8 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them
8 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.
8 Within a month I got rid of the corrupt shepherds. I got tired of putting up with them - and they couldn't stand me.
8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
8 I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Zechariah 11:8
Commentary on Zechariah 11:4-14
(Read Zechariah 11:4-14)
Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds wofully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend about little matters.