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  1. Tue: Isaiah 46-48
  2. Wed: 2 Samuel 1-6
  3. Thu: Galatians 4-6
Friday · Week 18
The Later Prophets

Ezekiel 34-35

Week 18 · about 9 min
  1. Sat: Psalms 37-41
  2. Sun: Exodus 29-30
  3. Mon: Mark 14-16

God condemns Israel’s leaders and promises to shepherd his people himself. Then he speaks against Edom.

God Fires the Bad Shepherds

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

Ezekiel 34:16 (KJV)

Israel’s leaders were supposed to be shepherds. Instead they ate the sheep, wore the wool, and ignored the sick and the lost. The flock scattered, and no one went looking. So God says, “I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.” He’ll also judge between the fat sheep and the thin ones, the strong ones who push the weak aside with shoulder and side. Then he promises “my servant David” as their shepherd, even though David had been dead for centuries. That points to a coming son of David. In John 10, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

Reflect: Who has God put in your care, and are you feeding them or yourself?

Ezekiel 34

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, even to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the sheep?

3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep.

4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigour have ye ruled over them.

5And they were scattered, because there was no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered.

6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and there was none that did search or seek after them.

7Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

8As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely forasmuch as my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became meat to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my sheep;

9therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;

10Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

11For thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

12As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

13And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

14I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

15I myself will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

16I will seek that which was lost, and will bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: and the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in judgment.

17And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, as well the rams as the he-goats.

18Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have fed upon the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

19And as for my sheep, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them: Behold, I, even I, judge between the fat cattle and the lean cattle.

21Because ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;

22therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

23And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

24And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

25And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

26And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing.

27And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.

28And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.

29And I will raise up unto them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.

30And they shall know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.

31And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 35

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,

3and say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee a desolation and an astonishment.

4I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

5Because thou hast had a perpetual enmity, and hast given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end:

6therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee.

7Thus will I make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him that passeth through and him that returneth.

8And I will fill his mountains with his slain: in thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy watercourses shall they fall that are slain with the sword.

9I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

10Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:

11therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast shewed out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I shall judge thee.

12And thou shalt know that I the LORD have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour.

13And ye have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard it.

14Thus saith the Lord GOD: When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.

15As thou didst rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Revised Version (RV). Revised Version (RV), 1885, public domain.