Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
The point of this daily visit is to emphasize the importance of studying the Scriptures rather than assuming we understand them just because we know the words.
Who doesn’t know what a shepherd is? The term shepherd is used for those who tend sheep. But, of course, this passage could not be a message against them. It’s obvious God’s prophecy was toward some class of men. The term shepherd is commonly used of pastors. Jesus is the chief shepherd. We hear Pastors called undershepherds. As shepherds, pastors are charged to feed the flock. It sounds like it ties into the Ezekiel passage, doesn’t it? But there were no pastors when Ezekiel penned these words. There wouldn’t be for hundreds of years.
Albert Barnes writes, "Shepherds - Not priests or prophets, but rulers and kings (see the Jeremiah 2:8 note).[1] The most ancient title for 'ruler' is a monogram which occurs on the oldest monuments discovered in the cuneiform character. In the Assyrian language it became riu. In the traditions of Berosus we find that Alorus, the first king in the world, received from the Divinity the title of Shepherd. The title, as well as the monogram, was preserved to the latest times of the Assyrian monarchy. While the distress and misery of the people daily increased, the last kings of Judah exacted more and more from their subjects and lavished more and more on personal luxury and show."
The primary application of this passage must be against the government and those leading it. Those in government are warned to use their office for the good of the citizens and not for personal gain. To rightly divide the word of God means so much more than to separate the Old Testament from the New, to discern between what belongs to Israel and what belongs to Christians. To rightly divide the Word of God must mean to drill down to learn the meanings of the word of God in the context of its time of writing.
John Gill agrees with Barnes on who these shepherds were, but he makes a leap and writes, "also their ecclesiastical governors are intended, prophets, priests, Levites, scribes, and Pharisees." The passage does not give him this leave, but perhaps it does indicate a secondary application. God is alive. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows that we would interpret the shepherd as a pastor. As a secondary application, pastors should ALSO heed the warning to feed the flock and not use the ministry for personal gain.
#StudyScripture #ShepherdsAndLeaders #BiblicalWisdom #GovernmentResponsibility #FeedTheFlock
Woe to the Shepherds: The Call to Genuine Leadership
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Ezekiel 34:2 (KJV) Woe to the Shepherds
[1] The guilt of this idolatry is ascribed to the four ruling classes:
(a) The accusation brought against the priests is indifference.
(b) “They that handle the law” belonged also to the priestly class Deu 33:10. Their offence was that “they knew not God.” Compare Mic 3:11.
(c) The third class are “the pastors” or shepherds, that is the temporal rulers. Their crime is disobedience.
(d) The fourth class are “the prophets.” It was their business to press the moral and spiritual truths of the law home to the hearts of the people: but they drew their inspiration from Baal, the Sun-god. Upon the corruption of the prophetic order at this time, see the Jer 14:13 note.
Things that do not profit - Here idols, which are not merely unreal, but injurious.
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