Ezekiel 34 - Introduction
_A REPROOF OF THE SHEPHERDS. GOD'S JUDGMENT AGAINST THEM: HIS PROVIDENCE FOR HIS FLOCK. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST_. _Before Christ 587._... [ Continue Reading ]
_A REPROOF OF THE SHEPHERDS. GOD'S JUDGMENT AGAINST THEM: HIS PROVIDENCE FOR HIS FLOCK. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST_. _Before Christ 587._... [ Continue Reading ]
CAME UNTO ME— "It is probable that this prophesy immediately followed the preceding. At or before the arrival of the news that Jerusalem was conquered, the prophet was to speak of the tyranny and carelessness of the governors, and to promise the return of the people." Michaelis. Ezekiel still contin... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAINST THE SHEPHERDS OF ISRAEL— Hereby are meant the priests, the Levites, and teachers of the law; the kings, princes, magistrates, and judges; the prophet gives them here excellent instructions; shewing them, under the parable of the _shepherds,_ what was their duty, and wherein they had fallen s... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FAT— _The milk._ Houbigant; with all the versions.... [ Continue Reading ]
DRIVEN AWAY— _Gone astray:_ and so Ezekiel 34:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THERE IS NO SHEPHERD— _For want of a shepherd._... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SHEEP WANDERED, &C.— In following idols, and by making to themselves a religion after their own imagination, full of superstition and impiety. The priests and the princes of the people were so far from calling them back from these wanderings, that they were the first to follow them; nay, and even... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CAUSE THEM TO CEASE— _And will discharge them._... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BRING THEM OUT— "I will cause them to return from their captivity." In all that follows we may observe two senses; one which respects the Christian church, congregated by the Lord Jesus Christ from all quarters of the world; and the other, which respects the restoration of the Jews from the B... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WILL DESTROY, &C.— Houbigant, after many of the versions, reads, _I will preserve the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment:_ but the following verses, wherein a discrimination is made between the good and the bad, and the faults of the flock are reproved, seem to confirm our version.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SET UP ONE SHEPHERD— That is, Jesus Christ, the true shepherd, who has given himself this name both in the Prophets and in the Gospel; and who has perfectly fulfilled all the duties, the characters whereof have been before described. He is called _David,_ because our Saviour sprung from D... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MAKE WITH THEM A COVENANT OF PEACE— The Lord Jesus Christ has procured for us a perfect peace. He is the peace predicted by Micah, ch. Ezekiel 5:5. Peace to men was announced at his birth: his Gospel is the Gospel of peace: he himself is the God and King of peace: in short, he it is who pacif... [ Continue Reading ]
A PLANT OF RENOWN— That is to say, _A celebrated posterity;_ meaning more particularly the Messiah, that _branch_ from the root of David, so frequently foretold by the prophets.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE, MY FLOCK, &C.— These words at the close of the chapter, explain the metaphor which runs through the whole: that which was said of a flock and its shepherd, is to be understood of men and their governors, and especially of God's people, whom he takes care of as a shepherd does of his flock. W... [ Continue Reading ]