A Life in Exile

Today’s focal passage in our lessons from the Old Testament comes with a contemporary of our featured prophet (Haggai) from last week’s post. After seventy years of exile in Babylon, Zechariah and Haggai were used by the Lord to remind his people of their history, their responsibilities, and ultimately, their God. In the eleventh chapter of his prophecy, the Lord speaks through Zechariah to tell them that he served as their shepherd, but he was a shepherd of a stubborn and rebellious flock.

Because of the hardness of their hearts and rebellious ways, he broke his staff of Favor. Then they did another thing that led to the breaking of his second staff of Union. It is here we find our passage. You’ll recognize its New Testament relevance.

Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is perishing perish; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. It was annulled on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, thirty pieces of silver. “Throw it to the potter,” the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Zechariah 11:9-14 CSB)

The value of the Good Shepherd.

The Lord had proven to be a faithful shepherd for Israel, and yet, they consistently ran after other shepherds in the form of idols. They would not submit to his guidance as found in the covenant and Law of Moses. In this prophetic rebuke, the people are given the opportunity to pay off their shepherd, so they could do as they pleased. What was the price they paid? Thirty pieces of silver.

What a paltry sum for The Shepherd, the God of all Creation, who had made a people for himself, brought them out of Egypt and into the Land of Promise. This Shepherd who destroyed the enemies of Israel and gave them a land of milk and honey. Can such a shepherd be compensated with any amount of silver?

Yet, this prophecy would come to fulfillment centuries later, and even the one who agreed to the sum would realize the true cost of what he’d done.

The plot against the Shepherd.

In first-century Palestine, a radical rabbi was stirring the pot, and religious leaders were not happy. As things came to a head, Matthew’s gospel tells us that the chief priests and elders were looking for a way to put Jesus of Nazareth to death. It would be one of his own followers who makes himself available to help them out. Out of greed, he willingly took money to disclose his rabbi’s location to the officials, not realizing the extent of their plot.

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, was full of remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said.

“What’s that to us?” they said. “See to it yourself!” So he threw the silver into the temple and departed. Then he went and hanged himself.

The chief priests took the silver and said, “It’s not permitted to put it into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” They conferred together and bought the potter’s field with it as a burial place for foreigners.  Therefore that field has been called “Field of Blood” to this day. Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him whose price was set by the Israelites, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me. (Matthew 27:3-10)

Our God of details leaves nothing to chance. Even what Judas did—the ultimate act of betrayal was foretold in Scripture. The price of a man’s life was thrown down on a piece of ground, a potter’s field, that would become a place of burial place for the poor and unclaimed corpses. The land was not able to be used for crops, as the clay soil made it barren. It is that clay potters used for their work.

What will you pay the Shepherd?

Israel failed to recognize the value of the God who made them and called them as a people. Judas, after three years of sitting at the feet of Jesus, failed to grasp the value of his message and purpose. What about you? Do you see the good in the One who called himself the Good Shepherd? What is his value to you?

The Lord is my Shepherd. I have all I need. He is worthy of my all, my life. May you know and appreciate his worth.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Learning from the Past post, click HERE, or start the series from the BEGINNING.