God the Shepherd King
In the chaotic time after the exile, Judah had an internal corruption problem. In Ezekiel 34, the prophet rails against the shepherds of Israel. Obviously, not literal shepherds, but the political, cultural, and even religious leaders. They didn’t care for the people. They took everything they could, exploiting their positions of power, without giving anything back. They didn’t care for the sick. They didn’t feed the hungry. They completely ignored their duties. While it is difficult to draw specific historical details from the metaphor of shepherds and sheep that Ezekiel uses, the narrative presented here seems to be one of chaos moving toward corruption. While the last few kings of Judah hadn't been great themselves, in the power vacuum that followed the deportation of Zedekiah, the last king, corrupt and self-serving leaders arose. The people were scattered, trying to put society back together in the face of utter collapse, but instead of rallying the people, supporting them, and making sure everyone came together in faith and mutual aid, the shepherds left them to their wandering and grabbed what profit they could. Ezekiel even goes so far as to say that the shepherds are eating the sheep. This isn’t an abnormal thing to do if taken literally, but when the sheep refer to the common people of Judah, this is terrible. I don’t think Ezekiel is trying to indicate cannibalism, but the corrupt leadership and cruel exploitation of the poor is just as shocking.
Because of their failures, God decides to take care of the sheep directly. In the past, God had blessed the people through the mediator of the Davidic king. God’s blessing would pass through the monarch to the people. Now that the leaders are withholding God’s care from the commoners, God won’t give them anything anymore. Now, with God as the shepherd, those leaders are no longer shepherds themselves but fat sheep, and God will feed them only with justice. God will destroy them for their cruel treatment of the poor. Of course, it isn’t only the leaders who could be these fat sheep. This could refer to rich people in general. Under corrupt leaders, rich people thrive much more than the poor. If political leaders create policies that benefit the rich and choose to selectively enforce laws against the poor and not the rich, then money pools into the purses of those who can rub elbows with those leaders. We can see this at play even today. The wealthiest people in America have multiple houses and boats, while the poorest among us cannot even afford an apartment to get out of the cold. What’s worse is that some policy makers treat the homeless as criminals, while those with multiple houses are praised as heroes who have proven the American dream.
We cannot responsibly ignore the points here about social justice. The rich and powerful have exploited and marginalized the poor, and God is going to punish them while caring for the poor. God is going to cut off the blessings to the rich and even destroy them, while blessing the poor and gathering them together. God’s work in the world raises up the needy and pushes down the wealthy elite, moderating and equalizing the wealth of society. This isn’t a free market where the goal is to become as rich as possible within one’s lifetime. In God’s world, the purpose of the rich is to share their wealth with those who are less fortunate. A failure to abide by that duty will make one a target for God’s wrath. This may seem harsh, and we may have a temptation to spiritualize such passages, anything we can do to avoid God’s anger from falling on Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and our political leaders. However, the simplest reading of this reminds us that God cares for those the world has forgotten. God will bless the poor at the expense of the rich, if the rich won’t share themselves.
In setting aside the leaders, demoting the shepherds back down to sheep, God also reminds us that God is our ruler. Though times have changed and we no longer have kings, the same criticisms still stand. God demands our loyalty. We are Christians before we are anything else. Our loyalty is first and foremost to the Gospel, and patriotism can only come after that. If our leaders are not doing what God wants, caring for the poor and marginalized, then it shouldn’t matter how much we like their other policies or personalities, they are failing to do what God has called them to do. Our views on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine should not be determined by questions of what best serves America, but by what God would want for the world.
In addition to this passage being strongly in favor of social justice and care for the poor, even at the expense of the wealthy, this passage also provides a strong hint pointing toward Jesus. God says that God is now against the shepherds of Israel. God explicitly says that God is now the shepherd for God’s people. However, later in the chapter, God says that God “will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.” There are some problems with this. David has been dead for hundreds of years at this point. The last king of his line was taken into exile after all his sons were executed. And furthermore, do they really need another shepherd when all the shepherds have failed? God promised to be their shepherd directly, and now God is saying that God will appoint another shepherd for them, but perhaps both are true. As Christians, we read this passage as pointing to Christ, the descendant of David and Son of God, the one good shepherd who will tend the sheep forever. Instead of eating the sheep and driving them away, Christ gathers them and feeds them with his own body and blood.
It is interesting to see this passage both as a marker pointing to Christ as well as a call for justice and liberation of the poor. God clearly lays out the plan for salvation history. Christ will tend to the sheep, but not just spiritually. God will gather and feed them, driving away corrupt leaders who would abuse them. In this passage, Christ’s work is tied to God’s deep concern for the poor. If we are to be God’s people, then our lives should be shaped by this truth. Our loyalty is not to the President of the United States, nor to Congress or the courts. Our loyalty is not to the exceptionally wealthy or the American dream they represent. Our loyalty is to God. Our duty is to the poor. And our mission is to proclaim the Gospel to all, and watch as God’s good news changes the world.
