Ezekiel 34:17 - Meaning and Application

The prophet has no more to say to the shepherds. Now he has a message for the flock. God told him to speak gently to them and assure them of the mercy kept for them. But here he must make a difference among them, set apart the precious from the worthless, and then give them a promise of the Messiah, the promised anointed King, by whom this difference would be fully shown.

This would begin partly at Christ’s first coming, for he came into the world for judgment too (John 9:39). He came to fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty (Luke 1:53). It would be completed at his second coming, when he will judge between one animal and another, just as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. Then he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left (Matthew 25:32-33), which seems to point to this passage.

We first hear a word of warning to the fat and strong ones in the flock, the rams and the he-goats (Ezekiel 34:17). These are people who had no official power as shepherds or rulers, but they used their wealth to press down on poor neighbors. Those who have much often want more, and if they choose to act that way, they have many ways to take advantage of the weak. They can squeeze the poor, like David’s rich man who took the poor man’s ewe lamb (2 Samuel 12:4). James asks, “Do not the rich oppress the poor?” (James 2:6). Poor servants and tenants often suffer badly under rich masters and landlords.

These rams and he-goats did more than keep the best pasture for themselves and eat the fat and drink the sweet. They would not let the poor of the flock enjoy even the little that was left. They trampled the rest of the pasture and muddied the rest of the water, so the flock had to eat what was mixed with dirt and drink what was made filthy (Ezekiel 34:18-19). This shows that the great men not only used extortion and oppression to keep their neighbors poor, but also made life miserable for them. Even the little they had was made bitter. And they thought nothing was wrong with it, as if their rank gave them the right to harm others.

Many people who live in luxury and comfort do not care how badly those around them are forced to live, as long as everything suits themselves. The comfortable and the proud often resent anyone else living near them with any ease. But that was not all. They did not only rob the poor to make them poorer, they also troubled the sick and weak in the flock (Ezekiel 34:21). They shoved the feeble with side and shoulder, because the weakest are the ones most easily pushed aside. They butted the diseased with their horns, because they knew they could overpower them when they would not dare attack an equal.

People have noticed that if one sheep in a flock is sick and weak, the rest will protect it as well as they can and shelter it from the hot sun. These, by contrast, treated the sick the worst. Those they could not use for themselves, they tried to drive out of the land. They scattered them, as if the poor, whom Christ says we will always have with us, were a public nuisance, not people to help but people to send away. It is a cruel thing to add pain to the suffering.

These rams and he-goats may also stand for the scribes and Pharisees, the religious teachers of Jesus’ day, since they were such troublers of the church that Christ himself had to come deliver it from them (Ezekiel 34:23). They swallowed widows’ houses, took away the key of knowledge, spoiled the pure water of God’s truth, and burdened people’s consciences with the traditions of the elders. They also kept troubling and hurting the poor of the flock who waited for the Lord (Zechariah 11:11). It is no new thing for God’s flock to suffer much harm from people who are themselves in the flock and even hold high positions in it (Acts 20:30).

Then comes comfort for the poor and weak in the flock, those who wait for the consolation of Israel (Ezekiel 34:22). “I will save my flock,” God says, “and they will no longer be plundered as they have been by wild beasts, by their own shepherds, or by the rams and he-goats among them.” As often happens in the prophets, this promise brings in a prophecy of the Messiah and the setting up of his kingdom, along with the great blessings the church would enjoy under his care and rule.

About the Messiah himself, God says, he will receive his commission from God alone. “I will set him up” (Ezekiel 34:23). “I will raise him up” (Ezekiel 34:29). God consecrated him, sealed him, appointed him, and anointed him. He will be the great Shepherd of the sheep, doing for his flock what no one else could do. He is the one Shepherd under whom Jews and Gentiles would become one flock. He is God’s servant, sent by God and working for God, obeying God’s will and aiming at his glory. He serves to re-establish God’s kingdom among people and advance its good.

He is David, the one after God’s own heart, set as King on Zion, the holy hill, and made the chief cornerstone. With him the covenant of royal rule is made, and God will give him the throne of his father David. He is both the root and the descendant of David. He is the plant of renown, because he is the righteous Branch (Jeremiah 23:5), the Branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious (Isaiah 4:2). He has a name above every name and a throne above every throne, so he rightly deserves this title of honor. Some take this to mean the church, the planting of the Lord (Isaiah 61:3). Its name will be remembered (Psalm 45:17), and Christ’s name will be honored in it.

Then comes the great covenant, the charter by which the Messiah’s kingdom would be established and united (Ezekiel 34:25). God says, “I will make with them a covenant of peace.” The covenant of grace, God’s saving agreement with his people, is a covenant of peace. In it God is at peace with us, speaks peace to us, and assures us of peace, meaning every good thing needed to make us truly happy. The heart of this covenant is: “I the Lord will be their God, a God fully enough for them” (Ezekiel 34:24). He will claim them as his own, and they will own him as their God. To bring this about, “my servant David” will be a prince among them, to bring them back to their duty, receive their honor, and rule over them, within them, and for them.

Only those who have the Lord Jesus as their prince have the Lord Jehovah as their God. And then they, even the house of Israel, will be his people. If we take God to be our God, he will take us to be his people.

From this covenant between God and Israel comes close fellowship: “I the Lord their God am with them, to speak with them, and they shall know it and take comfort in it.”

This leads to the privileges of those who are faithful subjects of the Messiah’s kingdom and share in the covenant of peace. Ezekiel describes these blessings in picture language, as the blessings of a flock. But Ezekiel 34:31 gives the key, these sheep are really people, people who have the Lord as their God and are in covenant with him.

First, they will enjoy holy safety under God’s protection. Christ, our good Shepherd, has driven away the evil beasts (Ezekiel 34:25), because he has defeated all our spiritual enemies, broken their power, and triumphed over them. The roaring lion is no longer a devouring lion to them. They will no longer be prey for the nations, nor will the nations be a terror to them. Sin, Satan, death, and hell are conquered.

So they will live safely, not only in the folds, but also in the fields, in the wilderness, and in the woods, where wild beasts usually threaten. They will not only live there, but even sleep there. That means there will be no real danger, and their consciences, cleansed and calmed, will not even fear danger. They will be safe from harm and also free from the fear of harm. Those can lie down and sleep in peace who have Christ as their ruler, because he will protect them and make them dwell in safety.

No one will hurt them, and no one will make them afraid. If God is for us, who can be against us? Therefore we need not fear, even if the earth is moved. Through Christ, God delivers his people not only from what they have reason to fear, but also from the fear itself, even from the fear of death and from all fear that brings torment. This safety from evil is promised again in Ezekiel 34:27: they will be safe in their land, with no danger of invasion or slavery, even though their great abundance might tempt nearby nations to want their land. What will make them feel safe is their trust in God’s wisdom, power, and goodness: “They shall know that I am the Lord.”

Many of our troubling fears come from not knowing God rightly, or from wrong ideas about him. Their own experience of his special care will strengthen their trust in him: “I have broken the bands of their yoke,” the yoke that had held them down under oppression, “and have delivered them from those who made use of them.” So they will reason, “The one who has delivered us does deliver us, and will continue to deliver us, so we will dwell safely.” Luke 1:74 explains and applies this to our gospel life, that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, as those who serve him in faith.

Second, they will enjoy spiritual fullness of every good thing, the best things, for comfort and happiness. “They shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land” (Ezekiel 34:29). When Israel was judged with famine and scarcity, that brought shame among the nations, because the fruitfulness of Canaan was so well known. But now they will no longer bear that shame.

The showers will fall in their proper season, even showers of blessing (Ezekiel 34:26). Christ is a Shepherd who will feed his people, and they will come and go and find pasture. They will not be consumed with hunger, because they will not be left with the world as their only portion. The world is not bread, it does not satisfy, and it leaves those who cling to it still hungry. The rites of the ceremonial law are called weak, poor things, because they offered so little compared with the richer gifts of the gospel, where the mower fills his hand and the binder his bosom. Those who hunger and thirst for what is right will not be left hungry, because they will be filled. And the one who drinks the water Christ gives, the still waters by which he leads his sheep, will never thirst.

Showers of blessing will come on them (Ezekiel 34:26, Ezekiel 34:27). The heavens will give their dew, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit. The place of this fullness is God’s hill, his holy hill of Zion, for on that mountain, in the gospel church, God has prepared a feast for all nations. Those who want to share in gospel blessings must join themselves to that place. The cause of this fullness is the showers that come in their season, falling on the mountains of Zion: the grace of Christ, his teaching that drops like dew, and the graces and comforts of his Spirit, by which we become fruitful in righteous living.

The signs of this fullness are the blessings poured down from heaven and the fruit produced in us, our joy in God’s favor and God’s glory in our fruitfulness. This fullness reaches far, to all the places around my hill, because from Zion the law will go out, and from Zion light will go to a dark world, like a river watering a dry and desert world. Everyone near Zion will benefit from it, and the closer the church is, the closer God is.

Finally, the result of this fullness is this: “I will make them a blessing,” greatly and clearly blessed, examples of happiness (Isaiah 19:24). Or, they will become blessings to those around them, useful in a wide and generous way. Those who are blessed by the Lord should aim to become blessings to the world. Let the good person do good. Let the one who has received grace share that same grace with others.

This promise about the Messiah and his kingdom would have brought great comfort to those who first received it, because they could be sure God would not utterly destroy their nation as long as this blessing was still waiting to be born from it (Isaiah 65:8). But it brings even greater comfort to us, because it has been fulfilled in us. We are the sheep of this good Shepherd, fed in his pastures, and blessed by him with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.