The Worthless Shepherd

“Woe, my worthless shepherd
who deserts the flock!
May a sword fall on his arm
and on his right eye!
May his arm wither completely
and his right eye be utterly blinded!”

Zechariah 11:17 (LEB)

Often we see the subject of a worthless shepherd or leader who does not fulfill their duties of leading people on a righteous path. They call the unclean clean and are described as devouring wolves. Are any of these references in the Bible relevant today? I say they are more than ever.

Zechariah 11:15–17 (LEB): ¹⁵ And Yahweh said to me, “Take again the implements of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to the ones that are perishing; he will not seek the young man, he will not heal the ones that are crushed and he will not sustain the healthy ones; he will devour the flesh of the fattened ones and tear apart even their hoofs. ¹⁷ “Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword fall on his arm and on his right eye! May his arm wither completely and his right eye be utterly blinded!”

Yahweh describes the worthless shepherd to Zechariah by the following attributes:

First, he will not attend to the ones perishing. This could be the elderly sick in bed or the surrounding area full of people lost without the knowledge of God in their life. Next, he will not seek the young men. The worthless shepherd surrounds himself with the old guard that keep the things of God locked up for fear of losing control. Then, the worthless shepherd will not “heal the ones that are crushed” and will “devour the flesh of the fattened ones”. In other words, he will live off of the rich who are more than willing to give resources to the one who tickles their ears with all the things they want to hear, while forsaking those who are of no use to him.

This sounds like a terrible situation, but these verses in Zechariah do not stand alone. Jeremiah also spoke of pastors that will go astray in the “latter days”.

Jeremiah 23:1–4 (LEB): 23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture,” declares Yahweh. ² Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, “You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. ³ “Then I myself will gather together the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their grazing place, and they will be fruitful, and they will become numerous. ⁴ And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and they will not be missing,” declares Yahweh.

God’s people are gathered by Him despite the shepherds that are working against the people and fighting the Creator. Later in the chapter we are pointed to the “latter days”.

Jeremiah 23:16–24 (LEB): ¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh. ¹⁷ They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ ¹⁸ For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively to his word and heard it? ¹⁹ Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon the head of the wicked. ²⁰ The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind. In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding. ²¹ I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. ²² But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds. ²³ Am I a God from near,” declares Yahweh, “and not a God from far? ²⁴ Or can a person hide himself in secret places and I cannot see him?” declares Yahweh. “Do I not fill up the heaven and the earth?” declares Yahweh.

This sounds like dispensationalism theology’s age of grace, where we no longer have to do anything God said, all the while being whisked away to a land far, far away in the rapture before anything bad happens “They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ ” Then they say “Didn’t Jesus do enough on the cross?”, but they are leading everyone astray.

Even after speaking about the Righteous Branch coming, who we know is Yeshua, commonly called “Jesus” from the Greek “Iesous”, Yahweh tells us through the prophet Jeremiah that, “if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds”. The shepherds today that are saying His instructions are “nailed to the cross” or impossible to keep are fulfilling this prophecy. This is their worst crime; next in line is neglecting those in need, building empires and stealing the resources that could be used to feed and clothe people.

Ezekiel 22:26–29 (LEB): ²⁶ Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. ²⁷ Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. ²⁸ And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practising divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken. ²⁹ They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery, and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without justice.

Declaring things “clean” that the Creator calls an abomination or detestable is the norm today in the Church. It became a tradition to eat ham for the spring festival of the sex goddess Easter to honor God at some point in history, and now the church allows all manners of abominations. Need I say more? We see the term “wolves” used in Ezekiel and it is likely where Paul lifted the term to describe the future of the church and the worthless shepherds.

Acts 20:29–30 (LEB): ²⁹ I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. ³⁰ And from among you yourselves men will arise, speaking perversions of the truth in order to draw away the disciples after them.

Yeshua also referred to the wolves Ezekiel spoke about. Are we not able to trace the wolves through the history of the church changing everything away from the heart of the Creator to some new, unrecognizable religion that encourages the abandonment of all of the instructions of Yahweh?

Matthew 10:16–17 (LEB): ¹⁶ “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils, and they will flog you in their synagogues.

Matthew 7:15–20 (LEB): ¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits: they do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do they? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree is not able to produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree to produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ As a result, you will recognize them by their fruits.

Good trees produce good fruit. On the local level, what kind of fruit are the pastors producing? Is it strife, divisions and wantonness? How about on the world stage? Are the shepherds promoting the killing of innocent people by supporting those depriving them of the basic necessities? Bombing them relentlessly resulting in genocide? This is not good fruit.

Yeshua gives us the ultimate example to follow. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep and protects them from the wolves.

John 10:11–17 (LEB): ¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf approaching and abandons the sheep and runs away—and the wolf seizes them and scatters them—¹³ because he is a hired hand and he is not concerned about the sheep.¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep which are not from this fold. I must bring these also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock—one shepherd. ¹⁷ Because of this the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take possession of it again.

Yeshua laid down his life and conquered death by resurrecting so that we may also have eternal life. Be like the good shepherd and not like the wolves!

Featured photo by Bogdan Dogaru on Unsplash