11:1 The prophet announced in vigorous poetic language that Lebanon's famous cedars would perish. The Israelites referred to the royal palace in Jerusalem as Lebanon because it contained so much cedar from Lebanon (Jer. 22:23; cf. 1 Kings 7:2). The Talmud spoke of the second temple as Lebanon for the same reason.220The cedar also became a symbol of the royal house of Judah (Ezek. 17:3-4, 12-13).
11:2 Likewise the cypress (juniper, pine) and oaks of Bashan should wail because they too would perish in the coming devastation. Bashan was famous for its oak forests (cf. Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 27:6). Earlier Zechariah combined Lebanon and Bashan to indicate the whole land (10:10). All these trees suggest the people of the land as well as the land itself. A judgment that would affect the whole land of Palestine and all its people, including its rulers, is in view.
"Perhaps next in prominence to shepherd as metaphor for king is that of a plant, especially a tree [cf. Judg. 9:7-15; Isa. 10:33-34; Ezek. 31:3-18; Dan. 4:10, 23]."221
11:3 The shepherds and lions (the rulers and leaders of Israel, cf. Jer. 25:34-38) would wail because a coming destruction would leave no pasture for their flocks and no lairs or food for beasts.
In view of what follows in verses 4-14, verses 1-3 seem to be a description of the devastation of Palestine due to the rejection of the Messiah.222This prediction had an initial fulfillment in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews in A.D. 70. Its complete fulfillment, however, lies in the future, specifically the destruction that will overtake the land and its people in the Tribulation.
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