Ezekiel 34:1

The new attitude is remarkably shown in another way by the title God gives to the prophet, who had fallen on his face, in chapter 2 and from then on. For when the voice spoke from the likeness of the glory of Jehovah, the words were, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak to you. Daniel was called this once (Dan. 8:17), and Ezekiel more than a hundred times. It is the title Jesus took as the rejected Messiah who would suffer, be exalted, and return in glory as the Son of man. His servants have the same title, since they are identified with the glory of God, who now declares Himself outside Israel and even judges them by the Gentiles.

Next comes a solemn, righteous, but severe condemnation of the kings or shepherds of Israel. Jehovah lays the blame on them for selfishly afflicting and ruining His people.

It is not often that the shepherds are addressed in Scripture. Where they are, it is well for the Lord's people to pay particular attention.

They are charged with using their position to exalt themselves at the expense of the flock. They fed themselves; they indulged themselves; they clothed themselves, but they allowed the flock to perish for lack of food.

Without the fear of God or love for His people, they forgot how both they and Israel stood in relation to Jehovah. Everything went wrong, as it had to once His rights had no place in their eyes. Like the Gentile kings, they treated the people they governed as their own, not as the flock of God — so came confusion and every evil work.

And it was the flock of God that they were to feed. What a solemn and sweet thought! How impossible it is for anyone to think of the flock as his own, once he has grasped that it is God's flock, and that God lets us feed it!

What a contrast with Him who stoops to be Son of David and King of Israel! He will rule over them justly, reigning in righteousness. He will be a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like rivers of water in a dry land.

The special application of Ezekiel 34 is to the shepherds of Israel. But it surely carries a solemn and needed lesson to everyone who takes up the work of a pastor among God's people.

May it be a warning to us all! When we think more of ourselves than of the great Shepherd, then we shall think more of ourselves than of the sheep. Christianity consists of self-giving, not self-getting.

Again we have no date given for the time of the message, and there is no other until we come to the closing vision of the temple in the restored land. What follows here seems to pour out without any pause. And while judgment comes once more at the opening, it is now clearly connected with blessing, as the way to it.