Zechariah 11:12 - Sold for 30 Pieces of Silver

PREFACE – REGARDING THE BOOK OF ZECHARIA

The Book of Zechariah is on of the most difficult books of the prophets, and because of it’s use of metaphor that is often difficult to decipher, it is easy prey by Christians to reinterpret its meanings.

So, I am going to keep this one easy without going into great depth about the passage.

ZECHARIAH 11:11-13 IN A NUTSHELL

In Matthew 26:15, Judas is paid 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus and he takes it and puts it in his purse (He will try to give it back in a later chapter). There is no mention in Matthew 26 that this payment was the fulfillment of a prophecy.

In Zechariah 11:11-12, God is talking to the Jewish people (through His prophet). Verse 11 indicates that the sheep (Israel) realized that their defeat (due to the nullification of God’s protection) at the hands of the nations was a message from God. God then says “If this is good in your eyes, pay Me My wages (a possible reference to return to obeying God), if not, then don’t”. So [the Judeans] weighed out My wages, thirty shekels of silver…

There are different interpretations as to what the 30 pieces of silver represents. Rashi claims that it was the 30 prophets who would be put into safekeeping. There are others.

But that’s not as important as the next verse, verse 13.

The narration then returns to the prophet.

"God said to me, "Toss [the silver] to the potter", and I took the thirty shekels and tossed it into the house of YHVH, to the potter."

(There are a number of different interpretations for היוצר, but the one that is used consistently is "potter" which could be a generic term for a craftsman who works in materials that need to be formed (יצר). See Psalm 2:9 which references breaking the enemies like a potter's vessel with a rod of iron). The term could also very likely simply be a pun, in that "THE Creator" is telling Zechariah to cast the money to "the creator" (היוצר). But to simplify things, I will just use "potter in this particular blog post.

So Zechariah fulfilled it centuries before Jesus was born, and it's obviously non-messianic because Zechariah was not the messiah.

THE DIFFERENCES

In the Christian story, the priesthood gives Judas 30 pieces of actual silver in order to betray Jesus. Judas takes it and puts it in his purse for a later unholy purpose.

In the Hebrew text of Zechariah, God demands his payment if the people are ready to pay. They agree and God tells Zechariah to take possession of the metaphorical “thirty pieces of silver” and toss it to the potter, someone who is in the Temple. As to what he will do with that silver, it's not clear. The Greek version of the text has "smelting furnace" (χωνευτήριον) to indicate that he was a silversmith or related craftsman. But the plain Hebrew text is silent on the matter.

Other than the expression “thirty pieces of silver”, these two verses are completely unrelated.

One was taking blood money and using it to cause harm to another, an ungodly act. The other was commanded by God to deliver the silver, not out of disgust, but because it was precious (יקר).

THE VERDICT

Even though Christians may claim that Matthew 26:15 was a fulfillment of prophecy, it doesn’t say that in the text. Furthermore, the reason for the “silver” is worlds apart and have absolutely no relationship to one another.

And it was already fulfilled by Zechariah.

How one can say that Jesus fulfilled this verse is beyond me.

So, no. Zechariah is not about paying for a betrayal. In fact, it’s the exact opposite, being a payment out of loyalty, with the recipient being God, through His prophet.

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