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Verse 14

Zechariah 11:14. Then As soon as I saw what little value they put upon me, and my pastoral care over them, and services for them; I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands The prophet did this in type, and Christ in reality; that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel That I might declare, or foreshow, that the friendship and union which had existed between the two tribes and the remnant of the ten tribes, was broken. “From the time that the people returned from Babylon, the Jews and Israelites had formed one society, both of religion and polity, which society continued till the last destruction of Jerusalem, when, the Jewish kingdom being subverted, the bands were broken, and a disunion in religion was made; some of the Jews continuing attached to their ancient law as much as they could without the temple, and others professing the Christian faith.” Houbigant. The design of the prophet’s commission, says Blayney, was to endeavour to bring about a reformation, upon which would depend the continuance of the brotherhood, or political union, between Judah and Israel. The second crook, or staff, was therefore called Bands. But when the commission ended without producing its effect, the breaking of the crook prefigured the dissolution of that brotherhood. What that brotherhood was, is well explained by Mr. Lowth, who says, that “upon the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the bond and cement of all their tribes, being the seat and centre both of their civil power, and of the divine worship, (Psalms 132:3-5,) the consequence was the entire dissolution of the nation, and the dispersion and confusion of all their tribes, whose families could no longer be distinguished after the loss of their genealogies.” Calmet thinks that, in this verse, Israel denotes the unbelieving Jews, who rejected Christ, and Judah the faithful ones who believed in him.

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Group of Brands