Chapter 11

The passage we are now studying deals with the 5th cycle of discipline in its administration. It is assumed that the five cycles of discipline are understood as they are revealed in Leviticus 26. The historical occurrences of the 5th cycle of discipline are several. In 781 BC the fifth cycle was administered to the northern kingdom. At that time the ten tribes went out. To the southern kingdom of Judah, first of all from 586 BC to 516 BC, the time during which Zechariah lived, The second administration began in 70 AD and continues until the second advent of Jesus Christ. Most of this passage deals with the fifth cycle of discipline in 70 AD. The context actually presents two categories of shepherds: verses 1-11, the false shepherds [the apostate leaders in 70 AD]; verses 12-14, the good shepherd [the Lord Jesus Christ who was rejected in 30 AD]; then we have the idol shepherd in verses 15-17 [the dictator of Palestine in the Tribulation].

In Zechariah 10:3 we saw that Israel had enemies within as well as without. The enemies within were the shepherds, the apostate leaders of Israel in the past. The goats were the enemies without — the Seleucid dynasty. This context amplifies the shepherds. The shepherd carries a staff. In this case the shepherd is going to carry two staves, verse 10. The first one is called “beauty", which is really grace. And this one is broken in 70 AD. The second one is called “bands” or “unity” and it is broken in verse 14 — also a description of something that happened in 70 AD.

Verses 1-11, the prophecy of the second administration of the fifth cycle of discipline to Judah in 70 AD.

Verse 1 — the first three verses are actually ten lines of Hebrew poetry, although it is written as prose in our English Bibles. “Open thy doors, O Lebanon.” “Open” is a qal imperative, an order. The doors refer to the temple when the Romans came in 70 AD. From 30, when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross historically, to 70 AD the temple had been a source of blasphemy. Once Christ dies on the cross this is the permanent contract, the covenant of grace: party of the first part is God — God is propitiated; party of the second part is man — man is reconciled. Up until the historical cross we have in Codex #2, specifically the Levitical offerings, some two thousand years of temporary contracts. The writing of these temporary contracts are the animal sacrifices which point to the permanent contract. Once the permanent contract is finalised and signed then all the temporary contracts are scrapped so that animal sacrifices as an actual ritual in the temple should have been discontinued in 30 AD. But from 30-70 AD, the destruction of the temple, the Jews continued to offer animal sacrifices; they worshipped the shadows instead of the reality. This is the subject of several passages in Hebrews — chapters 6 and 10. To offer animal sacrifices after the cross is blasphemous, it is saying that the work of Christ on the cross is not efficacious. The “blood of bulls and goats” was simply a temporary contract. The second temple performed a legitimate function up to the cross, acting as a temporary contract, but the grace contract was finalised by the cross and all temporary contracts had to cease.

Remember that Zechariah is working on the building of the second temple, he wrote this particular prophecy in 518 BC. In 516 BC the second temple, sometimes called Herod’s temple because he had it revised, would be completed and it would continue until 70 AD at which point it would be destroyed. “O Lebanon” refers to the type of wood which was used in the construction of the second temple. The cedars of Lebanon were the basic structure of the temple; “that the fire” — this is the fire that destroyed the second temple. This fire was actually started by Roman soldiers who threw firebrands over the wall and these started fires in some of the outer buildings. Eventually the fire spread (Titus himself tried to stop this but he couldn’t); “may devour thy cedars.” The fifth cycle of discipline to Judah was always characterised by the destruction of the temple; Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first temple, the Romans under Titus destroyed the second one.

Verse 2 — the screams of the people. The word “howl” is literally, scream. It is a hiphil imperative, they are caused to scream; “fir tree” — a vocative referring to the common people in the city of Jerusalem. There were many factions in Jerusalem and they were slaughtered by the Romans. They fought each other and the Romans all at the same time; “for the cedar is fallen” — the cedar refers to the temple; “because the mighty are spoiled” — the mighty are the brave fighters, those who resisted the Roman army for three months. The Roman procedure with the captives was to torture some, to crucify some, and to sell others into slavery. The words “are spoiled” covers all of these. It is actually a pual stem which indicates the intensity of the suffering of the garrison at Jerusalem; “O ye oaks of Bashan” — refers to the religious unbelievers who are often called “bulls of Bashan.” This is true in Psalm 22:12 — the religious unbelievers; “for the forest of the vintage” — literally, the fortified forest, and it is a reference to the fortifications of Jerusalem which were fantastic; “is come down” — it took six months altogether to break the fortifications and make the final assault on 10 August, 70 AD.

Verse 3 — the screams of the leadership. The leadership of Israel could not cope with the situation and they were reduced simply to screaming. Screaming usually indicates that there is no longer any attempt to do any thinking and this is the concept here. The “voice of the screaming” means that the situation was hopeless, the leadership hit the panic button, they couldn’t think their way out of it, they couldn’t give any commands or orders top work their way out of it, so they just simply screamed as they were killed; “of the shepherds” — actually there are three kinds of leadership found in Israel at this time. The religious leadership called the shepherds, the political leadership called at the end of this passage the “young lions,” and then occasionally there would be some individual leadership from the common man. The shepherds here are the religious leaders; “for their glory is

spoiled"— their glory is the tremendous wealth of the temple. The temple is said to be one of the great monetary deposits of the ancient world. When Pompey the Great rode into Jerusalem in 63 AD he is said to have made himself a millionaire many times over just by plundering a small portion of the temple. The religious leaders were backed by a tremendous monetary system. They had a tremendous amount of gold and silver and other types of wealth. Their “glory is spoiled” means it is taken from them; “the voice of the screaming of the young lions” — the political leaders; “for the pride of Jordan is also spoiled” means the temple and the temple treasure are destroyed, and all of the ritual is gone. The six months of the Roman siege was one of continuous pressure for the Jews. Most of the 97,000 survivors were sold into slavery.

Zechariah is going to warn the Jewish people about all of this. His warning in this chapter was written in 518 BC. In 30 AD, almost 550 years later, Jesus also warned the people of the siege of Jerusalem 40 years before it occurred — Luke 21:20-24 [This is not the same as the Matthew 24 passage which deals with the Tribulation]. Born again believers would survive the siege of Jerusalem because of one thing: they are going to follow the instruction of verses 20-24. The siege of Jerusalem actually hit the unsaved segment of the population. The born-again believers had Bible doctrine and this Bible doctrine saved their lives; “in your patience possess ye your souls” .Patience is the perpetuation of the faith-rest technique. It means the application of known Bible doctrine to the situation. When the Roman armies began to converge on Jerusalem the born-again believers followed the instructions of then Word of God. Principle: Application of doctrine demands knowing doctrine, and in the doctrinal perspective knowing what the situation is.

Why are the Roman armies coming? To administer the 5th cycle of discipline. But born-again believers in Jerusalem are under the Church Age, they are under a special protection concept, and under that special protection concept it is time to follow instructions. “The days of vengeance” refers to the 5th cycle of discipline. “That all things which are written may be fulfilled” refers specifically to Leviticus 26 beginning at verse 27. In Leviticus chapter 26 the first cycle of discipline is described in verses 14-17; the second cycle, verse 18-20; the third cycle, verse 21-22; fourth cycle, verses 23-26; fifth cycle, verse 27 to the end of the passage.

In Zechariah 11:4 we have the principle of grace before judgement. These things only came after God gave them every warning. Application: What is coming to us will not come suddenly; it will come only after great warning.

1. God never judges without extending the opportunity of deliverance through grace.

2. Grace always precedes judgement.

3. For the individual when judgement is about to break cursing can be only turned to blessing by means of regeneration — salvation.

4. The Jews are scattered today under the fifth cycle of discipline, yet faith in Jesus Christ turns cursing into blessing. (The Jews are under a double curse: spiritual death and the fifth cycle of discipline)

5. Between Zechariah’s warning in 518 BC, down to 70 AD, the Jews always had the Word. The Word constituted a warning to them. It was the source of information for salvation; it was the source of warning with regard to the fifth cycle of discipline in 70 AD. Zechariah is going to be commanded to “feed the flock of slaughter” in verse four. This means to give them the Word, to give them doctrine, give them the warning. So they were warned by the Word.

6. The Old Testament canon clearly describes the coming of Messiah, His first advent, so the Jews had their first great warning about the fifth cycle of discipline in the first advent.

7. Therefore, the coming of the 5th cycle of discipline to the Jews was accompanied by 600 years of warning from Zechariah or, if you want to start with Moses, by 2000 years of warning. That is grace before judgement.

8. The screaming and the wailing described in the first three verses of this chapter was actually fulfilled, but there was no excuse for it. Two thousand years of warning: grace before judgement.

Verse 4 — the command to warn the people of a future generation, as well as Zechariah’s generation. “Thus saith the Lord my God.” Zechariah is a prophet, he is the recipient now of the spoken word. After this is recorded in writing then the priest will teach this daily in the temple and other places. But Zechariah teaches it verbally as he gets it from the Lord. “My God” indicates that Zechariah is born again. “Feed the flock of slaughter” — the command. This is a qal imperative, a command to Zechariah to warn a future generation, and it is a command to Zechariah to warn any generation which begins to move through the cycles of discipline. The flock of slaughter refers to the generation of Israel in Jerusalem in 70 AD. They are called the flock of slaughter because one million one hundred thousand of them will die in Jerusalem.

In verse 1-3 we have a poetry prophecy of the Roman conquest of the fifth cycle. Then we have an interlude, verse 4, to present the principle: grace before judgement. Now in the verses that follow, verses 5 & 6, we have a prose prophecy of the fifth cycle.

Verse 5 — this is the anticipation of the context. Israel is abandoned by three categories in that 70 AD activity. They were abandoned by the Romans who are called here “possessors.” They were abandoned by their Jewish leaders who are called in this passage “their shepherds.” They were abandoned by the Lord, verse 6, “I the Lord”; “Whose possessors slay them.” The word “possessors” is a qal active participle and it refers to the Romans as the administrators of the fourth cycle of discipline. In 63 BC Pompey the Great conquered Jerusalem. From that time until 70 AD the Romans actually administered the 4th cycle of discipline. So “possessors” is a technical term for the administrators of the fourth cycle of discipline. The Romans ruled the land; “slay them” — a reference to the slaughter of one million, one hundred thousand, Jews who were killed in the siege of Jerusalem; “and hold themselves not guilty” — a reference to Titus. Josephus said this: “However, when Titus in going his rounds saw the valleys full of dead bodies and the thick putrefication running about them, he gave a groan; and spreading his hands toward heaven, called God to witness that this was not his doing” — Book five, chapter twelve, paragraph four; “and they that sell them say” — the 97,000 survivors — “blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.” In other words, the Romans rationalised. Their own religious leaders had not pity upon them, they sold them out and betrayed them. So the Romans said as they sold the 97,000 into slavery, “We are doing them a favour. They are better off under the master-slave relationship in the Roman empire than they were under their religious leaders.”

Verse 6 — “For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land” — they had been abandoned by the Romans and the shepherds [leaders], and now they are abandoned by the Lord, a characteristic of the 5th cycle of discipline. “I” is a reference to God Himself, and under the 5th cycle of discipline He no longer has any pity. They have had every opportunity under grace to be delivered and so, of course, we have the no-more-pity phrase. The inhabitants of the land are the Jews who were in Jerusalem in 70 AD. “I will deliver every man into his neighbour’s hand” — here is the natural strife that broke out on the citizens of Jerusalem at this time. There were bandits and gangsters who went around from house to house robbing everyone during the siege of Jerusalem for six months. There were the zealots, the anti-Roman party, the assassins, who ran around killing and torturing in the city. There were other robbers such as the Arabs who came into the city just ahead of the Romans and spent their time robbing. A man called Eleazar barricaded the temple at the time of the Passover. All the Jews wanted to be in the temple on the Passover. After the Passover they thought that if they could just get in some time during the next week — the feast of unleavened bread. So they fought hard to do it and made a couple of assaults on the temple without success. So they got crafty and under a flag of truce obtained an agreement with Eleazar to enter the temple for just one day, on which they would lay down their arms. Eleazar agreed but those entering the temple entered keeping weapons hidden. And when they were all in they jumped on the forces of Eleazar and slaughtered most of them, including Eleazar himself. This is just one illustration of the civil war type of operation which was going on in the city; “and into the hand of the king” — the king is the emperor, and this refers to Vespasian who had now taken the Roman empire; “and they [the Romans] shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them” — the Jews were not to be delivered because of the 5th cycle of discipline.

Verse 7 — As long as God permits the two staves within a national entity the national entity is not going to be destroyed. But without the two staves no nation can survive. When the two staves exist within a national entity then there is the probability of the nation hearing Bible doctrine. The first staff is grace, God’s grace in protecting the nation, especially from enemies without. The second staff is unity and has to do with the internal activities of a nation. When God breaks the first staff the nation is involved in war which usually destroys it, or in which it is defeated. When God breaks the second staff there is internal disorder and dissension.

Here is a nation in which the two staves are preserved and are not broken as yet. But they will be and we have a prophecy of when this will occur. At this point there is no breaking of the staves, and the reason is because it is absolutely necessary for the nation involved, Judah, to be the recipient of certain types of divine information, divine revelation. They must be informed and they must be warned of the future administration of the 5th cycle of discipline.

“feed the flock” — means that from 518 to 516 BC there would be an intensive crash program in learning Bible doctrine. The result is spiritual and economic blessing to the nation. The results of this first impetus of Bible doctrine would continue until 323 BC, the death of Alexander the Great. Then the cycles of discipline would begin, there would be a back-to-Bible-doctrine resulting in the Maccabaean revolt. There would be a period of great blessing under Bible doctrine, there would be the gradual decline again and in 63 BC the fourth cycle of discipline would come, and then the great push to warn the Jews between 30 and 70 AD.

Zechariah has a responsibility in 518 BC and he must warn the Jews of what is going to happen in 70 AD, and to show them the basis for blessing between 518B and 70 AD. So for nearly 600 years the pattern is set by this particular passage.

“flock of the slaughter” — is the Jewish nation. The slaughter refers to 70 AD. All of this warning is because of a principle: Bible doctrine makes the difference in a nation. A small group of people or a large group of believers with Bible doctrine in their frontal lobes become the salt of the earth, they become the preservers of a national entity.

“poor of the flock” — is literally from the Hebrew, the humble of the flock. It is a reference to the remnant of believers. The word “poor” actually means those who are oriented to grace — orientation to the plan of God, excluding pride. Doctrine goes into volition so that decisions are made according to the will of God. These decisions cover a multitude of factors: spiritual factors, political factors, people who are believers and in a political situation make decisions which are compatible with divine institution number four. This, of course, results in the blessing and the prosperity of a nation. And doctrine is the controlling factor in subduing and submerging the old sin nature so that neither its sinfulness is habitual nor its human good. This is a description of the poor of the flock. The poor of the flock have learned Bible doctrine; Bible doctrine is their life. And this is the issue.

Zechariah recognises he has a congregation, the Jews of Jerusalem in 518 BC. He has another congregation, the Jews of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And he also has a third congregation, the Jews of Jerusalem at the end of the fifth cycle of discipline, just before the second advent. For these he has the message of the staves.

“Beauty” and “Bands” — Beauty in the Hebrew is grace, and this staff is the protection of the nation by His grace. In other words, the first staff is literally grace. What does this mean? It means that even nations do not earn or even deserve survival or even prosperity. So the fact that any nation survives is the grace of God. “Bands” is really “unity", and it refers to internal unity and function.

“and I fed the flock” is verse eight to the end of the chapter, it is chapter twelve right through to the end of chapter fourteen.

Verse 8 — the judgement of the three shepherds.

“Three shepherds also I cut off in one month” — Simon bar Gioras, John of Giscalla, Eleazar bar Simon in the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 are possibilities for the three shepherds, but it won’t work out for a simple reason: they were not destroyed within one month. See Josephus, Book 5, Wars Of The Jews. There is another possibility. The word “staff” here is not used for a literal shepherd’s staff. We know this by the name of the first one — grace — and by the second one — unity. Which means that the analogy of the shepherd protecting his sheep with a staff is involved here, and this is God protecting the nation. Now, what within the framework of a nation would actually protect it? Well there are protective factors involved in the Jewish nation which we would have to evaluate in this way: 1. The Jewish nation had prophets whose job was to communicate the spoken Word of God; 2. There were the priests who were only involved in teaching the written Word. These two were involved as far as keeping the people straight. There was a third factor, and that would be the political rulers, e.g. Zerrubbabel. And before the nation Israel goes down in 70 AD there will be a disintegration of these three categories. In one month there was no prophet, there was no priest, there was no political ruler. There wasn’t anyone left in authority, just 97,000 people sold into slavery.

“and my soul lothed them” — this doesn’t really mean to loathe, it means to cut short, to cut down. They were cut down in judgement; “and their soul also abhorred me” — the word “abhorred” here means to hate to the point of nausea. It is a maximum expression of negative volition toward the Lord in the soul of the Jews who were in Jerusalem in AD 70. Remember, the born-again Jews got out.

Verse 9 — the judgement of the people in Jerusalem. Remember the principle of grace before judgement. “Then said I” — this is God speaking to Jerusalem through Zechariah the prophet; “I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another” .This is the destruction of the food.

In the siege of Jerusalem the food supply was destroyed. Two of the zealot parties started fighting each other by the graineries and one party set fire to the graineries. There was enough grain to supply them for about 25 years and it was all destroyed in one big fire.

Josephus: “Immediately after the most awful depredations were committed to obtain food. Young strong men snatched food from children and from the aged. In many cases people would break into homes during meal times and take half-swallowed food right out of the throats of people. Soon the population was reduced to eating rats, bugs, dogs, etc. Soon they were eating dead bodies, shoes, belts, leather shields, bark off of the trees…

“Some children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their mouths. And what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do to their infants, and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops of food that they might preserve their own lives. They broke open doors and ran in and took pieces of what they were eating out of their very throats, and this by force. They also invented terrible methods of torture to discover where food was located. They drank the blood of people and divided their bodies for feasts”.

Fulfilment of Leviticus 26:29 — “Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.”

Again from Josephus, Book six, chapter three, paragraph four: “There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond the Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar of the village of Bethezub. She was eminent for her family because of her wealth. She fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged. What she had treasured was seized by the bandits. What food she had contrived to save was carried off by rapacious guards who came every day running into her house for that purpose. She then attempted a most unnatural thing by snatching up her son who was a child sucking on her breast. She said: “O thou miserable infant, for whom shall I preserve thee in this miserable war, this famine, and this sedition?” As soon as she had said thus she slew her son and roasted him. Having eaten one half of him she kept the other half by her concealed. When the seditious came and smelled the scent of food they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them the food and where it was hidden. She replied that she had saved a very fine portion for them and withal uncovered what was left of her son.”

Verse 10 — the breaking of the first staff. All of this could not happen unless God permits it. No nation ever goes down unless God breaks the staff. God has a staff, as it were, for each nation called grace — the preservation of that nation.

“And I took my staff, even Beauty [Grace], and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had with all the people [the Gentiles]” .This was a covenant whereby God told the Gentiles to lay off, as it were. The covenant was actually a means whereby God protected the people of Israel. Breaking the staff means that they are now vulnerable to conquest.

Verse 11 — the Biblical orientation of believers in this greatest of catastrophes. When a nation goes down often there are born-again believers involved.

“And it was broken in that day [August of 70 AD]: and so that the poor of the flock [a title for believers, the humble of the flock] that waited [to be alert and to realise what is going on] upon me.” Those who waited upon Him were those who understood doctrine; “knew” — qal imperfect, they kept on knowing. Knowledge of doctrine oriented them to the situation as it existed at that time. This again is the importance of doctrine. The application of doctrine caused them to orient, they knew exactly what to do. Luke wrote his chapter 21 in 63 AD. In 67 AD born-again believers began to leave; “that it was the word of the Lord” — knowledge of doctrine is your preservation. When a person knows Bible doctrine God honours that knowledge of the Word, God uses that knowledge of the Word, and God preserves that person. In 586 BC God preserved the writer of Psalm 119, a young man who knew doctrine.

Verse 12-14, the final siege of Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation. From now on this is the siege of Jerusalem which will be in focus. It is in focus in these two verses and it is the subject of chapter 12 and the first half of chapter 14.

Verse 12 — the rejection of the good Shepherd, the basis of all this problem anyway. In 30 AD the good Shepherd was rejected. They had a warning from 30-70 AD.

“If ye think good” — literally, If it is good [divine good] in your eyes. This refers to the work of Christ on the cross; “give me my price” — what is the Lord’s price? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” .In other words, if this is divine good, if the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is a bona fide work, if it actually the basis of your salvation. Giving Him His price is faith in Christ — salvation; “and if not, forbear” — the word “forbear” literally means to forsake. The Jews had a choice of believing in Christ or rejecting Him. This has always been their choice.

How did the Jews of our Lord’s day respond to all this? “They weighed” — which means to weigh our shekels — “for my price thirty pieces of silver” — the price of a slave gored by a bull — Exodus 21:32. This was literally fulfilled in Matthew 26:15. (The goring by a bull is a picture of the cross) Verse 13 — What is to be done with this money? Zechariah tells us. “Cast it to the potter: a [the] goodly [precious] price that I was prised at [literally, by which I was evaluated] by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord” .He actually acted this out and threw them down in the house of God and said, “These go for a potter’s field", so that the Jews would have, once again, a warning — e.g. Judas Iscariot. Throughout their history the Jews were warned.

Verse 14 — the breaking of the second staff. “Then I cut asunder another staff, called Bands” — the unity of the nation; “that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” The breaking of the nation into parties, hostile to each other, was one of the marked peculiarities of later Jewish history. This was true in 70 AD and this will be true again in the Tribulation.

Verses 15-17, the actual Tribulation.

Verse 15 — the shepherd is called a foolish shepherd. This is the dictator of Palestine in the Tribulation. He is called in Genesis 49:16-18, Dan the serpent. In Daniel 11:36-40 he is called the wilful king. In Revelation 16:13 and 19:20 he is called the false prophet. In Revelation chapter 13:11ff he is called the beast out of the land. Here in verse 15 he is called the foolish shepherd, in verse 16 he is called he that will eat the flesh, in verse 17 he is called the idol shepherd. This is the rise of the last great dictator of the Jews, a Jewish dictator who is the false prophet. And he is to be the warning of the terrible events of the last half of the Tribulation.

“Take unto thee yet the instruments of the foolish shepherd” .The instruments are a reference to the staves again. There will be internal dissension and then God will withdraw His protection and there will be the invasion of the king of the north and the invasion of the kings of the sunrising, the pan-Arabic bloc, etc.

Verse 16 — The foolish shepherd will not perform the normal functions of a ruler, the protection and care for his people. This is an analogy to sheep. The sheep that are cut off, the shepherd goes and gets them, but not the foolish shepherd. Healing the young sheep is again the work of a shepherd. Feeding is the work of a shepherd. These are analogous to the possibilities of political leadership and all of these are going to be removed.

“he shall eat the flesh of the fat” — this means the shepherd, this dictator, will actually destroy Jewish people. He will also be involved in destroying Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses. The claws refers to torture; the eating to outright killing.

Verse 17 — he is called an idol shepherd because of the abomination of desolation. He agrees to have the idol put up in the Holy of Holies. Therefore the idol shepherd is going to have his arm cut with the sword, which means that his nation will be brought down, and his right eye will be destroyed — the sign of intelligence. This means that with all of his intelligence he cannot cope with the events at the end of the Tribulation.