“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?
God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. The charge comes as a question that answers itself: men set over a flock were living off it instead of feeding it. Behind that charge lies a deeper one — whose sheep were they, and who must answer for them?
Who the shepherds were
The word does not mean farmhands. It covers everyone who held authority over the nation. Another prophet had already brought the same complaint.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe shepherds of Israel were the kings and princes and all who had authority over them. The prophet Jeremiah had received a similar message (Jer. 23:1-2). These shepherds of Israel were responsible for the deplorable condition of the flock. They were utterly selfish. They did not care for the sheep of His pasture. They did not fear God, and they had no heart for God's people. The flock was scattered and spoiled.
Feeding themselves
The first charge is not incompetence. These men turned their position into profit, and the sheep paid for it.
Hamilton SmithThey 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 let the flock perish for lack of food.
The direction of the traffic
A shepherd is meant to be a channel of supply. These men reversed the flow, and the reversal starts in the heart long before it shows in the hands.
A J PollockThe first complaint is that the shepherds fed themselves and not the sheep. They took from the sheep, instead of giving to the sheep…
When we think more of ourselves than of the great Shepherd, we will think more of ourselves than of the sheep. Christianity consists of self-giving, not in self-getting.
Whose flock
The flock belonged to God, not to the men who ruled it. Forgetting that one fact corrupted everything else they did.
William KellySo, without the fear of God or love for His people, they forgot what both they and Israel were to Jehovah. So everything went wrong, as it could not fail to do when His rights had no place in their eyes. Like the kings of the nations around them, they treated the people they governed as their own, not as the flock of God. So came confusion and every evil work.
Why God moves against them
God's judgment on these men is not cold. He steps in for sheep He loves, and He ends one thing in particular.
F. W. GrantThe doom of the shepherds is therefore now announced. It is the judgment of love that strikes to deliver. There must be an end of this false claim to the shepherd's place without the shepherd's heart. That claim is deeply offensive to Him whose heart is with the sheep. He is afflicted in all the afflictions of His people, and when He rises up to help them, He will make a thorough work of it.
A chapter for shepherds still
Ezekiel spoke to Israel, but these principles reach further.
A J PollockWhat need there is for care in the Church of God! Ezekiel 34 is a very remarkable chapter, and it speaks entirely to the shepherds and sheep of Israel. Yet the divine principles it unfolds apply just as clearly to shepherds or pastors in the Christian world. Everyone who cares for the Lord's people would do well to read this wonderful chapter until its lessons sink deep into their hearts.
The Shepherd who does the work Himself
The failure of these shepherds is the dark background for a promise. God says He will require His flock from them, and will do Himself what they would not do.
William KellySo the shepherds were to hear the word of Jehovah, who is against the shepherds and will require His flock at their hands. He Himself will both search and seek out His sheep. He will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. He will gather them from the countries, bring them to their own land, and feed them on the mountains of Israel by the rivers. There they shall lie in a good fold and feed in a good pasture. More than all, He will set up over them one shepherd who shall feed them, His servant David, who is not less Jehovah than Himself.
Summary
- Trust. Shepherd here means ruler — kings, princes, all in authority. The sheep were never their own.
- Theft. They fed themselves: they took from the flock instead of giving to it, and left it to starve.
- Owner. Their root failure was forgetting God's rights. They treated His people as their own property.
- Verdict. God ends the shepherd's place held without the shepherd's heart — judgment that strikes to deliver.
- Shepherd. What these shepherds refused to do, God does Himself: seek, gather, and feed His flock in good pasture.