Zech. 11:1–3 The glory of Israel’s shepherds, who were the subjects of the Lord’s judgment in 10:3, will be brought low. They are pictured as massive cedar trees; as the mighty oaks of Bashan; and as the lush thicket of the Jordan. As glorious as these trees are, they could be destroyed by fire or cut down. Like these now-useless trees, Israel’s bad shepherds will lose their glory when the Lord delivers his people.

Zech. 11:4 Zechariah is instructed to become the shepherd to a flock doomed to slaughter. They were doomed because their corrupt owners and shepherds cared for them only as a means of acquiring wealth (vv. 4–17). This represents the Lord’s attitude toward his people in the past. He had abandoned them without pity to suffer abuse from their Persian captors and their fellow citizens.

Zech. 11:7 The reason for the Lord’s lack of compassion for his people becomes clear as the sign-act goes on. Zechariah tended his flock with staffs named Favor and Union, symbolizing God’s positive intentions for them.

Zech. 11:8 In a very short time Zechariah removed three other shepherds and became the shepherd to this flock. This symbolizes a complete purging of the greedy leaders. But he became impatient with his flock and they detested him. The three shepherds probably represent either leaders known to the people of that time or leaders in general whom God has rejected.

Zech. 11:9 Zechariah resigned from his position as shepherd, leaving the flock to devour itself.

Zech. 11:10 Zechariah broke his staff named Favor, breaking his covenant with the nations around Israel, leaving the flock exposed to them.

Zech. 11:12–13 Zechariah received as his pitifully inadequate wages thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. He rejects the money and throws it into the house of the LORD, to the potter.

Zech. 11:14 Zechariah broke the second staff, Union, destroying the unity between the northern and southern kingdoms of Judah and Israel.

9:1–11:17 The First Oracle: Leaders and Their People. Judgment on Jerusalem’s neighbors contributes to its security (9:1–8), but the arrival of a saving king completes it (9:9–17). While this remains the community’s only hope, it still must recover from destructive leaders (10:1–12) who themselves come under judgment (11:1–17).

Zech. 11:1–17 Zechariah’s focus turns from the flock back to the shepherds. The fable of vv. 1–3 tells of impending destruction. In vv. 4–7, attention turns to a single shepherd who acts briefly on behalf of the flock but then abandons them (vv. 8–14). He is equipped with two staffs, one symbolizing an international covenant (v. 10) and the other a national covenant between Judah and Israel (v. 14). Eventually, he breaks both of these staffs. Verses 15–17 describe the reappointment (once more) of a foolish shepherd, whose carelessness results in the devastation of the flock and who thus stands condemned.

Zech. 11:4–17 Zechariah himself acts out the role of a shepherd who rescues his sheep only to have the sheep come to detest him. He then leaves the flock to a worthless shepherd.

Zech. 11:17 Israel rejects the shepherd the Lord has provided. So the Lord instructs Zechariah to leave the flock to the mercies of a worthless shepherd who will exploit it for his own benefit. The NT connects the flock’s rejection of the shepherd and his pitifully inadequate wages to the rejection and betrayal of Jesus (compare Matt. 27:3–10; John 10:25–27). The Lord will ultimately judge the worthless shepherd. He will strike his arm and right eye, parts of the body essential for fighting and for controlling the flock.

Zech. 12:1 The phrase The oracle of the word of the LORD begins a new section (see note on 9:1–8) that describes Israel’s complete restoration and renewal. As Creator, the Lord’s promises of judgment and redemption are sure because he is able to re-create a new society out of the existing chaos (compare Gen. 1:1–2).

Zech. 12:2 Jerusalem will be God’s instrument of judgment on the nations. It will be an intoxicating cup of staggering. Drinking it will result in shame, disorientation, and destruction (compare Jer. 25:15–29).

Zech. 12:3 The phrase On that day begins a series of nine such statements. See note on Amos 5:18–20. Jerusalem will become a heavy stone that will hurt the nations that try to move it.

Zech. 12:4 When the nations of the earth gather against Jerusalem, the Lord will strike their elite cavalry troops with blindness and panic (compare Deut. 28:28). As for the house of Judah, the Lord says, I will keep my eyes open to guard and protect them.

Zech. 12:5–6 The clans of Judah recognize that Jerusalem’s strength comes only from the LORD of hosts (see note on Amos 3:13). He uses them as a blazing fire or a flaming torch to destroy the nations around them (Zech. 12:6).

Zech. 12:7 The Abrahamic covenant will be fulfilled (see Gen. 12:1–3). This will result in glory for Jerusalem and all of Judah but destruction for the nations that oppose them. Salvation will come to the tents of Judah first, even before Jerusalem. Either the soldiers in tents or the poor living in tents outside Jerusalem will experience the Lord’s deliverance first. Therefore those in Jerusalem must not become proud over their privileged location.

Zech. 12:8 All of Jerusalem’s inhabitants will be raised to the highest human glory, like David (1 Sam. 13:14). David’s line will attain an even greater glory. On that day the descendant of David will lead the people into battle as the angel of the LORD did in days of old (see Josh. 5:14).

Zech. 12:1–9 In time God will punish the nations that seek to harm Judah, and will elevate the house of David.

Zech. 12:9 The Lord will bring judgment on all the nations that come against Jerusalem. The fate of “all the nations,” first introduced in v. 3, is settled.

Zech. 12:10–14 These verses focus primarily on the house of David and Jerusalem. The “pouring out” of the spirit (that is, God’s Spirit; v. 10; see Ezek. 39:29; Joel 2:28–29), will result in grace and pleas for mercy (Zech. 12:10). This implies both forgiveness from the Lord and repentance from the people. They will mourn because of the one whom they have pierced (that is, stabbed to death; see Num. 25:8). The mourning will be like that for a firstborn son, the one on whom all the family’s future hopes rested. John 19:37 sees this prophecy fulfilled in Jesus.

Zech. 12:1–13:6 Not only will God protect his people, he will lead them to true repentance and will cleanse them from their sin and idolatry.

Zech. 13:1–6 To cleanse the repentant people from their sin, God will open up a fountain (v. 1) from which will flow the running water necessary for ritual purification (see Lev. 14:5; compare Ezek. 47:1–12; Rev. 22:1–2). The people’s uncleanness comes from their devotion to idols (Zech. 13:2; compare Ezek. 36:25). This is the sin that “pierced” the Lord (Zech. 12:10), a phrase recalled by John as he told of Christ’s death on the cross (John 19:37). The Lord promises to remove the names of the idols from the land, ending their influence and memory (Zech. 13:2).

Zech. 13:7–9 This time the sword of the Lord’s judgment goes out against the good shepherd. This scatters the flock and leads to a time of great trial for God’s people. During this time many will perish. Yet the testing period will lead to mutual commitment between the Lord and his people.

Zech. 14:4 In a future time that Zechariah does not identify, enemies will divide Judah’s possessions before her very eyes. Jerusalem will again be captured and will endure great hardship (vv. 1–2). Yet at the height of her distress, the Lord will go out once more as a warrior. He will follow the same route by which he abandoned the Jerusalem temple in Ezek. 11:23. God’s appearance will shake the natural order (compare Ps. 29:1–11; Isa. 29:6; Mic. 1:3–4; Habakkuk 3). It will split the Mount of Olives in two, creating a valley aligned from east to west near the temple. Zechariah’s vision thus echoes the upheaval of the earth at the coming of the Lord described in Isa. 40:4 and Ezek. 43:2.

Zech. 14:5 This valley will provide an escape route for Jerusalem’s inhabi­tants to Azal, an unknown location. It will also provide a road for the Divine Warrior to return to his city. He will be accompanied by all the holy ones, which are either his angelic army or the exiles who return under his protection.

Zech. 14:6 On that day. It is difficult to determine what period of time is indicated by this chapter’s remarkable prophecies (see 1 Pet. 1:10–11).

Zech. 14:7 The natural order’s transformation at the Lord’s coming continues. That day will be like the first day of history (literally, “day one,” see ESV footnote), a unique day, which is known to the LORD. Just as on the first day, before light and darkness had been separated (Gen. 1:3–4), so on that day there will be neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. Permanent light will prevail.

Zech. 14:8 The living waters that flow from Jerusalem will reach the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. Life-giving rivers are a common feature in descriptions of sanctuaries (see Gen. 2:10; Ps. 46:4; Ezek. 47:1–12; Joel 3:18; Rev. 22:1).

Zech. 14:9 the LORD will be king over all the earth. This far exceeds the idea of a Messiah who will deliver Israel, for this predicts a worldwide earthly reign of the Lord himself. The LORD will be one echoes the fundamental confession of the OT, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4). As the Lord’s sole kingship is established, he becomes the sole object of worship (compare Zech. 8:20–23).

Zech. 14:10 The territory of Judah will be turned into a flat plain so that Jerusalem can tower over its surrounding countryside (compare Isa. 2:2–4).

Zech. 14:1–11 Terrible times are yet in store for the people of Jerusalem, but God will visit them and make Jerusalem secure and prominent.

Zech. 14:11 Jerusalem will be fully inhabited and secure, without fear of a further decree of utter destruction from the Lord because of its sins.

Zech. 14:16 The nations that once came up against Jerusalem for war will now come to the city for the three annual festivals, especially the Feast of Booths in the fall. Like Ezekiel before him (Ezek. 46:9–12), Zechariah writes of ongoing festival worship in a renewed Israel, but he broadens this vision to include the nations.

Zech. 14:17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up. This requirement will be enforced by the threat of a lack of rain, which will cripple their harvests.

Zech. 14:20 Holiness will affect everything within Jerusalem, down to the most humble objects. Even the bells of the horses will now be inscribed with the phrase Holy to the LORD, which was previously inscribed on a plate on the high priest’s turban (Ex. 28:36–38). The whole city will become a temple, the place where the Lord dwells among his people (compare Rev. 21:22–23).

Zech. 9:1–14:21 The Return of the King. The reference to the surrounding nations in 8:20–23 and 9:1–8 links the book’s main parts (chs. 1–8 and chs. 9–14). In the book’s second half, two groups of oracles are introduced as the “oracle of the word of the LORD” (9:1; 12:1). The twin themes of the purity of God’s people and the fidelity of their leaders—often termed “shepherds”—run throughout these oracles. The community and its leaders suffer opposition and difficulty. The “return of the king” (9:9) marks the triumph of God’s purposes and the restoration of God’s people. It also marks the salvation of people from many nations (14:9, 16; compare 8:20–23).

12:1–14:21 The Second Oracle: The People and Their Leaders. In this last section of the book, hope for Judah is tied to the “house of David.” The future of Jerusalem is described in various ways, each beginning with the phrase “on that day” (17 times in these three chapters). The description of divine deliverance (12:1–9) is followed by its impact on different groups within the community (12:10–13:9). Chapter 14 describes the “day of the Lord,” a familiar idea throughout the Minor Prophets (see note on Amos 5:18–20).

Zech. 13:7–14:21 Fearsome conflicts await the people of God, but God will intervene and usher in a day in which Jerusalem is supreme and all the world worships the true God.

Zech. 14:12–21 After the nations have suffered a gruesome defeat, they will dedicate themselves to worshiping the true God in Jerusalem.

Zech. 14:21 On that day there will no longer be a trader (or a “Canaanite”; see ESV footnote) in the Lord’s house. No longer will Gentiles enter the temple for business reasons, thus defiling the holiness of the Lord’s house (see Ezek. 44:9). The temple will finally become a fit place for the Lord to dwell among his people.