Zechariah is instructed by God to "shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter." So Zechariah pastures this flock. He takes two staffs with which to shepherd the flock. One staff he called
'Pleasantness' and the other staff he called 'Union.' He gets rid of three worthless shepherds in one month. Not only that, we read that he becomes vexed with the sheep and we hear that they become nauseated with him. The situation is so bad that he says he will no longer shepherd these sheep and he breaks the staffs.

What will this mean for God's people? It is a terrible thing to be shepherdless and God's people have been basically "shepherdless" ever since they did not receive Jesus their Messiah.

So what will the sheep give to this whepherd for the shepherding he has done for them. They weigh out thirty pieces of silver - a mere pittance of what the shepherd is worth - but this amount becomes the amount that Jesus' disciple Judas was given to betray him. As we know from Scripture, Judas didn't keep the money. No, it was used to buy the 'potter's' field - just as it was foretold in this passage.

What the sheep will end up getting is a worthless shepherd who cares nothing for the flock.