Ezekiel 34:1-11, 20-24
“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice…
“Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, November 26, is from Ezekiel chapter 34, verses 11 through 16. And verses 20 through 24.
For thus says the Lord God, Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and I will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the country, I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall their grazing land, their they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture, they shall feed on the mountains of Israel, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. And I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD, I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong, I will destroy, I will feed them injustice.
Therefore thus says the Lord God to them, Behold, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the Lean sheep, because you push with side and shoulder and thrust at the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock, they shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, My servant, David, and he shall feed them, he shall feed them and be their shepherd, and I, the Lord will be their God. And my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord, I have spoken.
This passage is from Ezekiel, we have to remember when Ezekiel is around, this is after the people have been scattered into exile in Babylon. And so God is giving this message that he, he himself will go out and gather the scattered sheep of Israel. I think this is important to note, the the phrase I, I myself, is saying that God Himself is going to do it with heavy emphasis. This is not sending out someone to do it for them. But God is going to do it heavily emphasized on his own personal action, as a shepherd to the sheep.
For the people of Israel, this likely meant that God was going to use his own power to bring them from where they were scattered amongst all the nations back to the promised land after their time of exile had been over. And we see that happens when Cyrus the Great, sends a proclamation that the people can return and rebuild Jerusalem. But it's more than that. It is not just that he's going to give them bring them back out of exile, put them back in Jerusalem, and restore them to their own land. God is is talking about gathering all of the strays, and it becomes more than just a return of the fortunes of Israel. He goes, I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their great grazing land. There they shall lie down and good grazing land and enriched pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel, I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. And I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD, I will seek the loss, I will bring back the straight and I will bind up the injured, I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy, I will feed them injustice.
God is showing a heart for the lost people, the people who've been scattered, and God gathers together of people now, not in a nation with borders, but into the church. He gathers by the power of the Holy Spirit through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the shepherd Jesus who came down for us. This is God God Himself, who came to gather to gather people. And we see that in the heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who comes to be among us. So the second section of Ezekiel two
turns away from God's heart of gathering together the sheep and he turns against the fat sheep. He says, Behold, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the Lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder and thrust at the weak with your horns to you've scattered them abroad.
Now, earlier in Ezekiel, chapter 34, the Prophet goes out against the shepherds of the sheep, the ones who refuse to feed the sheep, and would feed themselves instead, and that God would take their jobs away, it seems a little bit more of the same here is that there are people from within the flock that are not the not the shepherds, but the people who are scattering from within, who push away the weak, who
don't refuse to help.
And God will judge them.
And we see that this is an image of God coming down, and saying to those who are not, who are greedy and violent and hurtful amongst the people of Israel and judging them. And God did that when he sent them into exile. And he continues to do that. But what he says then, is that he will set up over them one shepherd, My servant, David, and he shall feed them. So a way of rescuing the sheep from the violent and the cruel. And the oppressive, is not just to judge those, but to set up a good shepherd, who will not only protect the sheep from external threats, and gather them together in one flock, but I will also keep all of the sheep in line, all of us Christians focused on him.
And that we see in Jesus Christ, our true king, our true shepherd, the servant, David, who came down from heaven to gather all people from all nations into one family, into the holy Christian Church, the flock of Jesus Christ. That servant is our God, who came down himself to gather us together.
That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai