The Good Shepherd

Series on Ezekiel

II. The Foreign Nations

E. The Flock and the Shepherd, Text: 34: 1-31

Title: The Good Shepherd

Introduction

God is preparing the people for what He is going to do. The fullness of the vision will be introduced in chap.40, but already He is preparing them and giving indications of spiritual revival, and intimations of their return to Him. In 36:24-27 He reveals to his people in exile that he is going to bring new life, For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. But in this chapter He is describing the failure of the shepherds of Israel as a reason why He must intervene. in chapter 35 He reminds them of their helplessness before their enemies which is also a reason why He must intervene. Consider then in this chapter first of all crooked shepherds, contrasted with a covenant God who keeps his Word, and finally with completed promises.

I Crooked Shepherds

God’s shepherds were appointed to lead Israel in accord with God’s Word Joshua 1:7-9. Although God is the chief shepherd he appoints under-shepherds. There are three offices, all of which constitute the shepherds of Israel. They are the prophets, the priests and the kings. Priests taught the law, prophets called people back to the law and gave promises and threatnings, kings enforced the law. The law is the will of God. The law is holy just and good. The law is the foundation of the covenant. It is the law to which God binds his people by his grace. He saves them from Egypt so they can keep his law. He redeems them from their sins so that they can keep his law. From the days of Elijah until the time of Jeremiah there were false prophets, from the days of Eli there were false priests, and from the days of Saul there were false kings. This failure is described here in 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: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.’” It is also mentioned in Micah 3:9-12, Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD and say, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us.” Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, This passage reminds us of Christ’s concern for the lost sheep. In Mark 6 at the feeding of the 5000 Jesus landed on the shore, and seeing a large crowd, He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began to teach them many things.

II Covenant God

This whole situation was anticipated by God in verses 7-16, Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.” For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. God who is the shepherd of Israel will replace the false shepherds with Himself. This is why Jesus came and said in John 10 that he was the good shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. In Isaiah 40:10 God also says He will be their shepherd. In this passage we see Him seeking the lost as in Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep and the ninety and nine safe in the fold in Luke 15: 3-7. He will gather them and give them good pasture as David writes in Psalm 23. He will minister justice to the needy as in Hannah’s song in I Samuel 2:8, The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. Now at the darkest moment he announces again that he is their shepherd.

III Completed Promises

How will God be the shepherd of his people? The answer is simple; by being their Savior and Judge. He is revealed as judge in verse 17, As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Jesus speaks of fulfilling this in Matthew 25:31-33, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. This is a dividing between the fat sheep who have been favored by the evil shepherds and the lean sheep who have been neglected and starved; between those who have been getting fat on the rewards of evil and those who have been persecuted. The second means of God being their shepherd is being their Savior. In verses 23 and 24 He sets over them one shepherd, David, and this is Jesus who sits on David’s throne as promised in II Samuel 7, I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. In the New Testament Jesus is repeatedly identified as the son of David as in Matthew 1:1 and Romans 1:1-3. God also makes a covenant of peace, the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 in verses 25-29, I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts so that they may live in the desert and sleep in the forests in safety. I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. And finally in verses 30 and 31 they will know that He is the Lord and there is no other, Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.

Conclusion

We see the fulfillment in Christ, the fullness of God’s mercy. Why then are so many still following false shepherds? II Peter 2: 1-3 reminds us, But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.