Seder 41: Zechariah 10-11---Shepherds Good and Bad

 In the Ancient Near East, rulers were often referred to as shepherds.  

This is a familiar image in the Bible, where God is often likened to a shepherd (Ps 23:1; 80:1; Isa 40:11; Jer 31:10; Eze 34) and the Messiah is pictured as a Shepherd (Eze 34:23; 37:24; Micah 5:4).  It is fitting, then. that Jacob and his sons were shepherds ( Ge 46); and that David, an ancestor of the Messiah, was a shepherd as well.  

Zechariah 10, like Ezekiel 34, laments the poor leadership of Israel's human shepherds and contrasts their unreliability with the faithfulness of God, Israel's true shepherd (verses 2-3).  

Another similiarity between Zechariah 10 and Ezekiel 34 is that both of these prophecies speak of the Messiah.  In Ezekiel 34:23 the Messiah is a good shepherd from the line of David.  In Zechariah 10:4, the Messiah is a descendant of Judah who is "the cornerstone,", "the tent peg," and "the battle bow," metaphors that describe his leadership and strength.  

In Zechariah 10:6-12 God promises a future restoration of Israel, with people returning to the Promised Land in a new Exodus.  

Zechariah 11 seems to indicate that before a final restoration, Israel would come under divine judgment.  Shepherd imagery is again prominent in this chapter, as the prophet Zechariah apparently is asked to act out the part of a shepherd.  He takes up two staffs called "favor" and "union."  He reports, "and I tended the sheep" (v. 7), presumably meaning that rhe epresents a good shepherd.  

Zechariah goes on to say, "In one month I destroyed the three shepherds" (verse 8).  Lots of possibilities have been suggested for the identities of these three shepherds.  Commentator Kenneth Barker (EBC) mentions several, including 

• Eleazar, John, and Simon, leaders of three factions during the disastrous revolt of 66-73 AD;
• Seleucid leaders Antiochus IV, Heliodorus, and Demetrius during the time of the Maccabean revolt; 
• Corrupt high priests Jason, Menelaus, and Alcimus of the early second century BC;
• Three classes of leaders---prophets, priests, and kings.
  

Zechariah then mentions that he was detested as shepherd, an indication of Israel rejecting a good shepherd.  As a result, Zechariah breaks the staff called "favor," a symbol of a time of divine protection coming to an end; and also breaks the staff called "union," symbolizing disunity in Israel.  

This is one of the Bible's most cryptic prophecies, so we should not be dogmatic about what constitutes its fulfillment.  Overall, we see a familiar pattern of judgment followed by restoration, with the message that God, our faithful Shepherd, is in charge.  

Hanukkah 2020: Jesus the Good Shepherd

 John 7-10 records events from the final year of Jesus' earthly ministry, starting with the Feast of Tabernacles and continuing through Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication.  (Where the "Sukkot section" of John ends and the "Hanukkah section" begins is an interesting question.  New Testament scholar Jack Poirier has argued that the Hanukkah section may begin as early as John 8:12.  See his paper "Hanukkah in the Narrative Chronology of the Fourth Gospel", NewTest.Stud. 54, pp.465–478, 2008.)

Jesus' words and deeds that fall and winter astounded many of those who had come to Jerusalem for the festivals. Was this the promised Messiah?  Religious leaders tended to be more skeptical.  When Jesus gave sight to a man who had been born blind (John 9), the man was questioned by religious leaders and ejected from a synagogue when his answers were deemed unsatisfactory (vv. 24-34).  Those leaders declared themselves to be the legitimate successors of Moses (v 28), but John implies that they, rather than the man Jesus had healed, were the ones who actually suffered from blindness (vv 35-41).  

It is in this context that Jesus proclaimed himself to be the true shepherd of Israel (John 10:1-18).  In the background are at least three passages from the Hebrew Scriptures:

1. Num 27:15-23, where Moses asks God to appoint his successor, so that Israel would not be "as sheep that have no shepherd".  Moses' successor was Joshua, and Jesus implies that he, another man named Joshua, was the true successor of Moses. 
2. Ezekiel 34:1-23, where Ezekiel condemns the leaders of Israel for abusing and exploiting their flock and prophesies that God personally would regather his flock from exile and place the Messiah as a shepherd over them.  In John 10, Jesus implies that he, as the good shepherd, is both God and Davidic Messiah.
3. Ezekiel 37:15-24, which speaks of God's people being united under one shepherd, the Messiah.  Jesus says that his one flock would include people from the nations along with Israel (John 10:16).  

With his words in John 10:1-18, Jesus indirectly identified himself as the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.  At Hanukkah, when there was widespread hope for some successor of the Maccabees to deliver Israel from Roman domination, people in Jerusalem hoped for a more direct declaration that Jesus was such a deliverer (v 24).  Jesus did not give one, but he did repeat that he was the good shepherd who could grant eternal life to his sheep through his close relationship with God (vv 25-30).    

Some at this point accused Jesus of blasphemy.  Jesus answered that God had many divine sons, pointing to the angels placed over the nations who were rebuked in Ps 82.   That God would designate a Son to be Israel's divine shepherd was therefore not a blasphemous notion.