What God has done / What God will do Thru the Bible: Zechariah 11 The word of the Lord through Zechariah recorded in chapter 11 is both a reminder of the past as well as predictive of the future. Before using this imagery as a segue to what God has planned for the future, He uses two shepherd staffs to illustrate two covenants. One was called Favor and the other Union. Favor was the shepherd staff which represented the old covenant - in particular the ark of the covenant which was taken by Nebuchadnezzar at the time of the temple's destruction and never returned. The second shepherd staff was Union. It represented Jesus Himself. In Jesus the union between greater Israel and Judah would be broken but a new and better covenant would be instituted. It would be an eternal covenant based upon better promises where the union would be with God directly and would result in union between each other and all in the world who would turn to Messiah in faith. The prophecy ends with a dark note I believe it is in reference to the change in the priesthood following the Maccabean revolt. These were the rich, powerful, political opportunistic Sadducces who were the same who were serving as priests when Judas cast the silver coins into the temple out of fear and regret over his betrayal of Jesus the Messiah. Blessings!