Zechariah 11:3

Zec 11:3 [There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

Ver. 3. There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds] Potentes potenter torquebuntur. "The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day," Isa 2:17. The shepherds were grown foolish, Zec 11:15, idol shepherds, Zec 11:17, they cared for no other instruments but forcipes et mulctram, the shears and the milk pail; they were become "greedy dogs, which could never have enough," Isa 56:11 (they were sick of the bulimy, or appetitus caninus a greedy dog), yea, they were so many young lions, ramping and ravening, as it is here and Eze 19:2-3. Both princes and priests were turned tyrants, and instead of feeding the people in the integrity of their hearts, and guiding them with the skilfulness of their hands, Psa 78:72, preyed upon them, and "plucked the skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones," Mic 3:2.

For the pride of Jordan is spoiled] The swelling of Jordan dried up by the Romans, as Jerome interprets it; or, the proud and stately palaces and possessions that the great ones had gotten upon the banks of Jordan for fruitfulness and pleasance, as a Lapide; or the numerous and proud nation of the Jews likened to the yearly overflowing of Jordan, whereof see Jos 3:15 Jer 49:19, as Diodati.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zec_11:3

For their glory is spoiled

Bad men in high office

I.

The men here reffered to called shepherds, which is a designation of men in power, men who politically and ecclesiastically presided over the people, the leaders. The shepherds have sometimes reached their positrons irrespective of the will of the people. The shepherds referred to here had an ambitious character. Likened to young lions.

1. That a man in high office who has a bad character is of all men the most contemptible A bad character in a pauper makes him contemptible; but a bad character in a king makes him ten times the more contemptible.

2. That it is the duty of all peoples to promote those alone to high office who have a high moral character.

II. Bad men in high office greatly distressed. There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, etc. The glory of these shepherds being spoiled, says Wardlaw, signifies the bringing down of all their honour and power and the wealth and luxury which, by the abuse of their power, they had acquired, all becoming a prey to the sacking and pillaging besiegers. The pride of Jordan lay in its evergreens and brushwood with which its banks were enriched and adorned; and these being the covert and habitation of the young lions, the two parts of the figure are appropriate. As the lions howl and roar in dismay and fury when dislodged from their refuges and dwelling places, whether by the swelling flood sweeping over their lairs, or from the cutting down or the burning of their habitations, so should the priests and rulers of Jerusalem be alarmed and struck with desperation and rage, when they found their city, within whose walls they had counted themselves secure from the very possibility of hostile entrance, laid open to the outrage of an exasperated enemy, and all its resources given up to plunder and destruction--country as well as city thrown into confusion and desolation! Such rulers may well be distressed--

1. Because all the keen-sighted and honest men over whom they preside despise them.

2. Because the Righteous Governor of the world has denounced them. (Homilist.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11:3 Shepherds and lions figuratively represent the leaders of Lebanon and Bashan, lamenting the destruction of their forested slopes, their pride, and their livelihood (see 11:1-2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the renown of Judah and Israel should perish.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

shepherds--the Jewish rulers.

their glory--their wealth and magnificence; or that of the temple, "their glory" (Mar 13:1; Luk 21:5).

young lions--the princes, so described on account of their cruel rapacity.

pride of Jordan--its thickly wooded banks, the lair of "lions" (Jer 12:5; Jer 49:19). Image for Judea "spoiled" of the magnificence of its rulers ("the young lions"). The valley of the Jordan forms a deeper gash than any on the earth. The land at Lake Merom is on a level with the Mediterranean Sea; at the Sea of Tiberias it falls six hundred fifty feet below that level, and to double that depression at the Dead Sea, that is, in all, 1950 feet below the Mediterranean; in twenty miles' interval there is a fall of from three thousand to four thousand feet.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Young lions] Princes and rulers. By shepherds, kings or priests may be intended.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He then adds, The voice of the howling of shepherds; for their excellency, or their courage, is laid waste. Here he has אדר, ader, and before אדירים, adirim, in the masculine gender. We see then that the Prophet confirms the same thing in other words, “Howl now,” he says, “shall the shepherds.” He intimates that the beginning of this dreadful judgment would be with the chief men, as they were especially the cause of the public ruin. He then says, that the dignity of the great was now approaching its fall, and hence he bids them to howl. He does not in these words exhort them to repentance, but follows the same strain of doctrine. By God’s command he here declares, that the shepherds who took pride in their power, could not escape the judgment which they had deserved: and as this is a mode of speaking usually adopted by the Prophets, I shall no longer dwell on the subject.

He afterwards adds, The voice of the roaring of lions. He no doubt gives here the name of lions, by way of metaphor, to those who cruelly exercised their power over the people. But he also alludes to the banks of Jordan, where there were lions, as it is well known. Since then lions were found along the whole course of Jordan, as it is evident from many passages, he compares shepherds to lions, even the governors who had abused their authority by exercising tyranny over the people: Fallen then has the pride or the excellency of Jordan. In short, it is now sufficiently evident, that the Prophet threatens final destruction both to the kingdom of Judah and to the kingdom of Israel. Both kingdoms were indeed then abolished; but I speak of the countries themselves. The meaning is — that neither Judea nor the land of the ten tribes would be free from God’s vengeance. He afterwards adds —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

3. There is a voice] More literally and forcibly, A voice of the howling of the shepherds! R. V.

the shepherds] Here again the figurative reference appears through the literal, Comp. Zec_10:3, and Zec_11:5 below. But the literal reference holds good. “The desolating storm sweeps from the highlands to the lowlands. The very shepherds are forced to howl, because their splendour is laid waste, namely, the pasture lands, in which they were wont to tend and feed their flocks in the days of peace and quiet. The conflagration extends even to the south of the land. Judah is wrapped in flames. The close thickets which fringed the Jordan river as it ran along through the territory of the southern kingdom are consumed by the fire.… ‘The pride of Jordan’ is rendered desolate, and hence the voice of the roaring of lions is heard wailing over the general ruin.” Wright.

young lions] Comp. Jer_25:36-38; Jer_49:19.

Zec_11:4-14. The rejection by them of Jehovah’s shepherd is the cause of the calamity which is to fall upon them. “Subjicit rationem cur Deus tam severe agere cogitet cum populo suo, quoniam insanabilis sit eorum malitia.” Rosenm.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds,.... Which may be understood either of the civil rulers among the Jews, who now lose their honour and their riches; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Ezra, interpret it of kings; or of the ecclesiastical rulers, the elders of the people, the Scribes and Pharisees:

for their glory is spoiled; their power and authority; their riches and wealth; their places of honour and profit; their offices, posts, and employments, whether in civil or religious matters, are taken from them, and they are deprived of them:

a voice of the roaring of young lions; of princes, comparable to them for their power, tyranny, and cruelty: the Targum is,

"their roaring is as the roaring of young lions:''

for the pride of Jordan is spoiled; a place where lions and their young ones resorted, as Jarchi observes; See Gill on Jer 49:19. Jordan is here put for the whole land of Judea now wasted, and so its pride and glory gone; as if the waters of Jordan were dried up, the pride and glory of that, and which it showed when its waters swelled and overflowed; hence called by Pliny (x) "ambitiosus amnis", a haughty and ambitious swelling river.

(x) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled - It echoes on from Jeremiah before the captivity, “Howl, ye shepherds - A voice of the cry of the shepherds. and an howling of the principal of the flock; for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture” Jer 25:34, Jer 25:36. There is one chorus of desolation, the mighty and the lowly; the shepherds and the young lions; what is at other times opposed is joined in one wailing. “The pride of Jordan” are the stately oaks on its banks, which shroud it from sight, until you reach its edges, and which, after the captivity of the ten tribes, became the haunt of lions and their chief abode in Palestine, “on account of the burning heat, and the nearness of the desert, and the breadth of the vast solitude and jungles” (Jerome). See Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44; 2Ki 17:25. The lion lingered there even to the close of the 12th cent. Phocas in Reland Palaest. i. 274. Cyril says in the present, “there are very many lions there, roaring horribly and striking fear into the inhabitants”).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Pride, or farther banks, covered with shrubs, among which lions dwelt, Jeremias l. 44. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

There is; it is as certain as if present, as sure all these shall howl, as if the things for which they do howl were already acted.

A voice of the howling, a most bitter, loud, passionate, and dismal howling, of the shepherds: literally thus; The enemy having broken in hath driven away or eaten up their flocks of sheep, their herds; and they, undone, howl most bitterly on the mountains, where the echo more doubles the horror than the noise. Or figuratively, shepherds are governors, magistrates, and civil officers, together with priests and prophets, who are over the people as shepherds over the flocks.

For their glory is spoiled; what was their honour, their safety, their joy, is spoiled, taken from them and given to others.

A voice of the roaring, the dismal outcries, of young lions; of men in authority among the Jews, who should have been shepherds to defend, but were as lions to tear and devour, and which lurked in Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judea, wheresoever they could lie in wait to tear the poor and weak.

For the pride of Jordan is spoiled; the great forests on the banks of Jordan, called here the pride of Jordan, either because of the stately situation of them; or, because the prophet would keep the decorum of his allegory, he calls these

the pride of Jordan, for that the young lions were wont to walk proudly, to range over it without fear. So did these men-lions securely prey in Jerusalem and its fellow cities; but these are cut down, and now they must no more range through to seek a prey: so all from the north to the east of the land of Canaan is represented as made a spoil.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

There is a voice. The Hebrew is more terse and forcible, "A voice of the howling of the shepherds!" or, "Hark! a howling," etc. (Jer_25:34, etc.) The destruction spreads from the north southwards along the Jordan valley. Their glory. The noble trees in whose shadow they rejoiced. Young lions. Which had their lairs in the forests now laid waste. (Jer_49:19) The pride of Jordan. The thickets that clothed the banks of Jordan are called its "pride". (Jer_12:5) The lion is not now found in Palestine, but must have been common in earlier times, especially in such places as the brushwood and reedy coverts which line the margin of the Jordan. The prophet introduces the inanimate and animate creation trees, men, beasts alike deploring the calamity. And the terms in which this is depicted point to some great disaster and ruin, and, as it seems, to the final catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the punishment of the rejection of Messiah. This reference becomes plainer as we proceed. It is inadmissible to refer the passage (as some do) to the Assyrian invasions mentioned in 2Ki_15:29 and 1Ch_5:26. Holding the post-exilian origin of the prophecy, we are bound to interpret it in accordance with this view, which, indeed, presents fewer difficulties than the other.

Bad men in high office.

"There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." We have here two subjects of thought.

I BAD MEN IN HIGH OFFICE. The men referred to here are called "shepherds," which is a designation of men in power, men who politically and ecclesiastically presided over the people the leaders. Communities of men everywhere and in all times have had "shepherds," men who guided and ruled them. These "shepherds" have sometimes reached their position irrespectively of the will of the people, sometimes with the will of the people, sometimes against the will of the people. In this country we have a number of "shepherds," politically from the mayor to the queen, ecclesiastically from the assistant curate to the archbishop. The "shepherds" referred to in the text had unfortunately what, alas! the leaders of the people in all ages have too frequently had an ambitious character. Hence they are here called, "young lions," "a voice of the roaring of young lions;" or, as Keil has it, a "loud roaring of the young lions." They were hungry, ravenous, and rapacious, fattening upon the people of their charge. Elsewhere they are represented as "ravening wolves." How often have men in high office, both in state and Church, been of this character! Such as they care nothing for the people, only so far as they can make use of them, feed and fatten on them. Observe:

1. That a man in high office who has a bad character is of all men the most contemptible. A bad character in a pauper makes him contemptible; but a bad character in a king makes him ten times the more contemptible. When God commands us to honour our parents, and to honour the king, it implies that the parents and the king are honour worthy; if they are corrupt in character, they should be die, honoured and denounced.

2. That it is the duty of all peoples to promote those alone to high office who have a high moral character. Alas! they have not done so; hence they have often had unworthy magistrates, judges, kings, bishops.

II BAD MEN IN HIGH OFFICE GREATLY DISTRESSED. "There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." "The glory of these shepherds being spoiled," says Wardlaw, "signifies the brining down of all their honour and power, and the wealth and luxury which, by the abuse of their power they had acquired, all becoming a prey to the sacking and pillaging besiegers. The pride of Jordan lay in it, s evergreens and brushwood with which its banks were enriched and adorned; and these being the covert and habitation of the young lions, the two parts of the figure are appropriate. As the lions howl and roar in dismay and fury when dislodged from their refuges and dwelling places, whether by the swelling flood sweeping over their lairs, or from the cutting down or the burning of their habitations, so should the priests and rulers of Jerusalem be alarmed and struck with desperation and rage, when they found their city, within whose walls they had counted themselves secure from the very possibility of hostile entrance, laid open to the outrage of an exasperated enemy, and all its resources given up to plunder and destruction country as well as city thrown into confusion and desolation!" Such rulers may well be distressed. Let them howl:

1. Because all the keen-sighted and honest men over whom they preside despise them. Though the hordes of miserable sycophants worship them on account of the glitter and pageantry of their elevated position, the Carlyles, the Thackerays, and the unsophisticated millions regard them with ineffable disdain.

2. Because the righteous Governor of the world has denounced them. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows" houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess". D.T. (Mat_23:14, etc.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the shepherds - The enemy having driven away their flocks and herds. Their glory - What was their honour. Of Jordan - The great forests on the banks of Jordan, where the young lions were wont to range.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the shepherds The kings.

for their glory אַדַּרְתָּם

the roar of the young lions The princes shall weep.

for the pride of the Jordan has been spoiled The pride of the Jordan, which is the place of the young lions and the old lions. Our Sages (Yoma 39b) explained “Open your doors, O Lebanon,” as the prophet prophesying about the destruction of the Second Temple; that forty years prior to the destruction, the doors of the Temple proper would open by themselves. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai rebuked them. He said, “Temple, how long will you terrify yourself? I know that you will eventually be destroyed. Zechariah the son of Iddo has already prophesied concerning you: ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, etc.’”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.