The two chapters we’ve just surveyed indicate that Israel will be in trouble in the last days until their Messiah comes to rescue them, cleanse them, and give them a kingdom. How did they get into this trouble?
During the time of David and Solomon, Israel was the most powerful nation on earth, with wealth and resources beyond measure. After Solomon’s death, the nation divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Israel, the northern kingdom, began to deteriorate, so God sent the Assyrians to conquer them and scatter them. Judah had a series of godless kings, so God sent the Babylonians to take Judah captive.
Seventy years later, a small band of Jews returned to their land to rebuild their temple. Life was difficult, and the nation had none of its former glory; but over the years they persisted and restored the temple and the city. Then their Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to them, and they rejected Him and asked their Roman rulers to have Him crucified. About forty years later, in AD 70, the Roman armies came and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and scattered the Jews to the nations of the world. Because they didn’t receive their own Messiah, they have been a scattered people ever since.
This chapter explains the nation’s rejection of the true Messiah and how they will accept a false messiah, the Antichrist, who will appear at the end of the age and deceive the whole world. The key image in the chapter is that of the shepherd, and three different shepherds are presented.
The wailing shepherds (vv. 1–3). These brief verses describe the invasion of the Holy Land by the Romans. Key places like the Jordan, Lebanon, and Bashan are mentioned. The invading army is like a fire that burns the forests. The “wailing shepherds” are the rulers of the nation who have led the people astray and are now paying for their sins. In the East, leaders and rulers were called “shepherds” because they led the people, protected them, and provided for them. Jeremiah saw a similar scene: “Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come” (Jer. 25: niv). Usually the shepherds gave the sheep for slaughter, but here the shepherds themselves are led to the slaughter!
The high priest Caiaphas thought that by killing Jesus, he would save the Jewish nation from destruction (John 11:47–53), but just the opposite occurred. By rejecting their Messiah, they opened the doors to judgment and dispersal. It was true that Jesus did die for the nation of Israel, for He died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1–3), but their rejection of truth led to their acceptance of lies, and the result was the Roman invasion and the destruction of their temple and city.
The true Shepherd (vv. 4–14). God commanded Zechariah to play the role of the true Shepherd. He became a type of the Messiah at the time when our Lord was ministering on earth. The flock of Israel was destined for slaughter because of their wicked rulers, but he was to do his best to rescue them. The Jewish leaders weren’t concerned about the sheep; they were concerned only about their own position and power. Did Zechariah actually obtain a flock and become a shepherd, or was this only to be written in his book? Isaiah, Jeremiah, and especially Ezekiel used “action sermons” to get the attention of the careless people, so perhaps that’s what Zechariah did. He carried the two instruments of a faithful shepherd, a staff (crook) to guide the sheep and a rod to ward off enemies, and he paid special attention to the oppressed (“poor”) in the flock, those who needed special attention. According to verse 11, some of the “poor of the flock” were watching him, so apparently this was an “action sermon.”
He called the one staff “Beauty” (Favor, Grace) and the other one “Bands” (Union). He fed the flock and even got rid of three unfaithful shepherds. Then one day he broke both of the staves! God’s favor to His people had come to an end; the covenant union between God and His people was broken. But so also was the union between Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (v. 14).
God is longsuffering and waits for sinners to repent and believe, but there comes a time when He has done all that He will do to reach them. This happened to Israel when Jesus was ministering on earth. “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him” (John 12: nkjv). Jesus Himself said, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matt. 23: niv).
Actually, the people wanted Zechariah to quit! He asked for his wages and they gave him the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver (Ex. 21:32), an amount that he sarcastically called “a lordly—handsome—price.” So disgusted was he with his wages that he went to the temple and threw the money to the potter who was working there, perhaps supplying vessels for the priests.
According to Matthew 27:1–10, Zechariah’s actions were prophetic, for Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, brought the money back, and threw it into the temple. The priests took the money and used it to buy an abandoned potter’s field as a cemetery for strangers. But verse 9 attributes the quotation to Jeremiah, not Zechariah, a fact that has puzzled Bible students for centuries.
If we have a high view of inspiration, we can’t simply dismiss this statement as a mistake or a scribal error; nor can we escape by saying that Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, but Zechariah wrote it in his book. Wouldn’t you expect to find it in Jeremiah’s book? Perhaps the solution lies in understanding the way ancient authors used texts from other writers.
First of all, how does Jeremiah get into the picture? It appears that Matthew alludes to Jeremiah’s actions recorded in Jeremiah 19, when he broke the jar and pronounced judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. He announced that the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, outside Jerusalem, would become a cemetery because of the sins of the people (Jer. 19:11). Note that this event took place near the entrance of the east gate, which was the Potter’s Gate leading to a potter’s field (vv. 1–2), and note also the phrase “innocent blood” in verse 4, a phrase that Judas used when he returned the silver to the priests (Matt. 27:4). So, from Jeremiah, Matthew borrowed the images of a potter’s field, innocent blood, and a cemetery.
Matthew cited Zechariah 11:12–13 concerning the thirty pieces of silver that were thrown down to the potter in the temple. Why would a potter be in the temple? Since the priests used many different kinds of vessels, the services of a potter would certainly be necessary. So, from Zechariah, Matthew borrowed the temple, the thirty pieces of silver that were thrown down in the temple, and the potter to whom they were thrown.
Now, it’s obvious that Zechariah’s words don’t perfectly parallel the events described in Matthew 27:1–10. In Zechariah, the money was given to the prophet, while in Matthew, it was given to Judas the traitor. The prophet gave the money to the potter in the temple, but Judas gave his wages to the priests who then bought a potter’s field. What Matthew did was unite (the technical word is “conflate”) elements from both Jeremiah and Zechariah, but since Zechariah was a minor prophet, he named only Jeremiah, the major prophet.
Whatever view you take of this matter, it’s remarkable that Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, that the silver was thrown down in the temple, and that the silver was used to buy a potter’s field. And all of this happened because the Jewish people rejected Zechariah the shepherd and Jesus the Good Shepherd!
The false shepherd (vv. 15–17). The prophet was then commanded to adopt the role of a “foolish shepherd.” The word foolish doesn’t mean “stupid” but “morally deficient, corrupt” because he doesn’t receive God’s truth. He’s also called “a worthless [idle] shepherd,” because he doesn’t care for the sheep. Unlike the Good Shepherd, he doesn’t seek the lost, care for the young, feed the flock, or heal the injured. All he does is slaughter the flock to feed himself! (See Ezek. 34.)
Because Israel rejected their true Shepherd, Jesus Christ, they will one day blindly accept and obey the false shepherd (Antichrist) who will lead them astray. Those who reject the light inevitably accept the darkness. “I have come in My Father’s name,” said Jesus, “and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5: nkjv).
According to Daniel 9:27, the Antichrist will actually be able to make a covenant with the Jews for seven years. Probably this is for the purpose of protecting them so they can rebuild their temple and resume their sacrifices. But after three and a half years, he’ll break the covenant, put his own image in the temple, and force the world to worship him (2 Thess. 2:1–12; Rev. 13).
That God’s chosen people, who possess the inspired Scriptures, should reject Him who is “the truth” (John 14:6) and came from the Father, and follow one who is a liar and is energized by Satan, is incredible to comprehend, but it will happen just as the Scripture says. However, the Lord will judge this false shepherd by breaking his power (his right arm) and confusing his mind (right eye), and then Messiah will come from heaven and confine him to the lake of fire for a thousand years (Rev. 19:11–21).
During that thousand years, Christ will reign in His glorious kingdom, Israel will receive the blessings promised by the prophets, the church will reign with Him, and all creation will enter into “the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8: nkjv).
Thy kingdom come!