Comments on Ezekiel 34

     This chapter is similar in content to Jer. 23 with respect
to both the attack on the leaders of Judah and the promise of an
ideal Messianic leader on the throne of David.  For additional
comments on the eschatological David, see the last installment of
LDSS for comments on Jer. 23.

     This chapter and ch. 18 above both show that being sacked
by Babylon and subsequently thrown into exile has not cause the
current generation to repent.  They are still as arrogant and
self-promoting as they were before.  This is why the Lord is 
leaving them in Babylon for 70 years, because it will only be
the subsequent generations that will repent.  This current 
generation will die in exile.

v1-10  The leaders of Israel, or more specifically Judah at this
point in history, are condemned for leading the Lord's people
astray.  The leaders of the Lord's flock have been feeding
themselves rather than overseeing the sick and lost of His
people.  Even worse, the leaders have been feeding themselves
upon this figurative flock, cp. Micah 3:1-3.  For this, the Lord
will deliver His people from these false leaders.

v11-16  The Lord will be the ideal shepherd to His people.  He
will gather them from where they have been scattered to, and
bring them to green pastures.  He will care for the sick and the
afflicted tenderly, unlike those He castigates in v. 1-10.  Then
in v. 16, the Lord informs us those who have made themselves fat
and strong at the expense of others will be fed with Judgement to
their condemnation.

v17-19  The Lord will separate out the sheep from the goats.  The
sheep will be preserved, but the goats will be expelled.  Verses
18-19 is a statement to the fat and strong goats, or the corrupt
leaders, asking them how they can be so callous and selfish that
they take the best for themselves and corrupt the rest for
everyone else.  The sheep have to feed on what the goats have
trampled underfoot, cp. Isa. 28:7-8.

v20-24  As a result of the selfishness of the figurative fat
sheep, the Lord will judge between them and the figurative lean
sheep Himself.  He will separate out those who are selfish and
greedy from the weak and the oppressed so the latter will no
longer be exploited.  Then the Lord will establish the ideal
Messianic kingdom upon the throne of David for His good sheep,
and He will be their God.

v25-31  The good sheep, or the righteous people the Lord
separates out for Himself, will enjoy peace, security, and
blessings of bounty.  Then Israel will know the Lord is their God
and He will make His sheep lay down in green pastures.



Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller <kurtn@cybcon.com>.  All rights 
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