Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we finished our 34th book of the Bible. We opened in chapter 10 with God

reminding his people that he will restore things. In that process one of his targets is the wicked leaders of Judah, the people who shepherd his flock.

Because of their passivity, the people sought out leadership and guidance from wicked sources, from diviners and false gods.

Because Judah's leaders have been terrible shepherds,

God is going to remove them and punish them.

Then when God's sheep are under his care,

they will flourish. They'll grow strong and majestic and they'll have

victory over the enemy. He'll bring them back from the nations where they've been scattered,

and he'll multiply them in the promised land again.

For the people of Judah, we know this definitely has literal implications,

but it's likely this also has spiritual implications.

For instance, the way God's people can fight against sin and win is because he is with us and grants

us victory, like verse 5 says, and he grants us strength like verse 12 says.

In chapter 11, God tells Zach to try his hand at shepherding the flock destined for destruction.

There are lots of ways to interpret this passage.

Some believe it's a prophetic parable, like a metaphor God told Zach to help him better understand

God's perspective on things. Others say it's a sign act where Zach becomes the

literal shepherd of a group of animals known as the flock doomed to slaughter. This unfriendly

sounding title probably refers to animals that were kept near the temple to be

used as sacrificial offerings. In those days not everyone raised their own animals for the offering.

Some people owned animals and hired Shepherds to watch over them and others would buy the animals from them to use as sacrifices.

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