7<\/strong>. Awake, O sword<\/em> ] We have a similar apostrophe in Jer 47:6<\/span>.<\/p>\n my shepherd<\/em> ] This may refer primarily to any Jewish king or ruler, for even a heathen king raised up by God to befriend His people is called by Him “My shepherd,” Isa 44:28<\/span>. But it is at the same time a distinct prophecy of Christ. See chap. Zec 11:4<\/span>, note.<\/p>\n my fellow<\/em> ] The word occurs only here and in Leviticus, where it is frequently found (e.g. Lev 6:2<\/span> [Heb., 5:21]; Lev 19:15<\/span>; Lev 19:17<\/span>), and is usually rendered, “neighbour,” , LXX. In its highest sense it belongs exclusively to the Shepherd who could say, “I and my Father are one.” Joh 10:26-30<\/span>.<\/p>\n True to the sound canon of interpretation which he always adopts, Calvin, while fully acknowledging the reference of this passage to Christ and its complete fulfilment in Him, contends that just as the prediction of “a prophet” in Deuteronomy (Deu 18:15<\/span>) embraces the whole prophetical order, as well as “the Prophet” to whom they all gave witness, so here, while the Chief Shepherd is distinctly pointed at, the shepherds of God’s people generally are included, and called His “fellows,” because they are associated with Him in the work of government. “Sicuti ergo Christus primatum obtinet inter prophetas, et ideo bene aptatur ad illum locus Mosis; ita etiam quoniam pastorum est princeps et caput, merito hoc competit in ejus personam. Sed generalis tamen est prophet doctrina. Hc ratio est cur vocentur socii Dei, propter conjunctionem scilicet, quia sunt co-operarii Dei, quemadmodum Paulus etiam docet (1Co 3:9<\/span>). Denique eodem sensu vocat propheta pastores Dei socios, quo Paulus vocat ipsos .” In applying this canon, however, to the prophecies of the O. T. it must be borne in mind that, as the stars grow pale before the rising sun, so as the coming of Christ draws near, typical persons and offices fade more and more out of sight, and the terms and reference of the promises belong more immediately and exclusively to Him.<\/p>\n the sheep shall be scattered<\/em> ] In interpreting this prophecy of His own death and its consequences, our Lord seems to restrict the “sheep” here to the Apostles, of whom we are told that, when He was apprehended, they all “forsook Him and fled” (Mat 26:31<\/span>; Mat 26:56<\/span>). We may say, with Bengel, that “the disciples were the representatives of the whole flock (instar totius gregis) which should afterwards be gathered by them.” But with Zechariah the flock is the Jewish<\/em> Church, and it is better therefore to regard our Lord’s words as intimating the completeness of the dispersion which the prophet had foretold. Not only the flock at large, which had rejected Him as their shepherd, but even His own sheep, the faithful poor (“the poor of the flock,” chap. Zec 11:11<\/span>; the “little ones” of this verse) shall be scandalized at first and flee away from the Cross.<\/p>\n I will turn mine hand upon<\/em> ] For correction, but in mercy, Zec 13:8-9<\/span>. Comp. Isa 1:25<\/span>, where the phrase is used in the same sense. Stier has some interesting remarks on the reference to this part of the prophecy in our Lord’s promise to His disciples in Mat 26:32<\/span>. “The hand and power of God in the risen<\/em> Shepherd returned from death is turned upon them and gathers them together.”<\/p>\n Zec 13:7-9<\/span>. The purifying chastisement<\/p>\n The smiting of the Shepherd shall lead to the dispersion of the flock, which shall not, however, be universal, Zec 13:7<\/span>; for while two-thirds of it shall perish, one-third shall be spared, Zec 13:8<\/span>, and shall be brought by the refining process of affliction into happy and intimate relationship with God, Zec 13:9<\/span>.<\/p>\n The opening of the section is apparently abrupt, and Ewald and other critics would accordingly transfer these verses to the end of chap. 11. The difficulty cannot satisfactorily be removed by the view (adopted by Mr Wright) that in the preceding verses (2 6) “much more is described than a sound reaction against the pretences of false prophets,” and that “the age is represented as impatient of any such supernatural claims,” a temper of mind, which is held to have been precisely that which led the Jews of that day to reject the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, and so to become the authors of the smiting of the Shepherd. Such a view mars the sequence of the foregoing prophecy, the deliverance, the penitence, the cleansing, the amendment, and moreover it was not because He claimed to be a prophet, nor because they were impatient of any such claim (for they both expected and recognised it, Joh 1:21<\/span>; Joh 6:14<\/span>; Joh 9:17<\/span>; Luk 7:16<\/span>; Luk 24:19<\/span>; Mat 21:4<\/span>; Mat 21:6<\/span>; comp. Mat 14:5<\/span>), but because “He made Himself the Son of God” (Joh 19:7<\/span>), that the Jews took their part in the smiting of the Shepherd. The true explanation of the apparently abrupt transition is to be found in the fact that this section is rather parallel with, than consecutive upon the earlier section of this burden. (Comp. the parallel series of visions, the seals, the trumpets, the vials, in the Apocalypse.) Having opened the future in the first section up to the great moral reformation of the end, the prophet now turns back again to a point even earlier than that with which that section commenced, and opens it again by a new vista from the smiting of the Shepherd to the same goal of perfect holiness which he had reached before. At the same time he guards against the mistake, which the promises of the earlier section might have fostered, that the goal was to be reached without discipline. “Adhuc bona et jucunda prdixit vates. Ne autem qui hc legerent in hanc inducerentur opinionem, populi Judaici conditionem futuris temporibus fore immunem ab omni molestia et calamitate, jam annunciat priusquam Jova populum suum repurget atque revocat in perfectum ordinem, gravissimas clades fore intermedias.” Rosenm. At the same time, there may possibly be such a connection of thought between Zec 13:6-7<\/span>, as is suggested by Stier ( Reden Jesu<\/em>, Mat 26:31<\/span>). “There is a transition<\/em> in the parallel of ‘wounds’ and ‘wounded’ of Zec 13:6<\/span>, with the ‘wound’ (‘smite,’ the same root) of Zec 13:7<\/span>, which signifies In a quite different sense ‘will the true<\/em> Prophet and Shepherd suffer<\/em> for the guilt of others: let Himself be smitten by them who hate Him, because He loves them.’ ”<\/p>\n The Second Section<\/em>. Zec 13:7<\/span> to Zec 14:21<\/span><\/p>\n The purification and final glory of Israel<\/p>\n This Second Section of the Second Burden and conclusion of the whole Book describes the purifying chastisement that shall come upon the people, Zec 13:7-9<\/span>; the great final conflict and deliverance of Jerusalem, Zec 14:1-7<\/span>; the prosperity of the transformed and renovated city and land, Jehovah being King, 8 11; the destruction of the hostile nations, 12 15, and homage of the residue, 16 19; and the perfect holiness of Jerusalem, as the crown of all, 20, 21.<\/p>\n Awake, O sword – <\/B>So Jeremiah apostrophises the sword, O thou sword of the Lord, when wilt thou be quiet? Jer 47:6<\/span>. The prophets express what will be, by a command that it should be; Make the heart of this people heavy Isa 6:10<\/span>. But by this command he signifies that human malice, acting freely, could do no more than His Hand and His counsel determined before to be done Act 4:28<\/span>. The envy and hatred of Satan, the blind fury of the chief priests, the contempt of Herod, the guilty cowardice of Pilate, freely accomplished that Death, which God had before decreed for the salvation of the world. The meaning then is, (Ribera), the sword shall be aroused against My Shepherd, that is, I will allow Him to be smitten by the Jews. But by the sword he designates death, persecution, wounding etc. as above, the sword upon his right arm Zec 11:17<\/span>, and, where the passion of Christ is spoken of, Deliver my soul from the sword Psa 22:20<\/span>. So also, All the sinners of the people shall die by the sword Amo 9:10<\/span>, (Jerome), which cannot be taken literally; for many sinners perish by shipwreck, poison, drowning, fire. Amos then so spake, because many died by war, yet not all by the sword, but others by pestilence and famine, all which he includes under the sword Amo 9:10<\/span>. This smiting began, when the Lord was taken, and His sheep began to be scattered; but the prophecy which, before, was being gradually fulfilled, was fully fulfilled in His death, and the apostles were dispersed till the day of the Resurrection at eventide.<\/P> Against the Man, My Fellow – <\/B>that is, One united by community of nature. A little before, God had spoken of Himself as priced at the thirty pieces of silver, yet as breaking the covenant which He had made with all nations for His people; as pierced through, yet as pouring the spirit of grace and supplication on those who pierced Him, that they should mourn their deed, and as, thereon, ever cleansing them from sin. As Man, God was sold, was pierced. : God, in flesh, not working with aught intervening as in the prophets, but having taken to Him a Manhood connatural with Himself and made one, and through His flesh akin to us, drawing up to Him all humanity. What was the manner of the Godhead in flesh? As fire in iron, not transitively but by communication. For the fire does not dart into the iron, but remains there and communicates to it of its own virtue, not impaired by the communication, yet filling wholly its recipient.<\/P> The bold language of the Fathers only expressed the actuality of the Incarnation. Since the Manhood was taken into God, and in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and God and Man were one Christ. then was it all true language. His Body was the Body of God ; His flesh the flesh of the Word ; and it was lawful to speak of the flesh of the Deity , of the Passion of the Word , the Passion of Christ, my God , the Passion of God , God dead and buried , God suffered , murderers of God , the Godhead dwelt in the flesh bodily, which is all one with saying that, being God, He had a proper body, and using this as an instrument, He became Man for our sakes, and, because of this, things proper to the flesh are said to be His, since He was in it, as hunger, thirst, suffering, fatigue and the like, of which the flesh is capable, while the works proper to the Word Himself as raising the dead and restoring the blind, He did through His own Body, is but a continuance of the language of Zechariah, since He who was sold, was priced, was Almighty God. Jesus being God and Man, the sufferings of His Humanity were the sufferings of God, although, as God, He could not suffer.<\/P> Now, conversely, God speaks of the Shepherd who was slain, as My Fellow, united in Nature with Himself, although not the Manhood of Jesus which suffered, but the Godhead, united with It in one Person, was Consubstantial with Himself. The name might perhaps be most nearly represented by connatural. : When then the title is employed of the relation of an individual to God, it is clear that that individual can be no mere man, Jut must be one, united with God by unity of Being. The Akin of the Lord is no, other than He who said in the Gospel I and My Father are One Joh 10:30<\/span>, and who is designated as the Only-Begotten Son, who is in the Bosom of the Father Joh 1:18<\/span>. The word, it seems, was especially chosen, as being used in the Pentateuch, only in the laws against injuring a fellow-man. The prophet thereby gives prominence to the seeming contradiction between the command of the Lord, Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and those Of His own law, whereby no one is to injure his fellow.<\/P> He thus points out the greatness of that end, for the sake of which the Lord regards not that relation, whose image among men He commanded to be kept holy. He speaks after the manner of people. He calls attention to the greatness of that sacrifice, whereby He spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all Rom 8:32<\/span>. The word Man forms a sort of contrast with My Fellow. He whom the sword is to reach must unite the Human Nature with the divine. Jews too have seen that the words, My Fellow, imply an equality with God; only since they own not Him, who was God and Man, they must interpret it of a false claim on the part of man , overlooking that it is given Him by God.<\/P> And I will turn My hand <\/B>o<\/SUP> upon the little ones – <\/B>Doing to them as He had done to the Shepherd. So our Lord forewarned them: If they have persecuted Me they will also persecute you Joh 15:20<\/span> : If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me, before it hated you Joh 15:18<\/span> : Ye shall be hated of all men for My names sake Mat 10:22<\/span>; Luk 21:17<\/span> : they will deliver you up to the councils and scourge you in the synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My names sake (Mat 10:17-18<\/span>; add Luk 21:12<\/span>): they shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all men for My names sake Mat 24:9<\/span>; and to the Scribes and Pharisees, I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth Mat 23:34-35<\/span>.<\/P> The little ones – <\/B>As Jeremiah speaks of the least of the flock Jer 49:20<\/span>, and the Lord said, fear not, little flock Luk 12:32<\/span>, little and weak in itself but mighty in Him and in His grace. Three centuries of persecution, alike in the Roman empire and beyond it in Persia, fulfilled the prophets words and deepened the foundation of the Church and cemented its fabric.<\/P> <\/p>\n Zec 13:7<\/span><\/p>\n Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd <\/em><\/p>\n The sword of Jehovah smiting His Shepherd<\/strong><\/p>\n We <\/em>have our Lords own authority for applying this passage to Himself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>We see in it that the sufferings of our Lord were divinely appointed. The persecuting Jews indeed were willing agents in all they did against Him. They did it voluntarily; yet they did whatsoever Gods hand and Gods counsel had determined before to be done.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Here, too, we see that the sufferings of our Lord were most severe. Man can inflict much misery, but his power is limited. When God calls off our attention from man as the author of our Lords sufferings, and directs it to Himself, we feel at once that our Lord must be a most severe sufferer. The language of the text conveys this idea forcibly. It is sword–not a scourge or a rack. It is smite; strike hard. Mark the word awake. It implies that, up to this hour, the sword of Jehovah had been sleeping. Now it is to awake, to rise up in its vigour and majesty. It is to strike in the greatness of its strength.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The text represents our Lords sufferings as surprising. Against whom? The very Being of all others, whom we should have expected Him to shield from every sword. The Being who is the nearest and dearest to Him, the man that is His fellow. To add to our surprise, the Lord seems to afflict Him, not reluctantly, but willingly; yea, more than willingly, almost eagerly. He is well-pleased in this thing for His righteousness sake.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The shepherd is to be smitten, and the sheep, frightened at the violence done to Him, are to be scattered.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The smiting of this shepherd is to be followed by a signal interposition of Jehovah in behalf of the scattered sheep. I will turn My hand upon the little ones. This term represents to us the feeble and helpless condition of our Lords followers at the time of His crucifixion. These timid disciples of our Lord were strangely kept together, in spite of their unbelief and fears, after His crucifixion, and sheltered from every danger. And we know what the early Church soon became. It was a wonder in the world, itself doing wonders.<\/p>\n Look at the practical purposes to which we may turn this text.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>To strengthen our faith in Holy Scripture. I do not allude to the predictions we find in it, which were afterwards so exactly fulfilled. I refer rather to that beautiful harmony of thoughts and expression, which exists between this verse of the Old Testament, and another passage of the New. (Compare the passage Joh 10:1-42<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The fearful evil of sin. There are moments when we cannot read this text without an inward shudder–it exhibits the great Jehovah to us in a character so awful, and in an attitude so dismaying. He is represented as an offended Judge, calling for, and eager for the sacrifice of His own dear Son. Evidently, the evil of sin is a reality; the Divine justice is a reality; the inflexible unbending character of Gods law is a reality; his determination to punish every breach of it, everywhere throughout His wide universe, is a reality. The cross of Jesus Christ proclaims all these things to be most solemn realities.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The perfect safety of all who are indeed resting for safety on our crucified Lord. You have nothing to fear from this awful God. In the greatness of Him whom He here commands to be smitten for you, you may see the sufficiency, the completeness, and more than that,–the grandeur and glory of the atonement He has made for sins. (C. Bradley.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Jehovahs sword<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> <\/strong>Whom was it to smite?<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>In whose hand was it to inflict the stroke?<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>To show His indignation against sin.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>To reconcile justice with mercy in the salvation of sinners.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The immediate effect was the scattering of our Lords disciples.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The ultimate effect was their restoration and recovery. (G. Brooks.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Passion sermon<\/strong><\/p>\n It is the observation of SS. Austine and Gregorie, that the four beasts mentioned by St. John mystically represent the four main acts of Christ, or works of mans redemption, His Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. I have to do with a prophecy somewhat dark before the light of the Gospel shone upon it. Awake, O Sword, etc.<\/p>\n The character and sufferings of Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Gods Shepherd (Psa 23:1<\/span>). Great Shepherd (Heb 13:20<\/span>). Chief Shepherd (1Pe 5:4<\/span>). The term shepherd is relative, and refers to His followers, whom He calls His sheep (Joh 10:16<\/span>). It expresses His tender care over them, which is always proportioned to their peculiar trials, temptations, etc. (Isa 40:11<\/span>). He expresses also His love to them, infinitely surpassing the love of the sons of men. He died for the sheep (Joh 10:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Gods fellow–His equal. They are one in essence, intimately and essentially one. They are one in power, When on earth the Son did the works His Father did. One in honour and glory. His sacrifice was voluntary. As Jehovahs equal, He had an absolute right and propriety in Himself, and could lay down His life, and take it up again, when He pleased (Joh 10:17-18<\/span>).<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The principal scenes of sorrow were in the Garden of Gethsemane.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Also in the hall of judgment.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Calvary was the place that witnessed the dreadful deed.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>By the sheep are meant the disciples of our Lord.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Jesus foretold that His disciples would forsake Him. It was fully accomplished (Mat 26:56<\/span>).<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Behold in this awful transaction the displeasure of God against sin.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>As Divine justice is fully satisfied by the tremendous sufferings of Jesus Christ, here we behold sufficient ground for a sinners hope of pardon. Jesus hath died; the sinner may be forgiven (Rom 3:25<\/span>). (T. Hannam.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The character of Christ as the Shepherd of Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n That this text contains clear and remarkable revelation of the Saviour no one of spiritual discernment can hesitate to believe. It is one of the clearest of those prophetic testimonies which declared to the Church beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>My Shepherd. What precise view of the Saviours place and character is this expression intended to convey? The expression significantly points to His mediatorial character and work. It reminds us that a people have been committed to His hands–that He has graciously undertaken on their behalf and that, in the whole matter of their salvation, He is their head, representative, surety. Whatever is affirmed in the text concerning Him is affirmed in this view of His character and work. The ideas suggested by this title as to the benefits derived by His people from the exercise of His mediatorial offices are full of interest and comfort to the children of God. Why is He designated My Shepherd? Because He was appointed and commissioned by the Father, in the counsels of eternity, to execute this office.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The man. Believers, in their zealous regard for the glory and honour of the Divine Redeemer, sometimes lose the comfort to be derived from a believing contemplation of the man Christ Jesus. The righteousness wrought out was wrought out in the nature of man.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The fellow of Jehovah. The equal of Jehovah. God was manifest in the flesh. This is the crowning of truth in the doctrine of salvation.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Every word in the text is comforting and instructive to the sheep of Christ.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>There is precious light in this subject for awakened and trembling sinners.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>There is here a lesson of solemn warning to careless sinners. (Robert Elder, A. M.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Messiah smitten<\/strong><\/p>\n We <\/em>know what was the transaction in which this prophecy was fulfilled; we know the awful epoch which that transaction bears. We hasten to no imaginary scene, but to a true historic one–to an actual time in the calendar of the worlds ages.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Manhood, found in fashion as a man. Man, as never man otherwise could be. Man by a most astonishing process of condescension and self-diminution.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Mediation is included. As the shepherd guards his flock, and perils his own life for its rescue and deliverance, so we are considered as entrusted to the hands of Christ, that He may ward off every danger from us to which we are exposed. How far reaching is His sympathy! How touching is His care.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Co-equality is supposed. If He be the associate and compeer of the Lord of hosts, then it may suggest the emulation of His honours, the expression of His glories, the assimilation of His deeds, and the concentration of His affections.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>This person is the subject of Divine complacency.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>This person was the object of the Divine infliction.<\/p>\n The sword is not the weapon of correction, of momentary chastening; it is the instrument of vengeance and of wrath. The same personage is the subject of Divine complacency and of Divine infliction. How is it explained? Christ is without sin. He is relatively liable for certain penalties, to which He subjects Himself voluntarily and solely. Substitution is the simplifying principle of all. We cannot place the doctrine of atonement on any other than the vicarious principle. See then–<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> The necessity for the atonement.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> Mark the nature of justice.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> Learn what is sin.<\/p>\n (4)<\/strong> We see what is the great concert and covenant between the Father and the Son.<\/p>\n (5)<\/strong> What must be the position of the unbeliever who rejects the atonement of Christ, to whom all this is as strange things, an idle dream? <\/em>(R. Winter Hamilton, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Shepherd of the flock smitten<\/strong><\/p>\n Observe that it is God the Eternal Father who gives the decree for the smiting of the Shepherd. Saith the Lord of hosts. We have no sympathy with the unguarded language of those who speak of God as an avenging deity, whose wrath can be appeased and propitiated only by offerings of blood. Love is a thing that cannot be bribed. Gods love needed not thus to be purchased. That love was the primal cause of all blessing to His creatures. The manifestation, however, of love on the part of a great moral Governor must be compatible with the exercise of His moral perfections. Gods justice, holiness, righteousness must be upheld inviolate. While mercy and truth go before His face, justice and judgment must continue the habitation of His throne. As the Omnipotent, God could do anything. So far as power is concerned, He could easily have dispensed with any medium of atonement. But what God, as the Omnipotent, could do, God, as the holy, just, righteous, true, could not do. He could not promulgate laws and leave the transgressor to mock them with impunity. Was there, then, in the case of guilty man, any possible method by which the honour of Gods name and character and throne could be preserved intact, and yet the transgressor be saved? Reason is silent here. The principle of substitution–the innocent suffering for the guilty–is one undreamt of in earthly philosophy. The Shepherd has been smitten. The Divine honour has been upholden. Mercy and truth have been betrothed before the altar of Calvary; God hath joined them together for the salvation of the human race, and that marriage covenant never can be disannulled. Justice is now equally interested with love in the rescue of the fallen. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Christ smitten by the Father<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>He is Jehovahs fellow. He is in equality with God.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>He is man. His humanity–His manhood–are as distinctly affirmed as His Deity and His equality with God.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The title given to Him as the Son of man–the Shepherd.<\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The description here given us of Him. In looking at the terms in which our Lord is here described, we are struck at once with the natural manner in which they bring together His Divine and human nature. This mode of describing Him is of frequent occurrence in the Old Testament. It seems as though the Holy Spirit exulted beforehand in that union of the two natures, which was to be accomplished in His nature, and wished the ancient Church also to foresee and exult in it. In the text, He is described in the same twofold character. He is a man, and yet the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. My fellow signifies my equal, my companion. It is expressive of our Lords Divine equality with the Father, and His eternal existence with Him. It intimates exactly what St. John afterwards plainly declared,–The Word was with God, and the Word was God. But He is man as well as God. Not, however, originally, naturally man, as He was God. Here is an anticipation of a character He afterwards took on Him. And this assumption of our nature was necessary for the work of suffering He had to go through. In this human nature, He is set forth in the text under a third character. He is a shepherd. So called because the charge of His people devolves upon Him; because He performs towards them a shepherds part, watching over, providing for, and guiding them. He is called Gods shepherd, because the flock under His charge is Gods flock, a flock committed to Him by God, to be rendered back by Him to God again. Happy they who are fed by Him.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>the command given by Jehovah. It is couched in figurative and highly poetic language. The Lord places Himself on the throne of a king or magistrate. They who bear these offices have often a sword near them as an emblem of their authority, and if need be, a ready instrument to execute any sentence they may pass on the guilty. Here the Lord describes Himself as suddenly addressing the sword near Him, and calling on it to smite, not the guilty but His own Son, and Him as shepherd.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The consequences which are to follow the execution of this coward.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The commission given to Jehovahs sword.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The grounds and reasons of this commission.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The effects and consequences of it.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The speaker, the Lord of hosts.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The speech. O Sword. As all the creatures are Gods soldiers, so when He employeth them against man they are called His swords. When the Lord is pleased to execute His wrath He never wanteth instruments or means. Of the blow here threatened, God Himself is the Author. God never awaketh His sword to smite, but for sin. In this shepherd there was no sin of His own. Against My Shepherd. Popish writers say that a shepherd should have three things, a scrip, a hook, and a whistle. This Shepherd is the good, the universal Shepherd. Daniel says,–The Messias shall be slain, but not for Himself, God hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The first and main cause of the Shepherds slaughter is, our sins. The man. Hebrews have four words for man–Adam, red earth; Enesh, a man of sorrow; Ish, a man of a noble spirit; Geber, a strong man. My fellow, for in Him the Godhead dwelleth bodily: and yet a man. Gods fellow to offer an infinite sacrifice for all mankind, and a man that He might be Himself the sacrifice killed by the sword that is now awake to smite Him. Consider this, and tremble, ye that forget God. The Shepherd is smitten; if you look to it in time, it may be for you; if not, a worse disaster remaineth for you than befell these sheep. (D. Featly, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The character of Christ, as here represented.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The awful mandate here given against Gods Shepherd and Gods Fellow. Awake, O Sword, smite the Shepherd! The command proceeds from the Eternal Father, whose justice demanded the death of our Lord (Isa 53:10<\/span>). Divine justice had no demands on Christ, simply considered as the Son of God; only when viewed as our voluntary substitute.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The effect to be produced. The sheep shall be scattered.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>Behold the tender compassion of a gracious God. He promises to turn His hand upon the little ones. Little ones who at that time had but little knowledge of human nature, little faith, and little courage. See Gods gracious dealings with the apostles and disciples of Christ. Thus He will deal also with all the faithful followers of Christ. Improvement.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The description here given of the Saviour.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The view of Gods dealings. Our thoughts are directed to the immediate infliction of the Fathers wrath. He pierced Him even to the soul, till the sword of infinite justice was satisfied with blood. Learn–<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The character of the victim. We perceive in His character–<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The peculiarity of the action. The sword is the emblem of state, of authority, of power, of justice, or retributive execution.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The person to be smitten.<\/p>\n