For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves. For beholdThe phrase "For behold" serves as a divine announcement, drawing attention to the significance of what follows. In Hebrew, the word "behold" is often used to emphasize the importance and certainty of God's actions. It is a call to the reader to pay close attention, as God is about to reveal something of great consequence. This introduction sets the stage for a prophetic declaration, underscoring the seriousness of the message. I will raise up
The phrase "I will raise up" indicates God's sovereign action in appointing or allowing a leader to emerge. In the Hebrew context, this can imply both a divine appointment and a permissive will, where God allows certain events to unfold for a greater purpose. Historically, God has raised up leaders, both good and bad, to fulfill His divine plans, as seen throughout the narratives of the Old Testament. a shepherd
In biblical terms, a "shepherd" is often a metaphor for a leader or ruler, responsible for the care and guidance of the people. The imagery of a shepherd is deeply rooted in the pastoral culture of ancient Israel, where shepherds were seen as protectors and providers. However, this particular shepherd is described negatively, contrasting with the ideal shepherd who cares for the flock. in the land
The phrase "in the land" refers to the geographical and spiritual context of Israel. The land is not just a physical territory but also a place of covenantal significance, where God's people are meant to live under His rule and blessing. The mention of "the land" highlights the national implications of the prophecy, affecting the entire community of Israel. who will not care for the lost
This phrase describes the negligence of the shepherd, who fails to fulfill his primary duty of seeking and caring for the lost sheep. In Hebrew, the word for "lost" can also mean "perishing" or "wandering," indicating those who are spiritually or physically in danger. The failure to care for the lost reflects a deep moral and spiritual failing, contrasting sharply with the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who seeks and saves the lost. or seek the young
The phrase "or seek the young" further emphasizes the shepherd's neglect. The "young" are often the most vulnerable members of the flock, requiring special attention and care. In a spiritual sense, this neglect represents a failure to nurture and disciple new believers or those who are immature in their faith. The shepherd's indifference to the young highlights a lack of compassion and responsibility. or heal the broken
The phrase "or heal the broken" points to the shepherd's disregard for those who are wounded or in need of restoration. In the Hebrew context, "broken" can refer to those who are physically injured or spiritually crushed. Healing the broken is a key aspect of a shepherd's role, symbolizing the restoration and reconciliation that God desires for His people. or feed the healthy
This phrase indicates the shepherd's failure to provide sustenance and care even for those who are healthy. In a spiritual sense, feeding the healthy involves teaching, guiding, and nurturing those who are strong in faith. The neglect of this duty suggests a complete abdication of responsibility, leaving the flock vulnerable and malnourished. but will eat the meat of the fat sheep
The phrase "but will eat the meat of the fat sheep" reveals the selfish and exploitative nature of the shepherd. Instead of caring for the flock, he consumes the best for himself, prioritizing his own gain over the well-being of the sheep. This imagery is a stark indictment of corrupt leadership, where those in power exploit their position for personal benefit. and tear off their hooves
The phrase "and tear off their hooves" conveys a sense of violence and destruction. The hooves are essential for the sheep's mobility and survival, and tearing them off symbolizes a complete disregard for the flock's welfare. This brutal imagery underscores the destructive consequences of ungodly leadership, leaving the people crippled and unable to thrive. Persons / Places / Events 1. ZechariahA prophet in the post-exilic period who conveyed God's messages to the Israelites, focusing on themes of repentance and restoration. 2. ShepherdSymbolically represents leaders or rulers, often used in the Bible to describe those who are responsible for guiding and caring for God's people. 3. The LandRefers to the land of Israel, where the people of God reside and where the events of Zechariah's prophecy unfold. 4. The Perishing, Scattered, Broken, HealthyThese terms describe the various states of the people under the care of the shepherd, highlighting their needs and vulnerabilities. 5. The Fat SheepSymbolizes those who are prosperous or well-off, yet still vulnerable to exploitation by corrupt leadership. Teaching Points The Responsibility of LeadershipLeaders are called to care for and nurture those under their charge, not exploit them for personal gain. This applies to spiritual, political, and community leaders. The Danger of NeglectWhen leaders fail to fulfill their responsibilities, the vulnerable suffer. This serves as a warning to those in positions of authority to remain vigilant and compassionate. God's Sovereignty in JudgmentGod allows certain leaders to rise as a form of judgment, but He remains in control and will ultimately hold them accountable. The Need for DiscernmentBelievers must be discerning about whom they follow, ensuring that their leaders align with biblical principles and demonstrate Christ-like care. Hope in the True ShepherdDespite the presence of false shepherds, believers can find hope and assurance in Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who truly cares for His flock. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the description of the shepherd in Zechariah 11:16 contrast with the qualities of a good shepherd as described in John 10? 2. In what ways can we identify and respond to "false shepherds" in our own lives and communities today? 3. How does the concept of God raising up leaders as a form of judgment challenge or affirm your understanding of God's sovereignty? 4. What practical steps can you take to ensure that you are following leaders who align with biblical principles? 5. How can the hope found in Jesus as the Good Shepherd encourage you in times of spiritual or personal distress? Connections to Other Scriptures Ezekiel 34This chapter also discusses the concept of shepherds, contrasting good and bad shepherds, and God's promise to be the true shepherd for His people. John 10Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd, contrasting His care and sacrifice with the neglectful and harmful actions of false shepherds. Jeremiah 23Warns against false prophets and shepherds who lead God's people astray, promising that God will raise up a righteous Branch to reign wisely. Matthew 9:36Jesus is moved with compassion for the crowds because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, highlighting His role as the compassionate leader. 1 Peter 5:2-4Encourages church leaders to shepherd God's flock willingly and eagerly, not for personal gain, but as examples to the flock. People ZechariahPlaces Bashan, Jordan River, LebanonTopics Behold, Break, Broken, Care, Choice, Claws, Cut, Devour, Devours, Eat, Fat, Feed, Flesh, Heal, Healthy, Hoofs, Ill, Injured, Inspect, Lost, Maimed, Meat, Nourish, Ones, Perish, Perishing, Pieces, Raise, Raising, Scattered, Search, Seek, Shaken, Sheep, Sheep-keeper, Shepherd, Standeth, Standing, Strayed, Sustain, Tear, Tearing, Visit, Wanderers, Wandering, WoundedDictionary of Bible Themes Zechariah 11:16 1220 God, as shepherd
8413 edification Zechariah 11:7-17 7130 flock, God's Zechariah 11:15-17 9250 woe Zechariah 11:16-17 5885 indifference 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 11:16 NIVZechariah 11:16 NLTZechariah 11:16 ESVZechariah 11:16 NASBZechariah 11:16 KJV
Zechariah 11:16 Commentaries
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