Ezekiel 34, Yahweh as Shepherd

Now that God’s judgment has been completed, Yahweh begins to speak once again about His caring for Israel, of her restoration from destruction. And He uses one of the most endearing of images for His relationship to Israel.

1 The word of Yahweh came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

The job of the shepherd (literal and metaphorical) is caring for the flock, which includes:

• strengthening the weak
• healing the sick
• binding up the injured
• returning the strays
• searching for the lost

Israel’s shepherds (kings, prophets, priests) had failed to care for Israel this way, using them instead of serving them.

7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Yahweh, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 10 This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Yahweh. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.

“Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). Human shepherds may fail to shepherd correctly, but Yahweh will not. 

17 “‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

Yahweh will judge the fat, sleek sheep, the shepherds who failed to care for the flock (they are sheep, also).

20 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, 22 I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I Yahweh will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I Yahweh have spoken.

“The phrase “my servant David” regularly referred to the Messiah. Jeremiah equated the Messiah with the true Shepherd from the line of David, calling him “a righteous Branch,” “the LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer 23:5-6). The identity is also implied elsewhere in the Prophets (Jer 30:9; Eze 37:24-25; Hos 3:5).” (Expositor’s)

25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am Yahweh, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign Yahweh. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Yahweh.’” (Ezekiel 34)

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary on Ezekiel argues:

“This is not the new covenant. This peace covenant will be inaugurated when the Lord has fulfilled all his other covenants with Israel. (1) This covenant guarantees the ultimate removal of all foreign nations (“wild beasts”) from Israel’s land, so that she may live securely. (2) God will bless Israel and her land with “showers of blessings.” The result will be full satisfaction from the land’s abundant produce. (3) Israel will live in complete security. No longer will she be plundered or scorned by the nations; never again will she experience famine. (4) When God delivers Israel from all her captors and restores her safely to her land, then she will have realized that he truly is the Lord her God. (5) The Mosaic formula of relationship between Israel and the Lord will become a reality. The Lord will truly become their God, and they will finally be his people, following his ways at every turn. According to Jeremiah, this relationship will be entered when Israel accepts the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34) instituted by the Mediator of that covenant, the Messiah (cf. Heb 8:6).”

But I would argue that this is specifically what the New Covenant promises (see Jeremiah 31). This “peace covenant” is the “new covenant.”