Strike the Sheep: This brief poem sketches a long story. God’s judgment falls on the leader so that the people are scattered and two thirds of them die. God refines the remaining third in the fire and they emerge repentant so God restores the covenant relationship with them. Standing alone, these lines could summarize the message of the preexilic prophets. The poem’s context and vocabulary set it apart from them, however. The function of the poem in this book is to introduce Zechariah 14 and draw attention to the parallels between the recent past and the eschatological future. There is a strong element of warning in this summary. Many will die, and the rest will suffer. But in the end they will be Yahweh’s people and the Lord will be their God.

13:7 The poem does not give a reason for the d…