“Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.”
My Notes
What Does Zechariah 11:5 Mean?
"Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not." Zechariah describes the triple betrayal of God's flock: the possessors (owners) slaughter them without guilt, the sellers (traffickers) praise God for the profit they make from selling them, and their own shepherds (leaders) show no pity. Every person who should protect the flock exploits it instead. And the most revolting detail: the sellers invoke God's blessing on their exploitation. "Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich" — using God's name to sanctify profit made from destroying God's people.
The three predators represent political rulers (possessors), economic exploiters (sellers), and religious leaders (shepherds). Every system has failed the flock.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where do you see 'blessed be the LORD, I am rich' theology sanctifying exploitation?
- 2.What does it mean when the people responsible for protection feel no guilt about destruction?
- 3.How does the triple betrayal (political, economic, religious) describe systemic failure in your context?
- 4.Where are the shepherds who 'pity them not' — and who will stand in the gap?
Devotional
The owners kill them and feel no guilt. The sellers thank God for the profit. The shepherds don't care. Every person responsible for the flock is destroying it — and nobody feels bad about it.
Possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty. The people who own the flock — who have legal authority over God's people — slaughter them. Not in secret. Not with remorse. They slay and feel nothing. The killing is so normalized that guilt doesn't register. The exploitation of the vulnerable has become business as usual — too routine to produce conscience.
Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich. The sellers — the people trafficking in God's flock for profit — invoke divine blessing on their wealth. They praise God for the money they made by destroying God's people. The theology of prosperity applied to exploitation: God made me rich (through selling his own flock). Blessed be his name.
This is the most obscene form of religious exploitation: using God's name to sanctify the profit you make from exploiting what belongs to God. The seller doesn't even see the contradiction. The wealth came from selling the flock. The flock belongs to God. And the seller thanks God for the revenue. The blasphemy is so complete it's invisible to the person committing it.
Their own shepherds pity them not. The leaders who should be the last line of defense — who should see the slaughter and the selling and stand in the gap — feel nothing. No pity. The Greek Septuagint translates this as 'they don't suffer with them.' The shepherds don't share the flock's pain. The emotional distance between the leaders and the led is total.
Three systems. Three betrayals. The political system kills without guilt. The economic system profits and praises God for it. The religious system feels nothing. And the flock — God's flock — is caught between all three, with nobody to defend them.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty,.... Not the Romans after Christ came, into whose hands they…
Whose possessors - (buyers) slay them and hold themselves not guilty, rather, are not guilty either in their own eyes,…
Whose possessors - Governors and false prophets, slay them, by leading them to those things that will bring them to…
The prophet here is made a type of Christ, as the prophet Isaiah sometimes was; and the scope of these verses is to show…
possessors Rather, buyers. The flock of which the prophet was commanded to take charge had been bought and slain without…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture