Zechariah 11:8

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

Three shepherds also I cut off, [ waa'akchid (H3582)] - literally, to cause to disappear, to destroy so as not to leave a vestige of them. The three shepherds whom Messiah removes are John, Simon, and Eleazar, three leaders of factions in the Jewish war (Drusius). Or the last three princes of the Asmonean line, who died in a short space of time by a violent death (Tirinus) - namely, Hyrcanus, Alexander, and Antigonus; the last was conquered by Herod and the Romans, and was put to death by the common executioner, 34 BC, when Judea passed from under princes of its own to be under aliens. Or, as Messiah, the antitype, was at once prophet, priest, and king, so He, by the destruction of the Jewish polity, destroyed these three orders for the unbelief of both the rulers and people (Moore). If they had accepted Messiah they would have had all three combined in Him, and would have been themselves spiritually prophet, priests, and kings to God. Refusing Him, they lost all three in every sense. I incline, however, to Tirinus' view, as there is no allusion to the priesthood in the term "shepherds," and the fall of the Asmoneans marked the epoch of Judah's virtually losing her independence.

In one month - a brief and fixed space of time (Hosea 5:7). Probably alluding to the last period of the siege of Jerusalem, when all authority within the city was at an end (Henderson, but see the previous note). It is not likely, as some fancy, that a month of years - i:e., 30 years, on the year-day theory-is meant.

And my soul loathed them - literally [ watiqtsar (H7114)], was straitened as to them; instead of being enlarged toward them in love (2 Corinthians 6:11). The same Hebrew as in Numbers 21:4, margin. No room was left by them for the grace of God, as His favours were rejected (Calvin).

And their soul also abhorred me - the mutual distaste that through the nation's unbelief resulted between the holy Messiah and the guilty Jews is implied.