9.20.25 – Zechariah 11

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Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.

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Today we are in Zechariah chapter 11. Listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of the 17 verses of Zechariah 11. Zechariah 11

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Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars. Wail, O Cyprus, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled. The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined. The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined. Thus said the Lord my God, become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.” Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished. And those who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich. And their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor.” and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand. So I became the shepherd of the flock, doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union.” and I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed the three shepherds, but I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 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.” And I took my staff, favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 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. 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. Then I broke my second staff, union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Then the Lord said to me, Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.” For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young, or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. 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.

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Sometimes for God to make his point, or for us to understand him, he causes us to go through what he goes through with us. Here in Zechariah 11, he asks Zechariah to become the shepherd of his people. Verse 4 says, Thus says the Lord my God, become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. So God asks Zechariah to do just that, to become a shepherd to a flock that is doomed to slaughter. It is the very position God is in. He tries to shepherd us, a people doomed to fail because of our sin nature. The messenger, the prophet, now becomes the shepherd. Let’s look at verse 7. So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered. Zachariah, as the shepherd, now tries to tend the sheep. He even destroys false shepherds, even like God does. God destroys Israel’s enemies, those false shepherds, that try to shepherd his flock. But finally, Zachariah becomes impatient with the flock, just as God does. Let’s look at verse 8. And I tended the sheep. In one month I destroyed the three shepherds, But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. So I said, I will not be your shepherd. Yeah, Zechariah gives up. He can’t do it. And he lets them wander into the slaughter they were destined for. Verse 9 continues, 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. Eventually, God does the same thing. He tries to shepherd us, but we are a stubborn bunch of sheep. So he too finally stops. trying to shepherd us and lets us go to our own destiny of doom and slaughter. Next, Zechariah breaks one of his shepherd’s staffs. He called it favor, annulling the covenant with other nations, those who Israel often went to for protection. In the middle of being the shepherd of Israel, the Lord reveals how his own lamb, his son Jesus, is also going to be slain. His real shepherd of Israel is also going to be rejected and sold for the price of a slave, not a shepherd, for 30 pieces of silver. This, of course, happens in the New Testament when Judas takes 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. That story is recorded in Matthew 26, verses 14 and 15. let’s read it then one of the twelve whose name was judas iscariot went to the chief priests and said what will you give me if i deliver him over to you and they paid him thirty pieces of silver But as the prophecy of Zechariah goes on to be fulfilled in exact detail, Judas regrets his decision and takes the blood money back to the chief priests and the elders. Let’s read Matthew 27, verses 3 through 8. Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself. But the chief priest, taking the pieces of silver, said it is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is blood money. So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore, that field has been called the field of blood to this day.” Next, Zechariah the shepherd breaks his second staff, he called union, referring to breaking the unity between the northern and southern kingdoms of Judah and Israel. How it must break God’s heart when his own chosen people, his own children, cannot get along anymore. Zechariah leaves the care of the flock in the hands of a worthless shepherd. Let’s look at verse 17. God does the same thing as he turns over his own people to their own desires. They don’t want God to be their shepherd, as Israel did not want Zechariah to be their shepherd. Let’s look at verse 8. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. They detested Zechariah as their shepherd. Israel oftentimes detested God as its shepherd. We too detest God because he wants to be our shepherd. In summary of chapter 11 of Zechariah, Zechariah, to role-play the very message he was getting from God, was probably heartbreaking, but it certainly drove the story home to him. Sometimes, God may put us in uncomfortable situations like he did Zachariah for the same reason. He wants us to understand how we are treating him, how we go it alone, how we reject his love and his watch care over us as our shepherd. Maybe something bad happens to us, like a serious accident. Maybe it’s a health crisis. Maybe it’s a broken relationship. But when we are in pain, Maybe we will look up and see the pain we cause our loving shepherd. What is our application from chapter 11 of Zechariah? Be willing to submit to the shepherd. Don’t be doomed to slaughter because of pride or self-destiny. Submit like a sheep to a shepherd. Let him protect you from the doom and the slaughter of this life. Lord, when circumstances come our way in life, help us not blame you. Help us have a perspective that you may be trying to get our attention. Allow difficult circumstances in our life to bring us back to you. We are sheep. And you are our shepherd. As sheep, we are defenseless against the enemy in this world. We are doomed to be slaughtered. But you are the shepherd. You can protect us. And you will if we only submit to you, the shepherd. Help us do that, Lord. Not only when we’re in crisis, but each and every day of our life. You are the good shepherd. Help me hear your voice. In the name of Jesus, we pray it. Amen. Thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today. 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