III. CLEANSING THROUGH THE DEATH OF THE SHEPHERD (v. 7a)
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd.”
The Spirit of God now contrasts the true Shepherd with the false shepherds, just described as being wounded by their idolatry. Not only will Israel be saved from something (idolatry), but through something as well–the death of the Shepherd. He’s just as much a part of Israel’s cleansing as anything. In fact Israel couldn’t be cleansed from the defilement of sin and the deception of false prophets apart from the Shepherd’s death. God is speaking about the death of Christ, the good Shepherd, and the judgment therefore rendered upon sin.
A. The Design of God
The death of Jesus Christ was the plan of God. He called for the sword to strike the Messiah, His “fellow.” Jewish people for centuries have pleaded not to be blamed for the death of Christ. But such justification is unnecessary since God Himself takes the responsibility. The hatred of Satan, the fury of the chief priests, the contempt of Herod, and the cowardice of Pilate merely accomplished what God had designed to do from the very beginning– before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:18-20).
B. The Deity of Christ
The Hebrew word translated “man” is an uncommon word. It refers to a strong man, not to an ordinary man. “Fellow” refers to a close associate. God identifies Christ as the mighty man of His union. A proper translation of verse 7 could be: “the mighty man who is coequal with Me.” It is an affirmation of the deity of Jesus Christ, the mighty Shepherd who is God’s equal (cf. Phil. 2:6). It is prophetic of Jesus’ statement, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus is God. Micah could not have said the Messiah’s “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2), nor could Isaiah identify Him as “The mighty God” (Isa. 9:6), or Jeremiah call Him “the Lord Our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:5-6) unless the Messiah was equal to God.
IV. CLEANSING FROM THE DISPERSION OF THE SHEEP (v. 7b)
“The sheep shall be scattered [Lit., `broken in pieces']; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”
A. The Scattering Fulfilled
Not only were the disciples scattered after Christ was smitten, but the nation as well. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7, saying, “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered abroad” (Matt. 26:31). When Jesus was arrested, the first to be scattered were His disciples. But He predicted a greater scattering that occurred in A.D. 70 when Titus conquered Israel. The whole nation–leaderless and confounded, having spurned their Messiah–was scattered all over the world. In a sense God will cleanse Israel from their dispersion when He regathers them. It’s exciting to be living in a time when we can begin to see that happening in preparation for the final regathering.
B. The Suffering Foretold
The phrase “I will turn mine hand upon the little ones” I believe refers to the persecution of the Jewish and Gentile believers in the early church. By Acts 5 there may have been 20,000 Jewish believers in the Jerusalem church. And there still are Jewish people today who are being saved today. I believe these “little ones” are the same as the “poor of the flock” in Zechariah 11:7, whom God turned His hand upon. The turning of God’s hand refers to chastening and judgment (Ps. 81:14-15; Isa. 1:25; Ezek. 38:12; Amos 1:8). One of the first things the early church experienced was persecution. Acts 9:1 says that Paul before His conversion was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples” (cf., 8:1). Just after Jesus made wonderful promises to His disciples about enabling them to bear spiritual fruit and receive His Spirit He said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you…. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you …. They shall put you out of the synagogues;, yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service” (John 15:18, 20; 16:2).
The message is simple: The good Shepherd would die for the sins of His people, who would be scattered because they rejected Him. And God would allow even those who were faithful to go through suffering and persecution so that the church might be pure. In the day of cleansing, God will completely regather His scattered flock.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
