This chapter contains a prophecy of the destruction of the Jews, and shows the causes and reasons of it; and is concluded with a prediction concerning antichrist. The destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, is signified by figurative expressions, Zech.

Open thy doors, O Lebanon By which may be meant, either the temple of Jerusalem, which was built of the cedars of Lebanon; “the gates of which are said [[21]] to open of themselves forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Jochanan ben Zaccai, who lived at the same time, rebuked them,…

Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen By which are designed the princes, nobles, and magistrates of the land: so the Targum interprets them of kings and princes; see : because all the mighty are spoiled; which is an explanation of the figurative expressions in the former clause, and in the…

There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds Which may be understood either of the civil rulers among the Jews, who now lose their honour and their riches; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Ezra, interpret it of kings; or of the ecclesiastical rulers, the elders of the people, the Scribes and…

Thus saith the Lord my God The Syriac version adds, “to me”; not the Prophet Zechariah, but the Messiah, who calls the Lord his God, as he was man and Mediator, for what follow are the words of God the Father to him, calling upon him, and giving him a commission to Feed the flock of the slaughter;…

Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty, &c.] Not the Romans after Christ came, into whose hands they were delivered, and by whom they were slain in great numbers, not accounting it any sin to put them to death; but the priests, Scribes, Pharisees, and doctors, among the Jews,…

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…

And I will feed the flock of slaughter According to the call and commission he had from his divine Father, he determines to do as it was enjoined him, and as he had undertook: even you, O poor of the flock; besides the people of the Jews in general, to whom Christ was sent, and he came to feed,…

Three shepherds also I cut off in one month Not Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, as is suggested in the Talmud [[4]]; nor David, Adonijah, and Joab, who died in the space of a month; nor the three kings, Jehoash, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, who died by the hand of their enemies in a very little time; which…

Then said I, I will not feed you That is, any longer; either personally, or by his apostles; he fed them himself, during his public ministry; and afterwards by his apostles, whom he ordered to preach the Gospel to the Jews first; but that being contradicted, blasphemed, and despised by them, they…

And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, &c.] Signifying that he dropped his pastoral care of them: the Gospel indeed, which is meant by the staff “Beauty”, cannot be made void; it will have its designed effect; it is the everlasting Gospel, and will endure; its blessings, promises,…

And it was broken in that day In right, the day Christ died; apparently, when the Gospel, the substance of it, was removed; and, in fact, at the time of Jerusalem’s destruction: and so the poor of the flock; (See Gill on Zech.

And I said unto them, If ye think good Not to the poor of the flock that waited on him, and knew the word of the Lord, and valued it; but to the other Jews that despised Christ and his Gospel: give me my price; or, “give my price” [[8]]; what I am valued at by you, to Judas the betrayer: or the…

And the Lord said unto me The Prophet Zechariah, in a visionary way representing the sanhedrim of the Jews, the chief priests, scribes, and elders: Cast it unto the potter; for the purchase of his field, in order to make a burying ground of it for strangers: a goodly price that I was prised at of…

Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands By which is meant, either the removal of the form of civil government from the Jews; or the abrogation of the Mosaic law, and the carnal ordinances of the Jews, in which judaizing Christians joined them, until the destruction of Jerusalem; or rather…

And the Lord said unto me The Prophet Zechariah: Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd; the meaning is, that the prophet should put on the habit of a shepherd, and take a scrip and staff in his hands, and represent a foolish shepherd, hereafter described.

For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land Not in the land of Judea, but in the Roman empire; and so not Herod, nor King Agrippa, as Kimchi; nor Antiochus Epiphanes, as others; nor those wicked priests and princes, who governed after the times of Zechariah; nor the Scribes and Pharisees in…

Woe to the idol shepherd Or, “the shepherd of nothing” [[21]]; that is, no true shepherd, that is good for nothing, for an idol is nothing in the world, and who is an idol himself, sits in the temple of God, and is worshipped as if he was God. (Rev. 13:4, Rev. 13:8, Rev.