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The Responsibility of Spiritual Shepherds

Ezekiel 34

Ezekiel was a priest in Jerusalem before being deported to Babylon in 597 B.C. In Babylon he became a prophet-priest, and his message was often focused on Judah's leaders—God would hold them accountable for their failures in leading the nation.

It was not uncommon in the ancient Near East for leaders to be called shepherds. God chose an actual shepherd boy named David to become the shepherd-king of His people (1 Samuel 16:1-13): "So [David] shepherded [Israel] according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands" (Psalm 78:70-72). Successive kings and priests of both Israel and Judah did not shepherd God's people with a heart like David's. When Jeremiah prophesied about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, he issued a scathing warning against the shepherds of Judah: God would scatter the shepherds just as they had scattered God's people (Jeremiah 23:1-4).

From Babylon, Ezekiel delivered the Old Testament's longest oracle against the irresponsible shepherds of Judah (Ezekiel 34). He made the point that God is the ultimate Shepherd who would gather the sheep that had been scattered by their carnal, self-serving shepherds. Ezekiel summed up the shepherds' failure this way: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" (Ezekiel 34:2). He goes on to point out all the ways Israel's shepherds had taken care of themselves instead of taking care of God's people.

David used God as the best example of a shepherd who serves by leading and feeding the sheep (Psalm 23), and Jesus demonstrated the same shepherd's heart when He lived and served as the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18; also Mark 10:45). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned against shepherds who were wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15), and Paul warned the elders in Ephesus about the same possibility (Acts 20:29-31). The condition of the flock is a good indication of the condition of the shepherd's heart.

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