He has given up because he feels the community has become so corrupt that nothing can help the people now. He asks for his pay and is given the price awarded to slave owners when their slave had been killed. He throws it into the treasury as God has instructed him to do so. The author feels that this symbolizes that corruption has even spread into the temple, the center of religious life in Israel. This act also shows Zechariah's audience how easily and to what extent leaders, even religious ones, become corrupt. The prophet then breaks the two staves symbolizing the annulment of God's covenant with Israel and any unity that may have taken place between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. The breaking of the staves also lets the people know that they cannot just sit there and wait for God to make things right. They must repent before restoration can take place. Next God has Zechariah play the role of a shepherd that neglects his flock. Instead of helping the flock like the first shepherd, he is destroying it. This commentary refers to him as an "anti-shepherd" (p.175). The passage ends by describing that the fate of the "anti-shepherd" will be vicious. He will get what he deserves in that he will be treated worse than he treated his flock. Interpreting the Minor Prophets agrees with the latter commentary by linking this passage with Zechariah's 10:2-3, which deals with Israel's useless and corrupt leaders. When Zechariah takes up the task of the good shepherd, the tone of the passage is ironic and mysterious. He is commissioned to care for sheep that are already being sold by other shepherds and slaughtered by merchants. This suggests that Israelite rulers, "of the postexilic period," were selling God's people to foreign leaders (266). After learning about the exploitations of the flock, one would most likely expect a message of salvation to follow. However the Lord says instead of rescuing them, He will allow the foreigner leaders to have the sheep, because they are subject to a period of suffering before deliverance will occur due to their rejection of the good shepherd.