Zechariah 11:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The rod shall be rejected, as he asserts, such that the proclamation of Christ or the Gospel shall be ‘destroyed’ throughout the entire world; that is to say, the message about Christ will be disseminated widely. It will be destroyed (or scattered), he mentions, ‘in this day,’ referring to the moment when Christ, having conquered death, rises and instructs the apostles, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19). In that instance, the word of our Savior spread across the heavens, and of the holy apostles it can be declared: ‘Their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world’ (Psalm 18:5). It is clear that the rejection and dispersion of this good rod, or the covenant, which is established not solely for Israel but for all nations, is not in vain; this becomes apparent through the understanding of prophetic words. ‘They shall discern,’ He declares, ‘the Canaanites (the sheep) that are kept (by Me), for the word of the Lord is.’ The Canaanites represent the Gentiles, who are seen as the sheep safeguarded by Christ, as He is ‘the hope of the nations’ (Gen. 49:10). Once this covenant had reached all corners of their lands, they accepted that ‘the word of the Lord is’; for we, drawn from the Gentiles by faith, comprehend that in the sacred and evangelical proclamations, the Lord Himself, the only begotten Son of God, communicates with us. Thus, we honor and serve Him, renouncing the ancient and shameful falsehoods, and distancing ourselves from polytheism. As David proclaimed, ‘Whatever you have done, they shall come and worship before you, O Lord’ (Psalm 85:9), “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and on earth and beneath the earth: and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

After summoning Israel and taking the other staff, referred to as the surveyor's line, the Lord embraced the first staff—that is, all the nations of the earth—the staff known as the beautiful, and cut them off from serving Him, for they had worshiped idols and had all strayed and become corrupted (Psalm 13:3). To clarify what this staff represented, He declared, I will nullify My covenant that I made with all nations. Indeed, as soon as Israel was accepted, the multitude of the Gentiles was cast aside, and at the moment when the daughter of the synagogue leader was born—of whom it is later mentioned in the Gospel that she was twelve years old when she fell ill and died—the woman suffering from a flow of blood began to experience her affliction continually (Mark 5:25-42; Matthew 9:18-25). He stated that My covenant shall become as nothing, which I established with all nations. The humble among My flock, meaning the people of Israel who observe My commandments, understood this is the word of the Lord; that is, through the Lord’s will, the nations that rejected Him are set aside, while believing Israel is accepted through Abraham.

In place of our translation, “And the poor of the flock thus learned,” the Seventy translated it as “And the Canaanites shall know”—referring to the sheep entrusted to Me. Some other interpretations suggest, “The people of Judah shall know,” related to the phrase, “the seed of Canaan, and not of Judah” (Dan. 13:56), in observation of My great priesthood. Alternatively, since the term Canaanites signifies the ones destined for humiliation, it implies that those who will recognize the Lord are those prepared by God for such humility and abandonment. The reasoning behind the Septuagint’s choice to translate “Thus the poor of the flock” as Canaanites is straightforward: in Hebrew, "chen" (כן) means thus, and "anie" (עניי) means poor. The Septuagint has merged these two words, substituting “thus the poor” (chen anie - כן עניי) with the name of the Canaanite tribe.

Nevertheless, the Jews will turn away from Christ, leading to their punishment at the hands of the Romans, against whom they will revolt. The Romans will execute the Lord’s judgment upon them, laying waste to Jerusalem and the temple, scattering His people across the earth—a consequence that continues to this day. The Lord will withdraw from them, ceasing to guide them with the rod of His favor.