Who are the three shepherds of whom it is said, "Three shepherds also I cut off in one month" (Zech 11.8)?
Some have thought that the three shepherds were John, Simon and Eleazar who were three leaders of factions during the Jewish wars, but Zechariah 11.4-14 prophetically refers to the ministry of the Messiah towards the nation of Israel who rejected Him. Others have stated that it refers to the threefold office in Israel of prophet, priest and king. Each of these functions in Israel should have been feeding Israel, but had failed. The Good Shepherd Himself came and was sold for thirty pieces of silver.
I suggest that it is more in keeping with the context to see in Matthew 22 that the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd-Lover of the flock has to deal with three religious heads of the people. These are the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees, all being mentioned in that chapter. They were professed leaders of the people, but false and apostate. They constantly opposed the Lord Jesus until they gained their objective of removing Him by crucifying Him. Whether we are to think here of a literal month, or a short period of time, is a question, but, keeping it in context concerning the Messiah and linking the whole passage in Zechariah down to v. 14 with the later chapters of Matthew, one is able to see that the verse at the very least illustrates the Lord as the true Shepherd dealing with these false shepherds and authoritatively, by His teaching, cutting them off. The words "cut off" do not mean to destroy, but rather contain the idea of disavowing. In Matthew 22 the Lord is seen disowning and renouncing the false teaching of these groups of leaders. The "one month" may refer to the period of time just before the leaders of the nation crucified the Lord Jesus which resulted in sealing the doom of the nation.
John J Stubbs
Paul writes, "For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee" (Rom 11.21). In what sense would saved Gentiles not be spared?
It should be observed that in this section of Romans 11 Paul is not addressing the Romans as Christians, but as representative Gentiles, thus, "For I speak to you Gentiles" (Rom 11.13). Here the nation of Israel appears under the figure of the olive tree, symbolising the place of testimony for God on the earth, with its root in Abraham and the fathers and its stem and branches in the nation that sprang from them. However, "some of the branches" had been "broken off" (11.17), "because of unbelief" (11.20); God had not spared "the natural branches" (11.21), descendants of Abraham whose genealogy could be traced back to the patriarch but were cut off. In their place of outward privilege and testimony before men, Gentiles, "a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among (margin, "for") them" (11.17), contrary to the natural order.
It appears that some Gentiles were glorying in the fall of Israel. In the statement, "The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in" (11.19), the "I" is emphatic; this shows how readily the grace of God can be despised. The fact that the rejection of Israel occasioned the advantage of the Gentiles certainly afforded no ground for such boasting.
It must be understood that this place of privilege, apart from repentance and personal faith, brings no vital union with Christ, and will not therefore save those who are in it from the righteous judgment of God. Paul therefore appeals, "Be not highminded, but fear" (11.20); this godly fear should be produced by the knowledge that what God did to Israel, "the natural branches", He can do to the Gentiles, hence the warning to the representative Gentile is "take heed lest he also spare not thee" (11.21).
The writer reminds his readers of "the goodness and severity of God" (11.22). The goodness of God has long been extended to many who have not believed the gospel and have not confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour. To them His severity must yet be made manifest. The questioner seems to have assumed that the Gentiles who have been "graffed in" are saved persons, but this is clearly not the case.
David E West
