Ezekiel 34:7 - Meaning and Application

When we read this indictment against the shepherds of Israel, we cannot help feeling righteous anger toward the shepherds and deep pity for the flock. Through the prophet, God speaks with both kinds of feeling in a strong way. He tells the shepherds to hear the word of the Lord, and to hear it well. They should listen to how little God thinks of those who thought much of themselves, and how much he cares for the flock they treated as nothing.

Those who refuse to hear God’s word as guidance will be made to hear it as their sentence. God repeats their crimes in verse 8. His flock became food for the deceivers who led them into idolatry, false worship, and then for the destroyers who carried them into exile. The shepherds did nothing to stop either danger, as if no shepherds were there at all. So God says, and confirms it with an oath, “I am against the shepherds” (Ezekiel 34:8, 10).

These leaders had received their task from God. They used the title of shepherd and seemed to expect God to support them. But God says, in effect, “No. I am against them.” It is not enough to bear the name and authority of a shepherd if the work is neglected and the trust is broken. God will call them to account for how they handled their charge. He will ask for his flock from their hands and hold them responsible for every sheep that is missing.

This is a serious warning for all who care for souls and do not care for them well. Ministers must watch and work as people who will give an account (Hebrews 13:17). God will also strip away both their work and their pay, meaning they will stop pretending to feed the flock and lose the benefit of that office. It is right for God to take from people the power they have abused and the trust they have betrayed.

If that were all, they might endure it. But God goes further. They will no longer feed themselves from the flock, because he will rescue his people from their mouths. They had not protected the sheep, but fed on them instead. Those who grow rich from public plunder cannot expect to keep doing it forever. God will not always allow his people to be trampled by those who should have helped them. He will deliver them from false friends as well as from open enemies.

God is also deeply concerned for the flock. He speaks as if their neglect stirred his heart all the more, because the fatherless find mercy with him. He now gives precious promises, which were to be fulfilled when the Jews returned from captivity and were settled again in their own land. The shepherds should hear this word and know they have no share in this hope. But the poor sheep should hear it and take comfort from it.

Even when rulers and ministers fail to do their part for the good of the church, God will not fail in his own work. He will take the flock into his own hands rather than let the church miss any kindness he has planned for it. Under-shepherds may be careless, but the chief Shepherd never sleeps. They may prove false, but God remains faithful.

God will gather his scattered sheep and bring back those who wandered from the fold. He says, “I myself will do it,” because only he can, and he will receive all the honor. He will search for his sheep and find them, as a shepherd does (Ezekiel 34:11, 12), and he will bring them home like stray sheep on his shoulders from every place where they were scattered in a dark and stormy day. There are cloudy and dark days that drive God’s people here and there, as they seek safety and shelter.

Yet wherever they are, God’s eye will find them. His eyes move through the whole earth for their good. Not one that belongs to the flock, however far driven away, will be lost. The Lord knows those who are his. He knows their works and where they live (Revelation 2:13), and he knows where they are hidden.

When his time comes, his arms will bring them home (Ezekiel 34:13). God will draw their hearts back by his grace, and by his providence he will open the way and remove obstacles. They will not return one by one in secret, stealing away quietly. They will return together, gathered from all the lands where they were scattered. He will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away (Ezekiel 34:16). This was fulfilled when many thousands of Jews returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others.

This promise also has a wider use. It is seen again when people who have wandered from God in sin are brought back by repentance, when those who have erred come to know the truth, when God’s outcasts are gathered and restored, and when churches, once scattered by persecution, come together again in peace and freedom.

God will also feed his people as the sheep of his pasture, after they have gone hungry. He will bring the returning captives safely to their own land (Ezekiel 34:13). He will feed them on the mountains of Israel, a good and rich pasture (Ezekiel 34:14). There they will have both their food and their fold, and it will be a good fold. He will not only feed them there, but also make them lie down in rest (Ezekiel 34:15). This shows comfort after long wandering, and a secure home that will last. They will not be driven out again from these green pastures, and no one will terrify them. Compare this with Psalm 23:2: “He makes me lie down in green pastures.”

This also matches the promise in Jeremiah 23:3-4, where God says he will restore them not only to the fruitfulness of their land, the land flowing with milk and honey, but also to the privileges of his sanctuary on Mount Zion, the chief mountain of Israel. When they again had an altar, a temple, and an established priesthood, then they were truly fed in a good pasture.

He will also help those who are wounded. He will bind up what is broken and strengthen what is sick. He will comfort those who mourn in Zion, and he will mourn with Zion.

If ministers, who should speak peace to those with a sorrowful spirit, fail in their duty, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will still remain faithful to his work. But, as the verse goes on to say, the fat and the strong will be destroyed. The One who gives rest to troubled believers also has warnings of terror for bold sinners. As every valley will be filled, so every mountain and hill will be brought low (Luke 3:5).