The Good Shepherd

I. Introduction

Ezekiel 34.

Setting:

Ezekiel 1-33 is about judgement and culminates in the fall of Jerusalem and the death of Ezekiel’s wife in Ezek 24:15-27.

A refugee from Jerusalem arrives to bring the news to Ezekiel in Ezek 33:21-22, and he is no longer mute.

Immediately following the news of the destruction of the temple, The tone of the book shifts.

Ezek 34-48 are characterized by themes of restoration and hope, much as is the last third of Isaiah (40-66).

Structure

Vs 1-6, Indictment of Israel’s leaders for sins associated with their leadership.

Vs 7-10, God passes judgment on the leaders of Israel.

Vs 11-16, God himself will shepherd his flock.

Vs 17-21, God indicts the elite among the people for not caring for the poor.

Vs 22-31, The Messianic King will usher in a renewed covenant of peace and fellowship between God and His people.

II. Body

Ezekiel 34:1–6 “The word of the Lord came to me: “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? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.”

We tend to think of “shepherds” as reflecting a priestly role.

“Shepherd” is the normal translation of the Greek word that the church took over to mean “Pastor.”

Poimēn (ποιμήν). 18x

However, in the OT, and in the Middle Eastern context, a King is much more likely to be referred to as a “shepherd” of his people.

The sheep are the people, and they belong to the gods.

The kings are called upon to govern, protect, and provide for the people as a shepherd.

The ideology of the king as a shepherd to his people is found with Lugalzagessi of Sumer as early as around 2450 b.c. The contemporary king Urukagina of Lagash claimed that the god Ningirsu owned his state and that the king had been chosen as a shepherd to administer the city on behalf of the gods and the people.

Pharaohs are always pictured holding a crook and a whip, the tools of an Egyptian shepherd.

“Hammurabi, the shepherd, called by Enlil, am I; the one who makes affluence and plenty abound…”

Babylonian kings are often called “shepherds” of the people.

Foreign people who lie outside of the Babylonian king’s “care” are often called “sheep without a shepherd.”

Not that they don’t have a king, but that they don’t have the “great king” that the Babylonians enjoy.

The indictment of Israel’s leaders, King Zedekiah, is even sharper in Hebrew.

The noun “shepherd” is the same word as the verbal phrase “to feed sheep.”

To be a shepherd is to feed the sheep. If you’re feeding sheep, you are a shepherd.

To be a shepherd and not to feed the sheep is an a nonsense idea in Hebrew.

In Vs 3, Israel’s shepherds were willing to take the pay of a shepherd (food, wool) but not willing to do the work of a shepherd.

Vs 4 lists a very specific list of ailments to which sheep are prone.

Weak, Sick, Injured, Strayed, Lost.

This is the same list that God undertakes to care for in 34:16, but in reverse order.

Vs 5-6. God’s sheep are scattered for lack of a shepherd.

We think of the exile, but the Babylonian cultural context may also be in play.

They have an earthly king, but they are not ruled by the King of Kings, and so they are suffering.

In either case, Zedekiah is in view as a worthless shepherd.

Jeremiah 50:6 ““My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold.”

Zechariah 11:15–17 “Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!””

Ezekiel 34:7–10 ““Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.”

God declares a judgment against Zedekiah and his royal family and court.

Repeats the same themes as the previous paragraph, with the addition of “wild beasts.”

A symbol of foreign nations attacking Judah.

This stress will not exist in the Messianic Kingdom age (vs 25).

The presence or absence of wild beasts in the land is a component of covenant blessings and curses

Leviticus 26:6 “I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.”

God declares his opposition to the current Davidic King in Jerusalem and his doom upon them in vs 9-10.

Ezekiel 34:11–16 ““For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 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. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

God takes responsibility for caring for his people back from the King, who is judged.

“I will” 12 times in this paragraph.

In the chapter that immediately follows the news of Jerusalem’s fall reaching Ezekiel in Babylon, God is immediately talking about regathering and restoring them.

Echos of the same ideas as “God as Shepherd” that come from Psalm 23 “A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

There is no need for a mediated care for God’s people. He will do it himself.

Ezekiel 34:17–22 ““As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.”

This idea actually starts in vs 16.

Not just Zedekiah and the royal family, but all the nobles of Israel are guilty of preying upon the people.

Noble families are portrayed as the “Rams and male goats” and “fat sheep.”

Their abuses:

They consume the best and mess up what’s left for others (vs 18-19).

They abuse and neglect the poor (vs 21).

(vs 22) God will step in and save the poor and helpless from those in power who have abused them.

Ezekiel 34:23–31 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD. 31 And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.”

Paragraph breaking is odd in the ESV.

Similar promises:

Isaiah 40:11 “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Jeremiah 23:3 “Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.”

Different views:

Some Jewish commentators see God as the shepherd (vs 11) operating through a Davidic heir who regains the throne.

Some Christians see God the Son, Jesus, as King of the whole world and a resurrected David as regional “prince” over Israel.

Most common view: “David” is a stand-in for the Davidic dynasty, lost with Zedekiah, and only recovered in Christ as Messiah.

The Messianic blessings will occur when God, the divine shepherd (vs 11) reigns on earth as a Davidic King (vs 23).

The “Covenant of peace”

Peace: Shalom

Wholeness, things as they ought to be.

Sleep in the woods—camping!

“Showers of blessings.” As the rain causes the crops to grow, so God’s presence causes his people to flourish in safety.

“renowned plantations.” Odd Hebrew. Maybe a reference to:

Isaiah 60:21 “Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.”

Isaiah 61:3 “to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.”

Where We See Jesus

When Jesus calls himself the “Good Shepherd,” then, He is not only claiming to love and care for His people. He is claiming to be Israel’s King.

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Just as God indicted the end of the Davidic dynasty for robbing from the sheep (getting paid without working), so Jesus echos that indictment.

John 10:8–10 “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Ezekiel called the sheep of Israel “sheep without a shepherd” because they had bad leadership, leadership that was God God’s, so Jesus sees Israel of his day the same way.

John 10:16 “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Matthew 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Whether because they do not have an effective King at all or because they are not under God’s leadership in faith, the condition of both Jews and Gentiles will be remedied when Christ rules as King.

1 Peter 2:25 “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

God pledges to search for His sheep (34:11), and Jesus does the same.

Luke 15:4–5 ““What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.””

God promises to judge on behalf of the sick, injured, weak, and lost. So does Jesus.

Matthew 25:32–36 “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”

The final blessing of wholeness promised here will only be realized when Jesus reigns on earth.

Revelation 7:17 “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.””

III. Conclusion/Application

Are we expecting too much of our earthly government/leaders?

They can’t be perfectly just and righteous.

They won’t solve all of our problems.

God desires righteousness and justice from His people, especially those in leadership.

God alone is the source of peace and wholeness, now in this broken age, and eventually perfectly in the new creation.