PASTORAL AND MESSIANIC

One of the recurring themes of the Hebrew prophets was the promise of a time or place in which “no one will make them afraid.” Ezekiel’s version of this promise tied it to another favorite image of the Bible, that of God as the good shepherd of His people.

The detail in Ezekiel’s description of this shepherd was notable, prefiguring two of the famous pastoral parables that Jesus would teach to His disciples.

For those who first heard Jesus telling the story of the lost sheep for whom the shepherd searched so diligently (see Luke 15:3–7), the notable detail was that the shepherd would leave the other ninety-nine to search for a single lost sheep.

Ezekiel’s description had already described their shepherd God as one who would gather all of the scattered flock of Israel. “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them” (Ezekiel 34:11). God would carry them and heal their wounds.

“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34:16). Ezekiel also hinted at another of Jesus’ parables: “I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats” (Ezekiel 34:17, NLT). The basis for such judgment was whether justice was done or not done, as well as concern for helping the hungry and abused, as Jesus would urge in His parable of Matthew 25:31–46. When Jesus said that He was “the good shepherd” (John 10:14)—as well as when He told these parables—He was claiming that He was the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy.

He was “the one shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:23), the protector and provider for His people, with particular concern for the weakest and the wandering, and continuing to point forward to a time when “no one will make them afraid.”