Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 11:10
And I took my staff, [even] Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
10. the people ] Lit. the peoples. This may mean either (1) the nations of the earth, in which case the sense will be that the prosperity which the shepherd on assuming office had guaranteed to the flock, and of which his staff “Beauty” was the symbol, was assured to them by a covenant, so to speak, into which he had entered with all nations not to molest them (comp. Hos 2:18; Job 5:23): or (2) the tribes of Israel, in which sense the word is used Deu 33:3; Hos 10:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder – Not, as aforetime, did He chasten His people, retaining His relation to them: for such chastening is an austere form of love. By breaking the staff of His tender love, He signified that this relation was at an end.
That I might dissolve My covenant which I had made with all the people – Rather, with all the peoples, that is, with all nations. Often as it is said of Israel, that they brake the covenant of God Lev 26:15; Deu 31:16, Deu 31:20; Isa 24:5; Jer 11:10; Jer 31:32; Eze 16:59; Eze 44:7, it is spoken of God, only to deny that He would break it (Lev 26:44; Jdg 2:1, and, strongly, Jer 33:20-21), or in prayer that He would not Jer 14:21. Here it is not absolutely the covenant with His whole people, which He brake; it is rather, so to speak, a covenant with the nations in favor of Israel, allowing thus much and forbidding more, with regard to His people. So God had said of the times of Christ; In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground (Hos 2:18, (20, Hebrew)); and, I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land Eze 34:25; and in Job thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee Job 5:23. This covenant He willed to annihilate. He would no more interpose, as He had before said, I will not deliver from their hand Zec 11:6. whoever would might do, what they would, as the Romans first, and well nigh all nations since, have inflicted on the Jews, what they willed; and Mohammedans too have requited to them their contumely to Jesus.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 11:10-14
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver
The goodly price of Jesus
Satans dealings with the human family may be truthfully described as one gigantic system of bribery and corruption.
He has bribes of all sorts, and of different kinds and characters, and he knows how to apply them. He takes care to suit his bribe to the person who is being bribed. With some of us wealth is no particular object. But even while we spurn that bribe we are open to others. Before one man Satan puts the possibility of revelling in pleasure, before another a dream of ambition, before another literary distinction, before another domestic happiness. This system of bribery and corruption was fully shown when Satan entered the lists against the Saviour of the world. When the Son of God, made man, stood before the tempter in the wilderness, it was after this fashion that he dared to proceed. On that occasion Satan presented to the view of our blessed Master the very highest bribe that was ever offered. Of all the assaults which he made on our blessed Lord, this seems to have been the least successful. On other occasions he was very subtle; he approached our Lord very cautiously, but he made no headway; on each occasion he was met with wisdom and firmness. Satan is very frugal with his bribes. What is all his bribery and corruption for? How comes it to pass that Satan thus exerts his malignant skill in endeavouring to gain an influence over us? Satans prime object is, to carry out his rebellious purposes in the very face of the everlasting purposes of Jehovah. We, Christians, believe that in the end God will manifest His own wisdom by triumphing completely over Satans malignant skill, but that for the time being appearances are otherwise. There is no class of persons in human history for whom we feel a greater contempt than for traitors. We all despise a traitor. Who is there that can have any respect for a man like Judas Iscariot? And yet the sin that Judas committed is the sin that is being committed by the slaves of Satan still. We have not, indeed, the power of doing what Judas did. But as it is possible for us to crucify our Lord afresh, so it is possible to betray Him afresh into the hands of His enemies. How can this be done? This nature of ours, what is it? It is a citadel of the living God; it should be an abode of the Eternal Spirit. Every one of you belongs to God. If we refuse to recognise His right it is simply because we are already in our own hearts traitors against His love. The Lord is aware of his enticements. So He says to us: If it seem good unto you, give Me My price. If you are going to barter My rights for that which Satan offers you; if you are going to play the part of a base and perfidious traitor, make up your mind what your bargain is to be; look your own act in the face. If men and women were to sit down and ask themselves the question: What price have I accepted for Jesus; for how great a consideration have I agreed with Satan to make over my soul to his influences, and to live the life that he would have me lead? they would soon repent of their bribe. Little do you think that when you are selling the rights of Jesus you are actually selling your own interests. The man that sells Jesus sells his own soul, and there is no man that makes so bad a bargain as the man who accepts the devils bribes for the betrayal of Jesus. Look at this miserable man Judas. Can you fancy how he crept down that dark street? He felt already as if he were standing on the very verge of hell. The bargain was struck. And what a bargain it was! It did not seem much to get for Jesus–thirty pieces of silver. Then the end for Judas. It is the way the devils bribe will always end. He makes you fair promises; he takes you by the hand; he pleads with you; he lays all tempting things before you; but behind them all he has got the hangmans rope ready, and the scaffold is prepared, and the awful moment of doom is drawing nearer and nearer. By and by come the agonies of remorse, the terrors of despair, and the awful horrors of a lost eternity. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
A model spiritual teacher
Why these words should have been referred to by Matthew, and applied to Christ and Judas, I cannot explain. They may fairly be employed to illustrate a model spiritual teacher in relation to secular acknowledgments of His teachings.
I. He leaves the secular acknowledgment to the free choice of those to whom His services have been rendered. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give Me My price; and if not, forbear. He does not exact anything, nor does he even suggest any amount.
II. His spiritual services are sometimes shamefully underrated. So they weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver. Thirty shekels. An amount in our money of about 3, 2s. 6d. This was the price they put on His services, just the price paid to a bond servant (Exo 31:1-18).
1. Do not determine the real worth of a spiritual teacher by the amount of his stipend.
2. Deplore the inappreciativeness of the world of the highest services.
III. His independent soul repudiates inadequate secular acknowledgments, And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and east them to the potter in the house of the Lord. He felt the insult of being offered such a miserable sum. Cut it unto the potter, a proverbial expression, meaning, throw it to the temple potter. The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying the trade, as he did, in the polluted valley of Hinnom, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay. A true teacher would starve rather than accept such a miserable acknowledgment for his services. Your money perish with you! (Homilist.)
Mean treatment of an old prophet by his people
Here is an old Jewish prophet honourably putting himself in the hands of his congregation, who is dismissing himself with thirty pieces of silver.
I. An old prophets manly offer to his congregation. If you think good, give me my price. If you are weary of me, pay me off and discharge me. If you be willing to continue me longer in your service, I will continue; or turn me off without wages–I am content. His spirit is
(1) pathetic,
(2) submissive,
(3) magnanimous.
II. The Churchs miserable acceptance of his offer. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. They accepted the offer–
1. Immediately. They took no time for consideration. The money was ready for dismissal.
2. Despicably. Thirty shekels.
3. Dishonourably. Dismissing an old pastor with such a paltry sum. Parting with the man of God with a sham testimonial. An old prophet, after a long service of usefulness, cast upon the world with thirty pieces of silver.
4. Studiously mean. They weighed thirty pieces of silver. They shamefully put the lowest possible value on his ministry. See the extreme want of appreciation of good pastoral service. Zechariahs ministry was Divine. What wretchedness of dealing with the prophetic shepherd of Israel. Salary is no test of a good ministry. Some of the best are badly paid: The geniuses are frequently unworthily recognised by their congregations. Jonathan Edwards was too poor to get paper to pen down his superhuman thoughts in the ministry.
III. The prophets manly disdain of his peoples meanness. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, etc. The act was–
1. Divine. And the Lord said unto me.
2. Manfully done.
3. A proof of their meanness.
IV. An old prophet robbed of his just claim.
1. Scriptural claim. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth the corn.
2. Social. For the workman is worthy of his hire.
3. Equitable. Every class of, people have power to claim their due, why not the ministry?
4. Divine. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? And who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit, etc. It is nothing but right for the ministry to get and have their due, for the credit of the Church and the good of their successors. Honesty is virtue everywhere. Conclusion–God frequently punishes publicly mean churches by presenting them with shepherds of extreme barbarity and cruelty. Meanness will be punished. (J. Morlais Jones.)
The price of our redemption
The exact agreement of this prophecy with the event it predicts would be sufficient to render this chapter more than ordinarily interesting. But it has a still greater claim on our regard, since it contains the passage which I have chosen as the subject of this discourse, than which no prophecy is more clear, no prediction more close and circumstantial. To whichever prophet or to what particular book the passage before us may be attributed, its circumstantial and prophetic description of an extraordinary event connected with mans redemption cannot be denied. How trifling was the sum for which Judas sold his immortal soul. What could be his motive we at this distant hour can scarcely conceive. It has been said to have been avarice. But the sum of two or three pounds is surely too small a temptation even for the most covetous of mankind to betray and deliver to certain death his kindest friend and benefactor. The Gospel expressly tells us the crime originated at the instigation of Satan. Mans salvation was bought with a price. What that price was, let the service of the Church at this season describe. Not even for a moment can a sincere disciple of Christ forget the words of the Apostle: Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods. (John Nance, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. I took my staff – Beauty, and cut it asunder] And thus I showed that I determined no longer to preserve them in their free and glorious state. And thus I brake my covenant with them, which they had broken on their part already.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I took my staff, even Beauty; which I gave that name to, which was the beauty and glory of them, the covenant of God with all the blessings of it, his presence with them, his love to them, and his protection of them, and his blessing on them.
That I might break my covenant; signify and declare that they had rejected God and his favour, and refused his covenant, and that now God would hold it for nulled, and not obligatory to him. This somewhat illustrates the staff Beauty, which while unbroken the covenant between God and the Jews was whole and unbroken; and it is to be noted, Christ calls it his covenant, for he was the Mediator of it, to bring us to God in duty and holy walking, and to reconcile God to us in mercy and grace, which is the most beautiful and sweetest object we can see.
Which I had made with all the people: here again
all the people, that is, the generality, in distinction to the poor and meek, the little remnant, with whom the covenant stood firm, though the body of the nation were rejected and cast off, for God nor Christ have either of them ever cast away his people whom he foreknew, Rom 11:1,2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. covenant which I made with allthe peopleThe covenant made with the whole nation is tohold good no more except to the elect remnant. This is the force ofthe clause, not as MAURER,and others translate. The covenant which I made with all the nations(not to hurt My elect people, Ho2:18). But the Hebrew is the term for the elect people(Ammim), not that for the Gentile nations (Goiim).The Hebrew plural expresses the great numbers of the Israelitepeople formerly (1Ki 4:20). Thearticle is, in the Hebrew, all the or thosepeoples. His cutting asunder the staff “Beauty,” impliesthe setting aside of the outward symbols of the Jews distinguishingexcellency above the Gentiles (see on Zec11:7) as God’s own people.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I took my staff, [even] Beauty, and cut it asunder,…. Signifying that he dropped his pastoral care of them: the Gospel indeed, which is meant by the staff “Beauty”, cannot be made void; it will have its designed effect; it is the everlasting Gospel, and will endure; its blessings, promises, doctrines, ordinances, and ministers, shall continue, till all the elect are gathered in, even unto the second coming of Christ: but then it may be removed from one place to another; it may be taken from one people, and given to another; and which is generally owing to contempt of it, unfruitfulness under it, and indifference to it; and this is the case here, it designs the taking away of the Gospel from the Jews, who despised it, and the carrying of it into the Gentile world; see Mt 21:43:
that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people; not the covenant of works, that was made with all mankind in Adam; that was broke, not by the Lord, but by man; and was broke before the Gospel was published; nor the covenant of grace, for this was not made with all the people, nor can it be broken; but the Mosaic economy, the Sinai covenant, called the old covenant, which gradually vanished away: it was of right abolished at the death of Christ; when the Gospel was entirely removed, it more appeared to be so; and this was thoroughly done at the destruction of the city and temple. The last clause may be rendered, “which” covenant “I have made with all the people”; the Gentiles, having promised and given orders to send the Gospel unto them, which was accordingly done.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He confirms the same truth, but a metaphor is introduced: for he says, that when he freed himself from the office of a shepherd, he broke the two rods, even Beauty and Gathering. He speaks of the first staff, because things were in a confusion in Judea, before the people were wholly cut off; for the dispersion did not immediately take place, so that there was no sort of social state among the Jews; but social order was so deranged, that it was sufficiently evident that they were not ruled by God. By degrees the purity of doctrine was corrupted, and a flood of errors crept in; superstition gained great strength. When things were in this state of confusion, the pastoral staff was broken, which is called, Beauty. This verse then contains no more than an explanation of the last: and hence also he says, That broken might be the covenant which I had made, that is, that it might be now quite evident that this people are not ruled by my hand and authority.
Some interpreters extend to the whole world what is here said of nations, and think that the same thing is meant by Zechariah as that which is said in Hos 2:1, -that the Lord made a covenant with the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, that no harm should happen to his people; but the comparison is not suitable. It is then probable, that God here speaks only of the posterity of Abraham; nor is it to be wondered at that they are called nations, for even so Moses says,
“
Nations from thee shall be born,” (Gen 17:6.)
and this was done for the purpose of setting forth the greatness of God’s favor; for the ten tribes were as so many nations among whom God reigned. It seemed incredible, that from one man, not only a numerous family, but many nations should proceed. The real meaning then seems to be, that God testified that he would no longer be the leader of that people; for when order was trodden under foot, the covenant of God was made void. Why indeed was that covenant continued, and what was its design, except to keep things aright, in a fit and suitable condition? Thus in the church, God regards order, so that nothing should be done rashly, according to every man’s humor. This then was the beginning of that dispersion, which at length followed when the people had fallen off from the order which God had appointed. (141)
(141) “All the nations” are considered to be the heathen nations by Michaelis, Newcome, and Henderson; but the meaning in this case is very obscure. Though the word here used, “peoples,” or nations, commonly designates the Gentile world, yet there are instances in which it is applied to the tribes of Israel. See 1Kg 22:28; Joe 2:6 Blayney proposes to connect “all nations” with “cut asunder,” and renders [ אם ], “before,” “and cut it asunder, to break the covenant which I had made, before all the nations:” but interviewing clauses of this kind are quite foreign to the character of the Hebrew language. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) The people rejected Him; therefore He broke His staff Favour, and so annulled the covenant He had made with the nations in behalf of His people. This was fulfilled at the close of the glorious Maccabean period, when the nation became corrupted, and as a consequence was harassed by the nations on every side. This verse is the converse of Eze. 34:25-28.
People.Better, nations. (Comp. Zec. 12:6.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 11:10 And I took my staff, [even] Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
Ver. 10. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder ] In token that he had cast off his office of shepherd, he breaks his staff, the ensign and instrument of his office; and this in token that he had broke
his covenant which he had made with all the people
I have broken my covenant,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
people = peoples: i.e. here, tribes.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Beauty: Zec 11:7, Psa 50:2, Psa 90:17, Eze 7:20-22, Eze 24:21, Dan 9:26, Luk 21:5, Luk 21:6, Luk 21:32, Act 6:13, Act 6:14, Rom 9:3-5
that: Num 14:34, 1Sa 2:30, Psa 89:39, Jer 14:21, Jer 31:31, Jer 31:32, Eze 16:59-61, Hos 1:9, Gal 3:16-18, Heb 7:17-22, Heb 8:8-13
Reciprocal: Exo 32:19 – brake them Jdg 2:1 – I will never 2Sa 1:19 – beauty Psa 23:4 – thy rod Jer 48:17 – How Luk 12:51 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 11:10. The first thing he did was to break the staff called Beauty which means that the Sinaite covenant was to be canceled.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 11:10-11. And I took my staff, even Beauty Or, pleasantness, or delight. See note on Zec 11:7 : emblematical, as of Gods favour, gentleness, or kindness to his people, and of the honour and privilege which they possessed in his oracles, instituted worship, and temple; so especially of Gods covenant with them, and all the blessings of it. And cut it asunder To signify that, as they had rejected God and his favour, and refused to comply with the terms of his covenant, so that God had now annulled it, and rendered it utterly void. That I might break my covenant This, in some measure, illustrates what is meant by the staff Beauty. While it was unbroken, the covenant between God and the Jews was whole and unbroken. And it is to be observed, Christ calls it his covenant, for he was the mediator of it: namely, to bring us to God in repentance, faith, and holy obedience; and to reconcile God to us in mercy and grace. Which I had made with all the people Hebrew, , literally, all people, that is, all the tribes of Israel; and all other people that, by being proselyted to their religion, were incorporated into their nation. The Jewish Church is thus represented as being now stripped of all its glory, its crown profaned and cast to the ground, and all its honour laid in the dust, God being departed from it, and resolved no more to own it for his church. When Christ told the Jews that the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to another people, then he broke the staff of Beauty, Mat 21:43. And it was broken in that day, though Jerusalem and the Jewish people were spared yet forty years longer; and though the great men did not, or would not, understand Christs words uttered on that occasion as a divine sentence, but thought to put it by with a cold, God forbid, Luk 20:16. Yet the poor of the flock, that waited upon him Namely, who knew the Messiah, believed in him, observed his doctrine, miracles, and life, and obeyed him; who understood with what authority he spoke, and could distinguish the voice of their shepherd from that of a stranger; knew that he was the word of the Lord Saw and acknowledged God in all this, trembled at his word, and were confident that it would not fall to the ground.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zechariah then chopped his staff "Favor" into pieces picturing the end of the favorable pastoral care that he had provided. The covenant in view is none of the biblical covenants since God never breaks His promises. It must refer to the security that He had been providing and the restraint that He had been exercising in relation to Israel thus far.
"The term ’covenant’ is here used in a looser sense, not as descriptive of a formal agreement entered into by contracting parties, but to indicate that, when the peoples round about Israel did her no harm, this was due to the fact that God had put them under as strong a restraint as might be exerted upon a nation by a covenant solemnly sworn to." [Note: Leupold, p. 214.]