Zechariah 13:7, ‘Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones.’
In this verse, we encounter the divine authorization of the cross, the human tragedy of betrayal and abandonment, and the ultimate promise of God’s continuing care for His scattered flock.
The sword is addressed to strike the Shepherd. This is a divine decree. The Shepherd is to be struck by the sword of divine judgment. This Shepherd is the Man who is My Companion. The Hebrew word amiti means ‘My associate,’ ‘My fellow,’ ‘the one alongside Me.’ This language suggests equality of nature with God. The Shepherd is God’s own intimate; His co-equal companion.
Jesus quoted this verse in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest, as He addressed His disciples: All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered (Matthew 26:31). He was announcing what must happen, according to the prophetic word. The scattering of the disciples was the fulfillment of Scripture and the outworking of the divine plan.
Peter protested: Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble (Matthew 26:33). Before the rooster crowed, he had denied Jesus three times. When Jesus was arrested, all the disciples forsook Him and fled (Matthew 26:56). The sheep were scattered, just as Zechariah and Jesus had foretold.
But who strikes the Shepherd? The text says the LORD of hosts commands it. This is the theology of the cross. Isaiah 53:10: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. Peter asserted: Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death (Acts 2:23). The cross was both a human crime and a divine appointment. Judas betrayed. The Sanhedrin conspired. Pilate yielded. Rome executed. And behind it all, the eternal God was accomplishing the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Even in the scattering, God’s hand reaches out over the scattered sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:27-28). The sword struck the Shepherd; but the Shepherd’s flock is held in the Father’s hand.
The disciples who fled on the night of the arrest were transformed by the resurrection. The scattered flock was regathered by the risen Shepherd.
The God who ordained the striking of His own Shepherd is the same God who brings His scattered people through the refining fire and regathers them under the risen Christ. He is the great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20).
One day, the Shepherd will stand before the Father with all His sheep, and He will say: Here am I and the children whom God has given Me (Hebrews 2:13). Not one will be missing. Not one will be lost. He struck the Shepherd so that His sheep would never be struck by the sword of divine judgment again.
Ask God to:
- draw us back to the risen Shepherd in moments of fear, failure, or shame.
- take us through whatever refining fire He deems necessary to produce in us the gold of genuine faith.
