Zec 11:8 | KingComments | STEP | The three shepherds of are the spiritual leaders of whom the Lord Jesus reveals the depraved character at the end of His life on earth. We recognize them in the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees and a lawyer ( ). He has lost His patience with them and in holy anger he pronounces the “woe” over them ( ). They have shown more and more their aversion to Him and this in spite of His perfection as a Shepherd, a task He performs without failure. As a result, He also has an aversion to them (cf. ). is the result of that in turn. His reluctance to pasture them any longer does not apply to the afflicted, but to the herd of the great mass of the people who do not want to listen. They do not know His voice. Only those who know His voice, the afflicted, He leads out. God surrenders to judgment those who stay in the fold. God speaks of a triple disaster. 1. “What is to die, let it die” refers to the deadly plague that makes its victims. 2. Through war the people will be “annihilated”. 3. Those who are left will “eat one another’s flesh” in the greatest selfishness in their urge to stay alive. They will even literally eat each other (cf. ) and thus annihilate one another. This is the result because they reject the Shepherd and the Shepherd leaves them to themselves.

‏ Zechariah 11:8

Three Shepherds and the Mass Annihilated

The three shepherds of Zec 11:8 are the spiritual leaders of whom the Lord Jesus reveals the depraved character at the end of His life on earth. We recognize them in the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees and a lawyer (Mt 22:15-16 ; 23 ; 34-35). He has lost His patience with them and in holy anger he pronounces the “woe” over them (Mt 23:13 ; 15 ; 16 ; 23 ; 25 ; 27 ; 29). They have shown more and more their aversion to Him and this in spite of His perfection as a Shepherd, a task He performs without failure. As a result, He also has an aversion to them (cf. Isa 1:13-14).

Zec 11:9 is the result of that in turn. His reluctance to pasture them any longer does not apply to the afflicted, but to the herd of the great mass of the people who do not want to listen. They do not know His voice. Only those who know His voice, the afflicted, He leads out. God surrenders to judgment those who stay in the fold.

God speaks of a triple disaster.

1. “What is to die, let it die” refers to the deadly plague that makes its victims.

2. Through war the people will be “annihilated”.

3. Those who are left will “eat one another’s flesh” in the greatest selfishness in their urge to stay alive. They will even literally eat each other (cf. Gal 5:15) and thus annihilate one another.

This is the result because they reject the Shepherd and the Shepherd leaves them to themselves.