£100 for n horse I Curates are starving, whilst cooks, dressmakers, and tailors are go Uing fat. III. His INDEPENDENT SOUL REPUDIATES INADEQUATE BE0ULAR ACKNOWLEDG- MENTS, "And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I wns prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." He felt the insult of being offered such a miserable sum. "Cast it unto the potter "-perhaps a proverbial expression, meaning, "'rhrow it to the temple potter." "The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying the trade, as he did, in the polluted valley (2 Kings xxiii. 10) of Hinnorn, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay." A true teacher would rather starve than accept such a miserable acknowledgment for his services. Your money perish with you I CONCLUSION. Oh for ministers of this lofty type 1-mlnisters who feel as Paul did when he said, "I seek not yours, but you" (2 Cor. xii. 14).-D. T. Vers. 15-17.-Fraudulent shepherds of the people. "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall Meek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces. Woe to the idol-shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye : his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." "After Israel has compelled the good Shepherd to lay down his shepherd's office, in consequence of its own sin, it is not to be left to itself, but to be given into the hand of a foolish shepherd, who will destroy it. This is the thought in the fresh symbolical action" (Keil). The "foolish" shepherd means the charlatan, or fraudulent ruler. Here we have-- I. FRAUDULENT SHEPHERDS OF THE PEOPLE DESCRIBED. We learn here: 1. That their eristence is a Divine permission. "I will raise." In biblical phraseology, the Almighty is frequently represented as doing that which he only permits. Thus he is said to have "hardened Phara.oh's heart." He here practically respects that freedom of action with which he has endowed the human soul. Here, in this scene of probation, he allows it ample scope. Whilst he does not originate aught that is bad in the worst of men, he permits the worst of men to work out the bad tha.t is in them, and to rise sometimes even to the highest positions in human society. In doing this, three purposes are answered. (1) He inflicts punishment here upon the guilty by the age'T!cy of wicked men. 'l'he Herods, the Neros, the Alexanders, the Banners, and the most corr·1pt occupants of the pa.pal chair become his instruments in the punishment of a guilty generation. For this purpose, it is intimated, these "foolish shepherds" were now raised up. (2) He reveals to the universe the enormity of human depravity. When bad men are allowed to reach the highest offices in Church and state, and give free scope and unrestrained development to all that is bad within them, an opportunity is afforded to all moral intelligences of receiving such an impression of the enormity of moral evil as otherwise would be impossible. (3) Hefttrnishes the most powerful assurance of future retribution for mankind. 'l'o allow wickedness such liberty as this, liberty to rise to the highest positions, and to gratify its vilest propensities for ever, would be to condemn him in the eyes of the universe as an unrighteous Ruler. 2. That under the profession of blessing their race, they are its greatest curse. 'l'here nre three features of wickedness in the character here described. (1) Negligence. "Which shall not visit those that bs cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still;" or, as Keil translates it, "That which is perishing will he not observe, that which is scattered will he not seek, and that which is broken will he not heal; that which is standing will he not care for." The groans of the people affect them no more than the roar of the breaking billows affects the granite cliffs. (2) Selfishness. "He shall eat the flesh of the fat." These fraudulent guides and guards of the people feed and fatten on their miseries. (3) Cruelty. "And tear their claws [hoofs] in pieces." If the people yield not to their exactions, contribute not to their aggrandizement, they will pounce upon them like hungry hounds, despoil them of their property, ro\:i them of their liberty, and persecute them even unto death. "This," says Dr. \Va.rdlaw, "was not a just character of Herod only, there were many such negligent, selfish, cruel 134 THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. [oH. XU, 1-14,
pretenders; false Christs and false prophets abounded, abounded then and abound now." II. FRAUDULENT SHEPHERDS OF THE PEOPLE DENOUNCED. "Woe to the idol- shepherd ! " Here is the doom of those "idol-shepherds "-idol because vain and worth- less. "The woe pronounced," says an able expositor, "is strikin.,. and impressive. 'The sword sbal_l be 1;1pon his arm and upon his right eye.' 'l'he s~ord is the sword, doubtless, of the mvadmg foe. 'l'he faithless shepherd shall be among its surest victims, The 'ann,' which oug~t, a.s the emblem of power, to have been employed in defending the flo~k, shall be sm1tt.en and 'dried up: he shall lose o.11 power, not only for their protect10n, but, on account of his neglect of them, for his own. His • right eye,' which, as the emblem of knowledge and vigilance and foresight, should have guided the flock, and been, ev~~ ?n the watchful look-out. aft~r ~v~ry n~ember of it, sball be' utterly darkened. \ 1s1ted by a nghteous God with JUd1c1al blindness, he shall grope in the noonday as in the night, deceiving and being deceived, and shall utterly perish in his own delusions." CoNcLusroN. Bewa.re of" wolves in sheep's clothing.'' "Believe not every spirit but try the spirits, whether they are of God ; because many false prophets are gone out into the world."-D. T.