Zechariah 11:11 - Exposition

It was broken. The covenant just mentioned ( Zechariah 11:10 ) was broken. And so the poor of the flock that waited upon me ( that gave heed unto me ) know . The punishment inflicted on the withdrawal of God's protection had some good result. Though the bulk of the nation took no heed, learned no lesson, yet the humble and the suffering among them, who paid respect to his words, recognized that what happened was according to God's Word, and knew that all the rest would be fulfilled in due season. This was the effect of the Captivity; it forced the Israelites to see the hand of the Lord in the calamities that had befallen them, and it drove the thoughtful among them to repentance and amendment ( Jeremiah 3:13 , Jeremiah 3:23 ; Daniel 9:8 , etc.). The breaking asunder of the first staff refers primarily to the time of the exile, and not to the absolute relinquishment of the flock. One staff is left, and for a time utter destruction is postponed. For "the poor," the LXX . reads, as in Zechariah 11:7 , "the Cananeans," meaning probably "merchants." Ewald and others, who hold the pre-exilian date of this prophecy, see here an allusion to the invasion of the Assyrians under Pul ( 2 Kings 15:19 ).