Zechariah 11:8-9
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, ‘I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Zechariah 11:7-12
As Zechariah continues to shepherd the flock, the flock was not responding to him as their rightful shepherd. Zechariah says that “the flock detested me.” That drained Zechariah because he was trying to shepherd them and they simply wouldn’t obey him. Thus he grew weary and quit. If the sheep won’t follow him then he is wasting his time. He then issued a prophecy:
“Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh” (vs 9).
This was the experience of Jesus as well. He came to Israel to shepherd his flock of people. Israel was the chosen people of God. He loves them. He wants what is best for them. But time and time again they rejected him and ultimately crucified him.
It’s important to note here that the flock detested Zechariah first. God didn’t reject Israel until long after Israel rejected Him. Israel rejected Jesus in every way. They rejected his miracles, his message, his authority and ultimately his love for them. Jesus expressed his desire to shepherd them, their rejection of him and his ultimate rejection of them:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matt 23:37-39).
This rejection of Israel from God had devastating consequences. Zechariah’s prophecy in verse 9 came to pass in A.D. 70 during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. The Jewish people literally devoured one another as the Romans surrounded the city and starved them to death. This prophecy was an echo of an earlier prophecy given to Moses:
“The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. The most tenderhearted man among you will have no compassion for his own brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving children. He will refuse to share with them the flesh he is devouring—the flesh of one of his own children—because he has nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns. The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter. She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns” (Deut 28:53-57).
This was obviously a horrific time for Israel. If only they would have let Jesus gather them like a hen gathers her chicks. But they rejected him and crucified him. We know in the end, God will come back for Israel. There will be a remnant that comes to faith in Jesus and God will make Israel his dwelling place for all eternity. Until then, we look to God for his protection and we ask that he shepherd us so that we can follow where He leads us.
“Now may the God of peace—
who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
may he equip you with all you need
for doing his will.
May he produce in you,
through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.
All glory to him forever and ever! Amen” (Heb 13:20-21).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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