Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 11:12
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
12. price ] Rather, wages, or hire, R. V. This demand is made by the prophet not “in order to try whether the people would submit themselves further to his guidance” (Wright), but to signify the complete abandonment of his office of shepherd. It is as much as to say, “I will be no more your shepherd: give me therefore my wages, that I may go my way.” It is further designed to bring out in bold relief the mutual aversion and contempt, that had sprung up between the shepherd and the flock (Zec 11:8). He asks as one who cares not whether his request be granted: “Give, or forbear.” They reply by a gift more insulting than refusal.
forbear ] “ne date; q.d. non sum de mercede admodum sollicitus, licet jure mihi debeatur. Exprimit summam indignationem, ut si quis alicui suam ingratitudinem exprobrat.” Rosenm.
thirty pieces of silver ] The value of a slave. Exo 21:32. Comp. Hos 3:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give Me My price – God asks of us a return, not having any proportion to His gifts of nature or of grace, but such as we can render. He took the Jews out of the whole human race, made them His own, a peculiar people, freed them from the bondage and the iron furnace of Egypt, gave them the land flowing with milk and honey, fed and guarded them by His Providence, taught them by His prophets. He, the Lord and Creator of all, was willing to have them alone for His inheritance, and, in return, asked them to love Him with their whole heart, and to do what He commanded them. He sent His servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of the vineyard; and the husbandmen took His servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Last of all, He sent unto them His Son Mat 21:34-37, to ask for those fruits, the return for all His bounteous care and His unwearied acts of power and love. o Give Me, He would say, some fruits of piety, and tokens of faith.
Osorius: What? Does He speak of a price? Did the Lord of all let out His toil? Did He bargain with those, for whom he expended it for a certain price? He did. He condescended to serve day and night for our salvation and dignity; and as one hired, in view of the reward which He set before Him, to give all His care to adorn and sustain our condition. So He complains by Isaiah, that He had undergone great toil to do away our sins. But what reward did He require? Faith and the will of a faithful heart, that thereby we might attain the gift of righteousness, and might in holy works pant after everlasting glory. For He needeth not our goods; but He so bestoweth on us all things, as to esteem His labor amply paid, if He see us enjoy His gifts. But tie so asketh for this as a reward, as to leave us free, either by faith and the love due, to embrace His benefits, or faithlessly to reject it. This is His meaning, when He saith,
And if not, forbear – God does not force our free-will, or constrain our service. He places life and death before us, and bids us choose life. By His grace alone we can choose Him; but we can refuse His grace and Himself. Thou shalt say unto them, He says to Ezekiel, Thus saith the Lord God, He that heareth, let him hear, and he that forbeareth, let him forbear (Eze 3:27; add Eze 2:5, Eze 2:7; Eze 3:11). This was said to them, as a people, the last offer of grace. It gathered into one all the past. As Elijah had said, If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him 1Ki 18:21; so He bids them, at last to choose openly, whose they would be, to whom they would give their service; and if they would refuse in heart, to refuse in act also. Forbear, cease, leave off, abandon; and that forever.
So they weighed for My price thirty pieces of silver – The price of a slave, gored to death by an ox Exo 21:32. Whence one of themselves says, o, you will find that a freeman is valued, more or less, at 60 shekels, but a slave at thirty. He then, whom the prophet represented, was to be valued at thirty pieces of silver. It was but an increase of the contumely, that this contemptuous price was given, not to Him, but for Him, the Price of His Blood. It was matter of bargain. Judas said, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? Mat 26:15. The high priest, knowingly or unknowingly, fixed on the price, named by Zechariah. As they took into their mouths willingly the blasphemy mentioned in the Psalm; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted in the Lord, that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing that He delighted in Him Psa 22:7-8; so perhaps they fixed on the thirty pieces of silver, because Zechariah had named them as a sum offered in contumely to him, who offered to be a shepherd and asked for his reward.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. If ye think good, give me my price] “Give me my hire.” And we find they rated it contemptuously; thirty pieces of silver being the price of a slave, Ex 21:32.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I said unto them; upon parting, Christ seems after the manner of men to mind them of his pains and care for them, and would have them reckon with him.
If ye think good: he puts it to them whether they thought he deserved aught at their hands, and what it was.
Give me my price; though I need not your money or pay, I deserve more than you will give, and therefore do in this as liketh you.
So they, the rulers of the Jews, the high priest, chief priests, and Pharisees,
weighed, which was the manner of paying money in those days,
thirty pieces of silver; which amounts to thirty-seven shillings and sixpence, the value of the life of a slave, Exo 21:32; this was fulfilled when they paid Judas Iscariot so much to betray Christ, Mat 26:15; 27:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. I saidThe prophet hererepresents the person of Jehovah-Messiah.
If ye think goodliterally,”If it be good in your eyes.” Glancing at theirself-sufficient pride in not deigning to give Him that returnwhich His great love in coming down to them from heaven merited,namely, their love and obedience. “My price”; my reward forpastoral care, both during the whole of Israel’s history from theExodus, and especially the three and a half years of Messiah’sministry. He speaks as their “servant,” which He was tothem in order to fulfil the Father’s will (Php2:7).
if not, forbearTheywithheld that which He sought as His only reward, their love; yet Hewill not force them, but leave His cause with God (Isa 49:4;Isa 49:5). Compare the type Jacobcheated of his wages by Laban, but leaving his cause in the hands ofGod (Gen 31:41; Gen 31:42).
So . . . thirty pieces ofsilverthirty shekels. They not only refused Him Hisdue, but added insult to injury by giving for Him the price of agored bond-servant (Exo 21:32;Mat 26:15). A freeman was ratedat twice that sum.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I said unto them, If ye think good,…. Not to the poor of the flock that waited on him, and knew the word of the Lord, and valued it; but to the other Jews that despised Christ and his Gospel:
give me my price; or, “give my price” i; what I am valued at by you, to Judas the betrayer: or the price due unto him for feeding the flock, such as faith in him, love to him, reverence and worship of him. So the Targum paraphrases it, “do my will”. Kimchi says the price is repentance, and good works:
and if not, forbear; unless all is done freely, willingly, and cheerfully; see Eze 2:5 or, if worth nothing, give nothing:
So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver; the price a servant was valued at, Ex 21:32 see the fulfilment of this prophecy in Mt 26:15. The Jews own k that this prophecy belongs to the Messiah; but wrongly interpret it of thirty precepts given by him: in just retaliation and righteous judgment, thirty Jews were sold by the Romans for a penny, by way of contempt of them l.
i “date mercedem meam”, Vatablus, Calvin, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius. k Bereshit Rabba, sect. 98. fol. 85. 3. l Egesippus de Urb. excidio Anacep. p. 680.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With the breaking of the staff Favour, the shepherd of the Lord has indeed withdrawn one side of his pastoral care from the flock that he had to feed, but his connection with it is not yet entirely dissolved. This takes place first of all in Zec 11:12-14, when the flock rewards him for his service with base ingratitude. Zec 11:12. “And I said to them, If it seem good to you, give me my wages; but if not, let it alone: and they weighed me as wages thirty silverlings. Zec 11:13. Then Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the splendid price at which I am valued by them; and so I took the thirty silverlings, and threw it into the house of Jehovah to the potter. Zec 11:14. And I broke my second staff Bands, to destroy the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” (to them), so far as the grammatical construction is concerned, might be addressed to the wretched among the sheep, inasmuch as they were mentioned last. But when we bear in mind that the shepherd began to feed not only the wretched of the sheep, but the whole flock, and that he did not give up any one portion of the flock by breaking the staff Favour, we are forced to the conclusion that the words are addressed to the whole flock, and that the demand for wages is only intended to give the flock an opportunity for explaining whether it is willing to acknowledge his feeding, and appreciate it rightly. The fact that the prophet asks for wages from the sheep may be explained very simply from the fact that the sheep represent men. The demand for wages is not to be understood as implying that the shepherd intended to lay down his office as soon as he had been paid for his service; for in that case he would have asked for the wages before breaking the first staff. But as he does not ask for it till afterwards, and leaves it to the sheep to say whether they are willing to give it or not (“if it seem good to you”), this demand cannot have any other object than to call upon the sheep to declare whether they acknowledge his service, and desire it to be continued. By the wages the commentators have very properly understood repentance and faith, or piety of heart, humble obedience, and heartfelt, grateful love. These are the only wages with which man can discharge his debt to God. They weighed him now as wages thirty shekels of silver (on the omission of sheqel or keseph , see Ges. 120, 4, Anm. 2). “Thirty,” – not to reward him for the one month, or for thirty days – that is to say, to give him a shekel a day for his service (Hofm., Klief.): for, in the first place, it is not stated in Zec 11:8 that he did not feed them longer than a month; and secondly, a shekel was not such very small wages for a day’s work, as the wages actually paid are represented as being in Zec 11:13. They rather pay him thirty shekels, with an allusion to the fact that this sum was the compensation for a slave that had been killed (Exo 21:32), so that it was the price at which a bond-slave could be purchased (see at Hos 3:2). By paying thirty shekels, they therefore give him to understand that they did not estimate his service higher than the labour of a purchased slave. To offer such wages was in fact “more offensive than a direct refusal” (Hengstenberg). Jehovah therefore describes the wages ironically as “a splendid value that has been set upon me.”
As the prophet fed the flock in the name of Jehovah, Jehovah regards the wages paid to His shepherd as paid to Himself, as the value set upon His personal work on behalf of the nation, and commands the prophet to throw this miserable sum to the potter. But the verb hishlkh (throw) and the contemptuous expression used in relation to the sum paid down, prove unmistakeably that the words “throw to the potter” denote the actual casting away of the money. And this alone is sufficient to show that the view founded upon the last clause of the verse, “I threw it into the house of Jehovah to the potter,” viz., that hayyotser signifies the temple treasury, and that yotser is a secondary form or a copyist’s error for , is simply a mistaken attempt to solve the real difficulty. God could not possibly say to the prophet, They wages paid for my service are indeed a miserable amount, yet put it in the temple treasury, for it is at any rate better than nothing. The phrase “throw to the potter” (for the use of hishlkh with ‘el pers. compare 1Ki 19:19) is apparently a proverbial expression for contemptuous treatment (= to the knacker), although we have no means of tracing the origin of the phrase satisfactorily. Hengstenberg’s assumption, that “to the potter” is the same as to an unclean place, is founded upon the assumption that the potter who worked for the temple had his workshop in the valley of Ben-hinnom, which, having been formerly the scene of the abominable worship of Moloch, was regarded with abhorrence as an unclean place after its defilement by Josiah (2Ki 23:10), and served as the slaughter-house for the city. But it by no means follows from Jer 18:2 and Jer 19:2, that this potter dwelt in the valley of Ben-hinnom; whereas Jer 19:1, Jer 19:2 lead rather to the opposite conclusion. If, for example, God there says to Jeremiah, “Go and buy a pitcher of the potter (Jer 19:1), and go out into the valley of Ben-hinnom, which lies in front of the potter’s gate” (Jer 19:2), it follows pretty clearly from these words that the pottery itself stood within the city gate. But even if the potter had had his workshop in the valley of Ben-hinnom, which was regarded as unclean, he would not have become unclean himself in consequence, so that men could say “to the potter,” just as we should say “zum Schinder ” (to the knacker); and if he had been looked upon as unclean in this way, he could not possibly have worked for the temple, or supplied the cooking utensils for use in the service of God – namely, for boiling the holy sacrificial flesh. The attempts at an explanation made by Grotius and Hofmann are equally unsatisfactory. The former supposes that throwing anything before the potter was equivalent to throwing it upon the heap of potsherds; the latter, that it was equivalent to throwing it into the dirt. But the potter had not to do with potsherds only, and potter’s clay is not street mire. The explanation given by Koehler is more satisfactory; namely, that the meaning is, “The amount is just large enough to pay a potter for the pitchers and pots that have been received from him, and which are thought of so little value, that men easily comfort themselves when one or the other is broken.” But this does not do justice to hishlkh involves the idea of contempt, and earthen pots were things of insignificant worth. The execution of the command, “I threw it ( ‘otho , the wages paid me) into the house of Jehovah to the potter,” cannot be understood as signifying “into the house of Jehovah, that it might be taken thence to the potter” (Hengstenberg). If this were the meaning, it should have been expressed more clearly. As the words read, they can only be understood as signifying that the potter was in the house of Jehovah when the money was thrown to him; that he had either some work to do there, or that he had come there to bring some earthenware for the temple kitchens (cf. Zec 14:20). This circumstance is not doubt a significant one; but the meaning is not merely to show that it was as the servant of the Lord, or in the name and by the command of Jehovah, that the prophet did this, instead of keeping the money (Koehler); for Zechariah could have expressed this in two or three words in a much simpler and clearer manner. The house of Jehovah came into consideration here rather as the place where the people appeared in the presence of their God, either to receive or to solicit the blessings of the covenant from Him. What took place in the temple, was done before the face of God, that God might call His people to account for it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
God now adds another crime, by which he discovers the wickedness of the people; for they estimated all the labor he had bestowed at a cry insignificant price. He had before complained of ingratitude; but more fully detected was the iniquity and baseness of the people, when they thus regarded as of no value the inestimable favor of God towards them. What the Prophet then says now is — that God at last tried them so as to know whether his benefits were of any account among the Jews, and that it had been fully found out, that all the labor and toil employed in their behalf, had been ill-spent and wholly lost. That Zechariah now speaks in his own person, and then introduces God as the speaker, makes no difference, as we said yesterday, as to the main subject; for his object is to set forth how shamefully the Jews had abused the favor of God, and how unjustly they had despised it. And yet he speaks as God’s minister; for God not only governed that people himself, but also endued with the power of his Spirit many ministers, who undertook the office of shepherds.
He then says, that he came (and what is said properly belongs to God) to the people and demanded a reward, Give me, he says, a reward; if not, forbear (142) He expresses here the highest indignation, as though one upbraided the wickedness and ingratitude of his neighbor and said, “Own my kindness, if you please; if not, let it perish: I care not; I see that you are wholly worthless and altogether unworthy of being so liberally treated: I therefore make no account of thy compensations; but at the same time it behaves thee to consider how much thou art indebted to me.” So now does God in high displeasure speak here: “ Give me at least a reward, that I may not have served you for nothing: you have misused my labor, I have borne with many wrongs and annoyances in ruling you; what is to be the compensation for my solicitude and care? I indeed make no account of a reward, for I am not a mercenary.” He then adds, that they gave him thirty silverings (143) He mentions this no doubt as a mean price, intimating, that they wished by such a small sum to compensate for the many and inestimable favors of God; as when one hires a swineherd or a clown, he gives a paltry sum as his wages; so the Jews, as the Prophet says, acted towards God. At the same time by the mean price, a suitable reward only to a clown, he means those frivolous things by which the Jews thought to satisfy God: for we know how diligent they were in performing their ceremonies, as though indeed these were a compensation that was of any value with God! He requires integrity of heart, and he gives himself to us, that he may in return have us as his own. (144) This then was the price of labor which the Lord had deserved. It would have been a suitable reward had the Jews devoted themselves wholly to him in obedience to his word. But what did they do? They sedulously performed ceremonies and other frivolous things. This then was a sordid reward, as though they sought to put him off with the reward of a swineherd.
(142) Drusius gives the sense, “ Nihil date — give nothing;” and Jerome, “ Aperte renute — openly refuse.” — Ed.
(143) “Rate my labors as a true shepherd. And they rated it contemptuously; thirty pieces of silver being the price of a slave. Exo 21:32.” — Newcome.
(144) So Grotius says, “ Villa haec merces significat victimas et ritus sine pietate solida, — This means reward signifies victims and ceremonies without real piety.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Zec. 11:12. Good] He served them, not for wages, but in obedience to the Divine will. Wages, however, were due; the price of a slave offered.
Zec. 11:13.] It was contemptuously rejected. Jehovah regards the wages offered to himself. Goodly] Noble price, ironical. Potter] As worthless.
Zec. 11:14.] Worse evil threatened than the former. Second, utter breaking up of the nation, and loss of fraternal unity.
THE SHEPHERDS PRICE.Zec. 11:12-14
The prophet, representing Jehovah, demands the price for his services. The Jews were Gods peculiar people, blessed above all others, and should have made grateful return. But they offered forms for sincerity, added injury to insult, and sold the Messiah for thirty pieces of silver.
I. A price of their own rating. If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. As their servant, he sought their love and obedience. He will not force, but leave it to free-will. If men withhold what is due, God will not constrain them to give. His goodness should bind us to love him. Love sought is good, but given unsought is better [Shakespeare].
II. A price most contemptible. They weighed, for my price, thirty pieces of silver. They gave him the price of a bond-servant, half the value of a free-manthe compensation for a slave that had been killed (Exo. 21:32; Mat. 26:15). A goodly pricea splendid value that has been set upon me! Good men are not half valued in the world. What wonder when Christ, the Son of God, was sold so cheaply!
III. A price rejected by the Shepherd. Cast it unto the potter. The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, who plies his trade in the valley of polluted clay (2Ki. 23:10). An action significant of the mind of God, and the doom of the people. God values our smallest service if offered in sincerity, but contempt of his Son will meet with death.
IV. A price which brought Jehovahs displeasure upon them. Then I cut asunder mine other Staff (Zec. 11:14). The shameful payment by the people leads to the abandonment to their fate. Fraternal unity is dissolved, and the nation is broken up into self-destroying parties. When schisms rend the Church, and factions break the peace of a people, we may see the withdrawal of the Shepherds care, and the presage of the nations doom. When the staff of Beauty is broken the staff of Bands will not hold long. An unchurched people will soon be an undone people.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec. 11:12. If ye think good. The demand an appeal to men, to give them opportunity of reasoning, explaining their conduct, and appreciating Gods kindness.
1. God lays men under great obligation by his love; makes them indebted to him.
2. Men should make some return to God. Not because they enrich God, but as proof of their affection.
3. God seeks return. Give me my price. He will not enforce it, but leave the consequences with men.
Thus saith the Lord God, He that heareth let him hear, and he that forbeareth let him forbear.
Zec. 11:13 (cf. Mat. 27:3-10). There are points of diversity between the two transactionsthat in the Prophet, and that in the Evangelist. There are points, too, of similarity; and in these the allusive type is to be considered as lying. The pricereward or hiregiven to the prophet, in the vision, represented the slight value set upon his person and official services. So did the same price, put upon the head of a greater than Zechariah or any of the prophets, testify the low value they set upon him and his Divinely-attested ministrations and work. The identity of the price; the principle, or want of principle, shown in its pitiful diminutiveness; and the giving of each to the potter, are the chief points of resemblance, in which the treatment of the prophet was a prophetic prefiguration of the treatment of him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write. However indirect and obscure the prefiguration might be, we are not to regard the reference by Matthew as a mere accommodation. There was in what befell the prophet a designed foreshadowing of what in the future should befall the prophets Lord [Wardlaw].
House. They are his most guilty adversaries who, like the Jews in Jesus days on earth, and like apostate Christians in our days, are so in the house of the Lord [Fausset].
Zec. 11:14. Cut. God seems to say that he will now no more govern this people in mildness and clemency, nor yet exercise his shepherdly severity in saving corrections and visitations, as formerly he had done; but utterly reject and disject them [Trapp].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 11
Zec. 11:12-13. Price. The influence of money on a man will be according to the mans state of mind; according to the condition of his heart and affections, his estimate and plan of life [Binney].
Zec. 11:14. Brotherhood. Let us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let this soft and silken knot of love tie our hearts together: though our heads and apprehensions cannot meet, as indeed they never will, but always stand at some distance off from one another [Cadworth].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) My price.The shepherd demands a requital for his toil, as a test of the gratitude of the sheep.
And if not, forbear.Comp. Eze. 3:27, &c. God does not force our will, which is free. He places life and death before us; by His grace alone we can choose Him, but we can refuse His grace and Himself.
Thirty pieces of silver.The price set on a foreign slave (Exo. 21:32).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zechariah Asks For His Wage To Be Paid Because He Is Giving Up His Position ( Zec 11:12-14 ). And Uses It As A Symbol Of Israel’s Rejection
Zec 11:12
‘And I said to them, “If you think good, give me my wages, and if not, do not do so.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.’
Having withdrawn his services Zechariah now asks for payment for his past service if they are willing to do so, although he will not insist. He wants them to give him what they think he is worth. It would appear from this that Zechariah was an official servant of the Temple, probably in the guild of prophets, and that now on his retirement from that position, so that he can be free to serve God as he will, he asks for his due reward for his past service.
They give him ‘thirty pieces of silver.’ This was the value of a slave gored by an ox in Mosaic times (Exo 21:32). It was intended here to be a derisory amount, indicating what they thought of his services. The value of a male slave at this time would be more than double this amount.
Zec 11:13
‘And YHWH said to me, “Cast it to the smelter, the goodly price that I was valued at by them.” And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the smelter in the house of YHWH.’
God takes the value at which Zechariah is valued as indicative of the value they have placed on Him Himself. The phrase ‘the goodly price’ is sarcastic. They clearly think that God and His prophetic word are worth little. So YHWH tells him to reject it.
‘Cast them to the potter (or smelter) in the house of YHWH.’ This probably refers to the Temple foundry where the silver is melted down. The Syriac version, however, has ‘into the treasury’ and a suggested emendation to the Hebrew text would produce this phrase. But casting it to the Temple smelter implies the same thing. Handing the silver over to the Temple may well have been a device, as it was later, of rejecting the contract as unsatisfactory. Alternately it may be intended as an indication that God is telling Zechariah to give the silver to Him as it demonstrates the value the false shepherds have placed on Him.
The chief priests and Pharisees placed the same value on God and His word when they paid Judas for betraying Jesus. They may well have had this prophecy in mind indicating their scorn for Jesus (Mat 26:15). But it was, unknowingly to them, a fulfilment of the idea behind the prophecy. He Who had been sent from God was rejected and a derisory amount was paid in respect of Him, and this proved in the end to be the value that they had placed on God.
Zec 11:14
‘Then I cut in two my other staff, even Bands, in order that I may break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.’
The derisory offering of thirty pieces of silver finally seals the rejection of the false teachers and prophets. The second staff is broken showing that God and Zechariah are no longer shepherds to His people Who have despised Him. This will result in dissension and division between the two sections of the people and the breaking up of the covenant community.
It is very possible that in taking the two staves Zechariah had Eze 37:15-28 in mind. There two sticks are joined together to form a unity of Israel and Judah under the Messianic king. Here Zechariah is demonstrating and declaring that that time is not yet. The fulfilling of the promises is yet in the future, and the people will remain divided. It is always a sad thing when the people of God are divided for it is a sign that God’s blessing is, at least partly, absent. Thus the shepherd Zechariah looks forward to a greater Shepherd Who will finally seal the covenant with the people of God (Zec 13:7).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Zec 11:12-13. And I said, &c. Afterwards I said unto them, if this pleaseth you, give me my hire; if not, forbear: so, &c. Zec 11:13. And the Lord said unto me, cast it to the potter, [namely,] this very goodly valuation which they made of me. The Messiah speaks this to the chief-priests and rulers of the Jews, from whom he demands his hire, or, faith in his Gospel; for no other hire can be here understood. We have seen above, that Zechariah fed not the flock, and that the person of the Messiah is here exhibited, to whom alone it appertains to hold the staff of delight, and gentleness, and to make a covenant with the nations, that they should not destroy the Jewish people. There the Messiah only speaks, who expected no other hire or reward from the Jews than faith with all its blessed consequences. sekari, in the last clause, is more properly rendered price than hire, because the prophet prophesies ambiguously, and introduces the Messiah complaining to the following purpose: “I demanded my hire or reward from them: but they, so far from thinking to reward me, even weighed out the price or purchase-money for my life,” So St. Matthew understood the place, who by his quotation teaches us; first, that sekari, here is not to be understood, as in the former part of the verse, for the reward or hire of a shepherd, but for the very price of the shepherd’s life given to the traitor Judas: Secondly, that these words, A good price at which I was valued, in like manner denote the valuation, not of the shepherd’s labour, but of his person [at which I was valued]; which estimation he calls goodly, in scorn, because it was a shameful thing for the murderers of the shepherd, however wicked, to purchase the facility of murdering him at so low a rate. The latter words could have no ambiguity in them: for, as nobody had seen Zechariah feed a flock, or demand his hire from any one, they could not doubt but that the prophet, when he said, I took and cast the thirty pieces of silver, &c. foretold that it should hereafter happen that thirty pieces of silver, &c. should be cast into the temple to or for the potter; though the other circumstances of this enigmatical prophesy could scarcely be explained or understood before the event itself. Such is Houbigant’s explanation of this passage. Dr. Sharpe observes upon it, that after the dissolution of the covenant, mentioned Zec 11:10-11 between the Lord and the Jews, in consequence of their pride and other corruptions, they were delivered up to their enemies; notwithstanding the glorious promises made them on their return, and which they had forfeited by breaking the covenant first on their part. On this occasion, the fate even of the shepherd himself is related, as it happened not long after the time of these troubles, which extended to the reign of Herod. And I said unto them:The prophet said unto them, the rulers of the people,relating here what really happened, when one of the disciples of Jesus demanded the price of the Lord:So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver; and the Lord said, &c. Zec 11:13. It is the Messiah, the governor, the good Shepherd, whom the Jews had rejected, and not the prophet Zechariah, who, as one dismissed, demands the lower price given to shepherds. This has manifestly a reference to what happened when the Messiah appeared in the flesh, and was again rejected by the Jews. The only difference in this account given by Zechariah is, that the prophet exhibits what was done by a third person, without introducing him into the relation. But this difference is such, as will not hinder a judicious and impartial man from believing the prophet, or the Word, to have had the future treatment of the same shepherd in view. And hence I take leave to remark, that it is a necessary key to the interpretation of the scriptures of the new covenant, that many things applied to our Lord in those writings are his own words, delivered under the character of the LORD, the Logos or Word; and therefore not to be considered merely as ACCOMODATIONS of phrases taken from the old scriptures, and applied to different purposes and persons in the new. See Dr. Sharpe’s Second Argument, and Matthew 27.
The potter It is not likely that the potter was at work within the sacred precincts of the temple, as has been conjectured; because the potter’s field, the place where his business was carried on, was, as we are told, Mat 27:7 afterwards bought to bury strangers in. But who can suppose that the Jews would have suffered such a defilement of the holy place? It must therefore have been a field adjacent to, but without the walls, which, the potters having by digging out the earth for their manufacture rendered it useless for any other purpose, was bought for a trifling sum, and appropriated as before mentioned.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1257
THE CONTEMPT POURED ON CHRIST
Zec 11:12-13. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord [Note: The text may properly consist of these words only. Zec 11:13. A goodly price that I was prized at of them! And they may be treated 1. In reference to the Jews, who fulfilled the prophecy. (Here the first head might be introduced.) 2. In reference to ourselves. (Here the second entire head, and all the Application, would come in easily.)If the subject have no immediate reference to the passion week, I would rather recommend this mode of treating it.].
THE prophet, under the character of a shepherd, is declaring what reception he had met with from the flock committed to his charge, and what judgments awaited them for their treatment of him. Extremely beautiful and grand is the address at the beginning of the chapter, where he calls on all orders of the Jewish community to prepare for the sentence that was gone forth against them [Note: Zec 11:1-3; Zec 11:6.], and threatens to abandon them to their fate [Note: Zec 11:9.]. He then takes two staves or wands, one of which he called Beauty, and the other, Bands; and in their presence cut asunder the one that was designated by the name of Beauty, in order to intimate, that their whole ecclesiastical polity, which was the beauty and glory of the whole world, should be dissolved [Note: Zec 11:10.]. Obscure as this intimation was, it was understood by the poor, the humble, and the pious, who trembled at the voice of the Lord [Note: Zec 11:11.]. The other stick, named Bands, represented the civil polity of the Jews: and before he proceeded to cut asunder that also, and to declare the utter destruction of the whole nation, he made one more effort in their favour, and desired the chief priests and elders to signify their regard for his services by such a pecuniary tender as they deemed adequate to their value. They, in compliance with this demand, weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver, the price of a common slave [Note: Exo 21:32.]. Upon this, the Lord, full of indignation against them for so undervaluing his richest mercies, ordered the prophet to cast the money to a potter who happened to be in the temple, and then to cut asunder the other staff, in token of his giving them up to intestine commotions and to utter destruction [Note: Zec 11:13-14.].
But the whole of this transaction had respect also to other times, and other circumstances; and must be understood,
I.
As a prophetic intimation
The prophet was a type of that great and good Shepherd, who was in due time to come into the world, and to lay down his life for the sheep: and the treatment which he received, was typical of what should afterwards be accomplished by the Jews of later days in reference to their Messiah.
How exactly it was accomplished, the New Testament will inform us
[When Judas conceived the design of betraying his Lord, he bargained with the chief priests, who offered him this precise sum, thirty pieces of silver, which he took accordingly, as the price of the Redeemers blood [Note: Mat 26:14-16.]. After he had betrayed his Lord, he went to return them their money: and finding that they would not regard his overtures, he cast down the money in the temple, and went and hanged himself. And what did they with the money? They would not put it into the treasury, because it was the price of blood; but, after consultation had, they bought with it a potters field, to bury strangers in: and thus, as an inspired Apostle informs us, fulfilled what had so many hundred years before been predicted concerning them [Note: Mat 27:3-10.].]
From this minute accomplishment of it we derive most important instruction
[Mark how many circumstances in this extraordinary transaction concurred to fulfil the prophecy: The person whose services were so valued; the good Shepherd. The price fixed; thirty pieces of silver. The application of the money; given to a potter. The spot where the transaction took place; the temple of the Lord. The persons chiefly concerned in it; the priests and elders. All this was predicted, in order to attest the truth of Christs Messiahship. And was there any concert, think you, to fulfil the prophecy? Did Judas and the chief priests commune together, to prove beyond a possibility of doubt that Jesus was the person to whom all the law and the prophets bare witness as the Saviour of the world? Behold then, from one proof out of a hundred, on how firm a basis our faith is fixed!
Nor is the accomplishment of this prophecy instructive only as confirming our faith: it goes much farther, and gives us an insight into all Gods dispensations, whether of providence or grace.
God has ordered every thing, both in heaven and earth, both in time and eternity. But are men therefore to be considered as mere passive instruments in his hands? No: they are free agents in all that they do. The chief priests sought only the gratification of their own malice, as Judas did of his own covetous desires: neither the one nor the other acted from any impulse but of their own hearts. The spot where the transaction took place, the presence of a potter, the circumstance of his having a field of the precise value to sell, with various other circumstances, were all, as we should call them, accidental: but God foresaw all, and fore-ordained to accomplish his own will by means of all. And this shews us how Gods decrees respecting the salvation of his people are accomplished. Men are not at all the less free because of his decrees; nor are the decrees of God the less certain because of mans free agency. There are ten thousand minute and accidental circumstances, as we should call them, necessary, as links in the chain of Gods purposes; but not one shall be wanting; not one shall fail; nor shall one jot or tittle of Gods word ever pass away. The responsibility of man will be precisely the same as if God had made no decrees: and the termination of events will be the same, as if God himself had produced them without the agency of man. With respect to man, all is uncertain: but with respect to God, all is as fixed, as if it were already done: His counsel shall stand: and he will do all his will. Deep as these truths are, they are not at all inconsistent with each other: and if men will only mark in what way the prophecies have been fulfilled, they will have a key to all the difficulties which have embarrassed, and incensed against each other, the whole Christian world.]
But the transaction in our text must be yet further viewed,
II.
As an emblematic act
It was foretold by Isaiah, that the Messiah should be despised and rejected of men [Note: Isa 53:2-3.]. But was it by the men of one generation only that he was to be so treated? No; but by men of every nation, and of every age. It is indeed humiliating to think that the prophecy in our text has been fulfilled in us: but it is not more humiliating than true. Consider,
1.
What we have done to obtain an interest in Christ
[After the things of this world we have burned with most intense desire: pleasure, riches, honour, have been in such request, that no measure of attainment of them could ever satisfy us: but after the knowledge of Christ we have felt no such longings: a small measure would satisfy us at any time: and we could be quite content to leave it in doubt whether he were our friend or not. Anxieties and disappointments in abundance we have felt in relation to earthly things; but not in reference to him; because it has been a matter of indifference to us, whether we possessed an interest in him or not. For earthly things we could consume the midnight oil, or encounter perils and fatigues: but an hour spent in prayer, in our secret chamber, has been a labour too irksome for us to endure. Whole years have passed; and not a single day been devoted by us to fasting and prayer for the obtaining of his salvation. Such a price as this has appeared an unreasonable demand; nor could we ever be prevailed upon to pay it: a faint wish, or formal service, has been the full amount of the estimate which we have set on His love. How justly then may God reject us with indignation, saying, A goodly price truly is this at which I have been prized of you!]
2.
What we have been willing to suffer for him
[Great are the sacrifices which we have made for the poor vanities of time and sense: but what have we sacrificed for the Lord? Paul counted not his life dear to him, so that he might but honour and glorify his Lord: but we have felt no such constraining sense of his excellency, no such disposition to part with all for him. An interest equivalent to the purchase of a potters field has been at any time a sufficient barrier in our way to obstruct our progress, and prevent us from confessing him openly before men. It is really grievous to think how little we have been willing to bear for him. A frown, a threat, an ignominious name, have been quite sufficient to intimidate us; when, if we had valued Christ aright, ten thousand worlds would, in comparison of him, have weighed no more with us than the dust upon the balance.]
3.
What efforts we have made for promoting his glory in the world
[The Apostles and primitive Christians counted not their lives dear to them, so that they might but diffuse the knowledge of his salvation. And thus it should be with us. Our hearts should be ever intent on that object: we should never lose sight of it: we should live altogether for it. But, alas! how inactive have we been in his service! We have seen millions perishing for lack of knowledge, and used scarcely any means for their instruction. We have seen the kingdom of Christ invaded and usurped by the prince of darkness, and put forth no efforts to bring it to its rightful Owner. Say, would it have been thus, if we had valued him as we ought? Would the advancement of his glory have been so light a matter in our eyes, if we had formed a just estimate of his kingdom and glory? Surely God has had too much reason to cast this reflection upon us, A goodly price it was that I was prized at by them. And all our worthless services he may well cast away with indignation, as unworthy his acceptance, and fit only for the purchase of a potters field.]
Address
1.
Those who are indifferent about Christ
[Can it be so, that there should be any found of this description? Alas! they constitute the great mass, not of the heathens only, but of those who name the name of Christ. But will it be so always? Will it be so when you get into the eternal world? You can sleep now like the foolish virgins: but will you not in that day, when excluded from the marriage feast, cry, Lord, Lord, open unto us? Yes: you will then at least form a correct estimate, if you will not now: but I pray God you may learn to do it now, whilst it may be available for your good, and not wait till you shall know his value only by your loss. Better to know him now by the manifestations of his love, than to know him then by the terrors of his avenging arm.]
2.
Those who desire to obtain an interest in him
[Be ready to pay the price which your God demands. The wise merchant, when he has found this pearl of great price, will sell all to procure it. And this is what our blessed Lord himself requires at your hands. You must forsake all, and follow him: you must not love father or mother more than him. You must even hate father and mother, yea, and your own life also, in comparison of him. He must have no rival in your estimation. There must be nothing which you will not do for him; nothing which you will not sacrifice. Be not like the Rich Youth, who renounced him rather than his wealth. The greater the sacrifices you make, the more must you account them grounds only of self-congratulation, and of joy [Note: Php 2:17.]. O beg of God the Spirit to reveal him in your hearts; and so to make his glory pass before your eyes, that you may henceforth have no wish but to enjoy his presence, and to glorify his name!]
3.
Those who profess that they do already possess this inestimable treasure
[I can have no doubt but that there are many of this description here present: and I greatly rejoice that the Lord Jesus Christ is valued amongst us in some measure as he ought to be. But I tremble to think what changes may yet be wrought even in the most hopeful amongst us. Who that had seen the piety of Demas, would have expected such an issue of it as we read of: Demas hath forsaken us, having loved this present world [Note: 2Ti 4:10.]. Who that had beheld the Galatian converts, so full of love to the Apostles, that they would have plucked out their own eyes, and given them to him, would have expected to find them afterwards so bewitched through the influence of false teachers, that they accounted him their enemy for telling them the truth [Note: Gal 3:1; Gal 4:15-16.]? But St.Paul, in all his epistles, complains, as St. Peter does also, that, as there had been false prophets in former ages, so were there in their days false teachers, who brought in damnable heresies, and prevailed on many to follow their pernicious ways [Note: 1Ti 4:11. 2Pe 2:1-2.]. We read of whole families being subverted and turned from the faith [Note: Tit 1:10-11.]; some through the instrumentality of Judaizing teachers, who blended with the Gospel the observance of the Mosaic rites [Note: Gal 2:14.]; and others, through the delusive statements of self-conceited philosophers, who, by their specious refinements, despoiled Christianity of all its simplicity and glory [Note: Col 2:8.]. And as then multitudes were tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, so it is now; as, indeed, we have been taught to expect it would be in these latter days. St. Paul says, The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables [Note: 2Ti 4:3-4. Mark here, 1. The principle, after their own lusts. 2. The habit of mind, itching ears, that love to be scratched. See the Greek. 3. The conduct, heaping to themselves teachers. 4. The effect, turning from the truth to fables. What an accurate and awful picture is here!] And what is the effect of this amongst us? it is precisely the same as in the Apostles days; the minds of the simple are distracted; and instead of hearing, in every place, the praises of our adorable Redeemer, we hear of little but a doting about questions and strifes of words; and see little, but envy, and strife, and railing, and evil surmisings, and perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds [Note: 1Ti 6:4-5.]. And this is the price at which our blessed Lord is prized by us! Any new opinion, or fond conceit, has more attraction for us, than the contemplation of his love, and the adoring of his grace! Dear Brethren, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ: but I fear lest, by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ [Note: 2Co 11:2-3.]. Be on your guard, I pray you, against his devices. He can now, as well as formerly, transform himself into an angel of light, and make his ministers to appear as the ministers of righteousness [Note: 2Co 11:13-15.]. But I appeal to all, whether the listening to questions and strifes of words does not divert the mind from Christ, and indispose the soul for communion with him. Then, I say, have a higher regard for Christ than to run after novelties, which only draw you from him. It is but little that you can know of him, how intent soever your minds may be upon him; and but little that you can do to requite his love, how devoted soever you may be to his service. Value him then as you ought; love him as you ought; serve him as you ought: let all created things be as dung in your estimation in comparison of him [Note: Php 3:8.]: and endeavour now to keep your mind engaged, as it will to all eternity be occupied in heaven, in praising and magnifying him, who loved you, and washed you from your sins in his own blood [Note: Rev 1:5-6.].
Take care that you be not robbed of it. Satan will leave nothing undone to prevail against you. How he has prevailed over others, let the history of Demas inform you. Do not imagine, that because the world is as nothing to you now, it will always appear so vain and worthless. No: a change of circumstances often produces a change of views and habits. What changes may await you, God alone knows: but O! pray that there may never be a change in your regards for Christ, unless indeed that he may be increasingly precious in your eyes, and that your devotion to him may be more entire. And be assured that in the eternal world it will be no grief to you that you did too much for him, or suffered too much for him. Let it be to you Christ to live; and it will in due time be gain to die.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear: so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 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 cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
Nothing can be clearer, than that this prophecy referred to the person of Christ. See Mat 27:9 . It is worthy the Reader’s remark, that the price a Jewish servant paid, in the case of an ox goring him, or her, was the same. Exo 21:32 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 11:12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
Ver. 12. If ye think good, give me my price ] Pay me for my pains, lay me down my shepherd’s wages. Is not the labourer worthy of his hire? Shall I be forced to say of you, as my servant David of Nabal, that unthankful churl, “Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good,” 1Sa 25:21 . If God will be David’s shepherd, David will dwell in God’s house to all perpetuity, Psa 23:1 ; Psa 23:6 . If the Lord deal bountifully with him, he will sit down and bethink himself what to render unto the Lord for all his benefits, Psa 116:7 ; Psa 116:12 . A Christian counts all that he can do for God, by way of retribution, but a little of that much he could beteem him; and thinks nothing more unbeseeming himself than to receive the grace of God in vain. His two mites of thankfulness and obedience he daily presents; and then cries out, as the poor Grecian did to the emperor, If I had a better present thou shouldst be sure of it ( E ). But ingratitude is a grave, which receives all the bodies (the benefits) that are put into it; but will render none up again without a miracle. Hence that passionate expostulation, Deu 32:6 “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish people and unwise?” Sic etiam stomachose loquitur Deus hoe loeo, saith Calvin upon this text: i.e. So likewise doth the Lord here in high displeasure and with great animosity or stomach, bespeak his people, Give me my wages howsoever; or, if not, forbear till I fetch it, till I recover it; you shall be sure to pay then, not the debt only, but the charges likewise; I will be paid both for my pains and patience too. In the mean space I need you not, nor care for your wages; for I am no hireling, &c.
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
price = wage.
thirty pieces of silver. The damages for injury done to a servant. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 21:32). This is not the passage referred to in Mat 27:9. Sec App-161. That was “spoken” by Jeremiah; this was written by Zechariah.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ye think good: Heb. it be good in your eyes, 1Ki 21:2, 2Ch 30:4, *marg.
give: Mat 26:15, Joh 13:2, Joh 13:27-30
So: Gen 37:28, Exo 21:32, Mat 26:15, Mar 14:10, Mar 14:11, Luk 22:3-6
Reciprocal: Gen 23:16 – weighed Lev 27:4 – thirty shekels Isa 53:3 – despised Jer 32:9 – seventeen shekels of silver Mat 27:9 – And they Luk 22:5 – and covenanted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 11:12-13. In order for the old law (here called Beauty) to be broken, It was necessary for Christ to nail it to the cross. And in order for that to happen it was necessary for Him to be betrayed and sold for silver. Hence the prophet Interrupts his story long enough to go back a few hours before the crucifixion to show how it was done, even as it had been predicted according to Matthew 27: 9,10. Hence this paragraph should be regarded as another parenthetic passage on that particular item of the whole transaction, to connect up all the vital parts of Gods great plan.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 11:12-13. And I said unto them Namely, upon parting. The prophet, still personating Christ, or acting as a type of him, reminds the Jews of his concern for their welfare, the care he had taken of them, and the labour he had bestowed on instructing them; and refers it to them whether his services had not deserved some reward, and, if they had, what that reward ought to be; saying, If ye think good, give me my price Or rather, my wages or hire of service, as the word undoubtedly signifies; and if not, forbear If you dismiss me without wages I shall be content. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver That is, as is supposed, thirty shekels, of the value of about 2 Samuel 4 d. each, which was the price of a slave. This showed how little they regarded him, or his labours; that is, how little value the Jews would put on the ministry of Christ; or on his labours and sufferings for their salvation. For, according to St. Mat 26:15; Mat 27:9, this symbolical action was fulfilled when the chief priests and elders of the Jews paid that sum to Judas for betraying Christ to them, and putting his life in their power. And the Lord said unto me Unto the prophet, personating Christ; Cast it unto the potter Hereby intimating that it was a reward only suitable to a potters labour, and a price only adequate for such wares as he sold, which were of the meanest value. A goodly price that I was prized at of them Thus the prophet ironically remarks on the high estimation in which he and his services were holden: or rather, God here upbraids the shepherds of his people, who prized the great Shepherd no higher. And I cast them to the potter, &c. Or, cast them into the house of the Lord for the potter: I cast them back into the treasury in the temple, whence afterward they were taken, and laid out in purchasing the potters field. This whole transaction, performed by Zechariah in a vision, as Lowth, Doddridge, and many other interpreters suppose, or, as others think, in reality; was designed to be an exact representation of the several circumstances that should attend the betraying of Christ by Judas, the price the chief priests would put upon him, (to whom, as the governors of the temple, the money was returned,) and the use to which the money would be applied. And this whole prophetic scene was transacted in the single person of Zechariah, just as Ezekiel sustained the type or figure both of the Chaldean army that should besiege Jerusalem, and of the Jews themselves that should be besieged, Eze 4:1-12. So Lowth, who adds, This is one of those prophecies whose literal sense is fulfilled in our blessed Saviour, and cannot be applied to any other person but in a very remote or improper sense. The like instances may be seen Psa 22:16-18; Psa 69:21; Hos 11:1. The Jews themselves have expounded this prophecy of the Messiah. There can be no doubt, says Blayney, that this is the passage referred to Mat 27:9, though under the name of Jeremiah, (put by mistake of some transcriber of St. Matthews gospel,) instead of Zechariah. But a question arises, how the transaction related by the evangelist can be said to be a fulfilling of that which was spoken by the prophet, considering the striking difference in some of the circumstances. In the one case, thirty pieces of silver were given as wages for service; in the other, they were paid as the price of a mans blood: in the one they were thrown with contempt to the potter; in the other, they were cast down in the temple in a fit of remorse, and taken up by others, who employed them in the purchase of the potters field. But notwithstanding these differences, considering that all passed under the special direction of Divine Providence, it is impossible not to conclude, from a review of both transactions, that there was a designed allusion of the one to the other, and not a mere accidental resemblance between them. But the quotation, it is said, is not just: for no such words are to be found in the prophet, which the evangelist hath pretended to cite from him. To this it may be answered, that though not the precise words, the substance of them is given, so that the passages are at least equivalent, as a collation of them in the original will show: see the note on Mat 27:9.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11:12 And I said to them, If ye think good, give [me] {p} my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
(p) Besides their ingratitude, God accuses them of malice and wickedness, who did not only forget his benefits, but esteemed them as nothing.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Since Zechariah was terminating his protection of the flock, he asked the sheep to pay him his wages or, if they refused, to keep what they owed him.
He is more concerned about making the flock feel that he is done with it than he is about money." [Note: Leupold, p. 216.]
The sheep weighed out 30 shekels of silver as his pay. This was the price of a gored slave in the ancient Near East (Exo 21:32) and, though a substantial amount, was a pittance in view of all that the Shepherd had done for the sheep. [Note: See E. Reiner, "Thirty Pieces of Silver," Journal of the American Oriental Society 88 (January-March 1968):186-90.] Their act was as shamelessly insulting as their general reaction to His ministry as a whole had been. To offer him this wage was far worse than simple outward rejection (cf. Mat 26:15). It was the equivalent of telling the Shepherd that they could buy a dead slave who would be as useful to them as He had been. This response shows how unworthy the people were of His solicitude.