The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 34
Chapter XXXIV · Vol. III, pp. 1360–1362
1 A reproof of the shepherds. 7 God's judgments against them. 11 His providence over his flock. 20 The blessings of Christ's kingdom.
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Sona of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds, Woe be to the shepherds1 of Israel that bdo feed themselves! should not the shepherds cfeed the flocks?
a ch.2.1,3,6,8;3.1,3,4,10,17,25;4.1,16;5.1;6.2;7.2;8.5,6,8,12,15,17;11.2,4,15. Je.23.1;2.8. Is.56.11. Zec.11.17.
1 Shepherds—rulers, civil or ecclesiastical, Is.56.11. Je.2.8;23.1.—C.
b ch.22.25,27. Mi.3.1-3. Zep.3.3. Lu.20.47. Ro.10.18. 2 Pe.2.3. Is.56.11,12.
c Ps.78.71,72. Ro.13.4. 2 Sa.5.2. Jn.21.15. Ac.20.28. 1 Pe.5.2. Je.23.2. Zec.11.16.
3 Yed eat the fat,2 and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed:3 but ye feed not the flock.
d Is.56.11. Zec.11.5,16. Mi.3.1,3. 1 Ki.21.13-15. ch.22.25,27. Re.17.4,6.
2 Fat or milk—the original being the same.—C.
3 Ye kill them that are fed. Ye bring false accusations against the rich, that you may fine them, or confiscate their property to enrich yourselves. This crime is still so common in several eastern countries that few will venture to appear even comfortable, for fear of exciting the cupidity of their rulers.—C.
4 Thee diseased 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 sought that which was lost; but with gforce and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
5 And they were scattered, 4because there is no shepherd:5 and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
4 Or, without a shepherd: and so ver.8,12. Je.40.11;12.9-12;50.6. Is.56.9. Mat.9.36. Zec.10.2,3;13.7. 1 Ki.22.17,36. Jn.10.12.
5 No shepherd—in truth and practice, though many in name and profession.—C.
6 Myh sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was iscattered upon all the face of the earth, and jnone did search or seek after them.
7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ksurely because lmy flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds6 search for my flock, but the shepherds nfed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD, oBehold, I am against the shepherds; and I will prequire my flock at their hand, and qcause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: for rI will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.7
o Je.23.2. Zec.10.3. ch.22.25-31;13.8.
p ch.3.18,20;33.6,8; ver.1,16,17,20. He.13.17.
q 1 Sa.2.29-36. Je.52.9-11,24-27;39.6.
7 The sins of the people of Israel are here charged against the rulers who neglected their duty, seeking their own temporal advancement, and failing to instruct, warn, and control those placed under their care. For this judgment had already been executed upon them, and still more was in store. But while the prophet thus denounces the guilty rulers of Israel, he holds forth cheering promises and glorious hopes to the people. God himself would be their leader and teacher; as a faithful shepherd he would collect the scattered sheep, and feed them again on the mountains of Israel.—P.
12 As a shepherd seeketh out8 his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will delivert them out of all places where they have been scattered in uthe cloudy and dark day.
A.M. cir. 3417. B.C. cir. 587.
8 Heb. According to the shepherd's seeking of, 2 Co.7.12;11.28. Jn.10.11. 1 Pe.5.3.
t ver.13.
u Joel 2.1-3. Ca.1.7. Am.5.18,20. Zep.1.15. Is.8.21,22;50.10. Ac.14.22.
13 And vI 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 xmountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
v ch.11.17;20.41;28.25;36.24;37.21,22;38.8;39.27. Is.65.9,10. See Je.23.3,4,8;30.3,18;3.18.
x ch.6.2; ver.14; ch.36.8-15.
14 I will feed them in a ygood pasture, and uponz the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
16 Ib 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 cI will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with djudgment.
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, eI judge between cattle9 and cattle,1 between the rams and the he-goats.2
e ver.16,10,20; ch.20.37,38. Zec.10.3. Mat.25.32.
9 He will not judge by names and professions of religion, but by the regeneration—conversion—the new creature in Christ Jesus, 2 Co.5.16,17. Mat.25.32,33.—C.
1 Heb. small cattle of lambs and kids.
2 Heb. great he-goats.
18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you gto have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must htread 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?
g ver.2,3. De.32.14,15. Mi.2.2.
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.3
3 The address in verses 18, 19 is to the tyrant rulers, who, instead of acting as guides and protectors of the Lord's flock, destroyed their property.—P.
20 Therefore, thus saith the Lord GOD unto them, iBehold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
i See ver.16,17,22. Is.3.10,11. Ro.2.7-10. Mat.25.32.
21 Because jye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
j Ps.22.12;68.31;120.5-7. Da.8.3,5. ver.17. Lu.13.14-16.
22 Thereforek 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 set up one lshepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even nmy servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24 Ando I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David pa prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
A.M. cir. 3417. B.C. cir. 587.
o Ge.17.7. Ex.19.5,6;29.45. Je.30.22;31.33;32.38. ch.11.20;36.28;37.23,27. Zec.13.9. Is.43.2,3. Re.21.3.
p Jos.5.14,15. Da.12.1. Ac.5.31. Mat.28.18-20. Ps.2.6. Is.9.6,7. Lu.1.32,33. Ep.1.21,22. Phi.2.9-11. He.2.9,10.
25 Andq I will make with them a 4covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; and rthey shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
* It is of great importance for the Christian to observe that God, by the prophets, constantly promised a new covenant to the Jews; thereby intimating the departure of the Mosaic to make room for the gospel dispensation. See He.8.8-16. This prophecy began to be typically fulfilled in Zerubbabel and his coadjutors, but really in the 'covenant of peace,' established in the blood of the cross, Ep.2.14-18. Col.1.20. Since which time, though the Lord appear 'slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,' and the prospect of the conversion and restoration of Israel appear, to the eye of sense, utterly hopeless—yet faith beholds the progress, and rests in the certainty of the event, with a confidence as implicit because God has promised it, as if the event were already realized. See ver.27-30.—C.
q ch.37.26. Je.31.31;33.6,9;32.39,40. Is.11.6-9;35.9. Ho.2.18.
4 See note * in first column.
r ver.27,28; ch.37.26. Je.23.6;33.16;30.10. Job 5.23. Ps.4.8.
26 Ands I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; tand I will cause the shower to come down in his season: there shall be showers of blessing.
s Ps.133.3. Ge.12.2. Is.19.24. Zec.8.13,23. Ho.2.21-23.
t Ps.68.9,10. Mal.3.10.
27 Andu 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 vI have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28 Andx they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast 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 yplant 5of renown,6 and they shall be no more 7consumed with hunger in the land, zneither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30 Thus shall they aknow that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.
31 And ye bmy flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.8
b Lu.12.32. Ex.19.5,6. 1 Pe.2.9. Ps.80.1;100.3. Jn.10.11. ch.36.38. Pr.8.4. Jn.3.16.
8 The blessings promised in ver.23-31 are mainly, if not wholly, Messianic. The 'one Shepherd' is the Messiah. The unity of the flock indicates a unity of religious sentiment rather than political unity, though the latter is not entirely overlooked. The power of the Shepherd in ruling and defending is the power of him whom Paul represents as 'Head over all things to the church,' and who said to his disciples, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.'—P.
Notes
Ver. 2-5. These rulers regard only their own interest, and not the welfare of the people. By oppression and murder they seize upon the estates of the rich; they have not supported, relieved, or comforted such as were fallen into decay or distress; they have not relieved or redressed the wrongs of the oppressed; they have not restored to their right such as, by the violence of others, had been forced to quit their lands; nor have they attempted to reform the wanderers in wickedness; but have tyrannized over them in the most unmerciful manner:—so that, by the ill conduct of their rulers, and the violence of enemies, they are either destroyed, or forced as captives or fugitives into other countries, and their wealth is made a spoil. 16, 17, 20, 22. While I redress the manifold grievances of the poor and oppressed, I will, by fearful judgments, destroy their wealthy and powerful oppressors; I will, in righteousness, make an effectual difference between the weaker and stronger part of my people—cherishing the former, and restraining the violence and fury of the latter. 18, 19, 21. Think ye it a small crime to enjoy my enlarged blessings yourselves alone, but ye must disturb the poor in the possession of their small estates, and consume them by your illegal oppression. Yea, ye oblige them to live upon the remains of what ye have destroyed, and molest and vex them by your injustice and violence. 23. Jesus Christ is called David, because he was his promised seed and glorious antitype; and called God's servant, because, as mediator, he performs the debased and honorary work of our salvation, appointed him of the Father. He is called a Shepherd, to denote his careful gathering, protecting, guarding, providing for, feeding, and healing his people. And he is called a Plant of Renown, ver. 29, because, being low in his humiliation, he is infinitely excellent in himself; and is, and will for ever be, infinitely famous among angels and men. 25. I will establish with them my covenant, by virtue of which they shall enjoy all kinds of blessings; and wicked men, who oppress and devour others, shall either be converted or destroyed to such a degree, that, in the most barbarous and dangerous places, there shall be nothing but safety and comfort.
Ver. 16. I will seek that which was lost. This is the true character of Jesus—'The shepherd of the sheep,' 'the good shepherd,' who came 'to seek and to save that which was lost,' 'to bind up the broken-hearted, and comfort all them that mourn.' C.
Ver. 23. My servant David. David, the son of Jesse, had now been dead 400 years, and no one of the name ever afterwards sat upon the throne of Israel, till Messiah, the true David, so called of God from heaven, Mat. 3. 17; for David, in Hebrew, corresponds to Beloved in Greek, which name God the Father then bestowed upon his only begotten Son. C.
Reflections.—If the dignity and power of men do not restrain them from sin, it will not exempt them from reproof, excuse their impenitence, or avert God's judgments. Alas! miserable is the case of nations and churches when magistrates and ministers mind only their own temporal interests, neglect their duty, plague, oppress, and mislead their people. And most dreadful will be their account and condemnation at last. Soon will God deprive them of that power which they have abused. And if they will neglect their part, God will, at their expense, and for the welfare of his people, perform his, and neither slumber nor sleep. If they harden the wicked, and discourage the righteous, he will comfort the distressed, and ruin the presumptuous. And they who would engross everything to themselves, and who grudge that any can live beside them, shall be awfully reckoned with at last. But every loss, every trouble, is completely balanced to them who have Jesus Christ, and God in him, for their All and in all. Glorious and renowned is his person, office, and work; rich and stable the relations made with him, and with us in him; and complete the safety, and unbounded and innumerable the blessings, of his kingdom.