Ezekiel 34

Ezekiel 34:1-6

The iniquities and calamities of God’s Israel had been largely and permanently lamented before. In this chapter the thousands of Israel, their rulers both in the church and flats, are called to an account, as having been very much necessary to their sin and ruin. 1. They are charged with negligence, unfulfilling, and unfaithfulness in the management of public affairs, ver. 1, 6, 8. 2. They are discharged from their relief for infrequency and treachery, ver.

7, 10. 3. God promise to take care of his flock though they did not, vers. 11, 10. 4. A charge is exhibited against theys of the flock that were fat and strong, for injuring the wood and fowls, vers. 12-14. 5. The Messiah is promised as the great and good Shepherd of the sheep, who should redress all their grievances, vers. 23-31.

1. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2. “Son of man, prophesy against” the Shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the Shepherds, “Wo be to the Shepherds of Israel” that do feed themselves? Should not the Shepherds “feed the flocks? 3. “Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed! But ye feed not the flock. 4. “The disloafed have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye fought that which was lost; but “with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5. And they were scattered if because there is no Shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

a Pet. 2:1. b Jer. 1:4. c On with one a Shephead. So ver. 2. a Ver. 2:1. We have here,

1. A woe denounced against the Shepherds of Israel, the princes and magistrates, or the priests and Levites, who were the great authors of Israel’s ruin; and though their Nation was so high, and their profession so respectable, yet neither would screen them from severe rebukes, nor exempt them from God’s fearful wrath. Negligent paltors are the most criminal of all transgressors, and may expect the heaviest judgments.

2. The sin charged upon them is enriching themselves at the expense of their neglected flocks; indifferent what became of the people committed to their charge, they never thought of feeding them, but of fattening themselves. The magistrates took no pains to vindicate the oppressed, to relieve the poor, to bring back those who were fled to foreign lands, to suppress vice, or encourage religion; the ministers intent only on their tythel and offerings, to be no pains to seek the loaf, to instruct the ignorant, recover the erroneous, warn the unruly, or comfort the feeble-minded; the fouls of men formed in no wise their concern. With force and cruelty, both in church and state, they ruled; and used to the purposes of oppression the power committed to their trust for the protection and edification of God’s people, so that they had really no Shepherd; yea, worse than none; for those who usurped the office were in fact cunning wolves. Wo to the poor people that are in such a case!

1 Jer. 2:15. 2.

7. ¶ Therefore, ye Shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 8. As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no Shepherd, neither did my Shepherds search for my flock, but the Shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9. Therefore, O ye Shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10. Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, “I am against the Shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. 11. ¶ For thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12. As a Shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places, where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and as a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and

will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong, I will feed them with judgment.

Ezekiel 34:7-16

The careless Shepherds are cited to God’s bar. God will punish them, and graciously relieve the flock they have abused.

1. He will punish the Shepherds for their neglect and repsciousness, v. 8. God is against them, and his wrath who can abide? He will call them to a severe account for the loss of every sheep of his flock that perished through their negligence. Zedekiah, and the princes who rebelled, shall bear the guilt of all the innocent blood which was found in consequence thereof. And every loaf soul shall cry for vengeance against the unfaithful minister who suffered him, unconcerned, to die in his iniquity. God will turn them out of their office, and suffer them no more to fatten on the spoil. The king and princes of Judah shall be buried from their high class, and cast into the depths of abject wretchedness, and those priests and Levites who abused their sacred office, be degraded, v. 10. Now, (1.) Ministers can never too often reflect upon the solemn account they must one day make. (2.) God justly deprives oppressors of the power they abude.

2. God will himself take care of his own flock; none of his sheep shall perish. Though their paltors are unfaithful, and neglect them, he will provide for them. Behold, I, even if the Lord, able and willing to save them; I will, (1.) both search my sheep, and feed them out, wherever they are dispersed through all the earth, not one shall be lost, v. 11. He knoweth those that are his, and in his good time will bring them into his fold from their state of wandering, during the cloudy and dark days; and this was fulfilled primarily in the restoration of the Jews from their captivity, and is spiritually still fulfilling day by day, whilst by his word and grace he is gathering in his redeemed people from the earth, calling them out of darkness into his marvellous light, till he hath accomplished the number of his elect, and his eternal kingdom comes: may my soul in that day be the object of his care! (2.) He will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and cause them to lie down in peace and safety, in a good fold, and a fat pasture, vers. 14, 15. The Jews on their return to their own land, enjoyed abundance of blessings, and particularly the privileges of the sanctuary and ordinances of God’s worship. And in the church, the mount of God, do all believers find the rich paltors of grace, and the sweet waters of divine consolation: included as in a fold, under the protection of their Almighty Shepherd, they are safe from all the powers of evil, and rest under his shadow with great delight: happy the people that are in such a case! (3.) He will not only recover them from their wanderings, but lead those that were hurt, during their state of departure from him, and strengthen those that were sick. The awakened sinner feels his deadly wounds, his heart is broken with a sense of guilt, and weak he finds himself, and unable to resist his corruptions, but the Saviour who bought his sheep with his own blood, pours in his precious balms to allways their pains, and cures the desperate. By his spirit he renews their minds, gives the medicine which heals their sickness, even his efficacious grace, which can save them from the bondage of corruption, and strengthens their weakness, that they may be enabled to walk and please God.

3. It is repeated, to mark the certainty and terrificness of their destruction. I will destroy the fat and the strong; for he who glorifies his mercy in the salvation of his people, will glorify his justice in the domination of his and their enemies; feeding them with judgment, inflicting the righteous vengeance due to their iniquities.

4. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I judge between ye cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats. 18. Semeth it a small thing unto you, to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19. And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet: and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. 20. ¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them, Behold, I, even I will judge between the fat cattle, and between the lean cattle. 21. Because ye have shrunk with tide, and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad: 22. Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle. 23. And I will let up one Shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, “even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their Shepherd. 24. And I the LORD will be their God; and my servant David a prince among them, I the LORD have spoken it. 25. And I will

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will make with them a covenant of peace, and ‘will cause the evil beafts to cause out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26. And I will make them and the places round about my hill, a blefing; and I will cause the flowers to come down in his season: there shall be ‘flowers of blefing. 27. And ’the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen; neither shall the beafts of the land devour them; but ’they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 29. And I will raise up for them ‘a plant ‘of renown, and they shall be no more ‘conformed with hunger in the land,’ neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30. Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, faith the Lord GOD. 31. And ye ‘my flock, ’the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, faith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 34:17-31

The prophet turns from the Shepherds to the flock, for they were of different kinds. The church of prophecies ever consisted of a mixed multitude, good and bad; but there is a discerning Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, here spoken of, who will shortly separate the precious from the vile.

1. A heavy charge is brought against some of the flock; the fat, the rams and he-goats, the wealthy who oppressed their neighbours, and, not content with the gains of extortion, embezzled by their ill usage the little which remained to the go of the flock, as if they took a pleasure in their distresses, v. 18, 19. Nay, they not only trod down the pastures, and fouled the waters, but dread with the fists and shoulder, and pushed the defended with their horns, adding affliction to the afflicted. Many apply that to the Seribes and Pharistes, who devoured the poor, fouled the waters of truth by their traditions, and oppressed with their anathemas the poor of the flock, who confessed the Lord Jesus. Though it may be also generally applied to wicked men in every age, who have copied these destructive ways; and, the protection the flock of Christ, have shown themselves the most inveterate enemies of his faithful sheep; but God will judge them, deliver his people from them now, and make an eternal separation shortly between the precious and the vile.

2. Rich confidation is spoken to the faithful few. God will save his flock, nor suffer them any more to be a prey to their enemies; particularly by raising up the promised Messiah, under which protection his people should dwell in safety.

(1.) His character and office are described. I will set up one Shepherd over them: both Jew and Gentile under him shall become one fold; and by the divine appointment he is constituted the head over all things to his church; and he shall feel them by his word, his Spirit, his ordinances, his mindless; even my favour David, so called as being David’s promised seed, and God’s servant, as employed by him in the work of the Salvation of lost fools: a plant of renown, v. 29, most transcendently glorious in his person and offices, and exalted in the preaching of his gospel.

(2.) For his sake God will make with them a covenant of peace. Man is by nature in a state of enmity with God, till Christ, our peace, brings us, who were far off, nigh unto God; then we become interested in the everlasting covenant of grace: God regrets to be our God; and his fervent David, the Lord Jesus, becomes our prince and favour, to give repentance and remission of sins, and to reign over and protect his redeemed, v. 24, and Israel, all true believers, shall be his people, to love, serve, and enjoy him to eternity, v. 30.

(3.) Ineftimably great and precious are the privileges to which the flock of God becomes entitled, in virtue of this covenant of peace. Since the Lord their God was with them, v. 30, their deliverance was sure, and peace and plenty were now their happy portion. They shall be safe under the divine protection; their spiritual enemies, the evil beafts, v. 25, subdued, and needed to cross out of the land: they shall be delivered from fear of evil; though in the midst of fences and temptations, God will preserve them, v. 25, 28, and having broken the oppression, and reced them from those who served themselves of them, he will make them know he is the Lord, by blessed competence of his almighty power, grace, and love, v. 27. They shall want no manner of thing that is good; all spiritual blefings in Christ Jesus shall surround them. I will make them and the places round about my hill, a blefing; so eminently shall they be distinguished with his favours; and all who see them will call them blessed; yet, they shall themselves also be blefings to others. And I will raise the favour to come down in his season, the graves and confidations of his Spirit, which the Redeemer showers

down upon the hearts of his people, according to their various necessities. There shall be favours of blefings; the greatest abundance of the richest gifts of God, pardon, adoption, bailiness, glory, freely be followed upon the redeemed soul: and the tree of the field shall yield her fruit; the fruits of righteousness, which spring from these quickening flowers of grace: and the earth shall yield her increase, in an abundance of converts raised up by the preaching of the gospel. They shall be no more confirmed with hunger, but be richly fed with that bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world: neither shall they bear the shame of the heathen any more, God having appeared for them, and made it evident, by the dispositions of his providence and grace, that he is their God, v. 31, their present portion, and exceeding great reward. The Jews returned from captivity enjoyed literally many of these blefings outwardly; but they are most eminently fulfilled to the life of God in every age, who in Christ Jesus are blessed with all spiritual blefings in heavenly things.