Ezekiel 34:8

_THEREFORE, YE SHEPHERDS, HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

7-16 The Lord declared that he intended mercy towards the scattered flock. Doubtless this, in the first place, had reference to the restoration of the Jews. It also represented the good Shepherd's tender care of the souls of his people. He finds them in their days of darkness and ignorance, and brings them to his fold. He comes to their relief in times of persecution and temptation. He leads them in the ways of righteousness, and causes them to rest on his love and faithfulness. The proud and self-sufficient, are enemies of the true gospel and of believers; against such we must guard. He has rest for disquieted saints, and terror for presumptuous sinners....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 34:1 AND THE WORD OF THE LORD, etc. As no date is given, we may infer that what follows came as an almost immediate sequel to that which precedes it. The kernel of the chapter is found in the Messianic prophecies of Ezekiel 34:23, Ezekiel 34:24, as the first stage in the restoration of Israel which is beginning to open to the prophet's gaze. We can hardly avoid seeing in it the deliberate expression of words that had been spoken by Ezekiel's master (Jeremiah 23:1), and which in his case also were followed by a directly Messianic announcement. In...

AS I LIVE, SAITH THE LORD,.... It is an oath, and which he swore in his wrath, being provoked with the shepherds for their misadministration: SURELY, BECAUSE MY FLOCK BECAME A PREY, AND MY FLOCK BECAME MEAT TO EVERY BEAST OF THE FIELD, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SHEPHERD; a prey to all the kingdoms of the people, being without a governor, as the Targum; or to false teachers, there being no spiritual pastors to take care of them: NEITHER DID MY SHEPHERDS SEARCH FOR MY FLOCK; that was scattered, and carried captive, and became a prey to others; even those that were of God's appointing, as the kings of Israel, their priests and prophets; for both their civil polity and ecclesiastical hierarchy were of God, though the ends thereof were not answered, or the persons put into office did not do their duty: BUT THE SHEPHERDS FED THEMSELVES, AND FED NOT MY FLOCK:...

Ezekiel 34:1. The shepherds of Israel were the kings and princes and all who had authority over them. The prophet Jeremiah had received a similar message Jeremiah 23:1. These shepherds of Israel were responsible for the deplorable condition of the flock. Utterly selfish, they cared not for the sheep of His pasture; they feared not God nor did they have a heart for God's people. The flock was scattered and spoiled. Such was the sad condition of the people Israel. And when the Lord Jesus appeared in their midst to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He found them as sheep without a shepherd, and He had compassion upon them Mark 6:34. But they rejected Him and the Shepherd was smitten. Zechariah's prophecy was fulfilled

IMPORTANCE OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. But besides moral excellence on the part of its citizens (Ezekiel 33) a state needs good government. This chapter is a very severe indictment of the rulers or kings of Israel in the past, who are compared to shepherds and the figure is maintained throughout the chapter that have neglected or abused the flock. Governors should govern in the interests of the governed; but those shepherds had used their power to feed themselves and not the flock they are even compared in Ezekiel 34:10 to ravenous beasts (notice mouth). It was this misgovernment that in part accounted for the miseries, the defeats, the exile of Israel....

AS. LIVE. Figure of speech _Deisis._ App-6. SAITH THE LORD GOD. [is] Adonai Jehovah's oracle....

II. REPLACEMENT OF CORRUPT LEADERS 34:1-31 Israel's past sin and punishment stemmed largely from corrupt and selfish leadership. The first step in Ezekiel's program of reconstruction for the nation was the replacement of those worthless leaders by a new breed of rulers. God would place at the head of His restored people a scion of the house of David. Under His rule God's people would enjoy peace, safety and prosperity. A. The Evil Shepherds of the Past 34:1-10 TRANSLATION (1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? (3) You eat the fat, and with the wool you cloth yourselves, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the flock. (4) The weak you...

THE NEW ISRAEL (EZEKIEL 33-48) So long as the Jewish kingdom remained in existence Ezekiel's prophecies (those in Ezekiel 1-24) dealt almost exclusively with the nation's sin, and with the certainty of its overthrow. But when these prophecies were fulfilled by the fall of Jerusalem his message assumed a new and hopeful character. God's punishment of Israel's sin was not the end of His dealings with His people. The destruction of the old sinful Israel would be followed by the establishment of a perfect kingdom of God. The humiliation of the foreign nations (described in Ezekiel 25-32) would prepare the way for this, and would be succeeded by the restoration of the exiles. The new kingdom would be set up under new conditions of worship and fellowship with God. This concluding part of the book falls into two sections, the first dealing with the restoration from captivity (Ezekiel 33-39), an...

EZEKIEL: “THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD” GOD’S PLANS FOR *ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 25 TO 39 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 34 THE FALSE *SHEPHERDS OF *ISRAEL – EZEKIEL 34:1-10 V1 The *LORD spoke to me again. V2 ‘*Son of man, *prophesy against the leaders of *Israel. They lead the *Israelites as *shepherds lead sheep. Say to those leaders, “The *LORD your King says this to you. It will be terrible for you. You have fed yourselves. But *shepherds should feed the sheep. V3 You drink the milk. You wear the clothes that you make from the wool. You kill and you eat the best sheep. But you do not feed the sheep. V4 You have not made the weak sheep stron