And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. And the LORD said to meThis phrase indicates divine communication, emphasizing the prophetic nature of Zechariah's message. The Hebrew root for "LORD" is "YHWH," the sacred name of God, underscoring His sovereignty and authority. This divine instruction highlights the intimate relationship between God and His prophets, where God directly guides and reveals His will. Throw it to the potter
The command to "throw it to the potter" is rich in symbolism. The "potter" in ancient Israelite culture was a common artisan, yet here it signifies something deeper. The act of throwing the silver to the potter suggests a rejection or disdain for the value placed on the divine. Historically, pottery shards were often found in archaeological digs, symbolizing brokenness and worthlessness, which aligns with the prophetic message of betrayal and undervaluation. this magnificent price
The phrase "this magnificent price" is deeply ironic. The Hebrew word for "magnificent" can also mean "glorious" or "splendid," yet it is used sarcastically here. The "price" refers to the thirty pieces of silver, which was the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32), highlighting the contemptuous valuation of the Messiah. This irony serves to underscore the gravity of the betrayal and the blindness of those who failed to recognize the true worth of the Lord. at which they valued Me
This phrase reveals the personal nature of the offense against God. The valuation is not just of a prophet or a leader, but of God Himself. The Hebrew root for "valued" implies an estimation or appraisal, which in this context is grossly inadequate. This reflects the spiritual blindness and moral failure of those who rejected the Messiah, fulfilling the prophetic foreshadowing of Christ's betrayal. So I took the thirty pieces of silver
The "thirty pieces of silver" is a direct reference to the price Judas Iscariot received for betraying Jesus (Matthew 26:15). In the historical and scriptural context, this amount was a paltry sum, further emphasizing the insult to the divine. The act of taking the silver signifies acceptance of the reality of betrayal, a poignant moment that prefigures the New Testament fulfillment. and threw them into the house of the LORD
Throwing the silver into the "house of the LORD" signifies returning the blood money to the sacred space, highlighting the desecration of what is holy. The temple, as the house of God, represents purity and worship, yet here it becomes a place where the betrayal is acknowledged. This act symbolizes the rejection of the corrupt valuation and the ultimate sovereignty of God over human actions. to the potter
The repetition of "to the potter" ties the narrative back to the earlier command, reinforcing the theme of worthlessness and judgment. In the New Testament, this is fulfilled when the chief priests use the returned silver to buy the potter's field (Matthew 27:7), a place for burying strangers, symbolizing the ultimate rejection and the consequences of valuing the divine so cheaply. This prophetic act serves as a powerful reminder of the cost of betrayal and the redemptive plan of God through Christ. Persons / Places / Events 1. ZechariahA prophet of the Old Testament, Zechariah is the author of the book bearing his name. He is known for his visions and prophecies concerning Israel and the coming Messiah. 2. The LORDThe covenant name of God, Yahweh, who speaks to Zechariah, instructing him in this passage. 3. The PotterA symbolic figure in this passage, representing God's sovereignty and the shaping of Israel's destiny. The potter's house is a place where broken vessels are remade, symbolizing restoration and judgment. 4. Thirty Pieces of SilverThe price at which Zechariah, representing the Messiah, is valued. This amount is significant as it is later associated with Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus. 5. The House of the LORDRefers to the temple in Jerusalem, a central place of worship and sacrifice for the Israelites. Teaching Points The Value of ChristReflect on how the world often undervalues Christ, much like the thirty pieces of silver. Consider how we can ensure that we are valuing Him appropriately in our lives. Prophetic FulfillmentRecognize the accuracy and fulfillment of biblical prophecy as seen in the connection between Zechariah and the New Testament events. This strengthens our faith in the reliability of Scripture. God's SovereigntyThe reference to the potter reminds us of God's control over our lives and circumstances. Trust in His ability to shape and guide us according to His purpose. Repentance and RestorationThe act of throwing the silver into the temple signifies a rejection of the betrayal price. It serves as a call to repentance and the possibility of restoration through God's grace. The Cost of BetrayalConsider the cost of betrayal in our own lives, whether through sin or turning away from God. Reflect on the importance of faithfulness and integrity in our relationship with Him. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the valuation of thirty pieces of silver in Zechariah 11:13 reflect the world's perception of Jesus, and how can we counteract this undervaluation in our daily lives? 2. In what ways does the fulfillment of prophecy in the New Testament strengthen your faith in the reliability of Scripture? 3. How can the imagery of the potter and clay in Jeremiah 18:1-6 help us understand God's role in shaping our lives? 4. What steps can we take to ensure that we are not betraying Christ in our actions or decisions, even in seemingly small ways? 5. How does the concept of repentance and restoration play a role in your personal spiritual journey, and what can you learn from Zechariah's actions in this passage? Connections to Other Scriptures Matthew 27:3-10This passage describes Judas Iscariot returning the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, who then use it to buy the potter's field. This directly fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 11:13. Exodus 21:32The thirty pieces of silver is also the price of a slave, highlighting the undervaluation of the Messiah, who was betrayed for the price of a common servant. Jeremiah 18:1-6The imagery of the potter is used to describe God's authority over nations, illustrating His power to shape and reshape according to His will. People ZechariahPlaces Bashan, Jordan River, LebanonTopics Cast, Goodly, Handsome, Lordly, Magnificent, Paid, Pieces, Potter, Price, Priced, Prised, Prized, Shekels, Silver, Silverlings, Silver-pieces, Store-house, Thirty, Threw, Throw, Treasury, ValuedDictionary of Bible Themes Zechariah 11:13 5445 potters and pottery Zechariah 11:7-17 7130 flock, God's Zechariah 11:10-14 4512 staff Zechariah 11:12-13 1654 numbers, 11-99 Library Inspiration of Scripture. --Gospel Difficulties. --The Word of God Infallible. --Other Sciences Subordinate to Theological Science.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. BUT that is not exactly what St. Paul says. The Greek for that, would be He graphe--not pasa graphe--theopneustos. St. Paul does not say that the whole of Scripture, collectively, is inspired. More than that: what he says is, that every writing,--every several book of those hiera grammata, or Holy Scriptures, in which Timothy had been instructed from his childhood,--is inspired by God [330] . It comes to very nearly the same thing but it is not quite …
John William Burgon—Inspiration and InterpretationAnd Again David Says:...
And again David says: They looked upon me: they parted my garments among them, and upon any vesture they cast lots. For at His crucifixion the soldiers parted His garments as they were wont; and the garments they parted by tearing; but for the vesture, because it was woven from the top and was not sewn, they cast lots, that to whomsoever it should fall he should take it. And again Jeremiah the prophet says: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was sold, whom they bought …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching In the House of his Heavenly, and in the Home of his Earthly Father - the Temple of Jerusalem - the Retirement at Nazareth.
Once only is the great silence, which lies on the history of Christ's early life, broken. It is to record what took place on His first visit to the Temple. What this meant, even to an ordinary devout Jew, may easily be imagined. Where life and religion were so intertwined, and both in such organic connection with the Temple and the people of Israel, every thoughtful Israelite must have felt as if his real life were not in what was around, but ran up into the grand unity of the people of God, and …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The closing words which Jesus had spoken to those Pharisees who followed HIm breathe the sadness of expected near judgment, rather than the hopefulness of expostulation. And the Discourse which followed, ere He once more left Jerusalem, is of the same character. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. They are not in any way softened or modified, but uttered in accents of …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The First Trumpet.
The first trumpet of the seventh seal begins from the final disturbance and overthrow of the Roman idolarchy at the close of the sixth seal; and as it was to bring the first plague on the empire, now beginning to fall, it lays waste the third part of the earth, with a horrible storm of hail mingled with fire and blood; that is, it depopulates the territory and people of the Roman world, (viz. the basis and ground of its universal polity) with a terrible and bloody irruption of the northern nations, …
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse Remorse and Suicide of Judas.
(in the Temple and Outside the Wall of Jerusalem. Friday Morning.) ^A Matt. XXVII. 3-10; ^E Acts I. 18, 19. ^a 3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned [Judas, having no reason to fear the enemies of Jesus, probably stood in their midst and witnessed the entire trial], repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. [There are two Greek words which are translated "repented," …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Questions.
LESSON I. 1. In what state was the Earth when first created? 2. To what trial was man subjected? 3. What punishment did the Fall bring on man? 4. How alone could his guilt be atoned for? A. By his punishment being borne by one who was innocent. 5. What was the first promise that there should be such an atonement?--Gen. iii. 15. 6. What were the sacrifices to foreshow? 7. Why was Abel's offering the more acceptable? 8. From which son of Adam was the Seed of the woman to spring? 9. How did Seth's …
Charlotte Mary Yonge—The Chosen People The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of Its Author
In Isaiah 41:21-23 we have what is probably the most remarkable challenge to be found in the Bible. "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." This Scripture has both a negative …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Of the Incapacity of an Unregenerate Person for Relishing the Enjoyments of the Heavenly World.
John iii. 3. John iii. 3. --Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. IN order to demonstrate the necessity of regeneration, of which I would fain convince not only your understandings, but your consciences, I am now proving to you, that without it, it is impossible to enter into the kingdom of God; and how weighty a consideration that is I am afterwards to represent. That it is thus impossible, the words in the text do indeed sufficiently prove: but for the further illustration …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration Fifthly, as this Revelation, to the Judgment of Right and Sober Reason,
appears of itself highly credible and probable, and abundantly recommends itself in its native simplicity, merely by its own intrinsic goodness and excellency, to the practice of the most rational and considering men, who are desirous in all their actions to have satisfaction and comfort and good hope within themselves, from the conscience of what they do: So it is moreover positively and directly proved to be actually and immediately sent to us from God, by the many infallible signs and miracles …
Samuel Clarke—A Discourse Concerning the Being and Attributes of God The Covenant of Works
Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED? A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death. For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Seasonable Counsel: Or, Advice to Sufferers.
BY JOHN BUNYAN. London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1684. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. THIS valuable treatise was first published in a pocket volume in 1684, and has only been reprinted in Whitfield's edition of Bunyan's works, 2 vols. folio, 1767. No man could have been better qualified to give advice to sufferers for righteousness' sake, than John Bunyan: and this work is exclusively devoted to that object. Shut up in a noisome jail, under the iron hand of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Zechariah
CHAPTERS I-VIII Two months after Haggai had delivered his first address to the people in 520 B.C., and a little over a month after the building of the temple had begun (Hag. i. 15), Zechariah appeared with another message of encouragement. How much it was needed we see from the popular despondency reflected in Hag. ii. 3, Jerusalem is still disconsolate (Zech. i. 17), there has been fasting and mourning, vii. 5, the city is without walls, ii. 5, the population scanty, ii. 4, and most of the people …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Zechariah 11:13 NIVZechariah 11:13 NLTZechariah 11:13 ESVZechariah 11:13 NASBZechariah 11:13 KJV
Zechariah 11:13 Commentaries
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