30 Pieces for the Shepherd

Read Zechariah 11
 
Zechariah 11:12-13 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” - the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.
 
ZECHARIAH is God’s appointed shepherd to Israel. How do they receive his leadership? To us it may seem a good amount, but the “handsome price” is a term meant to ridicule the 30 pieces of silver. In God’s law this was the value of a slave who had been gored: Exodus 21:32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay 30 shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull must be stoned. Following a sad legacy of sin, Israel discarded their shepherd. They saw him light of an injured worker and rejected again God’s prophet.
   In response, God instructed Zechariah to throw the coins to the potter. The potter was considered among the lowest of the laboring classes. Zechariah then threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.
   This foretells the Good Shepherd’s rejection. Thirty silver pieces was the price of the Good Shepherd’s life: Matthew 26:14 Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. 16 From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. Then Judas in agonizing remorse the next day threw the money into the temple and left … So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” (Matthew 27:5-10)
   Each aspect of Scripture points in one way or another to Jesus. Jeremiah, the prophet before and during the early years of the exile, then Zechariah, the prophet after the exile, speak pointedly of the Shepherd’s worth. The imagery of a shepherd, despised and rejected, is in Isaiah. We cannot possibly understand the boundless grief sin causes on God’s heart. Imagine, if you can, how it would be to know your beloved children would reject God even as you lovingly taught his truth.  
   What wonder to see this glimpse of God’s eternal, deep, high, wide and long love. He prevails through this continual rebellion. We can surely know he is our Good Shepherd to trust unto eternity.
   Follow him. Honor his Staff of Salvation with generous hands and willing hearts.
 
Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.