Zechariah 11:16 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

I will raise up - God supplies the strength or wisdom which people abuse to sin. He, in His Providence, disposeth the circumstances, of which the ambitious avail themselves. antichrist, whom the Jews look for, will be as much an instrument of God for the perfecting the elect, as the Chaldees Habakkuk 1:6 or the Assyrians Amos 6:14 whom God raised up, for the chastisement of His former people, or the Medes against Babylon Isaiah 13:17.

Which shall not visit them that be cut off - Zechariah uses the imagery, yet not the exact words of Jeremiah Jeremiah 23:1-2 and Ezekiel Ezekiel 34:3-4. Neglect of every duty of a shepherd to his flock, to the sick, the broken, the sound; direct injury of them, preying upon them, make up the picture.

Which shall not visit - Or tend, “that which is cut off:” fulfilling God’s judgment, “that which is to be cut off let it be cut off” Zechariah 11:9.

Neither shall seek the young one - Better, “the scattered , dispersed,” as the Good Shepherd “came to seek and to save that which was lost” Luke 19:10; Matthew 18:11. “Nor heal that which is broken; bound not,” Ezekiel says Ezekiel 34:4. : “The broken legs of sheep are healed no otherwise than those of people; rolled in wool impregnated with oil and wine, and then bound up with splinters placed round about it.”

Nor feed that which standeth still - Better, “the whole” Yet Jonathan renders as English), as the word always means, “in its good estate,” like our prayer, “that Thou wouldest strengthen those who do stand.”

Zechariah 11:16

16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off,f neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.