Ezekiel 34
Firstly, after the 33rd chapter, telling of individual responsibility before God, comes this one on the responsibility of the leaders and caretakers of His flock. Who of the kings of Israel and Judah had walked in David’s footsteps? With notable exceptions, they lived to please themselves, and cared little for the flock of God. That David sinned, and very grievously, too (and reaped of his sowing), is well-known, but comparing his course as a whole with his successors’, the contrast is not, in general, to their credit. (See 2 Samuel 24:1717And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. (2 Samuel 24:17); 1 Kings 9:44And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: (1 Kings 9:4) and 11:4-6; 2 Chronicles 12:1; 21:5, 6; 28:1-4; 33:1-9; 30:11-131And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. (2 Chronicles 12:1)
5Jehoram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab: for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife: and he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 21:5‑6)
1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: 2For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 4He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. (2 Chronicles 28:1‑4)
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: 2But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 7And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. 9So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 33:1‑9)
11Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. 12Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord. 13And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. (2 Chronicles 30:11‑13), telling of some of the kings of Judah).
Of the kings of Israel (the ten tribes), not one feared God; Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:20-3320And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. 21And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. 22But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, 23Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 24Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord. 25Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 26And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 31And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. 32And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. 33So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. (1 Kings 12:20‑33) and 13: 33, 34), and Ahab (1 Kings 16:30-3330And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. 31And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. (1 Kings 16:30‑33)) were outstanding among them as leaders in iniquity.
More wicked, however, will be the shepherds of the last days, just before the Lord’s appearing and kingdom.
Ezekiel was therefore directed to prophesy against the shepherds (rulers) of Israel who feed themselves, eat the fat and clothe themselves with the wool, killing the fattened sheep and neglecting to feed the flock (verses 2 and 3). Their whole course lay exposed before God: the weak they have not strengthened; they have not healed the sick, nor bound up what was broken, nor brought again what was driven away, nor sought for, what was lost; with harshness and with rigor they have ruled over the flock (verse 4).
As to the flock: they were scattered because there was no shepherd; they became meat to all the beasts of the field. Jehovah’s sheep wandered through all the mountains, were scattered upon all the face of the earth, and there was none that searched or that sought for them (verses 5 and 6). The language is figurative and looks on to the last days. The shepherds will then be held to account, and the sheep will be delivered from them by God (verse 10).
Verses 11 to 16 tell of the coming gathering of all Israel again in their own land, not in unbelief, as is the case with the Jews who have been and are returning to Palestine in our times. Then the blessed God, — “I, even I”, He says in the touching language of verses 11 to 13— “will both-search for My sheep, and tend them. As a shepherd tendeth his flock in the day that he is among his scattered sheep, so will I tend My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries; will bring them to their own land, and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the water courses, and in all the habitable places of the country.”
And as if this were not enough of grace to the undeserving recipients of divine favor, verses 14 to 16 tell yet more of God’s unfailing purpose to bless Israel.
Necessarily, judgment will in that day overtake the “fat” and the “strong”—those who have enriched or strengthened themselves at the expense of the flock. Nor are all the oppressors shepherds or rulers, as verses 17 to 22 make plain. “Between cattle and cattle” in verse 17 means, as the marginal note shows, “between sheep and sheep”; in verses 20 and 22, likewise, sheep are referred to, rather than cattle. All the children of Israel are sheep in the figure used here of a flock belonging to God, but some of them will be dealt with on account of their ill treatment of their fellows.
Verses 23 to 31 introduce the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd of the royal line of David, who will feed His flock. A fresh and lovely picture is afforded of the thousand years of blessing on earth following which the history of this present world will close. It will be noted that there is no mention here of the Lord’s humiliation, as in Isaiah, for example; the reason is that in Ezekiel the whole of the twelve tribes are in view; the ten were not guilty of the rejection of their Messiah, as were the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Nor is the Messiah’s being Jehovah presented in Ezekiel’s prophecies for the reason that His humiliation is not mentioned.
God will make with Israel a covenant of peace; evil beasts shall cease in the land, and the people shall dwell in safety in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Jerusalem (“My hill”) will be the center of blessing on earth, with Israel dwelling in God’s special favor. A “plant of renown” will God raise up for His people, even the Lord Jesus. The reproach of the Jew will be gone forever then (verses 25 to 29).
Israel (the believing and blest remnant) will know that Jehovah their God is with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are His people, God’s flock, the flock of His pasture; they are men, and He is their God. What grace is this that God will thus work in the scenes of man’s rebellion and the rejection of His Son!
Yet is there far richer blessing in store for those who give heed to the present message of grace to Jew and Gentile.
ML 01/26/1936