Verse 7
Zechariah now returned in a poem to the subject of the Shepherd that he had mentioned in chapter 11. He also returned to the time when Israel would be scattered among the nations because of her rejection of the Good Shepherd.
Almighty Yahweh personified a sword, the instrument of violent death, which he commanded to execute His Shepherd, the royal Good Shepherd of Zechariah 11:4-14. This is a figure of speech called apostrophe: a direct address to an impersonal object as if it were a person. Yahweh further described this Shepherd as the man who was very close to Him, even His Associate.
"The expression ’who stands next to me’ is used elsewhere only in Leviticus (e.g. Leviticus 6:2; Leviticus 18:12) to mean ’near neighbour’; similarly the shepherd is one who dwells side by side with the Lord, His equal." [Note: Baldwin, pp. 197-98. Cf. John 1:1-2; 14:9.]
"There is no stronger statement in the OT regarding the unimpeachable deity of Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God." [Note: Feinberg, "Zechariah," p. 910.]
In Zechariah 11:17 it was the worthless shepherd whom the Lord would strike, but here it is the Good Shepherd. The one doing the striking is evidently God Himself since "strike" is masculine in the Hebrew text and agrees with "the LORD of hosts." If so, Zechariah presented Messiah’s death as God’s activity (cf. Isaiah 53:10; Acts 2:23) as well as Israel’s (Zechariah 12:10-14).
The striking (death) of the Shepherd would result in the scattering of the Shepherd’s sheep (i.e., Israel, Zechariah 11:4-14). The Lord Jesus quoted this part of the verse, claiming the role of the Shepherd, when he anticipated the scattering of His disciples following His death (cf. Matthew 26:31; Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:27; Mark 14:50).
The last line of the verse is capable of two different interpretations both of which came to pass. Perhaps a double entendre was intended. God Himself would scatter even the young sheep and would extend mercy to them (cf. Mark 13:19; Mark 13:24; Luke 2:35; Revelation 11:3-10). New Testament scholar R. T. France believed that this passage influenced the thinking of Jesus, regarding His shepherd role, more than any other shepherd passage in the Old Testament. [Note: R. T. France, Jesus and the Old Testament: His Application of Old Testament Passages to Himself and His Mission, pp. 103-4, 107-9.]
"The divine witness to the death and deity of the prophesied Messiah makes this verse one of the most significant in the entire Old Testament." [Note: Unger, p. 232.]
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