Charles Spurgeon Commentary Zechariah 11:9-11

"Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. And it was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah." — Zechariah 11:9-11 (ASV)

Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

The national covenant, as far as Israel was concerned, was broken, and they were cast off and driven from their land. Oh! the sufferings of Israel in those days! The stories were enough to melt the heart of a stone.

The great sins of the ages, and, worst of all, the great sin of rejecting Christ, brought upon that people such a doom that we do not know where to find its parallel in all the annals of mankind. Still, notice there was always a people that the great Shepherd looked after; so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

No doubt these verses refer, primarily, to the great mourning when King Josiah fell in battle. All the people wept and mourned for many days because their king had been slain by the arrows shot by the archers. But this mourning is also typical of the lamentation of a heart when it is broken because of the death of Christ.

Sorrow for sin should be like that great national mourning about which Jeremiah sang so plaintively in the book of Lamentations.