A Prophecy against Israel’s Shepherds 1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 35, 36, and following) And I will bring you into a desert of peoples, and there I will judge you face to face. Just as I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, says the Lord.
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Tertullian · AD 220 Quite clearly he states that they have caused the sheep to be lost and to be devoured by the beasts of the field; nor, if they are abandoned, could they avoid being lost in death and devoured. But he does not say that they should be restored after they have been lost in death and devoured.
Jerome · AD 420 But the word is directed to the shepherds of Israel, whom we must understand as either kings, or princes, scribes and Pharisees, and teachers of the Jewish people. Or certainly in the Gospel people, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons: or according to mystical understanding, the Angels of the individual Churches, to whom John wrote in his Apocalypse (Apoc.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 You see, we whom the Lord has deigned, thanks to no merits of ours, to set in this high station (about which a very strict account indeed has to be rendered) have two things about us that must be clearly distinguished: one, that we are Christians, the other, that we are placed in charge. Being Christians is for our sake; being in charge is for yours.
3 You eat the fat, and you clothe you with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock.
Apostolic Constitutions · AD 380 Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 In the same way, everyone who leads a bad life for all those to see whom he has been put in charge of, as far as he is concerned is killing even the strong ones. Any who imitate him die; whoever does not imitate him lives.
Symeon the New Theologian · AD 1022 Hasten then to increase the flock of your master! Do not turn aside to relaxations or pleasures of the body or vilely squander the wool and the fat of Christ's sheep by hoarding up the goods of the monastery for your own benefit rather than of the brothers, so that you may enjoy yourself.
4 The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
Cyprian · AD 258 And since it is incumbent on us who seem to be in charge and in the place of shepherds to guard the flock, if we should be found negligent, what will be said to us was said to our predecessors who were such negligent leaders.
Caesarius of Arles · AD 542 Since we have been appointed by the Lord to direct the ship of his church, let us with his help and the direction of the two Testaments so govern the ship of his church that we may not through some negligence turn aside either to the right or to the left but may without effort keep a straight course of life in the midst of the great dangers of this world.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For one who had been cast away is brought back, when any one who has fallen into sin is recalled to a state of righteousness by the vigour of pastoral solicitude. For ligature binds a fracture when discipline subdues a sin, lest the wound should bleed mortally for want of being compressed by the severity of constraint.
5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became food to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
Pachomius the Great · AD 348 Let us struggle, my beloved, during these six days of the Passover, for they are given to us each year for the redemption of our souls, that we may spend them in the works of God.… He sent to us the great Shepherd of the sheep that were scattered, to gather us back into his holy fold.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yes, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Pursuing all earthly objects, things that glitter obviously on the face of the earth, they love them, they set their hearts on them. They do not want to die, that their life may be hidden with Christ.… Not all heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth, but still heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth.
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8 As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became food to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But which shepherds are dead? Those who seek their own advantage, not that of Jesus Christ. So will there be shepherds, and will they be found, who do not seek their own advantage but that of Jesus Christ? There certainly will be, and they will certainly be found; they are not lacking, and they won't be lacking.
9 Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Jerome · AD 420 I myself will go to the shepherds and will seek out my flock from the hand of those who find it convenient to have a millstone placed around their neck.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 These words predict the end both of the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood. I will free my flocks, he says, from those who look after them badly, who have steered them with no kind of providence but have only continued to devour them. Therefore through our Lord and Savior they are granted salvation.
10 Thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Listen and learn, you sheep of God; from the bad shepherds God will require his sheep, and from their hands he will require their death.… So let us see, because that is what I had proposed to do, whether he takes the sheep away from the bad shepherds and gives them to good shepherds.
The Good Shepherd 11 For thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11 onwards) For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his dispersed sheep (or when there is darkness and clouds among his separated sheep), so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkn…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Rain and fog, the errors of this world; a great darkness arising from human lusts, a thick fog covering the earth. And it is difficult for the sheep not to go astray in this fog. But the shepherd does not desert them. He seeks them, his piercing gaze penetrates the fog, the thick darkness of the clouds does not prevent him.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 He is shepherd to shepherds and a guide to guides: that we may feed his flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 When it is difficult for them to be found, now I will find them. The fog is dense, the storm cloud thick; nothing escapes his eyes.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He established the mountains of Israel, the authors of the divine Scriptures. Feed there, in order to feed without a qualm. Whatever you hear from that source, let that taste good to you; anything from outside, spit it out. In order not to go astray in the fog, listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Gather yourselves to the mountains of holy Scripture.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 This is feeding Christ, this is feeding for Christ, this is feeding in Christ, not feeding oneself apart from Christ. There is not really a dearth of shepherds.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord GOD.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Lift up your eyes to the mountains, by all means, from where help shall come to you—but pay attention to him saying, I myself will be the shepherd.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 If you are a shepherd, take care that none of your pastoral duties is neglected. And what are these duties? To bring back that which is lost, to bind up that which was broken, to heal that which is diseased.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 The words against the false shepherds have been hidden, as well as the prediction of God's attentiveness to come. He turns his words to the flocks and teaches the useless shepherds how not to fall back in any way in defending them.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 We must all of us strive zealously to make known to the church both the dreadfulness of the coming judgment and the kingdom of heaven's delight.
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord GOD; Look, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 We who desire to be flocks of the shepherd must never try to escape from being fed even by the very things that seem to diverge from Scripture and are trampled on because of the discordance of what is said by those who neither want nor can use the nourishment that Scripture gives in all its fullness.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 17 onwards) But you, my flock (or sheep), this says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between the sheep, and between rams and goats. Was it not enough for you to graze on good pastures? Moreover, you trampled the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water, you disturbed the rest with your feet.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 I am judging. What a relief, what reassurance! [The Lord] is judging; the good can be reassured. No opponent can corrupt their judge, no counselor twist him round their little finger or witness play fast and loose with him. But just as the good can be reassured, so to the same extent the bad should be afraid. He is not the sort of judge things can be kept hidden from.
18 Seems it a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?
Jerome · AD 420 But these things he spoke against the shepherds: now he speaks to the sheep, that is, to the people: and to the flock of both kinds of livestock, that is, the sheep and the goats: and not only to the sheep and goats, but also to the rams and the bucks, who are the leaders in the flocks, to whom he says: Was it not enough for you to feed on the good pastures of the Scriptures?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 God's pastures are good, and God's springs are pure. We have them in the holy Scriptures.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For indeed the shepherds drink most pure water, when with a right understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. But to foul the same water with their feet is to corrupt the studies of holy meditation by evil living.
19 And as for my flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.
20 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them; Look, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He makes no further mention of the he-goats. He mentioned them once, so that we would know they exist. He knows them well. After that he speaks as if all are sheep.
21 Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about. It is only strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong? Those who rely on their own righteousness. None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside.
22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Just as we must abominate their injustice and cruelty, so we must praise the mercy of our Shepherd, who is truly our God; he will save his sheep. Perhaps, my brothers, he is doing this when we say this, doing it through the least of his servants, doing it perhaps through unworthy servants. Let him save his sheep; let them hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow him.
23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 David also is called the Christ, as when Ezekiel prophesied to the shepherds and added, in the person of God, "I will raise up David my servant, who will shepherd them." For the patriarch David will not be raised up to shepherd the saints, but Christ.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verses 23-24) And I will raise up over them (here and elsewhere) (or over them) one shepherd who will feed them (or him), my servant David: he will feed them (or him): and he will be their shepherd. But I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 You will readily understand, brothers, that it is a prophecy of Christ coming to people from the seed of David, if you realize the dates. This prophet Ezekiel lived in the time of the captivity, which resulted from the exile of the people to Babylonia. From the time of David to the time of the exile there are fourteen generations.
24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Pay close attention, brothers. Note the unity of the godhead, and yet the distribution of persons, in case we should say that he who is the Father is the Son, or that he who is the Son is the Father.
The Covenant of Peace 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 25 onwards) And I will make a covenant (or testament) of peace with them, and I will cause the most harmful beasts to cease from the earth, and those who dwell in the wilderness will sleep safely in the woods. And I will place them around my hill as a blessing, and I will bring rain in its season, and the rains will be a blessing.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 What is "in the desert"? In solitude. What is in solitude? Inside, in the conscience. It is a solitude indeed, because not only do no other human beings cross it, they do not even see it. Let us dwell there in hope, because we are not yet there in fact. After all, everything we have outside chops and changes with the storms and trials of the world.
26 And 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 of blessing.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 There is also, of course, the bad sort of thunder shower, that knocks down the house built on sand, that it is a great thing even for the house founded on the rock to stand up against. That is the thunder shower of temptation, bent on devastation, not on irrigation, of the earth.
27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 [The fruitful trees are] in the plain, on level ground, not in rugged places, in a relatively easy life. Having things fairly easy in this life, with nothing steep or rugged, toilsome, difficult to cope with, this he calls the plain. Such is the life of many of the faithful in the church of God, who have their wives and husbands, children, families.
28 And they shall no more be a prey to the pagans, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the pagans any more.
Jerome · AD 420 And they will no longer be a prey to demonic nations; nor will the beasts of the earth devour those of whom we have spoken: but they will dwell confidently without any fear, according to the above explanation. And I will raise up for them a named offspring, or a planting of peace, which is spoken of in the Gospel: I am the true vine (John 15:1).
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The church has been raised up to such a pinnacle in the name of Christ that all who curse are now put to shame and dare not curse anymore.
30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD.
Jerome · AD 420 A famine, a famine of hearing the Word of God, will never take place on the earth under a good shepherd descended from a famous stock, whose words are acclaimed by everyone and who sows peace on the earth.
31 And you my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord GOD.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 O how blessed we are with such a possession and such a possessor! Because as well as him possessing us, we also possess him. He possesses us in order to tend us, and we possess him in order to tend him. But we tend him with worship as God, he tends us with cultivation as a field.