The Shepherds Of Israel

 "The word of YAHWEH came to me in these terms, 'Son of man, speak on MY behalf against the shepherds of Israel!  Say to the shepherds on MY behalf: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who feed themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flock?  But you feed on milk and are clothed in wool, and you slaughter the fattest sheep.  You have not taken care of the flock; you have not strengthened the weak, cared for the sick or bandaged the injured.  You have not gone after the sheep that strayed or searched for the one that was lost.  Instead, you ruled them harshly and were their oppressors.  They have scattered, for want of a shepherd, and became prey of wild animals.  MY sheep wander over the mountains and high hills; and when they are scattered throughout the land, no one bothers about them or looks for them.

Hear, then, shepherds, what YAHWEH says: As I live--word of YAHWEH,--because MY sheep have been the prey of wild animals and become their food for want of shepherds, because the shepherds have not cared for MY sheep, because, you, shepherds have not bothered about them, but fed yourselves, and not the flocks, because of that, hear the word of YAHWEH.  This is what YAHWEH says: I will ask an account of the shepherds and reclaim MY sheep from them.  No longer shall they tend MY flock; nor shall there be shepherds who feed themselves.  I shall save the flock from their mouths; and no longer shall it be food for them.

Indeed YAHWEH says this: I, MYSELF, will care for MY sheep and watch over them.) - Ezekiel 34:1-11 

(The LORD YAHWEH gathers HIS scattered flock.

There are two parts to this long comparison in which YAHWEH promises to become the shepherd for HIS flock.

- a revolution,

- a judgment.

Speak on MY behalf against the shepherds of Israel.  Here YAHWEH announces a radical change in the social life of Israel: HE will replace all the shepherds.  The expression "shepherd" applies to all civil authorities, and thus includes the king, the magistrates and the judges.  It does not include the priests and the prophets.  This is contrary to modern usage, since for us the word "pastor" [shepherd] refers only to the spiritual leaders of a community.

Should not the shepherds feed the flock.  The flock does not belong to the shepherds.  YAHWEH condemns the leaders of HIS people who find it normal to enjoy power and wealth without first seeing themselves as the servants of the people.  We can easily imagine the misery of the Jewish people in the days about which Ezekiel writes, immediately after the catastrophe in Jerusalem:

- weak, hungry, sick sheep;

- stray sheep: wandering without home or work, isolated, alienated by the lies of their rulers;

- they become the prey of all the nations, they were taken into exile, or left their homeland looking for work.)

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