" Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”
In chapter eleven of this great prophetic book, we have the story of Zechariah becoming a shepherd for a rebellious remnant of the nation. He replaces three other shepherds. Their reputation was to lead on the backs of the people. They were wicked leaders. They bought and sold the sheep (the people). Zechariah, however, grows weary of them and impatient. They were a rebellious group and refused to follow the Godly leadership he offered, as a servant of God. They had grown "weary" of Zechariah's leadership. As a result, Zechariah cut them lose. If they didn't want to follow him there was nothing left for God to do, through His servant. Word Biblical Commentary stated it as follows:
The lesson of the parable is that if a people will not follow good leaders they are doomed to suffer under evil ones. But "the arm of the foolish shepherd will wither and his right eye will be expressionless." The arm of the leader represented "strength for defense" and the right eye was the one used to see over the shield in aiming his arrow. Thus the people under a foolish shepherd will be defenseless (v 17).
People have the right to be foolish! "Right" might be the wrong word there, but they certainly have the option. God provided a great leader and they rejected him. It should be noted that Zechariah had to come to the point to realize that foolishness is bound into the heart. In this case the rod of correction did not drive it far from them. Sometimes the fool fails to be corrected, even by the rod (Proverbs 22:15). Leadership, especially those bent on reaching ALL the lost, have a hard time giving up on someone. Zechariah had to dispose of the evil leadership around him. He then saw that the people didn't follow him either and that is why they are given over to their own devices. If we refuse to follow God's leaders we have nothing left but to act out our foolishness and become defenseless in our walk. Sometimes you have to just let fools be fools. Christ was a great example to His disciples. Yet, Judas still had foolishness bound into his heart. Exposed daily to the Son of God did nothing to soften the evil and envious manner by which he walked. Even the Good Shepherd could not melt or mold his cold heart.
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