Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
Zechariah 11:8 stands in chapters 9–14, which have a different historical setting and style from the earlier chapters of the book. Those chapters look forward to Christ’s kingdom, the great day of the Lord, the punishment of the wicked, and the final restoration when Christ comes. They are the writings of Jeremiah placed under Zechariah’s name when the manuscripts were gathered after Jeremiah’s own written record was lost. Their language is Jeremiah’s rather than Zechariah’s, using the burden of the word of the Lord as Jeremiah does instead of the word of the Lord used in Zechariah’s first chapters, which explains why Matthew 27:9 attributes the quotation from Zechariah 11 to Jeremy the prophet.
The prophecy is one in which the prophet acts out Christ’s ministry to the Jews as a shepherd. The breaking of the staff Beauty represents Christ withdrawing His protection from Jerusalem after the Jews rejected Him as their king, leaving the city to destruction. The phrase my soul means God Himself, His personal self, so that my soul loathed them means I loathed them. Their soul likewise refers to the people themselves, and the use of soul does not describe a separate, immortal part of God.
The shepherds are Israel’s spiritual leaders, called feeders, whose entrusted work is leading and feeding the flock of God. Their utter unfitness for feeding the flock stands exposed by Jesus the good shepherd. In its first-advent fulfillment the three unfaithful shepherds are Israel’s three human shepherds — the kings, priests, and prophets, or similarly the priests, teachers of the law, and civil magistrates — who had failed their calling. There was mutual rejection between them and the true Shepherd, His soul loathing them while their soul abhorred Him, and they were set aside when Christ came.
The one month is a prophetic period in which thirty days signify the thirty years of Christ’s life before His ministry, from His birth to His anointing at the Jordan. That anointing began the events that ultimately cut the shepherds off from Israel. When Christ was anointed the old order was cut off, with the last prophet and king already disappeared and the remaining priestly order then also brought to an end.
In an end-time fulfillment the cutting off of the three shepherds in a brief period occurs just before the end. It falls within the period of strife and confusion that follows the withdrawal of God’s Spirit, alongside the breaking of the second staff and the raising up of a foolish shepherd. In that end-time view the three shepherds are the dragon, beast, and false prophet — Paganism, Papacy, and apostate Protestantism — which lead and control the world’s people. They are cut off before Satan as the foolish shepherd personally leads the deluded nations, with Spiritualism preparing the way for his coming.
Zechariah 11:8 stands in chapters 9–14, which have a different historical setting and style from the earlier chapters of the book. Those chapters look forward to Christ’s kingdom, the great day of the Lord, the punishment of the wicked, and the final restoration when Christ comes. They are the writings of Jeremiah placed under Zechariah’s name when the manuscripts were gathered after Jeremiah’s own written record was lost. Their language is Jeremiah’s rather than Zechariah’s, using the burden of the word of the Lord as Jeremiah does instead of the word of the Lord used in Zechariah’s first chapters, which explains why Matthew 27:9 attributes the quotation from Zechariah 11 to Jeremy the prophet.
The prophecy is one in which the prophet acts out Christ’s ministry to the Jews as a shepherd. The breaking of the staff Beauty represents Christ withdrawing His protection from Jerusalem after the Jews rejected Him as their king, leaving the city to destruction. The phrase my soul means God Himself, His personal self, so that my soul loathed them means I loathed them. Their soul likewise refers to the people themselves, and the use of soul does not describe a separate, immortal part of God.
The shepherds are Israel’s spiritual leaders, called feeders, whose entrusted work is leading and feeding the flock of God. Their utter unfitness for feeding the flock stands exposed by Jesus the good shepherd. In its first-advent fulfillment the three unfaithful shepherds are Israel’s three human shepherds — the kings, priests, and prophets, or similarly the priests, teachers of the law, and civil magistrates — who had failed their calling. There was mutual rejection between them and the true Shepherd, His soul loathing them while their soul abhorred Him, and they were set aside when Christ came.
The one month is a prophetic period in which thirty days signify the thirty years of Christ’s life before His ministry, from His birth to His anointing at the Jordan. That anointing began the events that ultimately cut the shepherds off from Israel. When Christ was anointed the old order was cut off, with the last prophet and king already disappeared and the remaining priestly order then also brought to an end.
In an end-time fulfillment the cutting off of the three shepherds in a brief period occurs just before the end. It falls within the period of strife and confusion that follows the withdrawal of God’s Spirit, alongside the breaking of the second staff and the raising up of a foolish shepherd. In that end-time view the three shepherds are the dragon, beast, and false prophet — Paganism, Papacy, and apostate Protestantism — which lead and control the world’s people. They are cut off before Satan as the foolish shepherd personally leads the deluded nations, with Spiritualism preparing the way for his coming.