Ezekiel 34:1-31

34:1-48:35 | Ezekiel’s prophecy ends on a positive note. Chapters 34-48 look forward to the fulfillment of the Lord’s promises to His covenant people, Israel. The Lord would restore Davidic rule, purify His people through a new covenant, bring them back to their land, subdue the hostile nations of the earth, and return to dwell among His people.

34:2-6 | For many decades, the shepherds of Israel – the nation’s leaders, both spiritual and governmental – had failed to lead the people into godly ways of living. Even worse, they did not model how to enjoy a growing relationship with the living God. Instead, they acted to enrich themselves at the expense of others. The Babylonian conquest occurred, in large part, because they failed to carry out their God-given duties. The nation collapsed and the people were scattered because its leaders failed.

34:10 | The Lord removed the flock of Israel from the care of the nation’s spiritual and governmental leaders by eliminating those leaders through the Babylonian attack. While it is a great privilege to lead God’s people, it is a privilege that comes with enormous responsibility (James 3:1).

34:11-16 | Through Ezekiel, the Lord gives yet another promise that He will one day search for, seek out, and gather the people of Israel from all the places He has scattered them and bring them back to the Promised Land, where He will care for them and make them prosper. He will do for them what their failed shepherds refused to do. This prophecy began to be fulfilled when the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:6) and shepherds celebrated his arrival (Luke 2:8-14). As the Good Shepherd, Jesus ministered to the crowds, who were like wandering sheep with no shepherd (Matt. 9:36).

34:17-22 | Faithful shepherds of God’s flock pay special attention to the weak sheep among them and so take appropriate action to tend to their unique needs. The NT instructs us to “comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (1 Thess. 5:14).

34:23-24 | These versed promise that God would send the Messiah to shepherd His people, Israel, and that this Good Shepherd (John 10:14) would care for them and provide for their needs (Isa. 55:3). My servant David refers here to the Messiah, the Promised One who would come from the lineage of David and restore Israel’s security (37:24-25; Isa. 11:1; Jer. 30:9; Hos. 3:5; Micah 5:2). Contrary to the failed shepherds of Israel, Jesus not only cared for the sheep but put them first by laying His life down for them.

34:25-31 | In every age, men long for peace and safety; but neither is possible to enjoy for long unless God is in the center of things, providing both by His grace. When the Messiah comes to set up His millennial rule, both peace and safety will have arrived to a degree never before witnessed on a fallen earth. It was never safe to live in the wilderness or sleep in the woods, but both will be possible in the Millenium, when even wild animals will become beasts of peace (Isa. 11:6-8).