For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”
Parallel Translations
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For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”
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For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
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For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.'
Cross-references (35)
Passages linked to Zechariah 11:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 13:14 I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,” says Yahweh: “I will not pity, spare, or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.” ’ ”
- Isaiah 9:19-21 Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother. One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Micah 5:8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
- Matthew 22:7 When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
- Hebrews 10:26-31 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me;” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
- Psalms 50:22 “Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
- Isaiah 3:5 The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable.
- Isaiah 27:11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”
- Ezekiel 9:10 As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
- Daniel 9:26-27 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined. He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
- Hosea 1:6 She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.
- Hosea 2:10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
- Micah 6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be within you. You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword.
- Micah 7:2-7 The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net. Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together. The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion. Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth! For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
- Haggai 2:22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.
- Zechariah 8:10 For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
- Zechariah 11:5 Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them.
- Zechariah 11:9 Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.”
- Zechariah 11:14 Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- Malachi 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
- Matthew 10:21 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
- Matthew 10:34-36 “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household.
- Matthew 18:33-35 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”
- Matthew 23:35-38 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
- Matthew 24:10 Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
- Luke 12:52-53 For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
- Luke 19:43-44 For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side, and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
- Luke 21:16-17 You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death. You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.
- Luke 21:22-24 For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
- John 19:15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
- 1 Thessalonians 2:16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- Hebrews 2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation—which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard,
- James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Zechariah 14:13 It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will each hold onto the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He then adds, And he who fed then has…
He then adds, And he who fed then has not spared them. The meaning is, that the people, according to the opinions commonly entertained, were not worthy of mercy and kindness. Hence, as I have said, the wonderful goodness of God shines forth more clearly; for he condescended to take the care of a flock that was wholly despised. Then he says, I will not spare the inhabitants of the land; behold I will deliver, etc. To some it appears that there is here a reason given; for the Jews would have never been thus stripped, had not God been angry with them; as though he had said, that God’s vengeance was just, inasmuch as they were thus exposed to such atrocious wrongs. But according to my judgment God simply confirms what we have stated, — that his future vengeance on the Jews would be most just, because he had in feeding them so carefully labored wholly in vain. For though the Prophet has not as yet expressed what we shall hereafter see respecting their ingratitude, he yet does not break off his discourse without reason, for indignation has ever some warmth in it; he then in the middle of his argument exclaims here, I will not spare; for God had spared the Jews, when yet all men exercised cruelty towards them with impunity; and when they were contemptible in the sight of all, he still had regarded their safety. As then they had been so ungrateful for so many acts of kindness, ought not God to have been angry with them? This is then the reason why the Prophet introduces here in God’s name this threatening, Surely I will not spare them; that is, “I have hitherto deferred my vengeance, and have surpassed all men in kindness and mercy; but I have misplaced my goodness, and now there is no reason why I should longer suspend my judgment.” I will spare then no longer the inhabitants of this land
I will give, or deliver, he says, every man into the hand of his friend; as though he had said, “They are no longer sheep, for they will not bear to be ruled by my hand, though they have found me to be the best of shepherds. They shall now tear and devour one another; and thus a horrible dispersion will follow.” Now the Jews ought to have dreaded nothing so much, as to be given up to destroy themselves by mutual slaughter, and thus to rage cruelly against one another and to perish without any external enemy: but yet God declares that this would be the case, and for this reason, because he could not succeed with them, though willing to feed them as his sheep and ready to perform the office of shepherd in ruling them.
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He concludes by saying, They shall smite the land, and I will not deliver from their hand. He intimates in the last place that ruin without any remedy was nigh; for he alone was the only deliverer of the people; but now he testifies that their safety would not be the object of his care; for should he see them perishing a hundred times, he would not be moved with pity, nor turn to bring them help, inasmuch as they had precluded all compassion. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain I will cause one to destroy another.
I will cause one to destroy another.
Their governors shall execute cruelty over them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Zec 11:6 For I will no more pity the…
Zec 11:6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver [them].
Ver. 6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land] Or, surely I will no mere, &c. A fearful sentence, written in blood, and breathing out nothing but utter destruction. David knew what he did when he chose rather to fall into the hand of the Lord than of men. For his mercies are many, and it soon repents him concerning his servants; "but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," Pro 12:10. Those shepherds in the former verse were grievous wolves, Act 20:29; what wonder therefore that they spared not the flock? But yet while God pitied them there was "hope in Israel concerning this thing," as he said, Ezr 10:2; whereas now that God’s soul is disjointed from them, and his bowels shut up, desolation must needs be at next door, by Jer 6:8 "Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord," said that prophet, Jer 17:17, and then I care not though all the world frown upon me and set against me. But woe be to Loruamah, the people of God’s wrath and of his curse. I have noted before, out of Jer 16:13, that God’s I will show you no favour was worse than I will cast you out of this land.
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I will deliver the men] Heb. I will make them to be found, pulling them out of their starting holes and lurking places. "Evil shall hunt the violent man to destroy him," Psa 140:11.
Every one into his neighbour’s hand] As into the hangman’s hand. This was fulfilled, especially during the siege by the seditious within the walls of Jerusalem, one man proving a wolf, nay, a devil to another.
And into the hand of his king] The Roman emperor, who disclaimed indeed the name of a king to avoid the hatred of the people, and yet exercised the full power of kings both at home and abroad. These Jews, first subdued by the Romans and reduced into a province, did afterwards rebel (though they had once, in opposition to Christ, cried out, We have no king but Caesar), and were, therefore, after five months’ siege, utterly ruined: for what with extremity of famine and what with the fury of the sword, there perished in Jerusalem, and in the province adjoining, as Eusebius affirms, about 60,000 able men to bear arms. Or, as Josephus holds, who was an eyewitness, and present in the war, there died 1,100,000, besides others taken captive, to the number of 97,000.
And I will smite the land] So that it hath lain as it were, bedridden ever since.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For I will no more pity: their great sins…
For I will no more pity: their great sins have turned away God’s compassions from them, and men show no mercy where God withdraws his.
The inhabitants; the generality of the nation, the body of this sinful people.
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I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand; leave to a turbulent, cruel, seditious, and fraudulent temper one against another, to make parties against each other, to rob, imprison, banish, or kill each other, as in the latter times of their state it is known they did.
Into the hand of his king; the Roman Caesar, called here the Jews’ king, for that they had chosen him to be so. Or else the head of the faction.
They shall smite the land; their king and his armies shall destroy the land: it may point to Vespasian and Titus, who sacked Jerusalem, burnt the temple, captivated ninety-seven thousand persons, and slew six hundred thousand at least, though Josephus reckons eleven hundred thousand.
Out of their hand I will not deliver them; they shall never more be by my hand delivered, or I will cast them off for ever; and so their captivity under the Romans continueth to this day.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For I will no more pity the inhabitants of…
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord,.... Or spare them; but cause his wrath to come upon them to the uttermost, as it did at the time of Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans;
but, lo, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbour's hand; this seems to refer to the factions and divisions among themselves during the siege of Jerusalem, when multitudes fell into the hands of the zealots, and heads of parties, and perished by them:
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and into the hand of his king; Vespasian the Roman emperor; the Jews having declared, long before this time, that they had no king but Caesar, Joh 19:15 and now into his hands they were delivered up:
and they shall smite the land; that is, the Romans shall lay waste the land of Judea:
and out of their hand I will not deliver them; as formerly out of the hands of their neighbours, the Philistines, Ammonites, &c. and out of the captivity of Babylon. It denotes that their destruction would be an utter one; nor have they been delivered yet, though it has been over 1900 years ago.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I will deliver - To rob, imprison, banish, or…
I will deliver - To rob, imprison, banish, or kill each other. Of his king - The Roman Caesar, whom the Jews had chosen to be so. The land - Their king and his armies shall destroy the land.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. For I will no more pity] I…
Verse 6. For I will no more pity] I have determined to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Zec 11:6. I will no more pity the inhabitants…
Zec 11:6. I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land — I will no more spare them than their shepherds do. The inhabitants of the land are to be distinguished from the poor of the flock in the next verse. By the former are meant those who in their respective stations were as wicked as the rulers, chief priests, and others, termed their shepherds, Zec 11:5; by the latter, those who were oppressed and were piously disposed. But I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand — “This verse assigns the reason for calling the people, the flock of slaughter. Nor can words more aptly describe the calamities which befell the Jews in the war which ended in the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans; when the people, having first, by their intestine broils, destroyed one another, as is set forth at large by Josephus, at length fell into the hand of him whom they had owned for their sovereign, (‘we have no king but Cesar,’ Joh 19:15,) and who completely desolated the land for their rebellion against him.” — Blayney.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For I will no more pity - Therefore were…
For I will no more pity - Therefore were they a “flock of the slaughter,” because God would “have no pity” on those who went after shepherds “who had no Pity” upon them, but corrupted them; who “entered not in themselves, and those who were entering in, they hindered” Luk 11:52.
The inhabitants of the land - “That land, of which he had been speaking,” Judaea. “And lo.” God, by this word, “lo,” always commands heed to His great doings with man; I, I, Myself, visibly interposing, “will deliver man,” the whole race of inhabitants, “every one into his neighbor’s hand,” by confusion and strife and hatred within, “and into the hand of his king,” him whom they chose and took as their own king, when they rejected Christ as their King, repudiating the title which Pilate gave Him, to move their pity. Whereas He, their Lord and God, was their King, they formally “denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go; they denied the Holy One and the Just” Act 3:13-14, and said, “We have no king but Caesar” Joh 19:15.
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And they - The king without and the wild savages within, “shall smite,” bruise, crush in pieces, like a broken vessel, “the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver” them. Their captivity shall be without remedy or end. Holy Scripture often says, “there is no deliverer Jdg 18:28; 2Sa 14:6; Job 5:4; Psa 7:3; Psa 50:22; Psa 71:11; Isa 5:29; Isa 42:22; Hos 5:14, Mic 5:7-8, or “none can deliver out of My hand” Deu 32:39; Job 10:7; Psa 50:22; Psa 71:11; Isa 43:13; Dan 8:4, Dan 8:7, or, since God delighteth in doing good, I Exo 6:6; 2Ki 20:6; Jer 15:21; Jer 39:17; Eze 34:27, He 1Sa 7:3; Psa 18:15; Psa 72:12; 2Ki 17:39; Isa 19:20; Isa 31:5; Job 5:19, will deliver, or delivered Exo 18:10; Jos 24:10; Jdg 6:9; 1Sa 10:18; 1Sa 14:10; 2Sa 22:1; Psa 34:5, Psa 34:18; 54:9; Ezr 8:31; Jer 20:13 from the hands of the enemy, or their slavery, or their own fears, or afflictions, or the like. God nowhere else says absolutely as here, “I will not deliver” . “Hear, O Jew,” says Jerome, “who holdest out to thyself hopes most vain, and hearest not the Lord strongly asserting, “I will not deliver them out of their hands,” that thy captivity among the Romans shall have no end.” In the threatened captivity before they were carried to Babylon, the prophet foretold the restoration: here only it is said of Judah, as Hosea had said of lsrael, that there should be no deliverer out of the hand of the king whom they had chosen.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Hand. This alludes to the last siege of Jerusalem,…
Hand. This alludes to the last siege of Jerusalem, in which the different factions of the Jews destroyed one another, and they that remained fell into the hands of their king, (that is, of the Roman emperor) of whom they had said, (John xiv. 15.) We have no king but Cæsar. (Challoner) --- The besieged slew each other daily, so that Vespasian did not hurry. (Josephus, Jewish Wars v. 2., and vi. 1.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Jehovah, in vengeance for their rejection of Messiah, gave…
Jehovah, in vengeance for their rejection of Messiah, gave them over to intestine feuds and Roman rule. The Zealots and other factious Jews expelled and slew one another by turns at the last invasion by Rome.
his king--Vespasian or Titus: they themselves (Joh 19:15) had said, unconsciously realizing Zechariah's words, identifying Rome's king with Judah's ("his") king, "We have no king but Cæsar." God took them at their word, and gave them the Roman king, who "smote (literally, 'dashed in pieces') their land," breaking up their polity, when they rejected their true King who would have saved them.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. the men] Rather, man. This verse at once…
6. the men] Rather, man. This verse at once gives the reason of the misery described in Zec_11:5, viz. Jehovah’s displeasure, and interprets the parable of the flock. They of whom I am speaking are “the inhabitants of the land (of Judæa);” they are not sheep but “men.” Comp. Eze_34:31.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Of the land.—Better, of the world.
(6) Of the land.—Better, of the world.
The men.—Better, mankind. God would punish the nations for their cruelty to His people (comp. Zec_1:15). He would cause the world to be smitten or broken up with wars and civil tumults.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The inhabitants of the land. It is a question…
The inhabitants of the land. It is a question whether by this expression is meant the Israelites, or the dwellers on earth generally. In the former ease, the verso gives the reason of the calamities depicted in ver. 5, viz. God"s displeasure, and expounds the parable of the sheep as meaning men (so Cheyne). In the other case, the signification of the paragraph is that God intends to put an end to the state of things just described, by punishing the oppressing world powers who had so cruelly executed their office of being instruments of God"s judgment on his people. The latter seems the correct exposition; for the people of Israel have just been called the flock of slaughter, and they were to be fed, while these "inhabitants" are to be destroyed; nor could the Israelites be said to have kings, as just below. Thus for, at the beginning of the verse, introduces the reason why Jehovah tells the shepherd to feed the flock, because he is about to punish their oppressors; and "the inhabitants of the land" should be "the inhabitants of the earth;" i.e. the nations of the world, among whom the Israelites lived. I will deliver the men, etc. God will give up the nations to intestine commotions and civil war, so that they shall fall by mutual slaughter. Into the hand of his king. Each of them shall be delivered over helpless unto their tyrant"s hands, and God will not interpose to succour them.
Vers. 6, 7. A terrible doom, and an invaluable privilege.
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"For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour"s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock." These words contain two subjects.
I A TERRIBLE DOOM. "For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour"s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them." What is the doom? The abandonment of God.
1. This abandonment came after great kindness. For long centuries he had manifested the greatest kind, ness to the Hebrew people. From their rescue from Egypt down to this hour he had been merciful to them. He warned them, he threatened them, he besought them, he chastised them. Many a time they had provoked him, but still he bore with them. But now he delivers them up. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man.
2. This abandonment involved inexpressible ruin. They were given up to the heathen cruelty of one another and to the violence of foreigners. What more terrible fate can befall people than this? If God abandons us, what are we? This will be the doom of the finally impenitent, "Depart from me.
II AN INVALUABLE PRIVILEGE. "I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock." "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." In Christ, the great God acted thus in a most manifest and impressive way. He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion towards them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd." "I am the good Shepherd," said Christ.
CONCLUSION. Thank God, we are not abandoned yet. God is with us as a Shepherd. He is seeking the lost and feeding those who are in his fold. "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I will no more pity the inhabitants of the…
Zec_11:6-7
I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land
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A terrible doom, and an invaluable privilege
I.
A terrible doom. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land. What is the doom? The abandonment of God.
1. This abandonment came after great kindness. For long centuries He had manifested the greatest kindness to the Hebrew people. From their rescue from Egypt down to this hour He had been merciful to them. My Spirit will not always strive with man.
2. This abandonment involved inexpressible ruin. They were given up to the heathen cruelty of one another and to the violence of foreigners. If God abandon us, what are we? This will be the doom of the finally impenitent. Depart from Me.
II. An invaluable privlege. I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. When He saw the multitudes He wast moved with compassion towards them, because, they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. I am the Good Shepherd, said Christ. Conclusion--Thank God, we are not abandoned yet. God is with us as a shepherd. He is seeking the lost and feeding those who are in His fold. (Homilist.)
Abandoned
The saddest spectacle earth can show is a shipwrecked life--the terrible loss of all the possibilities humanity involves. If a man quenches the light God gives him, and by self-indulgence and unfaithfulness so debauches his spirit that at last he is deserted by every angel of purity and goodness, and becomes unvisited by even the desire for any spiritual attainment, then there is a lost soul in the most awful sense, whether here or in the world to come. (Dr. Macleod.)
And I took unto Me two staves--
Two shepherds staves
In the next place is represented Christs undertaking of this charge, and His going diligently about it, signified by two shepherds staves the first whereof, called Beauty, holds forth the sweet and beautiful order of His Covenant, and the doctrine thereof, whereby the Church is directed in faith, worship, and obedience of God. The second, called Bands, signifies that policy in Church and State whereby they are kept one, and without schisms among themselves.
1. Christ the Mediator became as obedient servant, and is willing, and takes pleasure to be employed for His Churchs good; and will have a tender consideration of their case.
2. Christ in His care over the visible Church, bath an especial eye to His elect, and the regenerate in it, how abject-like soever they seem in the eyes of men, or in their outward condition.
3. Christ is a faithful shepherd, singular and incomparable in His care and diligence about His people for, saith He, I took unto Me two staves, whereas other shepherds use but one.
4. The Covenant and doctrine revealed by Christ unto His Church, as it sets forth the beauty and excellency of God, so it is beautiful and sweetly ordered in itself, so as faith and obedience sweetly work to others hands, and make the followers thereof to be beautiful and excellent above all people; for the one staff I called Beauty.
5. As unity and concord in a Church is a fruit of Christs feeding His flock, so policy and order, whereby unity is preserved, is a rich blessing. The other I called Bands.
6. Christs performances are answerable to His undertakings: what He saith He doth; and His practice will never give His promise the lie: for unto His promise, I will feed, is subjoined, And I fed the flock. (George Hutcheson.)
The staves of Beauty and Bands broken
I. Unity from union with God is national beauty. It is the union of the members of the body with the head which gives to the entire frame its dignity and beauty. A headless trunk has no beauty, but when body and limbs are fitly framed together, that symmetry is attained which God intended. The beauty of a tree consists in the union of branches by union with the trunk. The unity of the Hebrew nation was destroyed by their wilful severance of them selves from their Divine Head. Lack of union with God brought discord into the nation and destroyed their national beauty (Psa_133:1-3.).
II. Men must have a soul shepherd, and when God is rejected they must have a bad one. If a road is known to one person only, any other man who offers to guide the traveller must be his enemy. If a man is deeply wounded, he must have help from some one outside himself, and the quack who undertakes to heal him, and is ignorant of the proper way to treat him, will be likely to be his murderer. There is but one Being who is acquainted with the souls needs; if He is rejected, any other must harm the soul. God claims to be the only Saviour. There is none beside Me (Isa_45:21). Christ warned Israel against false shepherds, yet, as a nation, they chose them and rejected Him, and as He only could really lead and feed them, their choice necessarily issued in their ruin.
III. Sin disinherits men and nations of their God-given portion. (Outlines by London Minister.)
Beauty and Bands the two staves of the Divine Shepherd
As long as sin will be in the world the oppressor and the oppressed are sure to be here; for it is in the nature of sin to make men hard, cruel, and oppressive. The exaltation of a man above his fellow men in wealth, honour, authority, and power is no reason whatever why he should despise and oppress them, but, on the contrary, it should be a reason for him to deal kindly towards them. The wealth of the rich man should be an inducement to him to remember the poor, and the strength of the strong should be an inducement to him to help the weak. For a consolation to the oppressed in their sufferings and a warning to the oppressor, the Bible teaches in a clear manner that God will surely visit the one in mercy and the other in judgment; the same hand that bestows favours graciously and tenderly upon the oppressed holds the sword of vengeance above the oppressor. In this chapter God said that He was going to visit the rulers of His people in judgment because they were oppressing them. Thus said the Lord my God: Feed the flock of slaughter; whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich and their own shepherds pity them not. How abominable this must have been in the sight of God! After accumulating wealth through cruelty and oppression they sanctimoniously praised God for prospering them. But while these unjust and oppressive rulers were thus justifying themselves, destruction overtook them. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord, etc. But when God visits the oppressor in judgment He does not forget the oppressed in their poverty, sufferings, and misery, for He said, So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. So in the text we have a striking and beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd of souls. It has been truly observed by an able commentator, that no image of Christ has so deeply impressed itself upon the mind of the Church as that of a shepherd, as is shown by Christian literature and art, and our hymns and prayers. The Eastern shepherd would never be seen without his staff or crook. But reference is made here to two staves, and David says of the Lord as his Shepherd, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. In our text there are names given to the two staves; one is called Beauty, and the other Bands, which are to be taken emblematically to show that the Lord Jesus Christ the Divine Shepherd will lead, protect, beautify, and unite His people as one great and glorious flock.
I. The Lord Jesus Christ feeding His people, Lo, I fed the flock of the slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. When their own shepherds pity them not, the Divine Shepherd makes them to lie down in peace and security in the green pastures of spiritual blessings, and leads them beside the still waters of heavenly influences. He lives for the sake of His sheep, and so they find in Him their true Shepherd. Naturally the objects of our greatest care and anxiety will have the largest place in our affections, and it is not easy for us to conceive the tender affection and close attachment that would gradually grow between the Eastern shepherd and his sheep.
II. The Lord Jesus Christ protecting and guiding His people. With the staves the shepherd rules, protects, and guides his sheep. He uses the crook to prevent them from going astray, and to pull them back from dangerous places. Gods people, like sheep, are very prone to go astray. He very often draws them by His crook from temptations and dangers which they are not in the least aware of. Think of a promising young man, who has been brought up in a religious family, enticed by bad companions into the forbidden paths of sinful pleasures; but before he falls over the precipice of destruction, the Good Shepherd, through sickness, or the death of a companion or a near relation, mercifully draws him back by His crook. The apostle Peter wandered far astray, but Christ followed him faithfully, and gently brought him back. The Divine Shepherd dealt in a similar manner with Thomas, who had wandered far into the wilderness of doubt and unbelief. And we do not know from how many dangers and temptations we have been rescued by the Divine Shepherd with His crook.
III. The Lord Jesus Christ beautifying His people. He will bring out to its highest perfection the beautiful individuality of each one of His followers. This is taught by the symbolic name of one of the two staves, which is called Beauty. God, under the old dispensation, through various means and ministrations, aimed at ennobling and beautifying His people; and notwithstanding all their faults, they looked beautiful compared to the idolatrous nations by which they were surrounded. In the Book of the prophet Jeremiah they are called a beautiful flock. Their God, who is called the Shepherd of Israel, had made them beautiful by saving, protecting, and guiding them, and richly bestowing His blessings upon them. So does the Lord Jesus Christ in a similar way sanctify and beautify His people; from His love, gentleness, care, faithfulness, and self-sacrificing Spirit there goes forth a mighty influence silently to purify their nature and ennoble and beautify their character. He washes them in His own blood, and beautifies and adorns them with His own heavenly Spirit. This is the beauty of holiness, And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. They are changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory by the influence of His Spirit dwelling in them. We can say that the Great Shepherd is perfectly impartial in the bestowal of His sanctifying and beautifying influences upon all Gods erring children, whom He strives to gather together into one beautiful flock. The sun is perfectly impartial in the distribution of its heat and light, which bring out the beauty of the flowers and the trees. One flower cannot say to another, The sun has taken more trouble to beautify and adorn you than me, for it shines equally the same for all. So Christ the Sun of Righteousness distributes its purifying and beautifying influences equally impartially to all
IV. The Lord Jesus Christ uniting His people. In the union of the human and the Divine in the person of the Good Shepherd all men are virtually united in Him, and He will not rest satisfied until all are actually made one in Him. This blessed truth is implied by the name of the other staff, which is called Bands, which teaches that the Divine Shepherd not only sanctifies and beautifies His people individually, but also unites them socially into one great and glorious company. As the shepherd carefully gathers his sheep together into the fold, so Goes Christ gather all men together. Moses, Socrates, Plato, Gautama, Zoroaster, John, Peter, Paul, Mohammed, Luther, Wesley, and others are all His under-shepherds, and ultimately He will bring all their flocks together. He has died for all, seeks all, and will save all. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw an men unto Myself. The shepherd feels restless and uneasy if one sheep is waning, in the fold. So Christ the Good Shepherd will not feel satisfied until the last erring sheep has been safely brought into the heavenly fold, and He will not leave the wilderness as long as there is one wandering sheep to be brought home. (Z. Mather.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.