I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will saveThe phrase "I will save" is a powerful declaration of divine intervention and deliverance. In the Hebrew text, the word used here is "וְהוֹשַׁעְתִּי" (vehosha'ti), derived from the root "יָשַׁע" (yasha), meaning to save, deliver, or rescue. This root is foundational in the Hebrew language, often associated with God's acts of salvation throughout the Old Testament. The use of the first person "I" emphasizes God's personal involvement and commitment to the salvation of His people. Historically, this reflects God's covenantal promise to Israel, assuring them of His protection and deliverance from their enemies and oppressors. My flock
The term "My flock" signifies a personal and possessive relationship between God and His people. In the context of Ezekiel, the flock represents the people of Israel, whom God views as His own. The imagery of a flock is prevalent throughout Scripture, symbolizing care, guidance, and provision. Shepherding was a common occupation in ancient Israel, and the metaphor would have resonated deeply with the original audience. It underscores God's role as the Good Shepherd, a theme that is later echoed in the New Testament with Jesus Christ as the ultimate Shepherd of His people. They will no longer be prey
This phrase promises protection and security for God's people. The Hebrew word for "prey" is "בַּז" (baz), which conveys the idea of being plundered or devoured. Historically, Israel had been subject to numerous invasions and captivities, often being preyed upon by surrounding nations. God's assurance that they will "no longer be prey" speaks to a future hope where His people will be safe from exploitation and harm. This promise is not only physical but also spiritual, indicating a time when God's people will be free from spiritual predators and false leaders. I will judge between one sheep and another
Here, God declares His role as the righteous judge among His people. The act of judging "between one sheep and another" suggests a discerning and fair evaluation of individuals within the community. In the Hebrew context, the word "judge" is "שָׁפַט" (shaphat), which means to govern, vindicate, or punish. This judgment is not arbitrary but is based on God's perfect justice and knowledge. It implies a separation of the faithful from the unfaithful, ensuring that true righteousness prevails. This concept is echoed in the New Testament, where Christ is depicted as the ultimate judge who separates the sheep from the goats, symbolizing the final judgment and the establishment of His kingdom. Persons / Places / Events 1. EzekielA prophet during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel is the mouthpiece of God, delivering messages of judgment and hope to the Israelites. 2. GodThe speaker in this passage, God promises to intervene directly to save His people, portraying Himself as the Good Shepherd. 3. The FlockRepresents the people of Israel, who have been scattered and mistreated by unfaithful leaders. 4. Shepherds of IsraelThe leaders and rulers who have failed to care for the people, leading to their suffering and dispersion. 5. JudgmentThe divine act of distinguishing between the righteous and the wicked within the community, ensuring justice and protection for the faithful. Teaching Points God's Sovereignty and CareGod is actively involved in the lives of His people, ensuring their protection and well-being. We can trust in His sovereign care even when human leaders fail us. Accountability of LeadersSpiritual and community leaders are accountable to God for their actions. They must shepherd with integrity, reflecting God's love and justice. Divine Judgment and JusticeGod will judge between individuals, ensuring that justice prevails. This calls us to live righteously and treat others with fairness and compassion. Hope for the OppressedThose who feel marginalized or mistreated can find hope in God's promise to save and protect His flock. We are called to be agents of this hope in our communities. Personal Reflection on FaithfulnessEach believer is called to examine their own life and faithfulness to God, ensuring they are aligned with His will and purposes. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding God as the Good Shepherd influence your view of His role in your life? 2. In what ways can you hold leaders accountable in your community or church, ensuring they reflect God's care and justice? 3. How can you be an agent of hope and protection for those who feel like "prey" in today's world? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's protection or deliverance. How did it strengthen your faith? 5. How can the promise of divine judgment motivate you to live a life of righteousness and compassion towards others? Connections to Other Scriptures Psalm 23This psalm portrays God as the Good Shepherd, providing and caring for His flock, similar to the promise in Ezekiel 34:22. John 10:11-16Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd, echoing the themes of protection and salvation found in Ezekiel. Matthew 25:31-46The separation of sheep and goats parallels the judgment between sheep in Ezekiel, emphasizing accountability and divine justice. Jeremiah 23:1-4Another prophetic critique of Israel's leaders, promising a future where God Himself will shepherd His people. Revelation 7:17Describes the Lamb as the Shepherd, leading His people to springs of living water, fulfilling the promise of divine care and salvation. People David, EzekielPlaces JerusalemTopics Cattle, Deliver, Flock, Judge, Judged, Longer, Plundered, Prey, Safe, Safety, Save, SheepDictionary of Bible Themes Ezekiel 34:7-24 7130 flock, God's Ezekiel 34:11-24 1220 God, as shepherd Ezekiel 34:16-22 9210 judgment, God's Library The Church of Christ
This, then, is the meaning of the text; that God would make Jerusalem and the places round about his hill a blessing. I shall not, however, use it so this morning, but I shall use it in a more confined sense--or, perhaps, in a more enlarged sense--as it applies to the church of Jesus Christ, and to this particular church with which you and I stand connected. "I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855That None Should Enter on a Place of Government who Practise not in Life what they have Learnt by Study.
There are some also who investigate spiritual precepts with cunning care, but what they penetrate with their understanding they trample on in their lives: all at once they teach the things which not by practice but by study they have learnt; and what in words they preach by their manners they impugn. Whence it comes to pass that when the shepherd walks through steep places, the flock follows to the precipice. Hence it is that the Lord through the prophet complains of the contemptible knowledge …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Discourse on the Good Shepherd.
(Jerusalem, December, a.d. 29.) ^D John X. 1-21. ^d 1 Verily, verily, I say to you [unto the parties whom he was addressing in the last section], He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. [In this section Jesus proceeds to contrast his own care for humanity with that manifested by the Pharisees, who had just cast out the beggar. Old Testament prophecies were full of declarations that false shepherds would arise to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel The Good Shepherd' and his one Flock' - Last Discourse at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The closing words which Jesus had spoken to those Pharisees who followed HIm breathe the sadness of expected near judgment, rather than the hopefulness of expostulation. And the Discourse which followed, ere He once more left Jerusalem, is of the same character. It seems, as if Jesus could not part from the City in holy anger, but ever, and only, with tears. All the topics of the former Discourses are now resumed and applied. They are not in any way softened or modified, but uttered in accents of …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants How to Make Use of Christ as the Life when the Soul is Dead as to Duty.
Sometimes the believer will be under such a distemper, as that he will be as unfit and unable for discharging of any commanded duty, as dead men, or one in a swoon, is to work or go a journey. And it were good to know how Christ should be made use of as the Life, to the end the diseased soul may be delivered from this. For this cause we shall consider those four things: 1. See what are the several steps and degrees of this distemper. 2. Consider whence it cometh, or what are the causes or occasions …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII Covenanting Predicted in Prophecy.
The fact of Covenanting, under the Old Testament dispensations, being approved of God, gives a proof that it was proper then, which is accompanied by the voice of prophecy, affording evidence that even in periods then future it should no less be proper. The argument for the service that is afforded by prophecy is peculiar, and, though corresponding with evidence from other sources, is independent. Because that God willed to make known truth through his servants the prophets, we should receive it …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever! T he Kingdom of our Lord in the heart, and in the world, is frequently compared to a building or house, of which He Himself is both the Foundation and the Architect (Isaiah 28:16 and 54:11, 12) . A building advances by degrees (I Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20-22) , and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 The Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.' Exod 20: 15. AS the holiness of God sets him against uncleanness, in the command Thou shalt not commit adultery;' so the justice of God sets him against rapine and robbery, in the command, Thou shalt not steal.' The thing forbidden in this commandment, is meddling with another man's property. The civil lawyers define furtum, stealth or theft to be the laying hands unjustly on that which is another's;' the invading another's right. I. The causes of theft. [1] The internal causes …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments That the Ruler Should Be, through Humility, a Companion of Good Livers, But, through the Zeal of Righteousness, Rigid against the vices of Evildoers.
The ruler should be, through humility, a companion of good livers, and, through the zeal of righteousness, rigid against the vices of evil-doers; so that in nothing he prefer himself to the good, and yet, when the fault of the bad requires it, he be at once conscious of the power of his priority; to the end that, while among his subordinates who live well he waives his rank and accounts them as his equals, he may not fear to execute the laws of rectitude towards the perverse. For, as I remember to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Covenanting Provided for in the Everlasting Covenant.
The duty of Covenanting is founded on the law of nature; but it also stands among the arrangements of Divine mercy made from everlasting. The promulgation of the law, enjoining it on man in innocence as a duty, was due to God's necessary dominion over the creatures of his power. The revelation of it as a service obligatory on men in a state of sin, arose from his unmerited grace. In the one display, we contemplate the authority of the righteous moral Governor of the universe; in the other, we see …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Jesus Makes his First Disciples.
(Bethany Beyond Jordan, Spring a.d. 27.) ^D John I. 35-51. ^d 35 Again on the morrow [John's direct testimony bore fruit on the second day] John was standing, and two of his disciples [An audience of two. A small field; but a large harvest]; 36 and he looked [Gazed intently. The word is used at Mark xiv. 67; Luke xxii. 61 Mark x. 21, 27. John looked searchingly at that face, which, so far as any record shows, he was never to see on earth again. The more intently we look upon Jesus, the more powerfully …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Second Great Group of Parables.
(Probably in Peræa.) Subdivision B. Parable of the Lost Sheep. ^C Luke XV. 3-7. ^c 3 And he spake unto them this parable [Jesus had spoken this parable before. See pp. 434, 435.] saying, 4 What man of you [man is emphatic; it is made so to convey the meaning that if man would so act, how much more would God so act], having an hundred sheep [a large flock], and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness [the place of pasture, and hence the proper place to leave …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Ezekiel
To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance; it was very largely from him that Judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Ezekiel 34:22 NIVEzekiel 34:22 NLTEzekiel 34:22 ESVEzekiel 34:22 NASBEzekiel 34:22 KJV
Ezekiel 34:22 Commentaries
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