We will briefly review the entire chapter before taking up the study of it in details. The first three verses contain a sublime description of the visitation which was to come upon the land of Israel. In the fourth verse the nation is seen as a flock of slaughter, and the buyers who slaughter them are not guilty, and their sellers are getting rich by it. The inhabitants of the land are not spared; all is waste and there is no deliverance. In the seventh verse the reason of all this judgment is seen. The Prophet does a symbolic act. As a shepherd he represents the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. He comes to save them from the terrible calamity, but he is rejected. The shepherd has two staves, Beauty and Bands. He breaks one first and asks his price, and they offer him the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, which he at the word of Jehovah casts from himself. The second staff is broken. Instead of the staves the Prophet takes the instruments of a foolish shepherd, undoubtedly weapons of destruction. They perish, they stray, they are wounded, they suffer and are devoured. At last the foolish shepherd is punished. This is a birdseye view of the chapter. We will consider the details under three divisions: The judgment upon the land and the slaughter of the flock; the cause of it. The Shepherd rejected and set aside. And in the third place the foolish shepherd. _I. The judgment upon the land, the temple, and the slaughter of the flock (verses 1-6)._ Open thy doors, Lebanon; Let the fire devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; Because the lofty ones are spoiled. Howl, oaks of Bashan, For the high forest is come down. A voice of the howling of the shepherds: For their glory is spoiled. A voice of the roaring of young lions, For the pride of Jordan is spoiled.