Scripture Daily

Context No. 1088 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 34:1-6: in context

1The LORD’s word came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. 4You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor. 5They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. 6My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, its leaders. Woe to the shepherds who feed themselves, he says. You eat the fat and wear the wool and slaughter the best animals, but you do not feed the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured or brought back the strays or sought the lost; instead you have ruled them with force and harshness. So the sheep were scattered, became prey to wild animals, wandered every hill with no one to search for them.

The indictment is precise: these shepherds used the flock instead of feeding it. A shepherd exists for the sheep, to strengthen, heal, bind up, seek, and bring back, and these leaders reversed it, using their position to feed themselves on the very sheep they were meant to serve. God lists exactly what a true shepherd does, and item by item, they did the opposite. And the result was scattering and loss; sheep without a real shepherd wander off and are devoured, and no one goes looking. This is a searing word to anyone entrusted with the care of others, in the church, the family, any place of leadership: the question is whether you feed the flock or feed yourself on it, whether your position exists for the good of those under you or for your own advantage. But the chapter does not end in condemnation; it goes on to the promise that God himself will come and be the shepherd, seeking the lost, binding the injured, doing everything the false shepherds refused. The failure of human shepherds sets the stage for the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.

Wherever others are in my care, am I feeding the flock or feeding myself on it, seeking the lost and binding the broken, or ruling for my own advantage?

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