Slices
Prepare
If a nation had a king as good as Jesus, would they reject him? If a flock had a shepherd as good as Jesus, would they detest him?
Bible passage
Open your doors, Lebanon,
so that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined!
Wail, oaks of Bashan;
the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds:
their rich pastures are destroyed!
Listen to the roar of the lions;
the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Two shepherds
4 This is what the Lord my God says: ‘Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. 5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, “Praise the Lord, I am rich!” Their own shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbours and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.’
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favour and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them 9 and said, ‘I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.’
10 Then I took my staff called Favour and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. 11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.
12 I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’– the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.
17 ‘Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!’
Explore
This is a rich passage, with many familiar elements from the Gospels, but it is not the easiest to interpret in our context. What is clear is that the good shepherd of the previous chapter is rejected by the flock (‘The flock detested me,’ v 8).
As a result, he takes his two staff – symbolically named Favour and Union – and he breaks the first (v 10). The flock of Israel have rejected their shepherd and so will have to live without the blessings of God’s favour (v 10). The shepherd asks what pay he will receive, and is given 30 pieces of silver, the value of a slave gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). This insulting value is then thrown to the lower-class potters. Later, when Jesus was betrayed by his disciple and rejected by the shepherds of Israel, this was the price they paid for him (see Matthew 26:14–16; 27:3–10).
Then he breaks the second staff (v 14). The union of the nation would dissolve, leading to the people of Israel being scattered across the world. Israel would be handed over, ultimately, to an evil shepherd who would tear them apart (vs 15–17). The consequences of rejecting the good shepherd would be huge for Israel.
Respond
Jesus is such a good shepherd. Pray for any of your friends or family who are currently rejecting him in their lives.
Deeper Bible study
‘God has entrusted [pastors] with his most precious treasure – people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character.’1
Zechariah here plays the role of two shepherds over God’s people, one good (vs 4–14), one bad (‘foolish’, vs 15–17). The good shepherd uses two staffs to guide the sheep into God’s blessing and keep them together as a flock (‘Favour’ and ‘Union’, v 7). He dismisses ‘the three shepherds’ (v 8). It is impossible to identify these with any certainty, but they might stand for the leaders (prophets, priests and kings) who led Israel and Judah astray. Unlike them, Zechariah represents a shepherd who seeks the people’s welfare, but they reject him and treat him with contempt. They estimate his service to them at a mere 30 pieces of silver (the replacement value of a slave gored by an ox).2 This amount was so low that God says to throw it to the potter at the Temple (potters were in the lowest social class).
There is an obvious reference here to Jesus Christ, who ‘came to his own people, but they didn’t want him’.3 Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, which the traitor Judas later threw down in the Temple. The chief priests used that silver to buy the potter’s field for use as a cemetery.4 Jesus’ rejection by his own people was instigated by their religious leaders, whose opposition to Jesus and therefore to God likens them to the foolish shepherd of verses 15–17. Their self-interested leadership brings disaster upon the whole flock (vs 4–6,15–17).
Yesterday’s passage reminded us to pray for those in authority. Today’s impresses upon us the need to intercede for our spiritual leaders to practise a ministry characterised by faithfulness to God and his Word and sacrificial love for his flock.
Jesus is the model for Christian leadership. Pray that Christlikeness may characterise the church’s pastors, endowing them with a good balance between tender loving care and Biblical standards of discipline.
1 John Ortberg, www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2007/july-online-only/102605.html 2 Exod 21:32 3 John 1:11, The Message 4 Matt 26:15; 27:3–7
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 10,11; Psalms 46,47
Pray for Scripture Union
It’s now six months since we launched the Revealing Jesus mission framework! Thank God for the many churches and individuals who have already joined in and pray that more would catch the vision to share God’s love with the 95.
