This passage is particularly difficult to understand because it appears that Zechariah begins to speak in the first person as if he were acting out the prophecy in real life. Yet there is no indication that he was given such a directive from the LORD. It makes more sense to see the firs-person narrative as the words of God Himself, speaking on behalf of His Son, the Messiah. Yahweh sent the Messiah to serve as His undershepherd, acting on His orders and in His place. During His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed His allegiance to and reliance upon His Heavenly Father.

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing.” – John 5:19-20 NLT

He declared His unity with Yahweh when He boldly claimed, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 BSB). He later explained His earthly ministry as a byproduct of His intimate relationship with His Father.

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe on account of the works themselves.” – John 14:10-11 BSB

Jesus, operating on behalf of His Father, “became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders” (Zechariah 11:7 ESV). The psalmist joyfully proclaimed Israel’s status as Yahweh’s precious possession, describing them as the sheep of His pasture.

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. – Psalm 100:3 ESV

Jesus came to shepherd His Father’s sheep, a responsibility He understood and fully embraced.

…the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” – John 10:2-4 NLT

Yahweh (the gatekeeper) had opened the way for His Son to come to earth in human form. In His incarnation, Jesus became the shepherd of the sheep, calling the people of Israel to return to the fold of their Father. As the shepherd of Yahweh’s flock, Jesus took His role seriously, knowing that His job would require His own death to protect and preserve all those who belonged to His Heavenly Father.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15 NLT

In this same discourse, Jesus boldly condemns the other shepherd-leaders of Israel, declaring them to be nothing more than thieves and robbers (John 10:1) whose sole purpose “is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 NLT). This thinly veiled reference to the priests, kings, and false prophets of Israel paints these pseudo-shepherds in a negative light, portraying them as hired hands who care nothing for the sheep under their care (John 10:13).

Jesus reserved some of His harshest criticism for Israel’s spiritual leaders. On one occasion, He got into a heated debate with “the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees” (John 8:3 NLT). These self-righteous religious leaders took exception with Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God and declared themselves to be the true children of Yahweh. But Jesus responded in starkly offensive terms.

“If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!” – John 8:42-45 NLT

Jesus’ strained relationship with the religious and political leaders of His day provides a backdrop to the statements found in Zechariah 11. The shepherd of the flock was “doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders” (Zechariah 11:7 ESV). Luke records that the time came when the religious leaders of Israel ran out of patience with Jesus and determined to take Him out.

“The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus…” – Luke 22:2 NLT

The Zechariah passage describes Yahweh’s shepherd as bearing two staffs. One is called nōʿam, a Hebrew word that translates as “beauty” or “favor.” The other staff is called ḥēḇel, another Hebrew word that is often translated as “bonds” and is closely associated with “sorrows” and “travails.” The shepherd’s staff was his most prized possession, the tool of His trade that allowed Him to carry out His duties faithfully.

The prophet Isaiah predicted the coming Messiah would be “despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). Jesus shared with His disciples the unwelcome news of His fate, telling them, “The Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation” (Luke 17:22 NLT). Yet, the apostle Peter declared the remarkable contrast that Jesus was “rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight” (1 Peter 2:4 BSB).

In performing His roles as the Good Shepherd, Jesus wielded the favor of His Heavenly Father but He bore the burden of His rejection by those He came to save. Carrying the “tools of His trade,” the Shepherd carried out His earthly ministry and, while doing so, exposed the worthlessness of “the three shepherds” (Zechariah 11:8 ESV). While some scholars have speculated that this is a reference to the three roles of prophet, priest, and king, a more likely explanation can be found in Jesus’ relationship with the Sadducees, Scribes, and Pharisees. Throughout His 3-year-long ministry, Jesus had repeated run-ins with these men.

The Sadducees were a wealthy, elite group of priests who served in the temple. They were committed to the Torah but rejected other scriptures and the belief in resurrection, life after death, and prophecy. They were politically involved with the Roman leaders and focused on rituals associated with the Temple. The Sadducees disappeared around 70 A.D. after the destruction of the Second Temple.

The Scribes were considered experts in Jewish law who provided interpretation and illumination of the hundreds of codified requirements the people of Israel lived under. They also copied scrolls for use in synagogues. They were well-versed in the law and the prophets, but their lives didn’t match what they said. They were often in conflict with Jesus, who claimed authority over the law.

The Pharisees were a conservative group of middle-class people who taught in synagogues. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife and taught that individuals would receive appropriate rewards and punishments. They were known for their strict adherence to behavior prescriptions based on their interpretation of the Torah.

The Shepherd claims to have “destroyed the three shepherds” (Zechariah 11:8 ESV). The Hebrew word is kāḥaḏ and it carries the idea of cutting off or hiding. With Jesus’ coming, these three religious sects lost most of their power and authority over the people. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the religious leaders convened a special meeting to discuss His rising popularity and their waning influence.

Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”– John 11:47-48 NLT

Jesus’s ministry of miracles and teaching “obscured” the previous role these men had played. The people became less enamored with and dependent upon the religious leaders and found Jesus to be more inspiring and authoritative.

…the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. – Matthew 7:28-29 NLT

But despite their amazement with Jesus’ teaching, the sheep refused to follow Him. This led the Shepherd to declare, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!” (Zechariah 11:9 NLT). Verse 10 indicates that the staff called “Favor” also symbolized Yahweh’s favor with the people as expressed in the covenant He had made with them. The Shepherd broke the staff in two, symbolizing the annulment of God’s covenant with mankind. In the covenant He made with Abraham, God had promised to bless the nations through him.

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-23 ESV

The plan had been to use Abraham’s descendants to fulfill that promise, but they had failed to remain faithful. Yet, God had always determined to send His Son as the true Israel. He would be the faithful, sinless Son who kept all His Father’s commands and carried out His will perfectly. It would be through Jesus the Messiah that the promises to Abraham would be fulfilled.