Zechariah 11:4
This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,
This is what the LORD my God says
The phrase underscores the divine authority and origin of the message. The Hebrew term for "LORD" is "Yahweh," the covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and unchanging nature. "My God" personalizes the relationship between Zechariah and the divine, highlighting the prophet's role as a mediator of God's word. This introduction sets the tone for a message of significant importance, reminding the audience of the divine source and the weight of the prophecy.

Pasture the flock
The Hebrew word for "pasture" is "ra'ah," which means to tend, shepherd, or care for. This term is rich with pastoral imagery, evoking the role of a shepherd who provides for, protects, and guides the sheep. In a biblical context, shepherding is often used metaphorically to describe the leadership and care God expects from those He appoints over His people. The call to "pasture" implies a responsibility to nurture and lead with diligence and compassion.

marked for slaughter
The phrase "marked for slaughter" is a sobering depiction of the fate awaiting the flock. The Hebrew word "harag" means to kill or destroy, indicating a predetermined outcome of death or destruction. Historically, this reflects the dire situation of the people of Israel, who were facing judgment due to their disobedience and rejection of God's covenant. The imagery of a flock destined for slaughter serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences of straying from God's path and the urgent need for repentance and divine intervention.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Zechariah
A prophet in the post-exilic period who conveyed God's messages to the Israelites. His prophecies often contained visions and symbolic actions.

2. The Flock
Represents the people of Israel, often depicted as sheep in need of guidance and protection.

3. The Shepherds
Symbolic of the leaders of Israel, including both religious and political figures, who were responsible for the welfare of the people.

4. The Lord
Refers to Yahweh, the God of Israel, who is speaking through the prophet Zechariah.

5. The Slaughter
Represents the impending judgment and destruction due to the unfaithfulness and corruption of the leaders and people.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty in Judgment
God is in control and will judge unfaithful leaders. We must trust in His justice and righteousness.

The Responsibility of Leadership
Leaders are accountable to God for the care and guidance of those they lead. This applies to spiritual, familial, and community leadership.

The Need for True Shepherds
Believers are called to follow Christ, the Good Shepherd, and to seek leaders who reflect His character and care.

The Consequences of Unfaithfulness
Ignoring God's commands and leading others astray results in severe consequences. We must remain faithful and obedient to God's Word.

Hope in God's Redemption
Despite judgment, God offers hope and redemption through Jesus Christ, who restores and leads His people.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Zechariah 11:4 reflect the responsibilities of leaders today, and what qualities should we look for in those who lead us?

2. In what ways can we ensure that we are following the Good Shepherd, as described in John 10, in our daily lives?

3. How does the theme of judgment in Zechariah 11:4 challenge us to examine our own lives and leadership roles?

4. What parallels can you draw between the false shepherds in Zechariah 11 and the religious leaders criticized by Jesus in Matthew 23?

5. How can we apply the lessons from Zechariah 11:4 to support and encourage godly leadership within our communities and churches?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ezekiel 34
This chapter also discusses the theme of shepherds and sheep, where God condemns the false shepherds of Israel and promises to be the true shepherd of His people.

John 10
Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, contrasting His care and sacrifice for the sheep with the neglectful and harmful actions of false shepherds.

Matthew 23
Jesus criticizes the religious leaders of His time for their hypocrisy and failure to truly shepherd the people.
A Good ShepherdGeneral Gordon.Zechariah 11:4-5
Oppressed People and Their OpressorsHomilistZechariah 11:4-5
Oppressed People, and Their OppressorsD. Thomas Zechariah 11:4, 5
People
Zechariah
Places
Bashan, Jordan River, Lebanon
Topics
Care, Death, Doomed, Feed, Flock, Marked, Pasture, Says, Shepherd, Slaughter, Thus
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Zechariah 11:4-5

     7130   flock, God's

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 Interpretation

And 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

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