This passage is once again rich in figurative language that makes it quite tricky reading, but the main jist here is that the prophesy concerns the coming Messianic King, His rejection by the world and thus, the downfall of Israel.

The opening poem

There is some question as to whether the opening three verses are a conclusion to the prophesy in chapter 10 or a prelude to the prophesy in chapter 11. Most commentators seem to lean towards it being an introduction to chapter 11 based on the geography of the text and the countries mentioned in it. Understood in this way brings it into sharp contrast with what was spoken over Gods people in chapter 10. Chapter 10 told of the restoration of Judah, but as chapter 11 infers, that restoration does not last because of the rejection of the ‘Good shepherd’.

The Shepherds

The rest of chapter 11 gives the reason for the judgement on Gods people – the rejection of the Messianic Shepherd-King. Many parallels can be drawn to the life of Jesus in this passage and history backs up the prophesy in terms of what happened after Jesus was taken back into heaven. Verse 7 talks about the shepherd ‘pasturing the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock’ and then in verse 8 how the flock detested the shepherd and rejected Him. The ‘flock’ here clearly represents Israel.

Once the shepherd has been rejected by the flock the shepherd rejects them also and so begins the judgement on them. The shepherd breaks the covenants with them (which is implied by verse 10 that this was holding back other nations from overrunning it) and this allows others to make slaves of the people of Israel. This happened according to history in AD70 when the Romans captured Jerusalem and destroyed it. The breaking of this covenant was sealed with 30 silver coins – exactly the amount Judas was paid to betray Jesus.

The second covenant is then broken in verse 14 which once again severs the ‘brotherhood’ between Israel and Judah. The consequence of this was seen more in the time when the Jews were fighting to get the Romans out as it greatly hindered their ability to fight. This chapter concludes with the Lord indicating that He will raise up a shepherd who does not care about the flock at all – i.e. a ruler over Gods people who has no compassion for his people. There are some who believe this could have been partially fulfilled in such leaders as Simeon bar Kosiba or Kokhba but it would seem that the final stage of this is reserved for the coming of the anti-Christ.

It is very interesting the language God uses here in that He will raise up a foolish shepherd to afflict Gods people. It doesn’t say that God will simply allow one to become King but God will raise him up. It is very clear that God sees the rejection of the Messiah extremely seriously.

Our response?

It is hard sometimes to see how we should respond to reading a chapter like this as it does seem to be nice reading, but perhaps nothing more than a history lesson. I believe though that if we read this and really get to grips with the way God feels about the rejection of the Messiah, Jesus it will help us to understand the passion at which God has for His people. There is no middle ground with God regarding His Son – and God views the rejection very seriously. Let us take heed of this and use it to fuel our passion to show God and His love in all that we do so that the people we see everyday that don’t know God might understand and believe it also.

The imagery portrayed here of what Jerusalem will be like sounds excellent: men of ripe old age sitting in the streets, boys and girls playing, great harvests and joyful festivals. I am sure this came as a welcome prophesy to the people of Judah – even the Lord knows it (verse 6)!

The Remnant

This phrase is used throughout this chapter and relates closely to what Isaiah was speaking about in Isaiah 10:20-22. While the Lord is going to be merciful to the people of Judah and restore their city, it is not everyone who will be around to see it. Just as only two of the original Israelite exiles made it to the promised land, only part of the current people of Judah will live to see the restoration of Jerusalem as God’s Holy city.

It is interesting also to note the language the the Lord uses when the days of ‘doom and gloom’. Check this out in verse 10:

It is worth reminding ourselves here that it is God who used other peoples (such as the Philistines and the Babylonians) to discipline His people by turning everyone against each other. There are many trains of thought that suggest that God was ‘like that’ in the Old Testament but He is not in that business any more because the ultimate sacrifice has been paid. But don’t we still need disciplining? Don’t we still need reminding that God desires and pursues us through ways that we cannot ignore? I’d be interested to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.

Men from all languages

Verse 23 says:

I think this is awesome – this is the true effect of God living and breathing with us that other people will come up to us and say “We need to be around you, because being near you is being near to God”. That is a true challenge to each of us today. Are we living the kind of life that makes people turn their heads and say “there is something different about this person that I want”?

This eighth and last vision talks about chariots coming down from mountains of bronze and then a messianic prophesy where the coming Messiah is given the title ‘the branch’. If you want excitement, then clearly you are in the right place.

A Quick Re-cap?

I don’t know about you but I get easily confused – and yes, bored and distracted when reading even the most exciting parts of the old testament. I wonder if it is my expectation on what will happen when I read God’s word – maybe I expect that everytime I read it I will feel challenged to my very core and spend much time on the carpet, before getting up and carrying on with my day. Now I don’t think there is anything wrong with that at all – I pray God would put me on the carpet more often; but I think that we need to understand where we have come from and where our faith has come from to fully appreciate where it is going to. Therefore, parts of the bible are written there not to challenge us, but to show where our faith has been and where it is going to. And so I approach Zechariah 6 in this same light. This is Zechariah’s final vision and starts off predicting the fall of the nations that have opressed Israel.

Four chariots

The last vision here is quite similar to Zechariah 1 although there are a couple of differences. The vision speaks of four chariots coming from between two mountains – these chariots are thought to be angelic spirits of divine judgment that will be poured out on Israel’s enemys. The chariots are pulled by horses of different colours and the order of these horses differ slightly from chapter 1.

One thing I noticed was a particularly odd thing in verse 7:

What an odd way to write. So the horses are having trouble going throughout the earth until they are told ‘Go throughout the earth’?? Yes I think this is exactly what is happening here! The whole theme of this vision is that it is God who is pouring out judgment on Israel’s enemies – and so without the angel encouraging the horses along their way they will struggle to do the work of the Father.

This is something we can clearly apply in our own lives as it doesn’t matter what God is calling you to do – whether it be to make a cup of tea in 10 minutes, to go to work tommorow morning or go and save the world next week; if we do it without God’s say-so, without God’s backing then we will struggle to do it. Lets make a conscious effort to check our human efforts against what the Father wants – otherwise we will be straining our way through life – and that just sounds knackering.

The Messiah

The final part of this passage is where Zechariah relates what he was talking about in the fourth and fifth visions to the Messianic King Priest. He prophesys that one who is called The Branch will come and build the temple of the Lord. The one who does this will be a King and Priest (for further reading on this check out Hebrews 7-8 – where Paul expands on this idea) and there is a perfect harmony between those two roles. This is a clear prophesy of Jesus, the Messiah and also gives some insight into why people like the Pharisees (and others) rejected Him when He came. The Jews of 1st century Palestine were expecting a King and a Priest – some of them were even expecting two Messiahs, and the ones who were expecting one expected someone to literally quash their enemies in an instant as well as minister to their souls. As is often Gods way, this is not how the Father chose to play things out. For Jesus came bringing a message of love, rather than one of vengence; a message that allows ‘those who are far away to come and help to build the temple’ (Zechariah 6:15) rather than a message of certain death.

No Straining Please

Man there is a lot in that small passage – much more than I thought. Lets take the time to digest God’s word – even the sometimes tricky Old Testament as God has powerful things to show us through His words.