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Chapter 11: The Allegory of the Evil Shepherds and the Good Shepherd 

The false shepherds are like those of whom Jeremiah 25.34-38 spoke, the
false leaders of the people. Lebanon's forest is to be felled. So it is clear
that the lower and more accessible trees will also fall. The Rabbis saw in
the fall of Lebanon the fall of the second temple, though the royal palace
could also be spoken of as Lebanon, because of the cedars of Lebanon used in its construction.

But now, in the rest of chapter 11, the prophet himself seems to have
acted the role of the coming shepherd, the Messiah. Such prophecies in action were known before, especially in Jeremiah 13.1-14; 18.1-12; 19-1-14; 27.1-28.17, and Ezekiel 4.1-5. 15;12. 20; 21.11-22.

So Zechariah pastured the flock marked for slaughter. He took two
staffs, marked one Favor, and the other Union. In one month he got rid of the false shepherds. - But the flock got tired of him, and Zechariah said he would no longer be their shepherd."Let those who are left eat each other's flesh ".

In the siege of Jerusalem before the end in 70 A. D. they literally did eat each other's flesh, in cannibalism. Josephus (War 6. 193-213) actually reports that this happened during that siege.

Then Zechariah broke one of the rods, the one marked Favor: this stood
for God's revocation of the covenant. So the nations would be permitted to overrun them - which they did in the fall of Jerusalem in 70.

Finally, Zechariah as it were resigned from his job: he asked for
"severance pay" and they gave him thirty pieces of silver, the price of a
slave as mentioned in Exodus 21.32. Further, God told Zechariah to throw the silver into the temple to the Potter. Judas fulfilled this in throwing down the 30 pieces of silver he had been paid to betray Jesus, in the temple. It was used to buy a potter's field, for the burial of strangers. 

After that he broke the second staff, the one marked Union, to signify
the breaking of the union of Judah and Israel. Of course, the north and south had broken off long before. But this signified the internal fighting among the Jews at the time just before Rome took the city. Their lack of unity helped bring the fall of the city. As the high priest had said in worry (John 11.48) then the Romans really did come and took away both their place and their nation.

But then in 11.15-17, Zechariah is called on to act an opposite role,
that of the bad shepherd who will eat the meat of the choice sheep. Woe to this worthless shepherd who deserts his flock!