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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
Ezekiel 34:17-31
The LORD severely denounces the selfishness of the fat and strong sheep and promises that He will redress the wrongs done to those that are weak and feeble. Then He points out (we can appreciate with what satisfaction and with how much love) the shepherd whom He is going to raise up: His servant David. Through him, the faithful shepherd of his father’s flock, then that of Israel (1 Samuel 17:34-35; 2 Samuel 5:2), God would speak to us of His Beloved. "I am the good shepherd", the Lord Jesus could say, in contrast to all those bad shepherds of whom the early part of the chapter has told us. He was moved with compassion towards the multitudes of Israel, weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36). But what characterises the good Shepherd is that He gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). Such is indeed the supreme proof of His goodness, surpassing all the care described in this chapter. "I know my sheep and am known of mine", the Lord adds, a word we can connect with vv. 30, 31! Hear again this touching expression, ". . . my flock, the flock of my pasture" (cf. Psalms 100:3). In Ezekiel 36:38 we find similar expressions: "flocks of men . . . , the holy flock . . . , the flock of Jerusalem".
