Why does God say, "I myself will search for my sheep" in Ezekiel 34:11?

The end of Jeremiah has given us an account of the fulfilment of Ezekiel's words; but all these judgments give room for the intervention of God in behalf of His people by means of sovereign grace accomplished in the Messiah. Still the evil lay in the shepherds, that is, in the kings and princes of Israel, who were not true shepherds (indeed there were none true); and the flock, diseased, scattered, afflicted, and ill-treated, were a prey to their enemies. The shepherds devoured them, and neither protected nor cared for them. But Jehovah now points it out in order to say that He Himself would seek out His poor sheep, and would judge between sheep and sheep, and would deliver them from the mouth of those that devoured them, and that He would feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and in fat pastures. He would raise up the true and only shepherd, David (that is, the well-beloved Messiah). Jehovah should be their God, and His servant David their prince. The covenant of peace should be re-established; full and secure blessing should be the abiding portion of the people of God, the house of Israel. There should be no more famine in their land, and the nations should no more devour them. Observe here the way in which Jehovah Himself delivers His sheep, without calling Himself their shepherd, and then raises up a plant of renown, the true David, as their shepherd.

"And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah to the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The 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 force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 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." (Ver. 1-6)

Thus without the fear of God or love for His people, they forgot the relations both of themselves and of Israel to Jehovah. Hence all was wrong, as could not but be when His rights had no place in their eyes. Like the Gentile monarchs, they regarded the people whom they governed as their own, not as the flock of God: hence confusion and every evil work. What a contrast with Him, deigning to be Son of David and King of Israel, who will rule over them justly, reigning in righteousness, as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry land; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, yea, as the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, as the tender grass out of the earth by clear shining after rain! The shepherds had fed themselves, not the flock. They fed not the sheep, no matter what the benefits they had drawn from them. No sorrows of theirs drew out their sympathies. They ruled with harshness and rigour, and scattered them, a prey to all the wild beasts without a shepherd's care; and scattered the sheep over the whole face of the earth: no one sought or searched them out.

But He who called to the sceptre over Israel was not heedless of His people groaning under their wicked rulers. "Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah; as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, 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; therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah. Thus says the Lord Jehovah; 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." (Ver. 7-10) Their sin is set out, the shepherds are convicted and sentenced; but Jehovah promises to deliver His sheep.

The manner of this deliverance is now further assured and explained. "For thus says the Lord Jehovah; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks 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. 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. 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 in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord Jehovah. 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. And as for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Jehovah; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats. Seems it a small thing to 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? 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." (Ver. 11-19)

Thus the utter failure of the shepherds casts their care on Jehovah Himself who undertakes, not merely to require the sheep at the hands of those set over them, but to search for them and seek them out wherever dispersed. In verses 13, 14, this is detailed in language so simple and express that it is in vain here as in kindred passages to evade His testimony to the work He will yet accomplish for Israel on earth when He has finished gathering His assembly for heaven. Never have these words been fulfilled as yet; they therefore must be. Their certainty and security rest on Himself, and on that mercy which endures for ever, as they will soon sing — how joyfully! In vain do sages reason on His non-execution of a threat when men, as at Nineveh, repented: for after all it came, though it be His delight to hear the cry of those that humble themselves at His word, and defer the stroke till patience would lose its character and lapse into indifference at evil which is far from Him. But He who promises knows how to make good all circumstances and conditions, even as He has meanwhile brought in the only righteous basis; as for past forbearance, so for the future harvest of blessing. That day of rich goodness and mercy will not be without the judgment of the wicked, but contrariwise. As we learn in Ezekiel 33 that individual state before God will have a force in Israel which it never had under the first covenant, so here it will be when He judges between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the he-goats, and calls up the wantonness of those who destroyed what they could not use to the hurt of the flock. He will judge the quick no less than the dead.

But there is more still. There might be judgment of oppression and deliverance of the wretched, and blessing of the people restored to the land of Israel; but grace does not stay its flow according to the measures of men. "Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah to them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle, and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I Jehovah have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 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 Jehovah, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And 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. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I Jehovah their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Jehovah. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord Jehovah." (Ver. 20-31)

Thus we find that the judgment now before us is upon the false shepherds, those who only feed themselves, and make a prey of the sheep. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say unto them, even unto the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill those that are fattened; but ye feed not the sheep. The weak have ye not strengthened, nor have ye healed the sick, nor have ye bound up that which was broken, nor have ye brought again that which was driven away, nor have ye sought that which was lost; but with oppression and rigor ye have ruled over them." How thoroughly this gives the character of those whom the Lord charged in His day with similar conduct. The rule of the rabbins was an oppressive one, and while they assumed to stand for God and for His word, self-seeking characterized them throughout, and thus of necessity the sheep were scattered: "They were scattered because there was no shepherd: and they became food to all the beasts of the field and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yea, my sheep have been scattered upon all the face of the earth, and there was none that searched or sought after them." Nothing stirs the heart of the true shepherd like the wanton abuse or neglect of the sheep, and here is One whose heart never needed to be stirred, but abides continually with His people, however long He may have patience, and however much circumstances may seem to argue that He has forgotten them. Therefore, as we shall see, it is Jehovah Himself who is manifested as the Shepherd of Israel, and that in the One raised up to them in tender grace; One who is Himself Man, and a stranger to nothing in man, except man's inherent evil.

(2) The doom of the shepherds is therefore now announced. It is the judgment of love which smites for deliverance. There must be an end of this false assumption of the shepherd's place without the shepherd's heart — an assumption so peculiarly offensive to Him whose heart is with the sheep, who is afflicted in all the afflictions of His people, and who, when He arises for their help, will make a thorough work of it.

(3) Thus the Lord declares that He will come in and search for His sheep and examine their condition. The language is human language, and we see here, according to what Ezekiel has shown us elsewhere, the likeness of a Man upon the throne. God speaks as if He were ignorant; therefore to examine into everything were a first necessity; and in truth there is what answers to this. God is careful to expose fully the evil with which He is dealing, that in His government He may be justified by all His creatures. This is the meaning of all those solemn assurances of a day of judgment to come, when the books are opened, and all the history of those brought before the judgment-seat is thoroughly entered into. There are crises of judgment which anticipate this, in which God allows the character of things fully to come out, allowing to come to a head the evil upon which He is going to smite, and bringing out the secret thoughts of men's hearts into open day. Thus as to His flock, Jehovah will examine their whole condition and all that has led to it. Their scatterings shall cease when the Voice is heard which. His people know — which does not scatter, but brings together; and this, therefore, by removing every cause of scattering. Yet scattering may be at times the very thing that is of God, which He permits to avoid worse evil: nevertheless it is only permission for a brief time. What is in His heart is gathering, not scattering. And so He declares that He will deliver His flock out of all the places whither they were scattered in the cloudy and dark day. He has realized the darkness of it, and He will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. It has been their own land in His mind all the way through; and if for a time it has refused to own them as its inhabitants, there is no setting aside of the purposes which, with God, can never be repented of. The mountains of Israel sball welcome them again, and all the springs shall be set running for their benefit, and all the habitable places of the country shall be filled with them. The mountains, which so peculiarly characterize the land of Israel, shall provide good pasture for them, lifted up and kissed as it were by the light of heaven. That is where God would ever have His people feed, and there are the fat pastures to be provided now. He will feed them and make them to lie down. How thoroughly these things go together in His mind — provision and rest, in which all the evils that have afflicted them in the long past shall be put away, the lost restored, the wounded bound up, the weak strengthened; but, on the other hand, the fat and the strong destroyed! We know what this means: God is thinking of those who have been feeding themselves at the cost of the sheep, and have become fat through the spoiling of others. They of necessity will be the objects of swift, sure judgment: "I will feed the flock with judgment," says the Lord.

(4) The searching which the Lord institutes is to go down deeper than merely with certain heads of the people: "Behold," says the Lord, "I judge between sheep and sheep," not merely between sheep and shepherds. "The rams and the he-goats" seem to speak not alike of objects of His judgment. The rams belong to the flock themselves, but the he-goats are alien to it. They are, as we know, in the Lord's own picture of judgment, representatives of those whom the Son of Man puts upon His left hand, as He puts the sheep upon His right. Among the sheep there are those who have from God a certain natural place as leaders, and when God is working among His people, as in the days to come, these must of necessity come to the front. Leaders among the people of God are always recognized. It is the character of the leading which determines as to what it is before God. The true leader is he who leads by the Word itself, and to faith in it, and not in the leader, therefore. And he who says, "Follow me as I follow Christ" puts Christ before the eyes of His people as the measure by which he himself and all his leading is to be measured. How good to have those who, if they have found a bit of good pasture, must run. to tell others of it! And this is a kind of leading open to all that have hearts for it. How different the conduct of those of whom the Lord speaks here, who not only have eaten up all the good pasture for themselves, but must tread down and spoil what is left of it: not satisfied with drinking of the clear waters, they must foul the residue with their feet. I low this applies to such as rose up in Israel after this, when the rule of the priest was changed for the rule of the rabbi, is obvious to all; who, as our Lord said, were "teaching for doctrine the commandments of men," and putting their own word before the word of God. They made the flock eat what they had trodden with their feet, and drink what they had fouled with them. And it is not in Israel only that these things have taken place. Alas, how Christendom has copied them in fullest detail! But God is going to judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. The lean sheep are His objects now — the people who have suffered from these things, and whom He sees suffering. Thus He will save His flock that they may no more be a prey, and will judge between sheep and sheep.

Such was the sad condition of the people Israel. And when the Lord Jesus appeared in their midst to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He found them as sheep without a shepherd, and He had compassion upon them (Mark 6:34). But they rejected Him and the Shepherd was smitten. Zechariah's prophecy was fulfilled: "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the LORD of hosts. Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones" (Zech. 13:7). The false shepherds, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, were a curse to the people, and the leaders were against the Shepherd. They delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles. And now for nearly 2,000 years the sheep have been scattered and peeled, wandering among the nations of the earth (Luke 21:24). What is their hope and coming blessing we learn from this great prophecy.

(What is said in this chapter of the false shepherds who ill-treated the flock of God, His ancient people, may also be applied to the false shepherds, the hirelings in the professing church. See Acts 20:28-35 and 1 Peter 5:2-3.)

In verses 7-10, judgment is pronounced upon these false shepherds, and after that the Lord announces the deliverance of His flock (verses 11-19).

"Behold, I myself, even I, will search for My sheep and will seek them out." Jehovah arises in behalf of His scattered sheep. He will Himself exercise the office of a true shepherd, seeking out His flock. The cloudy and dark day (the times of the Gentiles) is gone and another morning breaks, the morning for which His people have waited so long. What He will do at this time for His scattered sheep is now fully proclaimed. "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. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord." And all this has not yet come to pass. Some apply these words to the restoration of a remnant from the Babylonian captivity and see no future fulfillment of these promises. It is evident that the returning remnant did not possess these blessings. Others make a spiritual application and claim that it means the Church and the blessing which Gentiles will receive as the sheep of Christ. This is the common path which most commentators follow. It needs no lengthy refutation, for neither Ezekiel, nor the other prophets know anything of the Church and the "other sheep," Gentiles saved by grace and with believing Jews constituting the one flock (John 10:16; Ephesians 3:1-6). This is unrevealed in the Old Testament. These gracious words of promise have not yet been fulfilled, nor will they be fulfilled as long as the Church, the body of Christ, is being gathered out from all nations. All must wait till God's purpose in this age is accomplished. When the Church is complete as to its elect number, when the Lord has come for His saints and the true Church has passed from earth into glory, then will the Lord turn in mercy to His people Israel and these promises given by Ezekiel will be fulfilled.

First. God says, "Behold I, even I, will … SEARCH for my sheep." They have been scattered, and they have wandered, but they are "mine," says God, and "I will SEARCH for them." May we never forget, whatever the condition of the sheep, they belong to Christ. He thought of them from all eternity, but, alas, we can only give them the odd moments of our lives. He left His home of glory to seek His sheep, and can we not leave our poor homes to seek them? He went to the uttermost distance of the cross to find His sheep, but we can hardly go into the next street to seek them.

Second. Having sought them He "tends" them, for thus the passage should read, "I will both search for My sheep and TEND them as a shepherd TENDETH his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered." His sheep are the objects of his tender care. After the Good Samaritan found that poor wounded man and bound up his wounds, he brought him to an inn and "took care of him," and ere he left he put the man in charge of the host, saying, "Take care of him." He seems to say to the host, "Do what I have been doing." And immediately afterwards we hear Martha coming to the Lord and saying, "Dost Thou not care." Oh yes, Martha, He cares, as you will soon learn when the death of your brother plunges you into the deep waters of sorrow, and He comes and walks with you and weeps with you. Yes, blessed be His name, He cares, but how little we care. We have failed to act the part of the host. We have failed in tending the sheep. But not only does the Lord tend His sheep, but He does it in a very blessed way. It is not as one far removed in some high position giving directions for the care of the sheep, but it is as a shepherd "among his sheep that are scattered." We speak of the Lord in the midst of two or three gathered together in His name, and blessedly true, but we do well to remember there is 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. Will He leave them because they follow not with us? Surely not. He will never give them up. Are they scattered? He is "among His sheep that are scattered." We speak at times as if "two or three gathered to His name" would imply a company of saints apart from the ruin of Christendom, but let us never forget that, however glorious the future destiny of the church, that, at this moment, the one church of God, the church to which we belong, is a ruined and scattered church so far as any outward display is concerned.

If we turn to Matthew's gospel for a moment, we shall find the Shepherd-King viewing His poor sheep as they surround Him, and the very way He speaks of them shows how strikingly their condition answered to the description of the prophet Micaiah. "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matt. 9:36.) The Lord had come to fulfil Ezekiel's prophecy: - "Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out." He found them where Ahab left them, and came to bring them back to God, not only those who were Jews, but Gentiles also, forming "one flock," with "one Shepherd." "And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice." (John 10:4.)

The Jews were taught of old to regard their kings as "shepherds"; but for the most part these were ungodly and selfish, as the prophet Ezekiel describes their sordid ways. "Woe to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed; ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up the broken, nor have ye brought again that which was driven away, nor have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered without a shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 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."

Therefore were the shepherds 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, deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day, gather them from the countries, bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, where 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.

One might turn with deepest interest to the descriptions of the thirty-fourth of Ezekiel, in illustration of Israel's happiness, when, in a future day, the Lord will set aside, in power, the claims of every false shepherd that has neglected or preyed upon the flock, and will Himself take charge of His beautiful flock. As He says, "For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 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. 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. 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 in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. 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." Or it might be thought an omission not to refer to the twenty-third Psalm, as an illustration of the present experience of a believer under the exercise of Christ's shepherd-care. And surely nothing can exceed the beauty and comfort of that Psalm, nor the richness of the portion of the soul which can say, "Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth, me beside the still waters." The certainty that want will never be the condition of the soul that reposes in such a Shepherd as Jehovah, and is owned of Him, may, in its largest, widest, application, be affirmed; and that quietness and refreshment are the natural blessings to the soul that flow from being under his hand. But this is not all that our souls require; alas! as it is not all in the natural application of the figure. The silly sheep may stray from the rich and quiet pastures, and need the Shepherd's care to follow it in its wanderings, and restore it again to where the flock abides, under His gentle eye. Hence the touching expressions, "He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake." This is a different exercise of the Shepherd's care from that of making to lie down in green pastures and leading beside still waters. It is recovery, in gracious love, when these have been departed from; and it affords the most affecting acquaintance with the grace of the heart of the Lord. When thus restored, the soul may add, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

I would like now to turn to Ezekiel once more, to see the elaborate care that God takes, by His Spirit, to make all this plain and certain for the faith of His ancient people. I am going to ask you to look at the close of this prophecy, a little in detail, because it is exceedingly interesting. Let us look at the 34th chapter, and you will read, "For thus says the Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks 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" (Ezek. 34:11-12). Oh what a cloudy and dark day has Israel known, for over two thousand five hundred years, but if I could only speak to those twelve tribes, I would say, There is a good time coming for you — there is at hand a moment when the Lord will redeem this wonderful statement on His part. "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. I will feed them in a good pasture. [Oh, friends, God is a wonderful God.] And upon 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. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost" — blessed be His name — "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" (verses 13-16). God will break down and judge the guilty in Israel, just as He does the Gentile. You will find that God will break you down, hardy sinner that you are, very soon, if you are not brought to repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, in the midst of beautiful promises, I find God saying, "I will destroy the fat and the strong." I know perfectly well that expositors want to apply these scriptures to Christians. Nay, they do not belong to us. I do not object to the application of a scripture, but I want the meaning, and interpretation, of those blessed, and beautiful promises, which are to me exquisitely lovely.

She desires refreshment and nourishment directly from Himself. "Tell me … where thou feedest thy flock?" She goes not to the shepherds of Israel, who cared more for the fleece than the flock; but to the chief Shepherd Himself. She had been brought to Him as King, now she appeals to Him as Shepherd. like David of old, He is the Shepherd-King; and oh! how graciously, lovingly, and tenderly, will He yet gather the now scattered sheep of Israel. Nothing can exceed the grace and beauty of the following verses. "For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks 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. 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 on the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country; I will feed them in good pasture, and upon 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. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. 36)