Introduction: An Obscure Chapter with Many Interpretations
Chapter 11 of Zechariah is one of the most difficult chapters in the book. Commentators offer numerous explanations, and it is not always clear who the verses refer to or what era they depict. Therefore, in several places we will mention various interpretations side by side to gain a grasp of the matter, and subsequently follow primarily the approach of the Malbim. He views the entire chapter as a prophetic depiction of what would befall Israel during the Second Temple era: from the impending destruction, through the leadership of the shepherds, and down to the final kings whose sole pursuit was their own self-indulgence.
Verse 1: "Open Your Doors, O Lebanon"
פְּתַח לְבָנוֹן דְּלָתֶיךָ וְתֹאכַל אֵשׁ בַּאֲרָזֶיךָ׃ - Open your doors, O Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars.
The Radak presents three avenues of interpretation here. Some explain that the verse refers to the termination of the Hasmonean dynasty, which was brought to an end by Herod, and it is over this downfall that the prophet laments. Others explain that it refers to the destruction of the Second Temple - an era nearly two hundred years later (in fact, somewhat less, since the Hasmonean monarchy itself reigned for several decades). A third interpretation is that these words circle back to what was said in the previous chapter regarding the downfall of the Babylonians. This is also the view of Targum Yonatan, who translates "Open, O nations," meaning that fire will consume the nations, referring to the Babylonians mentioned in the preceding chapter.
The famous homiletical teaching of Chazal here is that the verse speaks of the destruction of the Second Temple. "Lebanon" is the Beis HaMikdash, either because it whitens (malbin) the sins of Israel, or because it was built from the cedars of Lebanon, from the timber and craftsmen Solomon brought from Lebanon, from Tyre and Sidon. It is related that forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the doors of the Sanctuary would swing open on their own, untouched by human hands. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai rebuked them, saying: "Sanctuary, Sanctuary, why do you terrify yourself?" - meaning, why do you terrify us (employing a euphemism). "I know that your end is to be destroyed, and Zechariah has already prophesied concerning you: 'Open your doors, O Lebanon.'" The Sanctuary would open its doors of its own accord, as if beckoning the enemies and saying: Come in, the door is open, come conquer and destroy.
The Malbim explains: After the prophet witnessed a prophecy of the ultimate future redemption, he is now shown in a vision what will unfold during the Second Temple era. From this he understands that the redemption of the Second Temple is not the complete redemption, but rather a temporary, probationary redemption, as the Malbim explains several times: if they prove worthy, it will become the final redemption; if not, the exile will continue - as we know from the two thousand years of exile following the destruction of the Second Temple. First, he foresees that the Second Temple is destined to be destroyed. Thus it is said to him, "Open your doors," so that the Roman legions may enter it, "that fire may devour your cedars," for fire consumed the cedar beams of the Beis HaMikdash, causing it to collapse and fall.
Verses 2-3: The Hierarchy of the Fall - From Cedar to Oak
הֵילֵל בְּרוֹשׁ כִּי נָפַל אֶרֶז אֲשֶׁר אַדִּרִים שֻׁדָּדוּ הֵילִילוּ אַלּוֹנֵי בָשָׁן כִּי יָרַד יַעַר הַבָּצִיר׃ - Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty are despoiled; wail, oaks of Bashan, for the fortified forest has come down.
Several species of trees are mentioned here, and the Malbim notes: The cypress is also a type of cedar, though inferior to the cedar proper, while the oak is inferior to both. Thus the ascending order is: oak, cypress, cedar. The cedar represents the fallen king, and "the mighty are despoiled" refers to the nobles, the sons of the king. "Wail, oaks of Bashan" - lament, oaks of Bashan, who are the ministers, "for the fortified forest has come down," referring to the strong, fortified forest whose warriors have fallen. And if a flame has caught the cedars, what shall the lower cypresses do, and all the more so the oaks of Bashan, inferior to both, once the fortified stronghold has collapsed?
קוֹל יִלְלַת הָרֹעִים כִּי שֻׁדְּדָה אַדַּרְתָּם קוֹל שַׁאֲגַת כְּפִירִים כִּי שֻׁדַּד גְּאוֹן הַיַּרְדֵּן׃ - Hark, the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled; hark, the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan is despoiled.
"The shepherds" are the shepherds of the people, namely the Sanhedrin, and "their glory is despoiled" - their splendor was plundered. "Hark, the roaring of young lions" refers to the rebellious factions and warriors who were ascendant at the time, such as the Sicarii and the zealots who refused to surrender, yet ultimately fell as well. "The pride of the Jordan" is the habitat of the lions, hinting at the fortified cities in which they took pride and where their strength lay, which were likewise ravaged by the enemy.
Verses 4-5: The Flock of Slaughter
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָי רְעֵה אֶת־צֹאן הַהֲרֵגָה׃ - So said Hashem my God: Tend the flock marked for slaughter.
After the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him the destruction of the Temple, He wished to show him what would happen to them throughout the period the Second Temple stood. It is as if He first fast-forwarded to the end of the film, and now shows him how events unfold. "Tend the flock marked for slaughter" - describe in your prophecy their shepherds, and the manner in which their leaders guided them during the Second Temple era. We will soon see why He called them "the flock of slaughter."
אֲשֶׁר קֹנֵיהֶן יַהַרְגֻן וְלֹא יֶאְשָׁמוּ וּמֹכְרֵיהֶן יֹאמַר בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה וַאעְשִׁר וְרֹעֵיהֶם לֹא יַחְמוֹל עֲלֵיהֶן׃ - Whose buyers slay them and are not held guilty, and whose seller says, "Blessed be Hashem, for I have become rich," and their shepherds do not pity them.
These are not sheep meant for shearing, from which one can derive wool and offspring, which a person tends carefully and raises, referred to as ashterot because they enrich (ma'ashirot) their owners - such an asset is a goldmine and is not slaughtered. Rather, this flock is destined for slaughter and killing, and therefore "whose buyers slay them and are not held guilty": they feel no pangs of conscience, for that was their intended purpose all along. "And whose seller says, 'Blessed be Hashem, and I shall be rich'" - the aleph is quiescent, and the Radak notes that it is as if it is not pronounced. Sheep meant for shearing and offspring enrich their owner while they remain in his possession; but as for those destined for slaughter, how does he grow rich from them? When he sells them. And for that he gives thanks: Blessed be Hashem, now I become wealthy from their sale. "And their shepherds do not pity them" - even the shepherds, who are their leaders, show them no compassion, for they are destined for slaughter in any case.
"Blessed be Hashem" for an Act of Wickedness
The Radak explains that "Blessed be Hashem, and I shall be rich" is an expression of the seller saying: Blessed be Hashem that I am enriched by the price of the captives. The buyer slays them without hesitation, and the seller rejoices over the money he receives. And if you wonder how one could say "Blessed be Hashem" over such an act of wickedness, the Radak answers that one should not be surprised, for the one exiling and selling them is convinced he is doing the right thing and that Hashem wills it. Just as we find with Sancheriv, who said: "Have I now come up without Hashem against this land to destroy it?" - he felt he carried the seal of approval from the Master of the World, having heard the prophecies spoken at that time concerning the enemy who would come and exile Israel, giving him the sense of, "Blessed be Hashem, I am doing the right thing."
The Radak cites an additional possibility: people are accustomed to offering praise to God, may He be blessed, for any profit they make, whether gained righteously or through wickedness. Support for this comes from Chazal: "A thief at the breach calls out to the Merciful One" - the thief, at the entrance to the tunnel right before breaking in to steal, cries out to the Master of the World: Help me succeed; help me so that the homeowner does not wake up. So too with a soccer player who plays on Shabbat, violating Torah prohibitions and causing the public to sin, yet places a Book of Tehillim in his shoes or socks. A person brings the Holy One, blessed be He, into everything: into his good deeds as well as his misdeeds.
Rav Yaakov Galinsky, ztz"l, related that he was once praying in a synagogue and stayed afterward to learn. He saw a man approach the Ark and pray, unaware that anyone else was in the room. He overheard him pleading: "Master of the World, grant me Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration); grant that I should have Ruach HaKodesh!" After the man finished and closed the Ark, Rav Galinsky approached him and said, "Forgive me for intruding on your privacy, but Ruach HaKodesh? Is that what you are missing? Do you already possess everything else?" The man replied, "I'll tell you the truth: I make my living by stealing; I break into houses. It's a line of work with a lot of risk, unpleasantness, and mess. Sometimes you spend half the night rummaging through a house and find nothing, while everything was right there in the adjacent closet. That is why I ask Hashem for Ruach HaKodesh, so I will know where the money is stashed, where to go straight away, and where it is worth investing effort and where not." This exemplifies "A thief at the breach calls out to the Merciful One": even regarding his transgressions, he prays to Hashem.
The Metzudat David explains differently: he says "Blessed be Hashem" that I have sold something devoid of a sign of blessing, and at least with the proceeds I will purchase something that bears a sign of blessing. That is to say, I sold sheep that are destined for slaughter anyway and from which I gain nothing, and with their payment I will acquire something lasting and enduring.
And "their shepherds do not pity them" - the Radak explains that this refers to the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is the Shepherd of Israel, Who does not show them pity, and therefore they fall into the hands of enemies, into the hands of sellers and buyers. And if you ask: Does Israel have many shepherds, that it says "their shepherds" in the plural? The Radak answers that this is the style of Scripture, as in: "Let Israel rejoice in its Makers [be'osav]," "Where is God my Maker [osai]" - plural forms referring to the Holy One, blessed be He.
Verse 6: The Damage Starts from Within
כִּי לֹא אֶחְמוֹל עוֹד עַל יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה וְהִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מַמְצִיא אֶת־הָאָדָם אִישׁ בְּיַד־רֵעֵהוּ וּבְיַד מַלְכּוֹ וְכִתְּתוּ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא אַצִּיל מִיָּדָם׃ - "For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, says Hashem; and behold, I will deliver each man into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king, and they will crush the land, and I will not rescue them from their hand."
Here the underlying meaning is explained: the inhabitants of the land are destined for slaughter, and this is the "flock of slaughter" mentioned earlier, as the previous verse stated, "whose buyers slaughter them and are not held guilty, and their shepherds do not pity them." The word mamtzi ("I will deliver") means to bring about or arrange, as in "and they presented (himtziu) the burnt offering to him," meaning they brought it to him. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will deliver each person into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king. In other words, the ruin begins from within. The kings of the Second Temple era slaughtered the people and destroyed them, and among the people of the Second Temple baseless hatred reigned, and they stabbed and murdered one another.
It is related in Sefer Yosippon that a person would walk through the marketplace with a short dagger tucked into his garment. In the midst of the crowd, he would draw close to his fellow, plunge the dagger into his abdomen, pull it out, and keep walking. People would continue on their way, and suddenly see that someone had collapsed. They would shout for help, while in the meantime the murderer had already arrived home. By the time anyone arrived and investigated - he had already eliminated him, in broad daylight and without any fear. Observe: what destroyed them was baseless hatred, that they slaughtered one another.
"And they will crush the land" - the Malbim offers a fascinating explanation: vekhittetu ("and they will crush") is related to kittot (sects or factions). There were various factions then: Perushim (Pharisees), Tzedokim (Sadducees), Essenes, Boethusians, and Sicarii. These factions generated the hatred and internal polarization, and ultimately, at the hands of cruel rulers, they were crushed, shattered, and destroyed.
Verse 7: The Two Staffs
וָאֶרְעֶה אֶת־צֹאן הַהֲרֵגָה לָכֵן עֲנִיֵּי הַצֹּאן וָאֶקַּח־לִי שְׁנֵי מַקְלוֹת לְאַחַד קָרָאתִי נֹעַם וּלְאַחַד קָרָאתִי חֹבְלִים וָאֶרְעֶה אֶת־הַצֹּאן׃ - "So I pastured the flock destined for slaughter, truly the poorest of the sheep; and I took for myself two staffs: one I called Pleasantness (Noam) and one I called Destroyers (Chovlim), and I pastured the flock."
"So I pastured the flock destined for slaughter" - I arranged how their pasturing and leadership would unfold, in such a manner that they became a flock of slaughter, led to the butcher. "Indeed the poorest of the sheep" - therefore they became the most destitute among the flock. And why did they descend to such poverty and ruin? Because they killed one another, and there was no peace among them. "And I took for myself two staffs" - a shepherd carries two staffs: one named Noam, denoting pleasantness, and the other named Chovlim, denoting injury and destruction. And what do these staffs represent? The commentators were perplexed by this, as the Malbim notes.
Rashi explains: Two staffs - I divided them into two kingdoms. "One I called Noam" refers to Yarov'am, who was meant to guide them with pleasantness; "and one I called Chovlim" refers to Rechav'am son of Shlomo, who declared, "I will chastise you with scorpions."
The Radak explains: As long as Israel observed the way of Hashem, and their kings and judges were upright, the Holy One, blessed be He, led them in a pleasant manner, with neither adversary nor mishap. The second staff, Chovlim, is an expression of destruction, as in "ruining (mechablim) the vineyards" - when they corrupted their ways, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them a wicked king, leadership that merely ravaged them and failed to protect them from enemies. Yet even so, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I still did not withdraw My Shechinah from them until the exile, and this is "and I pastured the flock" - whether they were good or whether they were bad, I continued to pasture them.
Metzudat David explains that this refers to the Hasmonean Kohanim who ruled during the Second Temple period, where two distinct types of leadership existed. Initially, the three sons of Matityahu son of Yochanan Kohen Gadol ruled: Yehudah, Yonatan, and Shimon. They were the staff of Noam, for their leadership was conducted with pleasantness, fear of Hashem, and upright deeds. Afterward came their descendants who succeeded them, who acted wickedly and became destructive and ruinous; this is the staff of Chovlim, as detailed in Sefer Yosippon.
The Approach of the Malbim: One Staff Outward and One Staff Inward
The Malbim states: We have a simple and direct way to understand what Noam and Chovlim represent, as they appear later in the chapter. It is said, "And I snapped my staff, Noam, to annul My covenant which I had made with all the peoples," and it is said, "Then I snapped my second staff, Chovlim, to annul the brotherhood between Yehudah and Yisrael." From this you learn that the staff of Noam pertains to making a covenant with the nations - alliance and pleasant relations with them. The staff of Chovlim pertains to the division created between Yehudah and Yisrael.
The Malbim explains the two modes of leadership: The satrap, prince, or king would forge ties with the surrounding nations that ruled the land at that time - trade ties, defense alliances, and the like. On the other hand, the judge, the Kohen Gadol, or the head of the Sanhedrin had the role of forging internal bonds: uniting the people, consolidating them so there would be a single path and unified leadership. The king is responsible for external relations, while the Kohen Gadol, the Sanhedrin, and the judge are responsible for the internal social fabric, ensuring that all remain united and do not divide into sects and factions. This is why we see that a rebellious elder (zaken mamre) incurs the death penalty and is executed, for he initiates a state of sectarianism, which brings ruin to the Torah.
Proper leadership should have functioned as follows: the staff directed outward toward the surrounding nations should have been the staff of Chovelim (Binders/Bruisers) - fighting against the enemies, turning back the battle at the gate, striking the foe, and not acting toward them with weakness. Meanwhile, the staff between Israel and Judah, between a person and his fellow, should have been the staff of Noam (Pleasantness) - gentle, peaceful, and serene. But look at how this generation acted in the exact opposite manner: the staff turned toward the nations became a staff of Pleasantness - surrendering to them, paying them tribute, submitting to them, being agreeable and sympathetic toward the nations. Conversely, the staff meant for brotherhood among the Jewish people became a staff of Bruisers - battering the people and ruling over them with harsh labor. You used the staff of Pleasantness toward your enemies, and the staff of Bruisers toward your brethren, failing to use them according to their intended purpose.
We may further note that in his Be'ur HaMilot, the Malbim seeks to distinguish between the word "echad" (one) in the heavy grammatical weight and "echad" in the light weight, and to explain the verse accordingly. However, there is a difficulty with this, as he assumes that the first "echad" is vocalized with a segol and the second with a patach, whereas according to the Radak and verified in the Keter Bible, both are vocalized with a patach. Therefore, it is difficult to accept this explanation, which was apparently based on an edition with an erroneous vocalization.
Verse 8: The Three Shepherds in One Month
וָאַכְחִד אֶת־שְׁלֹשֶׁת הָרֹעִים בְּיֶרַח אֶחָד וַתִּקְצַר נַפְשִׁי בָּהֶם וְגַם־נַפְשָׁם בָּחֲלָה בִי׃ - And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; and My soul grew impatient with them, and their soul also loathed Me.
Here too, interpretations abound as to who these shepherds were. Rashi explains that these were three shepherds who were slain: Jehu killed the entire house of Ahab - that is one; the house of Ahaziah king of Judah and his brothers - that is two; and all the royal seed of David - that is three, for Athaliah came and destroyed all who remained, except for Joash who was hidden in the Holy of Holies. Thus, at that time, all three shepherds were destroyed and Israel had no leaders. "And My soul grew impatient with them" - as it were, I lost patience with them; and every expression of impatience (kotzer nefesh), Rashi explains, denotes something a person can no longer tolerate. "And their soul also loathed Me" - from the language of nausea, revulsion, and disgust, an aversion that the mind cannot endure, as though the heart and stomach could no longer contain it, similar to what Elihu said: "The spirit within my belly constrains me."
The Ibn Ezra explains that the three shepherds are the Kohen Gadol, who was Joshua, the Kohen anointed for war, and the deputy Kohen (Kohen Mishneh), and that this refers to the Hasmonean era. Alternatively, it refers to the close of the prophetic era, where the three shepherds are Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, after whom prophecy ceased, since a prophet is also called a shepherd. The Radak explains that these were the sons of Josiah: Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, all three of whom died at the hands of their enemies. Metzudat David explains that these were the sons of Matityahu son of Yochanan the Kohen Gadol, who served for thirty years before being cut down from the world: Judah for six years, Jonathan for six, and Simon for eighteen; and "one month" (yerach echad) - corresponding to thirty years, parallel to the thirty days of a month.
The Malbim explains: as long as Israel was under the Persian kings, they enjoyed rest, for the Persian empire was then an empire of kindness. (To illustrate: even in recent generations, until the rise of the Ayatollah regime, we maintained relations with Iran, even selling them weapons and flying Israeli planes there. Later it fell to the Ayatollahs - but we can appreciate that in the past it was an empire of kindness.) The kings of Persia - Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes - were the ones who granted permission to build the Beit HaMikdash, to return from exile, and to build the walls of Jerusalem, as we learned in Ezra and Nehemiah. These three shepherds and their benevolence ended "in one month": when the last Darius died, their benevolence came to an end, Alexander the Great arose and conquered the world, the Greek empire grew powerful, and after Alexander's death, they brought immense suffering upon us. The demise of the three shepherds symbolized the end of a peaceful era, leading to "and My soul grew impatient with them" - the Greeks arrived and began to oppress and harm them. "And their soul also loathed Me" - they too abandoned My faith and religion, for the lawless Hellenizers (peritzim) multiplied, abandoning the Torah of Hashem.
The Malbim also cites another view: that the three shepherds were three governors appointed by the Persian king over the territories under his rule, which were divided into three: Babylonia, Media, and Persia. This aligns with Daniel's vision of the Persian empire having "three ribs in its mouth between its teeth", representing an empire divided into three. All of them were deposed in the fifth month with the death of Darius, at which point the Greeks arose and began to afflict Israel.
Verse 9: "I Will Not Shepherd You"
וָאֹמַר לֹא אֶרְעֶה אֶתְכֶם הַמֵּתָה תָמוּת וְהַנִּכְחֶדֶת תִּכָּחֵד וְהַנִּשְׁאָרוֹת תֹּאכַלְנָה אִשָּׁה אֶת־בְּשַׂר רְעוּתָהּ׃ - Then I said, I will not shepherd you; that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another.
"I will not shepherd you" - their divine protection departed from them and they were delivered into the hands of Antiochus. Through this, the daily offering was abolished and an abomination of desolation was set up in the Sanctuary, as they placed an idol in the Heichal. "That which dieth, let it die", "and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off" - through exile or by abandoning their faith and assimilating into Hellenism. "And let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another" - as the Hellenizers consumed the Perushim with an open mouth. The Perushim were the righteous and pious, yet the Hellenizers overpowered them and fought against them; this is the sword of one against his fellow that we mentioned during that era.
Verses 10-11: Breaking the Staff of Pleasantness
וָאֶקַּח אֶת־מַקְלִי אֶת־נֹעַם וָאֶגְדַּע אֹתוֹ לְהָפֵיר אֶת־בְּרִיתִי אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אֶת־כָּל־הָעַמִּים׃ - And I took my staff, Pleasantness, and cut it down, to annul My covenant that I had made with all the nations.
I took the staff of Pleasantness and broke it, for from that point on, the covenant made with the nations that they should not harm them was broken. As it were, Hashem had a covenant with the nations that they would not oppress Israel, and this was the outward pleasantness - that the King did not treat the nations with a staff of destroyers, but maintained peaceful relations. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I have broken the staff of Pleasantness, the covenant is annulled, and now the nations will come and harass them.
וַתֻּפַר בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וַיֵּדְעוּ כֵן עֲנִיֵּי הַצֹּאן הַשֹּׁמְרִים אֹתִי כִּי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה הוּא׃ - And it was annulled on that day, and so the poor of the flock who kept My charge knew that it was the word of Hashem.
Even though they subsequently renewed the covenant, as we saw with the Greeks in the days of the Chashmonaim and later with the Romans in the days of Herod, nevertheless, "and it was annulled on that day" - from then on, there was no longer any permanent covenant. They no longer had a lasting ceasefire with the nations, but only an occasional temporary pact, and the cycle repeated itself: the nations came and attacked Israel, followed by another temporary agreement, and then another breach. The permanent covenant was broken, and there was no longer enduring peace from the surrounding nations.
"And so the poor of the flock who kept My charge knew" - the Malbim explains that these are the Torah scholars and possessors of Ruach HaKodesh, who kept the charge of Hashem, and they knew that this matter was from Hashem. They understood that the Holy One, blessed be He, had already prophesied about this, and that the prophecy had already been delivered through Yechezkel, Zecharya, and Daniel, who foresaw the four kingdoms destined to oppress Israel. And this is a recurring cycle: whenever we stray from the path, the nations strike us, until we return back to the upright way.
Verse 12: "Give Me My Wages" - Thirty Pieces of Silver
וָאֹמַר אֲלֵיהֶם אִם־טוֹב בְּעֵינֵיכֶם הָבוּ שְׂכָרִי וְאִם־לֹא חֲדָלוּ וַיִּשְׁקְלוּ אֶת־שְׂכָרִי שְׁלֹשִׁים כָּסֶף׃ - And I said to them, 'If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages, and if not, refrain.' And they weighed out my wages: thirty pieces of silver.
Here, too, the commentators grapple with the meaning: What is "give Me My wages," and what are the thirty pieces of silver? The Malbim explains that the prophet is presenting a parable in which the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, asks them for payment for guarding them so that the Temple would not be destroyed and their enemies would not annihilate them - as if Hashem is requesting a watchman's fee from them. And what is the payment given to the Holy One, blessed be He? The Malbim explains: this is the merit that will advocate on your behalf before Him, namely good deeds, repentance, and closeness to God. "Give Me My wages" - pay Me My wages, and then, as it were, I will obligate Myself to continue protecting you from enemies and guarding the Beis HaMikdash from destruction. "And if not, refrain" - if you do not fulfill your obligation toward the Holy One, blessed be He, you will cease to exist as a nation.
"And they weighed out my wages: thirty pieces of silver" - Chazal teach: There is no generation without thirty righteous individuals. These are the thirty pieces of silver. The tzaddikim among them numbered thirty, and they gave their lives for the sanctification of Hashem's Name; this was presented, as it were, to the Holy One, blessed be He, as payment so that He would return to shepherd His flock, meaning that He would resume guiding Israel. And why are they called "silver" (kesef)? The commentators explain that it stems from the concept of longing and yearning (kisufim), as in "My soul yearns and even faints" (nichsefa vegam kaltah nafshi) - they were prepared to surrender their lives to the point of utter self-sacrifice, literal mesirus nefesh for the glory of the Creator, blessed be He.
Rashi explains based on the Targum ("va'avadu yasrevasi gavrin") - a small number of virtuous men; there were only a few among them who did My will, such as Chananyah, Mishael, Azaryah, and Yechezkel. Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah were the ones who were here and exiled, alongside Yechezkel who was a prophet, and they were the few tzaddikim who fulfilled the will of Hashem.
Verse 13: "Cast It to the Potter"
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלַי הַשְׁלִיכֵהוּ אֶל־הַיּוֹצֵר אֶדֶר הַיְקָר אֲשֶׁר יָקַרְתִּי מֵעֲלֵיהֶם וָאֶקְחָה שְׁלֹשִׁים הַכֶּסֶף וָאַשְׁלִיךְ אֹתוֹ בֵּית יְהֹוָה אֶל־הַיּוֹצֵר׃ - And Hashem said to me, "Cast it to the fashioner, the majestic price that I was prized at by them." And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast it into the House of Hashem, to the fashioner.
The Holy One, blessed be He, commands to take the silver and cast it to the yotzer (fashioner). And who is the yotzer? The one who engraves and forms a shape upon the silver. Silver in those times had intrinsic value: they would take a sheet of silver and make coins out of it, cutting circles like a punch die, producing a blank token - an asimon, which Chazal explain means a-siman, without a sign or impression. To turn it into a usable currency rather than a mere piece of silver, one had to stamp onto it the image of the king or myrtles and the like, as seen on ancient coins. The one who did this was the yotzer, who worked at the mint and stamped the coins, called a yotzer (fashioner) because he fashioned an image upon the silver.
And now He asks, as it were, that the fashioner depict the thirty pieces of silver, meaning the thirty righteous people who were killed for the sanctification of His Name - that their likeness be engraved before the Throne of Glory. This is similar to the concept of "Though I cleanse, their blood I will not cleanse" (Yoel 4:21), meaning that the garment of the Holy One, blessed be He, is, as it were, stained with the blood of those who gave their lives for Kiddush Hashem, something that is never forgotten before Him for even a moment. And this is "the precious mantle" (eder hayekar) - the souls of the righteous are like a precious cloak before the Holy One, blessed be He, an aderet being a magnificent garment, like a costly mantle. "That I was prized at by them" (asher yakarti me'aleihem) - that I took from them the most precious thing they had. And what is the most precious thing a person possesses? His soul. They gave their lives for Hashem, and "Precious in the eyes of Hashem is the death of His pious ones" (Tehillim 116:15), and the Holy One, blessed be He, takes the preciousness of their souls and makes from them a garment of glory for Himself.
"And I cast it into the House of Hashem to the fashioner" - the silver is cast into the House of Hashem. The meaning is: the Temple was destined to be destroyed, and through whose merit was it saved? In the merit of the thirty righteous people who gave their lives. Thus, they are cast into the House of Hashem, meaning that by their power the Temple would endure. In the merit of those who sacrificed their lives for the honor of Hashem, the Beis HaMikdash was not destroyed in the days of Antiochus. And the fashioner forms from them a shape, in which those holy ones are preserved, serving as a precious mantle and a cloak of glory before Hashem, for an eternal remembrance before Him, and by its power He did not destroy the Beis HaMikdash in the days of the Greeks.
Pasuk 14: The Severing of the Second Staff
וָאֶגְדַּע אֶת־מַקְלִי הַשֵּׁנִי אֵת הַחֹבְלִים לְהָפֵר אֶת־הָאַחֲוָה בֵּין יְהוּדָה וּבֵין יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Then I cut down my second staff, Chovelim (Destroyers), to break the brotherhood between Yehudah and Yisrael.
Until now the prophecy spoke of one staff, and now it turns to the second. The Malbim explains that the second staff was manifested in the Tzedokim (Sadducees) who multiplied among them, which caused internal peace to be shattered. The staff intended to lead them according to the Torah, according to the path of Hashem and His mitzvos, was severed, causing them to devour one another and battle against each other. The factions of the Tzedokim and the Perushim (Pharisees) consumed one another, and the kings themselves were contested and assaulted by both factions, as is well known in the history of the Second Temple, and through this the brotherhood between Yehudah and Yisrael was broken.
And who are "Yehudah" and "Yisrael" here? One cannot interpret this as referring to the two tribes versus the ten tribes, as we always discussed regarding the First Temple period - where Shomron represents the ten tribes, Yarov'am and the dynasties that branched off from him, contrasted with Yehudah and Binyamin whose kings were mostly righteous in Yerushalayim. For here we are speaking of the Second Temple, and during the Second Temple the ten tribes did not return, at least according to most commentators, meaning that "Yisrael" cannot refer to the ten tribes, but only to Yehudah and Binyamin. Therefore, the Malbim explains: the Torah scholars (talmidei chachamim) are called by the name "Yehudah", while the masses are called by the name "Yisrael". The sons of Yehudah were servants of Hashem, whereas the children of Yisrael in the First Temple period strayed from the path and went into exile. In the Second Temple there was only Yehudah, and seemingly there was peace among them, but now the brotherhood was broken and the situation reverted to being like Yehudah and Yisrael: within Yehudah and Binyamin themselves two factions arose - the Tzedokim, the Baitosim (Boethusians), and their ilk, who departed from the proper path of leadership, set against the Perushim who continued clinging to the service of Hashem, Matisyahu and his sons who cleaved to the Torah of Hashem. Consequently, in the words of the Malbim, breach upon breach occurred. Thus, the second staff as well, which was meant to unite the nation, was broken, and brotherhood between Yehudah and Yisrael was annulled.
Pasuk 15: The Implements of a Foolish Shepherd
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלָי עוֹד קַח־לְךָ כְּלִי רֹעֶה אֱוִלִי׃ - And Hashem said to me, "Take for yourself yet again the implements of a foolish shepherd."
The Malbim explains: the shepherd who will arise now is completely unfit for leadership. Previously there was the staff of No'am and the staff of Chovelim, and both were broken; this shepherd has no staff at all - neither another staff nor any substitute. And what does he have? Only the "implements of a shepherd." And what are the implements of a shepherd? The Malbim explains: the vessels with which the shepherd ate his food, in which he cooked the meat, and the like. In simple terms: this shepherd knows how to do only one thing - devour the sheep. To care for them, watch over them, and seek their welfare, he possesses nothing, and he does not even have a staff to guide them; what he has are only the tools with which he consumes them. This is a foolish shepherd. And the deeper parallel: the final kings who would reign in the days of the Second Temple would be rulers whose sole objective was their self-gratification - what they could extract from the flock - without thinking for a single moment about the welfare of the people.
Pasuk 16: The Portrait of the Evil Shepherd
כִּי הִנֵּה־אָנֹכִי מֵקִים רֹעֶה בָּאָרֶץ הַנִּכְחָדוֹת לֹא־יִפְקֹד הַנַּעַר לֹא־יְבַקֵּשׁ וְהַנִּשְׁבֶּרֶת לֹא יְרַפֵּא הַנִּצָּבָה לֹא יְכַלְכֵּל וּבְשַׂר הַבְּרִיאָה יֹאכַל וּפַרְסֵיהֶן יְפָרֵק׃ - For behold, I am raising up a shepherd in the land: he will not take account of the lost, nor seek out the scattered, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the standing; but he will devour the flesh of the fat ones and break off their hooves.
"He will not take account of the lost" - the sheep that have gone astray do not interest him at all; he neither accounts for them nor searches for them. "Nor seek out the scattered" - Targum Yonatan translates this as "those that were tossed about," from the root meaning to shake out, referring to those driven far away, whom he does not seek to reclaim. Alternatively, na'ar (youth) relates to foolishness, as youth often denotes folly, referring to those sheep that cannot find their way back to the fold on their own and require a leader to guide them, yet the shepherd does not seek them out. "Nor heal the broken" - one that has suffered a broken leg or shoulder, he does not look for ways to heal. "Nor sustain the standing" - the "standing" one is that which barely has the strength to stand on its feet and needs support to be led slowly along. Rashi cites Menachem that nitzavah is related to swelling, as in "causing the belly to swell (litzvot beten) and the thigh to fall away," referring to an animal with a swollen belly. It is well known that cattle suffer from bloat in the rumen, and the practice is to insert a trocar into the belly to release the gas, without which they would perish. (Incidentally, where this is not done in accordance with halachic guidelines, serious kashrut issues arise regarding perforations of the stomach wall.) In any case, there is a condition of nitzavah in the sense of suffering from bloating caused by gas and pasture, and even these he will not sustain. "Will not sustain" means he will not bear them, for it is the way of a shepherd to carry such animals in his bosom, but this one will not do so.
"He will devour the flesh of the fat ones" - the healthy, fat sheep represent the wealthy, and the rulers will think only of how to seize money from the rich and drain their fortunes. "And break off their hooves" - he will tear apart their hooves until they are utterly consumed, just as Daniel describes: "It devoured and crushed, and stamped the residue with its feet." For there are cattle or sheep that eat and leave remnants behind, while others eat and crush whatever remains under their hooves, leaving nothing at all. So too here: nothing of them will remain.
The Malbim explains the verse according to its allegorical meaning: "He will not take account of the lost" - he will pay no heed to those who go into exile and will not care if they are banished. "The young/scattered" - the young sheep, he will not watch over to gather them, showing no interest in the children and youth. "The broken" and "the standing" (those barely on their feet) - he will not sustain them, providing them with no food. As for the healthy, fattened sheep - those he will devour, even tearing apart their hooves, leaving nothing of them whatsoever.
Verse 17: Woe to the Worthless Shepherd
הוֹי רֹעִי הָאֱלִיל עֹזְבִי הַצֹּאן חֶרֶב עַל־זְרוֹעוֹ וְעַל־עֵין יְמִינוֹ זְרֹעוֹ יָבוֹשׁ תִּיבָשׁ וְעֵין יְמִינוֹ כָּהֹה תִכְהֶה׃ - Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye; let his arm completely wither, and his right eye go utterly blind!
"Woe (Hoy)," Rashi explains, calls for an outcry, uttered in deep anguish. "The worthless shepherd (ro'i ha'elil)" - shepherds of nothingness, for elil derives from the root of al (negation), as in Job's rebuke to his companions: "You are all worthless physicians (rof'ei elil)," meaning physicians of "no," non-physicians. So too the worthless shepherd: he has no ability to shepherd, no strength to shepherd, and no knowledge of how to shepherd. And if you ask about the additional letter yud in the forms ro'i and ozvi, do not be surprised, for we find similar scriptural forms: shokhni sneh ("He who dwells in the bush") rather than shochen, shokhni levadad, as well as harofei lechol tachalu'aychi ("Who heals all your illnesses") and avonaychi - an extra yud, and such is the case here.
"Who abandons the flock! May a sword strike his arm" - the arm represents power and might; therefore, a sword will come to sever his arm, and his power and might will crumble. "And his right eye go utterly blind" - Hashem will confound his wisdom, for the eye represents wisdom, as in the phrase "My eye has seen," meaning "I contemplated." Thus, the Malbim explains, they will suffer harm in both body and soul, for even the inner wisdom of their soul will be ruined.
Abarbanel explains that these words refer to King Agrippa, the last monarch, who fell by the sword of Rome. His son, who was a noble man, was killed alongside him, and Scripture likens the son to "his right eye" - not only will "his arm completely wither," signifying his authority and might, but his son will also be killed, which is the meaning of "and his right eye go utterly blind."
In summary:
The chapter opens with the sanctuary doors swinging open on their own - a prophecy of the destruction of the Second Temple - and from there the prophet looks back over the history of the Temple era itself. The "flock marked for slaughter" refers to Israel, delivered into the hands of buyers, sellers, and unpitying shepherds, with the ruin beginning from within: baseless hatred, brother turning against brother, ruthless kings, and factions that tore the land apart. The two staffs, No'am (Pleasantness) and Chovelim (Destroyers), were meant for proper leadership - Chovelim directed outward against the enemy, and No'am inward toward one's brother - yet the generation inverted the proper order. Consequently, both staffs were severed: the covenant with the nations was broken, and the brotherhood between Judah and Israel dissolved. Amidst this devastation, the thirty pieces of silver shine forth: the thirty righteous men in every generation who gave their lives, whose likeness is engraved before the Heavenly Throne as a glorious mantle, and in whose merit the Temple stood during the Hellenistic era. Finally, there stands the foolish shepherd, wielding no shepherd's crook but only implements with which to devour his flock, whose end is a sword upon his arm and blindness in his right eye. The lesson remains timeless: whenever we stray from the path, the nations strike us, until we return to the upright way.