Studies in Eschatology – Zechariah

Give Me My Price

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 12-15

Genre: Lecture

Track: 151

Dictation Name: RR127F12

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Almighty God our Heavenly Father we give thanks unto thee for all Thy blessings with which Thou dost surround us. We thank Thee our Father that Thou hast made us rich in Jesus Christ, that Thou hast given us a sure and certain hope. That thou hast surrounded us with the blessings of liberty, food clothing and shelter, in a world of hunger, of slavery and of want. And we pray our Father that in this season Thou wouldst give us one thing more: a grateful heart. That we might use these Thy blessings for Thy service, praise, and glory. In Jesus name, amen.

Our Scripture lesson is the 11th Chapter of the book of the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah 11. Zechariah 11, Give Me My Price.

“11 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

4 Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.”

The Prophet Zechariah had prepared the people for the coming of the Lord. And after this point his message was one of tremendous joy and anticipation. As he pointed the eyes and the hearts of the people forward down the centuries to the coming of the messiah. Now as he deals with the word of the Messiah and His relationship to Judah and to Israel, the message becomes now one of judgement. He calls upon nature to prepare itself for the destruction that shall overwhelm the land, and he declares unto the people that when the messiah comes the judgement of God shall be upon them, because they are led by false shepherds, and they themselves have followed false shepherds.

These, the words of the prophet Zechariah cease to be his words as he speaks, they are the words of Christ. And Christ speaks through the mouth of Zechariah, and reports on the conversation between God the Son and God the Father. Judgment is to come.

Now judgement is an unhappy ending to a story. People in every age have been partial to happy endings. They insist on them. People want to believe that somehow, love conquers all, and everything is going to work out right, and all the unhappy people are going to be brought together, and all the criminals are going to be made law abiding citizens and good Christians; everything has got to be made exactly right. And many people have approached the Bible the same way. Israel and Judah rejected Jesus Christ. And God cut them off for their unbelief.

But many people are going to have, if they can do anything about it, a happy ending to the story of Israel and Judah. They insist that God is going to restore them to all kinds of privileges without the necessity of faith, that He is going to fulfill all kinds of prophecies in and through them, of themselves. This is the lust for a happy ending.

And the lust for a happy ending is with us on all sides today, in the church and out of it. In our legislation today we go not in terms of justice, but the idea of a happy ending. Those that do not work, instead of being told they shall not eat, are told: “Line up and get your welfare checks.” We are going to provide cradle to grave security for them. Those who because they are unable to have more, do not have certain things, are told: “You shall have what everyone else has.” In every age, every culture, this is the mark of evil. The lust for a happy ending.

Max Radin himself an advocate of happy endings in the law, of socialistic law, in his book Law as Logic and Experience tell the story of one judge in a Muslim country, Amir by name, who had no desire to offend anyone on either side in any decision, and he was always trying to compromise so that it would be politically an expedient decision. It would give a happy ending for himself and all parties involved. And on one occasion two people on adjoining farms came to him, both very powerful people, with a dispute concerning the land that was between them, each claiming ownership over it. And to offend one or the other would certainly not have been a happy ending for the judge. And so the judge settled it. He decreed that the son of the one family was to marry the daughter of the other, and they were to receive the land. He was bound and determined there was going to be a happy ending. But this is not justice, and it is not of God.

And Gods word here is very very clear as He speaks in verses 9 and 10, and the Berkeley version perhaps at this point brings it out even more forcibly when it translates: “So I said I will no longer shepherd you. You shall die the death, you shall be wiped out completely obliterated. Those who remain shall eat each others flesh. Then I took the stick pleasantness, and I hacked it apart to break the covenant which I had made with all the people.”

Jesus Christ speaking through Zechariah says: “You shall be wiped out, you shall be completely obliterated because you have rejected me. And on that day when you reject me I shall wipe out three shepherds at once. The offices of Priest, Prophet and king shall be taken from you, because they are my offices, and they are no longer yours.” And the shepherd and his two staves or rods, Beauty or grace on the one hand, and Union or unity, or covenant on the other hand, our Lord says: “I will take these, my shepherd staves which stand in terms of my faithfulness to you, my grace and the unity I give, and I shall hack them apart to break the covenant which I have made with you. He that dieth, let it die. And that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off.”

And so Jesus Christ came, and by His own word he fed the flock of the slaughter, those that would perish he witnessed to, he fed them miraculously, by His word and by His miracles. And when the time was come, he said unto them: “If ye think good, give me my price. And if not, forbear.” If ye think good. If you have respect for what I am to you as the good shepherd of the sheep. If you recognize me as your messiah, as the Son of God, then give me my price. And if not, forbear. My price, to recognize my sovereignty. To recognize that I am king of kings and Lord of Lords, that I am He by whom all things were made, and without whom was not anything made that was made. Acknowledge me, bow down before me and yield me the sovereignty that is my due. And if not, forbear.

So they weighed for my price, 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces, 30 ingots of silver. They weighed for my price. In the law of God as given through the prophet and law giver Moses, in Exodus 31:32, the laws of Indemnity specify that, if someone should through a mishap kill the slave of another man, the indemnity should be 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave.

Jesus Christ speaking through Zechariah, 487 B.C. declares: “If ye think good, give me my price. And if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver.” The Sanhedrin acted deliberately. They knew that Jesus Christ came in plain and obvious fulfillment of all that the Scriptures declared. They knew that he came obviously as the Son of God, the messiah. That He was obviously the one of whom the Scriptures spoke from beginning to end, and that when he marched into Jerusalem on palm Sunday, he marched in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah. That the words of Zechariah were being deliberately fulfilled. “Rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion. Shout oh Daughter of Jerusalem, behold thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. The words of Zechariah 9:9 were deliberately and openly fulfilled. The crowds knew it, and they shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David.” That the messiah who was promised through David, glory to God, Hosanna in the highest.

And so they gave Jesus Christ their price, the price of a slave. The price at which they valued him. deliberately, in fulfillment of this prophecy. Expressing their absolute contempt. They were declaring that history shall be determined not by God but by man. And that if God is going to have any part in history, and if God the Son is going to have any part in history, it is going to be that of a slave to man. That God should serve man, and not man serve God. “God must be our slave, and glorify and enjoy us forever,” they were saying in effect. “Or else we will give him the price of the slave, for killing him.” And say: “That is the extent to which we value him. If God will not do what we please, then we have no part in Him. Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”

And I said unto them: “If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price 30 pieces of silver, and the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” And so Jesus Christ said: “Very well, I return to them the money. They gave it to Judas for my betrayal as the price I was worth, a slave. Therefore I will through Judas have it cast back to them, into the house of the Lord. For the purchase of a potters field. For the burial of the unknown dead who died in Jerusalem. And the potters field will be their destiny, for they shall be destroyed. And they shall all of them go to unmarked, unwept graves, in the destruction that shall confront them. Those who remain in the fall of Jerusalem shall eat each others flesh.” And this literally came to pass in he last days of Jerusalem. Those who did not perish in the fighting turned to Cannibalism, and ended up crucified and sold as slaves by the Romans.

“And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.”

I shall send unto them a false shepherd. An anti Christ. They have denied me, therefore an anti Christ, one who is a denier of Christ shall be their leader and shall tear them into pieces, shall lead them to their destruction, their potters field. For the potters field is the net result of every false church, it is always productive of only death. This prophecy spoken 5 centuries before our Lords betrayal and crucifixion was literally, deliberately, self consciously fulfilled. And yet in a sense it is a continuing prophecy. Although its primary fulfillment was in the Sanhedrin and Israel and Judah, and in Judas, it is still a prophetic scripture in that Jesus Christ says that to every age, and to every generation; to every nation: “Give Me My price. And my price is that you recognize that I am the sovereign God, that you bow down before me and recognize my absolute sovereignty, the totality of my claims upon you. That you recognize that there is none other God beside me. Give me My price. And if not, Forbear.”

In age after age men and nations have put the price of a slave upon him. If God, if Christ will serve them, fine. They are ready to believe in Him, if He can do something for them. But apart from that, thirty pieces of silver. The price of a slave. A slave that we no longer want, and let him die. Judgement therefore hangs over every people, as they answer our Lords statement: “Give Me My Price” With the Sanhedrins answer. To those that yield Him the sovereignty, they become His blessed meek, who inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee for these Thy people, who have heard Thy cry and have come unto Thee. Who have given unto Thee Thy price, and yielded unto Thee all majesty, glory and honor, and the service of their hearts and lives. May Thy blessing be upon them. Protect them in the day of evil, cause Thy face to shine upon them and prosper them, and grant them Thy peace. In Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. The Sanhedrin better than the disciples of our Lord knew exactly what was at stake.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. They were blinded in that they were so absolutely convinced that man was able to take over the reigns of the universe. That against them God was (?). They were going to govern their destiny, and God wasn’t going to change their plans. They were going to have reality on their terms. Now…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] They knew the truth. Now we see this today too…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. For example, this has been reported to me several times, that people as they look at the economic picture, recognize that everything we say is absolutely true, as far as what is ahead economically, what is happening to money, and so on; but they do nothing about it. Why? Because they are sure that it is not Gods laws of economics that will ultimately prevail, but somehow man is going to think up something at the last minute.

[Audience Member] The happy ending.

[Rushdoony] Yes, the happy ending, because man is going to be master of his fate. He is going to insure a happy ending. All of our legislation today of course is geared to this idea of a happy ending, and if you have a world of justice, it is under Gods law, there can be no happy ending for evil.

And of course, if they believe it is man’s world, the truth of God can be spelled out as openly as it was for the Sanhedrin and they still will not accept it. We have the paradox for example of Herod. Herod knew the scriptures. But he was bound and determined that he could make himself into the messiah. That he could capture the divine forces of the universe in his person, the family of Herod believed this, and we know from history that this was so, as well as from Scripture; and I believe it was either in the 12th or the 13th chapter of Acts that we have a record of the grand finale, when he put on the public act to confirm that he was the incarnate God of the Universe, and that destiny was in his hands. Acts 12:20, 21 in particular, and 22-3.

“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.” The gist of that oration we are told was that he was the incarnate God, that his dynasty was in control of history, that the government was upon his shoulders.

“22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.” Of course they had been tutored that this was the response, it was expected of them. “23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” But the word of God grew and multiplied. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. Right. Because apart from, they are saying that love is the savior rather than Christ, and love does nothing where there is not a changed heart. And Christ alone can change the heart of man. But the idea that love can conquer all, and that love is all powerful, as I saw one article just yesterday; is absurd, it is nonsense. But love of course is the epitome of this happy ending thing; if you love enough, you can do anything, you can change anyone. And this is to say that you can be the savior by your love.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] And what?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Oh, alright. Yes. First of all, the apostles were almost all alive when Jerusalem fell. James the brother of John had been killed by Herod. But the rest of them were alive. They were in various parts of the world engaged in missionary activity; those of the leaders of the church who were still in Jerusalem, having the word of our Lord as in Matthew 24, left at the first sign of trouble, because Christ had told them that this was the end of Jerusalem. They had remained only to witness. And this is why those who remained for this purpose had sold as Acts 2 says. This is what they call the communism of the early church, and it isn’t that. They had sold their possessions because they knew the land was going to be utterly destroyed, and the city especially as going to be leveled. And some of them put their money, the wealthier ones into the treasury for missionary work among their relatives, among their people while there was yet time. Many of them left, there was quite an Exodus of Christians. But because they were warned, not a single Christian died, they left at the first sign of trouble.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] It is the book, at least I think it is, I have it.. by (Ettinger?)--- yes I have the book, and I have a great deal of literature on the subject. (Ettinger?) was a professor of Physics in Michigan, and he resigned from his position to propagate this. The answer is of course they haven’t got the faintest possibility of accomplishing it, they are talking about the possibility that they are imagining all kinds of things that they are going to accomplish in the near future, in fact he believes that possibly by 1984, on reflection not (Ettinger?) but many others who followed him believed by 1984 they will accomplish these things, in 18 years in other words. However, let us assume his hope is a possibility, the technical problems that stand between what he wants to do and what he can do now are so vast, it is a pipe dream. But the faith in science these people have is so great, that having decided that this is a legitimate goal for science, they have therefore assumed that it is a goal that shall be accomplished, so we might as well get ready. But they are indulging in pip dreams.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, yes. But there is also a catch. First, it is quite a gimmick because you have to be frozen at a certain temperature and stored, and a constant temperature maintained until they are ready to take you out and thaw you and work on you. Now, the cost of this is exceedingly high, but even more you have to agree to allow yourself to be deep-frozen just before you die. Now, this is where the catch comes in. They find it difficult to persuade anyone who is still alive to do this. They came close about a year ago to getting their first (?) for the deep freeze program, a woman who was dying of cancer. But every time she rallied she changed her mind, and so they could never get her consent and she died. And this is the problem. Nobody while they are still living is likely to consent to put themselves into the hands of Doctor (Ettinger?) and his crew. So the program has been limping badly after making quite a splurge at the beginning; they were going to set up pilot projects everywhere, I believe Los Angeles was to be favored, but the interest has died down, it is faltering badly. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Right, there is no bounds to their confidence, because they believe that men are going to be the Gods of creation. Therefore, all things are possible for man.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, first I think the most fantastic bit of nonsense you get from (?) an Astrophysicist in Britain he either came from (?) or Oxford I have forgotten which, who says that “Of course we are going to conquer all these things and a great deal more, and if the sun should die out, finally, in the future, we shall build our own sun and put it up there in the heavens.” In other words, man is now the new God, and epitome of the new God is the scientist. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Oh but they are going to remake all the laws, didn’t you know that?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, but of course they are more likely to have the law on their side than we are. I cannot see our present Supreme Court being too perturbed about something like this if it were appealed. And who would take them to court on this? If the family were consenting to it.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, but of course their idea is that they will thaw her out, and supposedly she will be alive when they do, when they have completely overcome cancer, and can the minute the pull her out, take care of the problem. Instant health. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, it is not coincidental. Orwell of course picked 1984 arbitrarily, as a year when the present world revolution would be accomplished. Now in 1984 Orwell, and this is the point we need to realize, was not describing that was going to take place in the future, but something that had already happened but was not fully developed. So Orwell was describing that which was taking place in England, America, Europe, all over the world. And he said in 1984, “This is the culmination of it. It is already here, and in 1984 it will have everything neatly tied up in a bundle.” Now of course, Orwell was a Marxist. He was a Marxist who became disillusioned with socialism, because eh saw that it added up to evil. But he had no answer to it, and in effect he committed suicide; he lost all hope and he died. He wrote Animal Farm and 1984, and he couldn’t see anything in the future to live for. Double Speak and New Think were already here. History was very extensively re-written. Everything that went counter to it, human or written was going to be and is being destroyed. So, there was no future.

Now, those who have not surrendered the faith say that “Well, Orwell was all wrong in seeing it as a monstrous thing. 1984 will be the symbol of perfection. Orwell was being romantic. What is wrong with this perfectly organized, absolutely scientific world? It is a world beyond good and evil.” But Orwell still had a Christian hangover as it were, and because he had a Christian hangover, he was looking at it and saying: “It’s bad.” But if there is no good or evil, how can you judge it? It is scientific and that is it. And so you have the scientists portraying the world of 1984 as a very glorious one. You have a two volume work on all the glories of 1984, a series of essays by various scientists. In a talk I gave last year which is on tape, Man in 1984, I analyze what these scientists say 1984 will be like, and I think it is just as bad as not worse a picture as Orwell’s, but they are very pleased with it.

Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] There is nothing in the Bible that we can say specifically at this speaks of our time, except in Revelation when it speaks of Babylon the great as the one world dream of man. And its culmination in an attempt to organize the world totally. But we do know for every age, God’s judgment is very clearly on every humanistic effort. So, if we do or do not identify Babylon the Great with the present trend towards a one world humanistic empire, we can still say Gods judgment is surely on this age, because of it humanism. Because it is making man God, rather than giving God the glory. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] God’s judgement comes through nature and through history both, and it is true that we have had far more natural disasters of every kind, since the end of World War 2, than we had in the half a century before. All you have to do here is to go to your World Almanac, and it will give all the disasters, floods, great fires, hurricanes, tornados, and the deaths from them. just go through all the disasters and you will see the fantastic acceleration of such natural disasters since World War 2. Which I think is a very interesting fact. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No that indicates a rather humanistic…. Yes. God uses us.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] God uses us, but God doesn’t need anything, and over and over again in the Bible God makes clear that He has no need of anything that man can offer. But He uses us, and that is His grace and mercy. But that is part and parcel of a very terrible theology, that says God has no hand but mine to use; which is, I think, wicked. Because it is limiting God. That is a saying that comes straight out of paganism. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, the answer to such people is to ignore them because they are talking nonsense. In other words, reality is of Gods making, and you are asking God to change reality. Well, He can theoretically. But actually no. Because God has done things in His perfect wisdom, and the Bible says: “Answer not a fool according to his folly.” So we are not to waste time on fools. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Right. Some people feel that they have done a great service for the cause if they engage in witty repartee with the opposition. And this is only a form of self glorification. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes I have. Some months ago I saw a copy.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes there are a lot of law enforcement men who pick it up, because they know just where to go. It is so open.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, first of all in the first part, the psalmist David and the other psalmist often speak of “The Lord is my helper I shall not fear what man may do unto me.” And other such expressions. So, properly used there is nothing wrong with the expression. Second, as far as finances are concerned, Billy Graham is clean. Money like that goes into the central fund and is used for the publication of magazine and so on, and he takes a specified salary, no more, more less, plus of course travel and expenses. The problem of course is first of all his theological beliefs, and the kind of things such money goes to. Because, too often such funds have gone to the councils of churches and to causes which we cannot at all agree with. They have gone to the opposition.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, he has set up an organization, he is on the board or chairman on the board, but the funds are allocated, and he has a great deal to do, however, with the allocation of surplus funds. When it comes to the maintenance of the various projects of course he has delegated that entirely. But it is in the realm of theology, and it is compromised, which is where its real fault lies; as far as finances are concerned he has been one of the most scrupulous of evangelists.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] I would say he is a compromiser. Yes. Well, our time is up, and we stand dismissed.