The rejection of the Shepherd In this chapter, which forms the second section of the First Burden, we have, so to speak, a companion picture to that drawn in the first section. If that picture, however, was bright with the coming of the King, the victories He would achieve and the blessings He woul... [ Continue Reading ]
_Open thy doors, O Lebanon_ The passage is highly poetical and dramatic, but in its first reference literal and physical. In the path of the invading army stands Lebanon, at once the pride and bulwark of the land. As the priestly herald of the approaching host (_quasi esset Dei fetialis_, Calv.), th... [ Continue Reading ]
_fir tree_ or CYPRESS. It is uncertain what tree is meant. See _Dict. of Bible_, Art. "Cypress." _for the cedar is fallen_ Grand trees as were the firs, or cypresses, the cedars were grander still. The fall therefore of the latter might well make the former howl in despair at their own assured fate... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is a voice_ More literally and forcibly, _A voice of the howling of the shepherds!_R. V. _the shepherds_ Here again the figurative reference appears through the literal, Comp. Zechariah 10:3, and Zechariah 11:5 below. But the literal reference holds good. "The desolating storm sweeps from the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Feed_ The person addressed is Zechariah. The passage is dramatic. The prophet is represented as personating, inclusively perhaps, as is so generally the case in O. T. prophecy, the long line of Jehovah's true shepherds, but chiefly and ultimately the Good Shepherd of whom they all were types. Compa... [ Continue Reading ]
_possessors_ Rather, BUYERS. The flock of which the prophet was commanded to take charge had been bought and slain without compunction, and sold for gain, with a complacent "bless the Lord" at the good price they fetched.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the men_ Rather, MAN. This verse at once gives the reason of the misery described in Zechariah 11:5, viz. Jehovah's displeasure, and interprets the parable of the flock. They of whom I am speaking are "the inhabitants of the land (of Judæa);" they are not sheep but "men." Comp. Ezekiel 34:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I will feed_ Rather, SO I FED, in accordance with the command given me in Zechariah 11:4. Comp. "and I fed," at the end of this verse. _even you_ or, THEREFORE: i.e. "So I fed the flock of slaughter: therefore (because I had been commanded to do so, fed I) the poor of the flock." R. V. adopts... [ Continue Reading ]
_Three shepherds … in one month_ This has been understood to refer either to three historical persons, e.g. Zachariah, Shallum (2 Kings 15:8; 2 Kings 15:13) and some third usurper, not mentioned in the history, of the same time, or Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus Eupator and Demetrius I., in the time... [ Continue Reading ]
_the people_ Lit. THE PEOPLES. This may mean either (1) _the nations of the earth_, in which case the sense will be that the prosperity which the shepherd on assuming office had guaranteed to the flock, and of which his staff "Beauty" was the symbol, was assured to them by a covenant, so to speak, i... [ Continue Reading ]
_it was broken_ i.e. the covenant. _the poor of the flock_ "The rest were blinded: those who listened to God's word, observed His prophet, waited on him and observed his words, knew from the fulfilment of the beginning, that the whole was God's word." Pusey. _waited upon me gave heed unto me_, R.... [ Continue Reading ]
_price_ Rather, WAGES, or _hire_, R. V. This demand is made by the prophet not "in order to try whether the people would submit themselves further to his guidance" (Wright), but to signify the complete abandonment of his office of shepherd. It is as much as to say, "I will be no more your shepherd:... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cast it_ "as a thing vile and rejected, as torn flesh was to be cast to dogs (Exodus 22:31), or a corpse was cast unburied (Isaiah 14:19), or the dead body of Absalom was cast into the pit (2 Samuel 18:17), or the dust of the idol-altars into the brook Kidron by Josiah (2 Kings 23:12), or the idols... [ Continue Reading ]
_I cut asunder mine other staff_ to signify both the completion of the rupture between the shepherd and the flock, with which he had now nothing more whatever to do, and also the second evil consequence of that rupture, which would befall the flock. Its beauty was gone already: its unity would now b... [ Continue Reading ]
_the instruments of a foolish shepherd_ There is no reason to suppose that "the instruments," the staff and scrip, of a foolish shepherd differed from those of a wise one, and so in themselves indicated his character. The command is: "Again take to thee (as thou didst before, Zechariah 11:7) the ins... [ Continue Reading ]
The foolish shepherd, Zechariah 11:15; the misery he inflicts upon the flock, Zechariah 11:16; and his doom, Zechariah 11:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_cut off_ i.e. _destroyed_, or _lost_. See Zechariah 11:9, and comp. Exodus 23:23. "Pastores seduli requirunt siquid est perditum, vel siquid evanuit in grege: et hoc intelligit Zacharias per visitationem." Calvin. _the young one_ Rather, THE SCATTERED, lit. _the dispersion_, τὸ ἐσκορπισμένον, LXX.... [ Continue Reading ]
_idol shepherd_ Rather, WORTHLESS SHEPHERD: lit. _shepherd of nothingness_, or _worthlessness_. Comp. "physicians of no value," Job 13:4. _leaveth the flock_ Comp. John 10:12. _the sword_ To be taken perhaps metaphorically of punishment or visitation: "per gladium quamlibet speciem pœnæ designat.... [ Continue Reading ]