The Shepherd You Deserve
Introduction: The Judgment of Bad Leadership
We live in an age of constant complaint about our leaders. We lament the state of our politicians, we are dismayed by corporate malfeasance, and we are often scandalized by failures in church leadership. We look at the corruption, the incompetence, and the self-serving ambition, and we ask, "Where did these people come from?" The prophet Zechariah gives us a startling and uncomfortable answer. Sometimes, bad leaders are not an accident. They are an assignment. They are a judgment from a holy God upon a people who have rejected good leadership.
A people gets the government it deserves. This is not just a cynical political maxim; it is a profound theological truth. When a nation, a church, or a family despises the grace, truth, and sacrificial authority of a true shepherd, God has a terrible remedy. He gives them exactly what their rebellious hearts crave. He sends them a foolish shepherd, a worthless shepherd, who will not care for them, but will consume them. This is not God losing control; this is God exercising it with terrifying precision.
This passage in Zechariah follows directly on the heels of one of the most poignant scenes in the Old Testament. The prophet, acting as the Good Shepherd, is rejected by the flock. His wages are valued at a pittance, thirty pieces of silver, the price of a gored slave, a prophecy fulfilled with chilling exactitude in the betrayal of Jesus Christ. Because Israel put such a low price on the Good Shepherd, God tells the prophet to perform a second sign-act. Having shown them the shepherd they rejected, he must now show them the shepherd they will get. This is the principle of divine reciprocity. If you will not have a king who serves, you will get a king who devours. If you reject the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, you will be handed over to a shepherd who eats the sheep for lunch.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to me, "Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. Woe to the worthless shepherd Who forsakes the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally dried up, And his right eye will be utterly dimmed."
(Zechariah 11:15-17 LSB)
A Prophetic Pantomime (v. 15)
The instruction from God is direct and visceral.
"Then Yahweh said to me, 'Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd.'" (Zechariah 11:15)
This is a sign-act, a divine command for the prophet to engage in street theater with eternal consequences. Previously, Zechariah had taken up the staves of "Favor" and "Union," representing the grace and unity of the Good Shepherd. Now, he must exchange them. We are not told what the equipment of a foolish shepherd is, but we can imagine. Perhaps it is a sharpened knife instead of a guiding staff, a ledger for calculating profits instead of a pouch with healing oil. Whatever the props were, the message was clear: the character of leadership was about to change dramatically.
The word for "foolish" here is not about intellectual deficiency. In the Bible, a fool is a moral category. A fool is one who says in his heart, "There is no God." He is arrogant, self-serving, and wicked. This is the kind of shepherd God is about to install. God commands his prophet to embody this coming judgment so that when it arrives, no one can say they were not warned. God's judgments do not sneak up on people; they are announced with trumpets and paraded in the public square.
The Profile of a Predator (v. 16)
In verse 16, God explains the meaning of the sign. This is not a random occurrence; it is a divine appointment.
"For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs." (Zechariah 11:16)
Notice the active agent: "I am going to raise up a shepherd." This is the doctrine of divine sovereignty in its stark and unsettling reality. God is not simply permitting this to happen; He is ordaining it. This foolish shepherd is a scourge, and he is a scourge sent from God. When a people insists on running toward a cliff, God will sometimes provide a leader to speed up the journey.
The job description of this shepherd is given in two parts: fourfold negligence and twofold rapacity. First, what he will not do. He will not perform the basic duties of any true shepherd. He will not care for the perishing, seek the lost, heal the wounded, or feed the healthy. He is utterly indifferent to the well-being of the flock. He is a hireling in the purest sense; the sheep are not his, so he does not care for them.
But his failure is not merely passive. He is not just negligent; he is a predator. "He will consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs." This is a picture of brutal, rapacious, and total consumption. He targets the "fat sheep," the most prosperous, the most successful, and devours them for his own gain. He is a cannibal. The act of tearing off their hoofs signifies a complete and vicious destruction. He doesn't just take the wool; he takes the flesh. He doesn't just take the flesh; he rips the animal apart, leaving nothing of value. This is what godless leadership does, whether in the state or in the church. It consumes the productive for the sake of its own power and appetite.
The Curse of Poetic Justice (v. 17)
But God, who raises up such a shepherd in judgment, will also execute judgment upon him. The final verse is a formal curse, a "woe" oracle.
"Woe to the worthless shepherd Who forsakes the flock! A sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His arm will be totally dried up, And his right eye will be utterly dimmed." (Zechariah 11:17)
The shepherd is called "worthless," or in the Hebrew, an "idol" shepherd. He is a hollow man, a fraud. He has the title of shepherd but none of the character. He is a "no-thing" shepherd. His great sin is identified as forsaking the flock. At the first sign of trouble, he is gone.
The judgment that falls upon him is a perfect example of divine poetic justice, the lex talionis. The punishment fits the crime with glorious precision. A sword will strike his arm and his right eye. The arm is the instrument of strength and action, the means by which a shepherd defends the flock. The right eye is the instrument of vision and discernment, the means by which a shepherd watches for danger and finds good pasture. Because he would not use his arm to protect, it will be "totally dried up," withered and useless. Because he would not use his eye to watch over the flock, it will be "utterly dimmed," blinded and dark.
The very tools of his trade, which he refused to use for the good of the sheep, will be destroyed. God's judgment is never arbitrary. He disables the instruments of rebellion. This is a permanent, standing warning to all who would take up a position of leadership. God holds shepherds to a higher account, and His justice against the worthless ones is certain and severe.
Conclusion: The Good Shepherd's Scars
This prophecy found its near fulfillment in the corrupt leadership of Israel that led the nation to reject their Messiah. They chose Barabbas over Christ. They chose the Zealots over the apostles. And God gave them what they wanted. He raised up foolish shepherds who led them into the catastrophic rebellion against Rome, resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They were devoured.
But the principle is timeless. When we, in our churches, prefer a CEO pastor with a slick marketing plan over a faithful man who preaches the whole counsel of God, we are asking for a foolish shepherd. When we, as a nation, prefer politicians who promise us bread and circuses over statesmen who call us to righteousness, we are begging for God to send us a scourge.
The only escape from this terrible judgment is to flee to the Good Shepherd, the one who was valued at thirty pieces of silver. The worthless shepherd's arm is withered in judgment; the Good Shepherd's arms were stretched out on a cross in grace. The worthless shepherd's eye is dimmed for his faithlessness; the Good Shepherd, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. He did not forsake the flock; He laid down His life for it.
This passage is a grim warning, but it pushes us toward the glorious gospel. We all deserve the foolish shepherd because we all have foolish hearts. But God, in His mercy, has provided the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ. His arm is not withered; it is mighty to save. His eye is not dimmed; it watches over His people with a tender, sovereign gaze. The choice before us is the same choice that was before Israel: the Shepherd who serves, or the shepherd who consumes. May God give us the grace to choose wisely.