The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them. The trees of the field will give their fruitThis phrase signifies a return to abundance and prosperity. In the Hebrew context, trees bearing fruit symbolize divine blessing and fertility. The imagery of fruitful trees is often used in the Old Testament to depict God's favor and the restoration of Israel. The Hebrew word for "fruit" (פְּרִי, peri) conveys the idea of productivity and blessing, indicating that under God's care, the land will flourish once more. and the land will yield its produce
The land yielding its produce is a promise of agricultural prosperity. In ancient Israel, the land's productivity was directly linked to the people's covenant relationship with God. The Hebrew word for "produce" (יְבוּל, yebul) suggests a bountiful harvest, reflecting God's provision and the fulfillment of His promises. This phrase reassures the Israelites of God's continued faithfulness and the restoration of their fortunes. My flock will be secure in their land
The term "My flock" refers to God's people, emphasizing His role as the Shepherd. The imagery of a flock being secure highlights safety, peace, and divine protection. In the Hebrew context, security in the land is a sign of God's covenantal faithfulness. The word "secure" (בָּטַח, batach) implies trust and confidence, indicating that under God's guidance, His people will dwell without fear. Then they will know that I am the LORD
This phrase underscores the purpose of God's actions: to reveal His identity and sovereignty. The Hebrew word for "know" (יָדַע, yada) implies an intimate understanding and recognition of God's character and authority. This acknowledgment is not merely intellectual but relational, as the people experience God's deliverance and faithfulness firsthand. when I have broken the bars of their yoke
The "bars of their yoke" symbolize oppression and bondage. In the ancient Near Eastern context, a yoke was a wooden beam used to harness animals, representing subjugation. The breaking of these bars signifies liberation and freedom. The Hebrew word for "broken" (שָׁבַר, shabar) conveys a decisive and powerful act of deliverance, highlighting God's intervention to free His people from their oppressors. and delivered them from the hands of those who enslaved them
This phrase speaks to God's redemptive power and His commitment to rescue His people. The word "delivered" (נָצַל, natsal) in Hebrew suggests a snatching away or rescue from danger. The historical context of Israel's enslavement, whether in Egypt or Babylon, serves as a backdrop for this promise of deliverance. It reassures the Israelites of God's ability to save and restore them, reinforcing His role as their Redeemer and Protector. Persons / Places / Events 1. EzekielA prophet during the Babylonian exile, Ezekiel conveyed God's messages of judgment and restoration to the Israelites. 2. The Trees of the FieldSymbolic of prosperity and blessing, representing the abundance that God promises to His people. 3. The LandRefers to the Promised Land, a place of security and divine provision for the Israelites. 4. My FlockRepresents the people of Israel, whom God cares for as a shepherd cares for his sheep. 5. Those Who Enslaved ThemRefers to the oppressors of Israel, particularly the Babylonians during the time of exile. Teaching Points God's Provision and AbundanceGod promises to provide for His people, both physically and spiritually. Trust in His provision even when circumstances seem barren. Security in GodTrue security comes from being in God's care. Reflect on areas of life where you need to rely more on God's protection and less on worldly assurances. Freedom from OppressionGod is a deliverer who breaks the chains of oppression. Consider what "yokes" you need God to break in your life, whether they be sin, fear, or external pressures. Recognition of God's SovereigntyThe ultimate goal of God's blessings is that His people recognize and acknowledge Him as LORD. Cultivate a heart of gratitude and recognition of God's hand in your life. Role of the ShepherdAs God cares for His flock, we are called to care for others. Reflect on how you can shepherd those around you, providing support and guidance. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the imagery of fruitful trees and productive land in Ezekiel 34:27 encourage you in your current life situation? 2. In what ways can you experience and recognize God's security in your daily life? 3. What "yokes" or burdens do you feel God is calling you to let Him break? How can you actively seek His deliverance? 4. How does understanding God as a shepherd influence your relationship with Him and with others? 5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's provision or deliverance. How can this testimony encourage others in their faith journey? Connections to Other Scriptures Psalm 1This Psalm describes the righteous as trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in season, which parallels the imagery of fruitful trees in Ezekiel 34:27. John 10Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd, echoing the theme of God as the shepherd of His flock in Ezekiel. Leviticus 26God promises blessings for obedience, including fruitful land, which connects to the promise of abundance in Ezekiel 34:27. Isaiah 61The breaking of yokes and deliverance from oppression is a theme also found in Isaiah, pointing to God's redemptive work. Revelation 21The ultimate fulfillment of God's promise of security and provision for His people is seen in the new heaven and new earth. People David, EzekielPlaces JerusalemTopics Bands, Bars, Bondmen, Break, Breaking, Broken, Confident, Crops, Deliver, Delivered, Enslaved, Field, Fruit, Ground, Hands, Increase, Kept, Laying, Produce, Rescue, Safe, Safety, Salvation, Secure, Servants, Served, Service, Servitude, Slaves, Subjected, Themselves, Tree, Trees, Yield, YokeDictionary of Bible Themes Ezekiel 34:27 4696 yoke
8257 fruitfulness, natural Ezekiel 34:25-27 8146 renewal, natural order Ezekiel 34:25-29 9145 Messianic age Ezekiel 34:25-31 1335 blessing Ezekiel 34:26-27 4406 agriculture Ezekiel 34:26-29 1330 God, the provider Ezekiel 34:26-31 1330 God, the provider Ezekiel 34:27-28 5942 security Ezekiel 34:27-29 4430 crops 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 34:27 NIVEzekiel 34:27 NLTEzekiel 34:27 ESVEzekiel 34:27 NASBEzekiel 34:27 KJV
Ezekiel 34:27 Commentaries
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