israelites who are scattered around the world like strangers, wandering around there.