As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Ezekiel has just exposed Israel's shepherds — the kings and princes who fed themselves and left the flock scattered and preyed on. Now God answers their failure with a promise about Himself: He will go after His sheep on the day the darkness is thickest.
(These writers use an older translation. It has "the cloudy and dark day" for "a day of clouds and thick darkness," and "tend" for "seek out.")
Why God takes the flock into His own hands
The problem was never the flock. It was the shepherds — so God takes the sheep into His own hands. Watch how He describes Himself as He does it.
J. N. DarbyThe evil lay in the shepherds — that is, in the kings and princes of Israel. They were not true shepherds; in fact there were none who were true. The flock was diseased, scattered, afflicted and badly treated, and their enemies preyed on them. The shepherds devoured them, and neither protected nor cared for them. But now Jehovah points this out to say that He Himself would seek out His poor sheep. He would judge between sheep and sheep, and would deliver them from the mouth of those that devoured them... Notice here the way in which Jehovah Himself delivers His sheep, without calling Himself their shepherd.
"As a shepherd seeks out his flock"
The comparison is with an ordinary shepherd on the day his flock breaks up. Where that shepherd stands tells you how the Lord treats His own.
Hamilton SmithHaving sought them He "tends" them, for that is how the passage should read: "I will both search for My sheep and TEND them as a shepherd tends his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered." His sheep are the objects of His tender care... The Lord not only tends His sheep; He does it in a very blessed way. He is not far away in some high position, sending down orders about the care of the sheep. He is a shepherd "among his sheep that are scattered." We speak of the Lord being present where two or three gather in His name, and that is true and blessed. But we should remember there is also such a thing as the Lord "among His sheep that are scattered." If we have driven them away, will He desert them? Never. If we have scattered them, will He forsake them? Never.
The day of clouds and thick darkness
The scattering and the darkness belong together. One writer points to who darkens the sky.
Hamilton Smith"I will DELIVER them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." While leaders are busy darkening the sky with their arguments, the enemy is busy scattering the sheep. While the shepherds quarrel, the sheep wander. We can scatter, but what little power we have to deliver. But the Lord will deliver. Not one of His sheep will be left behind when He acts in delivering power.
What God is set on doing
Scattering can be something God allows. It is never what He wants.
Numerical Bible NotesTheir scatterings will stop when they hear the Voice His people know — a Voice that does not scatter but brings together. It gathers them by removing every cause of scattering. Yet at times scattering may be the very thing that is of God, which He permits to avoid a worse evil. Still, He permits it only for a short time. What is in His heart is gathering, not scattering.
Rescue timed to the darkest hour
The timing is not accidental. The same pattern shows up in how God deals with one person.
Samuel RidoutIn the coming day, it will be "in the cloudy and dark day" that the Lord will seek out and gather His wandering sheep. In the same way, God's grace recovers each soul when all seems darkest, when the evil is brought out into the light.
A promise still waiting
One writer refuses to soften this promise into something already past.
William KellyThe complete failure of the shepherds throws the care of the flock onto Jehovah Himself. He undertakes not only to demand the sheep back from those set over them, but to search for them and seek them out wherever they have been scattered... It is useless here, as in similar passages, to dodge what He says about the work He will yet do for Israel on earth, once He has finished gathering His assembly for heaven. These words have never yet been fulfilled. So they must be. Their certainty and security rest on Himself.
Summary
- Failure. The shepherds fed themselves, and the sheep scattered. God names the cause before He promises the cure.
- Presence. The shepherd in the comparison does not stay at a distance. He is among the scattered sheep, and so is the Lord.
- Darkness. The rescue comes on the cloudy and dark day. God works when things look most hopeless — for a nation and for one soul.
- Gathering. Scattering may be permitted for a short time; what is in His heart is gathering, and He will leave none behind.
- Certainty. These words have never yet been fulfilled, so they must be — their security rests on the One who spoke them.