Read Ezekiel
34-35 & 1
Peter 2
To discover:
As you read note what God
promises to do for his people.
To ponder:
Ezekiel is now to
prophesy against Israel ’s
religious leaders who should have cared for the people like shepherds for
sheep. They are condemned for instead caring only for themselves, taking a milk
product, wool and meat from the flock – which implies getting what they can
from the people, whilst failing to actually give back by strengthening the
weak, healing the sick or binding up the injured – a reference to practical
care. Nor have they brought back those straying or lost (probably a reference
to those who had turned from the LORD), but have ruled them harshly. And what
this resulted in was the whole flock being scattered into exile, where they
have been subject to attack from other nations (34v1-6). It is this imagery
that Jesus used for the pastor, and here there is a rebuke for those who are
greedy for gain and fail to actually minister to their flock.
All this demonstrates that God’s
sheep lack a true shepherd. So God says he is against the shepherds and will
hold them accountable, removing them from their position so they can no longer
feed themselves at the sheep’s expense, and so that the flock might be rescued
from them (34v7-10). No doubt this was fulfilled in exile, but it looks to
Jesus’ rejection of the leaders in his day.
In what follows, God declares that
instead he himself will do what the shepherds failed to do. He will search out
his sheep, care for them, rescue them from the nations they are scattered to,
and bring them back to their land as pasture. There he till tend them, and they
will lie down and feed on the best grass. Moreover, God himself will bind up
the injured and strengthen the weak (34v11-16). Yet he will also justly destroy
the sleek and strong – because their good health has been at the expense of the
others (see 34v3, 20). One cannot but think of Psalm 23 and John 10, where Jesus
declares himself the “good shepherd,” and displays this in his healing
miracles. It is in him that God shepherds his people, once more showing that
the rescue from the oppression of exile was ultimately achieved when Jesus drew
Jews to faith in himself, bringing them to the green pasture of the new
creation. Yet he also shepherds them through his under-shepherds – the apostles
and church ministers who fetch, feed and care for the flock with God’s word.
The LORD adds that he will judge
between sheep, and between rams and goats. Here he charges the shepherds with
not only feeding and drinking the best of the pasture, but of ruining the rest
so the other sheep don’t benefit. The picture is of how strong sheep bully the
weaker ones, taking the best food and water (34v17-21). Jesus’ application to
him judging on the basis of whether people display a true faith in caring for
his people is therefore entirely apt and profoundly challenging. Not to, makes
people liable to hell itself (Matt 25v31-47). And so through Ezekiel, God
states he will judge between the fat and lean sheep, saving the weak so they
are no longer plundered. And it is here he explicitly states he will place a
Davidic descendent as shepherd over them, to tend them whilst he acts as their
God. In the light of his prior promise to shepherd them himself, there are
hints to this shepherd-king also being divine (34v22-24).
In this context God promises a new
covenant of peace, in which he rids the land of wild beasts so his people can
live in safety, and be blessed with showers that will ensure good pasture. Here
he moves from the illustration to simply state that the people will enjoy
abundant harvests, and security in no longer being plundered. In being freed
from their captivity to this, they will also know God is the LORD, and that he
is with them as his people – the sheep of his pasture (34v25-31). This is a
picture of the final judgement in which all who might oppress are excluded from
the new creation so that God’s people can live not just in a world of
abundance, but one of security. This should encourage us as we face evil in the
present.
Chapter 35 sees Ezekiel prophesying
against Mount Seir Edom
will know he is the LORD. The reason is that, because of a long standing
hostility to Israel ,
Edom somehow
handed them over to Babylon –
perhaps by joining the fight against them. God therefore swears by his own life
that he will give them over to bloodshed (the punishment fitting the crime) and
pursue them – no doubt a reference to an enemy chasing them. He adds that the
slain will cover the land of Edom
What follows implies the reason for
their betrayal of God’s people was a desire to posses their land – both north
and south. God denounces this in particular because it expressed jealousy at Israel ’s
land, and anger at the Hebrew people despite the fact that God was with them –
in the temple. He therefore says that as he judges Edom
he will be making himself known to his people. Edom
will then know the LORD heard all the things they said against Israel
by claiming that in being laid to waste, the land was being given over to Edom
to devour. God describes this as boasting against him, no doubt in presuming to
be able to take the land he desired that Israel
have. So he declares that because they rejoiced when Israel
was desolate, they will be desolate when the whole earth rejoices (36v10-15).
This may imply that Edom ’s
demise would occur when the rest of the world was celebrating the fall of Babylon .
Once more, however, we see the punishment aptly fit the crime. We also see the
seriousness of acting against God’s people.
The reason for the prophesy against
Edom being here is probably because of her particular sin with respect to the
fall of Jerusalem which has just been noted, but also to display God’s
commitment to remove the wild beasts who might otherwise devour his sheep when
he gathers them from their exile (as 34v28).
Praying
it home:
Praise God for his
care in coming to shepherd us himself in Christ. Pray for the raising up of
faithful shepherds throughout the church.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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