A Prophecy against Israel’s Shepherds
This chapter contains declarations of judgment and salvation....
This chapter contains declarations of judgment and salvation. There would be judgment on the shepherds (the former kings of Judah) because they failed to care for their flocks (the people of Judah). The Lord would also judge the fat sheep, but he would intervene as a good shepherd to feed the remainder of the flock. The image of the shepherd perfectly conveys the toughness and tenderness of God’s dealings with his people. The shepherd was also a common metaphor for a king in the ancient Near East. The earthly king was understood to represent the divine shepherd who had set him over his people. Shepherds had to protect their flocks against beasts, including lions and bears, while also knowing their sheep by name and tenderly leading them to good pasture and quiet waters. They had to endure cold, heat, wind, rain, and snow out on the hills with their charges. Good kings who led their people strongly and wisely resembled shepherds. The same image is used in the New Testament to describe pastors and elders, who are to oversee the flock assigned to their care without lording it over them (1 Pet 5:2–4). Jesus perfectly combines toughness and tenderness as the “great Shepherd of the sheep” (Heb 13:20).
These chapters show us the blessings that would...
These chapters show us the blessings that would flow from the Lord’s return to his people. He would be their shepherd and provide them with better leadership (ch 34); he would restore the fruitfulness of the land and thus vindicate his own honor (chs 35–36); he would restore his people to life and unity (ch 37).
1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
What sorrow awaits you shepherds: Israel’s leaders had...
What sorrow awaits you shepherds: Israel’s leaders had not taken care of the weak or gone looking for those who had wandered away and were lost. They had pursued their own interests, feeding themselves at their flock’s expense. They ruled the sheep with harshness and cruelty, recalling how the Egyptians treated the Israelites in Moses’ time (Exod 1:13–14). The neglect and abuse of these cruel shepherds had scattered the Lord’s flock across the face of the earth.
2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? 3You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
4You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. 5They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts. 6My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’
The Lord vowed to hold the self-serving shepherds...
The Lord vowed to hold the self-serving shepherds responsible for the consequences of their actions. He would remove them from their pastoral office and rescue his flock from their clutches so that they were no longer their prey. The Lord would go looking for his scattered flock (34:12) and bring them home.
7Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead, 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!’
10This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’
The Good Shepherd
11For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.
The dark and cloudy day, the day of...
The dark and cloudy day, the day of judgment (cp. 32:7–8), was completed. Now God would bring his people back to the mountains of Israel, the center of the land promised to the patriarchs, and tend his sheep (see Ps 23).
12As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock.
I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land. 14I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
The goats were the powerful, unrighteous members of...
The goats were the powerful, unrighteous members of the community.
17This is what the Lord GOD says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats. 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19Why must My flock feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied?’
the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep: Those...
the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep: Those with power and influence in society had taken all the good things for themselves and had left others without resources. God would judge between them and set things right.
20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, 22I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.
one shepherd, my servant David: God planned to...
one shepherd, my servant David: God planned to raise up David’s offspring to succeed him (2 Sam 7:12–16). This “new David,” like the first one, would be the Lord’s servant, a man after God’s own heart, and a good shepherd of his people.
23I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd. 24I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.
The Covenant of Peace
God planned to provide his people with a...
God planned to provide his people with a new and better ruler and to make a covenant of peace with them. Their present experience of dangerous animals, drought, famine, and sword was the outworking of the curses of the covenant made at Sinai (see Lev 26:14–35). From now on, they would camp safely, experiencing the blessings of that covenant; God would send the showers they needed for fruitfulness and peace (see Lev 26:4–13).
25I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. 26I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.
In this covenant of peace, God’s people experience...
In this covenant of peace, God’s people experience the blessings that flow from wholeness of relationship with God. This covenant was not essentially different from the original covenant established at Sinai. It offered the experience of genuine, lasting peace that the Sinai covenant offered but never delivered because of the sin of God’s people. In place of the failed kings of the past, they would receive a new and perfect king. In place of the relationship with God that had been repeatedly broken by sin, they would once again be God’s people, the sheep of his pasture. Then they would achieve the goal of the covenant in that the Sovereign Lord would be their God and once again dwell in their midst.
27The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.
28They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not consume them. They will dwell securely, and no one will frighten them.
29And I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ declares the Lord GOD.
31‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”