Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
the idol—The Hebrew expresses both vanity and an idol. Compare Isaiah 14:13; Daniel 11:36; II Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:5-6, as to the idolatrous and blasphemous claims of Antichrist. The "idol shepherd that leaveth the flock" cannot apply to Rome, but to some ruler among the Jews themselves, at first cajoling, then "leaving" them, nay, destroying them (Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:30-38). God's sword shall descend on his "arm," the instrument of his tyranny towards the sheep (II Thessalonians 2:8); and on his "right eye," wherewith he ought to have watched the sheep (John 10:12-13). However, Antichrist shall destroy, rather than "leave the flock." Perhaps, therefore, the reference is to the shepherds who left the flock to Antichrist's rapacity, and who, in just retribution, shall feel his "sword" on their "arm," which ought to have protected the flock but did not, and on their "eye," which had failed duly to watch the sheep from hurt. The blinding of "the right eye" has attached to it the notion of ignominy (I Samuel 11:2).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Zechariah 11:17:
Ezekiel 34:2
Zechariah 11:15
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