Zechariah 11:7

7. And—rather, "Accordingly": implying the motive cause which led Messiah to assume the office, namely, the will of the Father (Zechariah 11:4; Zechariah 11:5), who pitied the sheep without any true shepherd.

I will feed—"I fed" [CALVIN], which comes to the same thing, as the past tense must in Zechariah's time have referred to the event of Messiah's advent then future: the prophets often speaking of the future in vision as already present. It was not My fault, Jehovah implies, that these sheep were not fed; the fault rests solely with you, because ye rejected the grace of God [CALVIN].

even you, O poor of the flock—rather, "in order that (I might feed, that is, save) the poor (humble; compare Zechariah 11:11; Zephaniah 3:12; Matthew 5:3) of the flock"; literally, not you, but, "therefore (I will feed)" [MOORE]. See Margin, "Verily the poor." It is for the sake of the believing remnant that Messiah took charge of the flock, though He would have saved all, if they would have come to Him. They would not come; therefore, as a nation, they are "the flock of (that is, doomed to) slaughter."

I took . . . two staves—that is, shepherds' staves or rods (Matthew 5:3- :). Symbolizing His assumption of the pastor's office.

Beauty—The Jews' peculiar excellency above other nations (Matthew 5:3- :), God's special manifestation to them (Psalms 147:19; Psalms 147:20), the glory of the temple ("the beauty of holiness," Psalms 147:20- :; compare Psalms 27:4; Psalms 90:17; 2 Chronicles 20:21), the "pleasantness" of their land (Genesis 49:15; Daniel 8:9; Daniel 11:16), "the glorious land."

Bands—implying the bond of "brotherhood" between Judah and Israel. "Bands," in Psalms 119:61, Margin, is used for confederate companies: The Easterns in making a confederacy often tie a cord or band as a symbol of it, and untie it when they dissolve the confederacy [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. Messiah would have joined Judah and Israel in the bonds of a common faith and common laws (Psalms 119:61- :), but they would not; therefore in just retribution He broke "His covenant which He had made with all the people." Alexander, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Pompey were all kept from marring utterly the distinctive "beauty" and "brotherhood" of Judah and Israel, which subsisted more or less so long as the temple stood. But when Jehovah brake the staves, not even Titus could save the temple from his own Roman soldiery, nor was Jurian able to restore it.