Chapters 9-11 of Zechariah is an oracle from the Lord through Zechariah, and He calls judgment upon cities and areas around Judah and Israel. The Lord is now defending His house and His people. There is also a prediction of a new King coming, and He will come, not like anyone expected. He will come riding on a donkey, a coal, the foal of a donkey. This is a prophecy of Palm Sunday in Matthew 21:1-11 and John 12:12-15. We find this King is righteous. He brings salvation, and when He comes there will be rejoicing and shouting. At least for a time. This oracle explained that there will be shepherds who lead the sheep to their own harm, so the Lord will come, get rid of those shepherds, and He will lead them, but the sheep detested the Shepherd (11:8a). This shows how the people rejected Jesus their Messiah. There are other passages in this section that are referenced in the NT, and one of the most popular is found in chapter 11 verse 12, when the people paid the Shepherd, but they only paid him 30 pieces of silver. In the NT, Judas was given 30 pieces of silver in order to betray Jesus. Then when Judas realized he had shed innocent blood, he went to the temple and threw it in the temple, and the religious leaders chose to use it to buy the "potter's" field, since it was "blood money." In Zech. 11:13 it says, "Throw it to the potter - the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter." This oracle ended with a woe to the worthless shepherd who caused harm to the flock. He will also be judged by the Lord.
