Passage Read: Zechariah 11-14
Meditation Verses: 11:7-9
Thought
Zechariah is commanded to shepherd a flock marked for slaughter. He is supposed to take care of them, fatten them up and prepare them for destruction. He fires three shepherds in one month; the flock hates him and he grows weary of them. Then he quits. Is he then a worthless shepherd, according to the definition that follows? Does he not care for the lost, seek the young, heal the injured and feed the healthy? Does he just eat the good meat and tear off the hooves? Is he deserting the flock? It seems like these two are contrasts. One is a worthless flock, Israel and Judah, who will not listen to the Lord so the Lord abandons them to tear themselves apart. The latter is a worthless shepherd that cares nothing for the flock but only for himself, likely Zedekiah, the last King of Judah.
Application
There is a difference between desiring what is best for a flock, trying to help them seek the good and grow in it, but the flock doesn't listen. They become weary of the training and of the trainer, and the shepherd grows tired to trying to help a flock that will not listen to him. The shepherd doesn't flee to save his own life, but quits properly, asks for whatever pay the owners are willing to pay, then leaves. That is a good shepherd over a doomed flock. The worthless shepherd is one who doesn't think about and attempt to bring good and health and strength and healing to the flock, but only sits back and cares for himself, even at the expense of the flock. Danger comes and he doesn't stand up to protect the flock, but flees to save his own life. There is a huge difference between these two shepherds and situations. The first represents the Lord and His judgment on His unruly people; the second is the exercise of that judgment on His people and on the shepherd that doesn't walk in His ways. Even if the flock is doomed to destruction, God judges the shepherds who don't try to help the sheep. If a flock will not learn and listen and grow under the hand of a shepherd seeking to help them, the shepherd's not wrong to quit and leave them to their fate. The shepherd that doesn't even try to help them, but just exists off their backs, that's a shepherd who will flee when trouble comes, who will himself come under judgment but is also part of the judgment on the flock that God appointed. I'm not a worthless shepherd if I try to help but end up quitting because the flock doesn't receive the help. I'm a worthless shepherd if I only care about the benefits that come from shepherding, but not about the health and growth of the sheep themselves.