Chapter Thirty-Four

Yahweh — the True Shepherd in the New Kingdom of Israel

Chapter XXXIII showed what the people themselves can and should do for the coming of salvation and the kingdom of God on earth. Now begins the depiction of what God will do for this (and He will do almost everything Himself) and this depiction opens with a description of the social order of the new kingdom of Israel. The former shepherds (kings and other leaders of the nation’s life) of Israel proved to be selfish shepherds and their poor governance brought destruction upon the people (vv. 1–10). Therefore the Lord will take His flock into His own care; He will restore it first of all to its land, where it will find abundant pasture (vv. 11–16), in order to eliminate the renewed oppression of the weak by the strong. God will distinguish in the flock the stubborn rams and protect the weak sheep from them (vv. 17–22). A descendant of David will shepherd the flock in a fertile land, in safety from enemies and wild beasts, in blessed faithfulness to God (vv. 22–31). The chapter is close to Jer 23:1-8, but in it the work of salvation is presented more as the work of God alone, as a result of which the figure of the Messiah is not so prominent.

Ezekiel 34:1. And the word of the Lord came to me: There is no date, consequently the time should be placed between year 12 (Ezek 33:21) and year 25 (Ezek 40:1) of the captivity; so too for the whole series of speeches until chapter XI.

Ezekiel 34:2. Son of man! prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? The image of the shepherd for a king, a prophet, and any leader of the nation’s life, which the prophet here means (chiefly of the last time of the Judean kingdom and the post-captivity period), although already encountered in Hos 13:6; 1 Sam 22:17; Isa 40:11 and even explained earlier by commentators by the circumstance that David was a shepherd before his reign, in the prophetic literature became common from Jeremiah (Jer.13 and many other Zech 10:3 and others John 10:1) under the influence, perhaps, of Assyro-Babylonian usage in cuneiform script reetu, pey (cf. Hebrew rov), shepherd, written with a monogram and borrowed by the Assyrians probably from the Akkadians, and from them perhaps from their predecessors, — a common designation for any ruler (so called for instance Neriglissor); the full royal title was reu kenu, faithful, wise shepherd (Sanh. I, 8. Del. S. — Wort. 602); Berossus recounts that the first king in the world, Alorus, received from the Deity the title of shepherd (cf. Iliod. II, 243. Cyrop. VIII, 2, 13). — “Woe,” Slavonic “alas,” Greek ω, Vulgate. vae. Cf. Matt 23. “Should not the shepherds feed the flock,” for that they exist.

Ezekiel 34:3. You eat the milk and dress yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the flock. “Milk.” The LXX accent galab as geleb, “milk,” which is more suitable, because “fat” which can be supplied not by all livestock, is discussed further (moreover Zech 11:16). — “And you dress yourselves with the wool.” You maintain yourselves at the flock’s expense, receiving from it food (milk according to the LXX) and clothing, and you do not fulfill your obligations toward it. — “And you slaughter the choice animals.” Not satisfied with legal rights (milk and wool), you do not stop at anything for your advantage — and at murder (perhaps the execution of the rich for confiscation). — “But you do not feed the flock” — explained in the next verse.

Ezekiel 34:4. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, and the lost you have not sought, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. “And the strayed you have not brought back and the lost you have not sought.” The LXX more naturally: “and the wandering you did not turn back and the perished you did not seek.” A strayed sheep for the Bedouin living in the desert was the same as a lost one. This is not how the Good Shepherd acts, who “takes the wandering, especially the lost one on his shoulders, brings it to the Father”; cf. Luke 15:4. — “And with force and harshness you have ruled them” according to the LXX better: “and the strong you have oppressed with labor...,” which preserves the parallelism well (v. 16). Cf. Zech 11:16; 1 Pet 5:3.

Ezekiel 34:5. And they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for every wild beast of the field. As a result of the poor rule of the kings and poor leadership of the nation’s life by persons called to it, the kingdom fell, the people were scattered in captivity (“scattered”) and became prey to the heathen (“every wild beast of the field”).

Ezekiel 34:6. My sheep have wandered over every mountain and on every high hill; My sheep have been scattered over all the face of the earth, and no one searched for them or sought for them. “My sheep,” God’s, which intensifies the guilt of the shepherds. However the entire passage is pervaded more by deep sorrow for the sheep than by indignation at the shepherds, already in part suffering the punishment. — “Over every mountain and on every high hill.” The thought of idolatry on the high places shines through. — “Over all the face of the earth they were scattered” — prophetic past tense.

Ezekiel 34:7. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Until v. 10, judgment is proclaimed to the shepherds, to which this verse serves as an introduction.

Ezekiel 34:8. As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely because My sheep have become a prey, and My sheep have become food for every wild beast, because there was no shepherd, neither did My shepherds search for My sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My sheep, Before the proclamation of judgment the prophet, as customary, summarizes the guilt of the shepherds. — “My shepherds.” “My” is absent in the LXX.

Ezekiel 34:9. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. A literal repetition of v. 7, caused by the deviation in v. 8.

Ezekiel 34:10. Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep from their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves, and I will rescue My sheep from their mouth, and they shall not be food for them. The judgment consists only of the removal of the shepherds from their duties (mildness). — “And I will require My sheep from their hand.” I will demand an accounting for them (cf. Heb 13:17) and will take them away, as from negligent ones. — “And I will rescue My sheep from their mouth.” In v. 8 only wild beasts are named as destroyers of the sheep; here the shepherds themselves are indicated as such, so they are therefore for the sheep no better than wild beasts. — One could think, on the basis of the prophet’s words, that the people even in captivity remains under the care of the former shepherds, but the prophet speaks only of the fact that the former conditions of existence under the restoration of Israel will not be repeated.

Ezekiel 34:11. For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and will care for them. “Behold, I Myself will search” — literally “Behold I — and I will require.” Yahweh now comes forward as a shepherd, and this appearing of Him is indicated by a brief and energetic “Behold, I,” cf. v. 20. — “I will search for My sheep and will care for them” — Slavonic: “As a shepherd visits his flock... I will require My sheep.” I will ascertain whether they are all there and where they have been scattered. Cf. the saying of the Savior: “I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24 and others); also Isa 40:11; Zech 10:3.

Ezekiel 34:12. As a shepherd checks his flock on the day when it is scattered among his flock, so I will check My sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on the day of cloud and gloom. “On that day” – Slavonic adds: “when it is cloudy and dark” – a doublet at the end of the verse. – “Scattered” – translation following the Vulgate of the Hebrew word meaning “separated.” – “On the day of cloud and gloom” see the explanation Ezek 30:3. The verse, like those following, points chiefly to the liberation of the Jews from Babylonian captivity, in a broader sense – to the spiritual Israel, and in an eschatological sense to the final destinies of Israel, when he “will wholly be saved” according to the Apostle Paul.

Ezekiel 34:13. And I will lead them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them to their land, and pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and in all the inhabited places of the land. “And I will lead them out from the peoples”, as once from Egypt. – “By the streams” – also the Hebrew word “apik”, which in Ezek 6:3 was translated “ravines”, see the explanation there; Slavonic “in the gorges.”

Ezekiel 34:14. I will pasture them in good pasture, and their fold will be on the high mountains of Israel; there they will rest in good fold and will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. Ezekiel 34:15. I will pasture My sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. See the explanation of verse 12.

Ezekiel 34:16. I will seek the lost and bring back the driven away, and bind up the wounded, and strengthen the sick; and the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will pasture them with justice. The Lord Himself will do with respect to the flock what He demanded of shepherds: verse 4; see the explanation there; here is added: “and the fat and the strong I will destroy”, the reason for which is explained in verses 18 and 19. The LXX, Peshitta, and Vulgate read instead of “I will destroy” (eshmore), “I will preserve” (ashmid), Slavonic: “I will supply” (“and the strong” the LXX omit, the Vulgate has “fortem”); this reading is defended by the reasoning: it would be a strange way to pasture a flock by destroying unsuccessful sheep; but this reasoning is countered: God is not an ordinary shepherd; the Hebrew idea serves as a good transition to the following verses and connects with the following remark: “I will pasture them with justice”, Slavonic more precisely: “I will feed them with judgment”, which, see verse 20.

Ezekiel 34:17. And you, My sheep, – thus says the Lord God, – behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, between a ram and a goat. “So far bad shepherds were contrasted with the Good One. Now that the Shepherd is good, the contrast emerges between the sheep themselves. It has not been considered until now because bad shepherds did not distinguish between obedient and stubborn animals” (Bertholet). Only the Good Shepherd – Jehovah will judge between them. Comparison with Matt 25:32 suggests itself naturally. – “By a ram and a goat” a closer specification of “sheep and sheep.”

Ezekiel 34:18. Is it not enough that you feed on good pasture, but you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet; and you drink clear water, but you also muddy the rest with your feet, Ezekiel 34:19. so that My sheep must feed on what you have trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? As kings, princes, and other leaders of the people’s life treat the people, so in the people itself, following the example given from above, the stronger treat the weaker. Strong sheep are not satisfied that, being in a condition to reach the pasture and water earlier, they enjoy the better grass and unturbid water (“you drink clear water”; Slavonic more precisely: “you drank settled water”), but, having been satiated and drunk, they remain on the pasture and watering place and trample them.

Ezekiel 34:20. Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. The original contrast between the meek and the stubborn sheep here passes into a contrast between the fat and the lean, and so Judaism as well as Christianity was an enemy of wealth and in itself, irrespective of the way it was acquired (“the mammon of unrighteousness,” “blessed the poor” without “in spirit” in Luke’s account in some manuscripts). A social question is touched upon.

Ezekiel 34:21. Since you thrust with flank and shoulder, and butt with your horns all the weak, until you drive them away, Ezekiel 34:22. I will save My sheep, and they will no longer be plundered, and I will judge between sheep and sheep. The flock, it seems, is taken not at the watering place now, but in its stall and fold. – “Until you drive them away.” An indication of captivity, the guilty parties of which, that is, the destruction of the kingdom, the prophet thus considers the higher levels of society.

Ezekiel 34:23. And I will set up over them one shepherd, who will feed them, My servant David; he will feed them and he will be their shepherd. Since God is one, He will give them instead of the two kings previously in Israel and instead of the multitude of bad shepherds one shepherd, who will be a faithful executor of God’s will and designs (“My servant”; this is said, besides David, also of Nebuchadnezzar in a different, of course, sense; Jer 25:9 and others) namely David, not a risen (Hebrew indicative verb “kum” – to stand, to arise) ancestor (Hitzig and a few others), but David in the sense given to this word already by Hos 3:5 (Ezek 2:2; cf. Mal 3:2-3), that descendant of David, with whom his line will reach its apex, its greatness, in whom will be to the greatest degree everything that in David was partial and imperfect, that is, the Messiah; Ezekiel could have had in mind Jer 23. Thus, having promised earlier (verse 15) to pasture the sheep Himself, God now determines more precisely how this His direct pasturing will occur: through David, the Messiah, whose governance of Israel is thus not distinguished from God’s governance (the divinity of the Messiah).

Ezekiel 34:24. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it. Only under such governance and leadership as the governance of David, that is, the Messiah, who cannot stand, like the former kings, in enmity with God, will God reveal Himself to Israel in the fullness of His being and be honored “in spirit and in truth” (“I will be their God”). – “Prince”, nasi, not “king”, melek, as in Ezek 37:22, perhaps to contrast the Messiah with ordinary kings, to indicate the spirituality and freedom of His power; however, in Ezekiel these words are nearly synonymous.

Ezekiel 34:25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them and remove the wild beasts from the land, so that they will dwell safely in the steppe and sleep in the forests. Ezekiel evidently has in mind Hos 2:18 and following. – “With them.” LXX: “With David.” – “A covenant of peace” – peace with God, and through it with all nature. – “Remove the wild beasts from the land.” The prophet perhaps has chiefly in mind his own comparison of Israel with a flock, which under a true shepherd will not be harmed by the wild beast, that is, the neighboring pagan peoples (cf. verse 28). But by analogy with Isa 11:6; Zech 3:10 there may be intended the change of the instincts of the very wild beasts promised in messianic times, which has not yet occurred. – “In the steppe” and “in the forests” – the usual haunts of wild beasts.

Ezekiel 34:26. And I will bestow a blessing upon them and the vicinity of My hill, and I will send down rain in its season; these will be rains of blessing. The new relationship between God and Israel will extend to inanimate (not merely animate, as in verse 25: wild beasts) nature, imparting to it extraordinary fruitfulness; since the latter in Palestine depended entirely on rain, it is about rain that the discourse is directly. – “My hill”, that is, Zion, collectively – Jerusalem with its temple, which according to chapter XLVII will in some mysterious way (see the explanation there) determine the fertility of the future (mysterious) promised land by the river flowing from it.

Ezekiel 34:27. And the field tree will yield its fruit, and the land will give its produce; and they will be safe on their land, and will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bonds of their yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. Cf. Lev 25:18-19. – “Safe” – Slavonic “in hope of peace.” – “Break the bonds of their yoke.” Israel is thought of under the image of a yoked animal. The yoke consisted, as now, of two parts fastened by a crossbar. – “Deliver them from the hand of their enslavers.” More immediately is meant the deliverance from the Chaldean yoke.

Ezekiel 34:28. They will no longer be a prey to the nations, nor will the wild beasts of the field devour them; they will dwell safely, and none will make them afraid. Ezekiel 34:29. And I will raise up for them a glorious plantation, and they will not perish from hunger on the land anymore, nor bear the reproach of the nations. “The wild beasts of the field”, perhaps a synonym for “nations.” – “A glorious plantation.” May mean all the vegetation of the land, which according to Ezek 36:35 will become a true paradise. But the expression reminds of and the frequent representation among the prophets (Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5; cf. Ezek 17:22) of the Messiah under the image of a branch; such understanding is favored by the verb used here, more accurately rendered not as “I will raise up”, but as the LXX: “I will restore”, and the LXX reading: “a peaceful garden” (read shalom, peace, instead of leshem, for the sake of, glorious). “And they will not then be few in number on the earth” – only in the Slavonic Bible. – “Not perish from hunger on the land”, especially frequent during the constant destructive wars the Hebrews had with their neighbors (confirmation for the “peaceful” of the LXX); in general, Canaan was distinguished by its fertility. – “Reproach” for poverty reaching to hunger.

Ezekiel 34:30. And they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God, God will reveal Himself as the God of Israel. If the very land is thus blessed by Him, then much more so the people.

Ezekiel 34:31. and you are My sheep, the sheep of My pasture; you are people, and I am your God, says the Lord God. The discourse returns to the fundamental thought of the chapter – the image of the shepherd, left for a time. – “Sheep of My pasture” sounds warmer than the earlier “My sheep” (verses 6 and others). – “You are people” can give only the thought that by human strength all that is promised would, of course, be impossible to accomplish, but God promises it, and in this lies the assurance of its accomplishment. But such a thought disturbs the course of the verse and therefore the LXX is probably right in not reading it.