Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 34:3
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock.
3. Ye eat the fat ] LXX. the milk (the consonants are the same). Cf. Isa 7:22; Zec 11:16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. Ye eat the fat] I think hacheleb should be translated the milk; and so most of the Versions understand it. Or they lived on the fat sheep, and took the wool of all.
“The priests,” says Calmet, “ate the tithes, the first-fruits, and the offerings of the people; the princes received the tributes and imposts; and instead of instructing and protecting them, the latter took away their lives by the cruelties they practiced against them: the former destroyed their souls by the poison of their doctrine, and by their bad example. The fat sheep point out the rich, to whom these pastors often disguised the truth, by a cruel condescension and complaisance.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The fat; rather the milk, which insatiably and without measure you devour; you exhaust their purses and weaken their estates by tributes, exacted by extortions: so the temporal rulers and the spiritual rulers had their methods and arts to milk them dry, these lived on the sins of the people.
With the wool; with best and finest, as best suiting with your pride and luxury, on which you force the people to bestow so much that they have not to clothe themselves and theirs; this was mighty oppression.
Ye kill them; contrive methods for a seeming legal course to forfeit first the life, and next the estate, of the well-fed, the rich, and wealthy, and then make merry and feast, as voluptuous, unfaithful shepherds feast on the fattest of the sheep in their masters fold. Ye feed not the flock; take no care to lead, protect, provide for, and watch over them, but, as idle shepherds feasted with the fattest, let the rest starve for any thing they care.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. fator, by differentlypointing the Hebrew, “milk” [Septuagint].Thus the repetition “fat” and “fed” is avoided:also the eating of “fat” would not probably be put beforethe “killing” of the sheep. The eating of sheep’s or goats’milk as food (Deu 32:14; Pro 27:27)was unobjectionable, had not these shepherds milked them too often,and that without duly “feeding” them [BOCHART],(Isa 56:11). The rulers leviedexorbitant tributes.
kill . . . fedkill therich by false accusation so as to get possession of their property.
feed not . . . flocktakeno care of the people (Joh 10:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye eat the fat,…. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, “the milk”; the words for fat and milk differ only in the points; and this was not unlawful, for
who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? 1Co 9:7, provided it was done with moderation, that they ate some, but not all; but these rulers milked their subjects too much, oppressed them with heavy taxes, and got their substance into their own hands. The Targum is,
“ye eat the good;”
they got possessed of the best of their substance; as did also their ecclesiastical rulers, who were greedy shepherds, that could never have enough; they looked for their gain from their quarter, and even devoured widows’ houses, Isa 56:11:
ye clothe you with the wool: the pure wool, as the Targum, the finest of it; they fleeced the flock, and stripped the people of their riches; and minded nothing but their own backs and bellies:
ye kill them that are fed; or, that “are fat” q; the richest of the people they brought accusations and charges against for capital crimes; and so put them to death under a colour of justice, that they, might get their estates into their hands:
but ye feed not the flock; did not govern the people well, by doing justice and judgment among men, as became civil magistrates; did not deliver out words of faith and sound doctrine, to feed the souls of men with, which is the duty of those that preside in the church of God.
q “quod pingue est”, Vatablus, Bochartus; “pinguem”, Cocceius, Starckius. So Ben Melech.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“You eat the fat and you clothe yourselves with the wool. You kill the fatlings. But you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the diseased, nor have you healed those who are sick, nor have you bound up what is broken, nor have you restored the ones who were driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost. But you have lorded it over them with force and with rigour.”
The charge is expanded on, a failure to look after the sheep in their many needs, while themselves obtaining as much advantage from them as they could. They were squeezing the flock dry but they gave them little in return. The general approach demonstrates that more than just past kings were in mind.
Thus they overlooked the basic necessities of those under their care. They did not help the weak, they did not restore those who were failing, they did not go after any who strayed or were snatched away. They left them to themselves except for when they wanted to benefit from them. And then they pursued their object diligently and with vigour.
It is a sad thing when pastors and preachers have a high opinion of themselves, and even sadder when their main aim is their own good and their own advancement rather than genuine concern for their people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 34:3. The fat The milk. Houbigant; with all the versions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 34:3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock.
Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat. ] Ecce, lac et lanam recipitis. This ye might do, if in measure, for the workman is worthy of his wages, see 1Co 9:7 but ye gorge yourselves with the best of the best. Et si ventri bene, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace, If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, that is all you take care for. In parabola ovis capras quaeritis, et vestrum maxime compendium spectatis; ye are all for your own ends, nourishing your hearts as in a day of slaughter, or of good cheer. Jam 5:5
Ye kill them that are fed.
But ye feed not the flock.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
kill = kill for sacrifice, and eating. Hebrew. zaback. App-48.
them that are fed = the fat ewe.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
eat: Isa 56:11, Isa 56:12, Zec 11:5, Zec 11:16
ye kill: Eze 19:3, Eze 19:6, Eze 22:25-28, Eze 33:25, Eze 33:26, 1Ki 21:13-16, 2Ki 21:16, Isa 1:10, Isa 1:15, Jer 2:30, Jer 22:17, Lam 4:13, Mic 3:1-3, Zep 3:3
Reciprocal: Eze 34:8 – the shepherds Eze 34:18 – to have Eze 34:21 – ye have Eze 46:18 – my people Mic 3:2 – pluck Mat 9:36 – as Mat 24:49 – and to Luk 12:42 – to give Luk 12:45 – to beat Act 20:28 – to feed Act 20:29 – not Phi 3:19 – whose God 1Pe 5:2 – Feed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 34:3. The items in this verse are literal in their nature and in the use that is generally made of them just as the statement shows it. But the passage is used figuratively to illustrate the selfishness of the shepherds in their treatment of the flock that was depending upon them for guidance.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 34:3-4. Ye eat the fat Or, the milk, as the LXX. render it. The Hebrew words chalab, milk, and cheleb, fat, differ only in their points, so that the ancient versions take them promiscuously one for the other. These shepherds of the Lords flock, these civil and ecclesiastical rulers of the people, used their power over them, and exercised their offices, merely for their temporal advantage and emolument. They exacted their tribute and taxes, their tithes and perquisites, with great earnestness; and they oppressed, and even destroyed the people, to enrich themselves: but they bestowed no pains to provide for the welfare of the state, or of the souls of those intrusted to them. Scott. Ye kill them that are fed Ye take away the lives of the wealthy and substantial by unjust means, in order to enrich yourselves with their estates. But ye feed not the flock Ye take no care for their benefit, temporal or spiritual. Ye are so ignorant that ye know not how to feed them, and ye are so indolent that ye will not take any pains to do it, and ye are so treacherous and unfaithful that ye never desired or designed it. The diseased The weak and languishing; have ye not strengthened With your help, counsel, or countenance. Ye have not applied proper remedies to the wants and necessities of those committed to your charge. The magistrates have not taken care to relieve the needy and defend the oppressed. The priests and the prophets have not been diligent in giving the people proper instructions, in rectifying the mistakes of those that were in error, in warning the unruly, or comforting the disconsolate. Neither have ye bound up that which was broken Ye have not given relief to the afflicted and miserable: a metaphor taken from surgeons binding up wounds in order to cure them. Neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, &c. Or, which was gone astray, as the word is translated, Deu 22:1. Ye have not, by your instructions and exhortations, endeavoured to reduce those who had wandered from the way of truth, or to reclaim those who were ready to perish in their sins; but with force and cruelty have ye ruled them Have endeavoured to reduce and govern them by the rough methods of compulsion and cruelty, and not by the gentle way of reason and argument, longsuffering, meekness, and love; and your government over them has been exercised by tyranny and oppression, instead of justice, kindness, and beneficence.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
34:3 Ye eat the {b} fat, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock.
(b) You seek to enrich yourselves by their conveniences and to spoil their riches and substance.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Specifically, these unfaithful shepherds ate the best parts of the sacrifices rather than offering them to God (cf. 1Sa 2:12-17). They used the wool of sheep to make clothing for themselves rather than offering these animals as sacrifices to God.
Second, rather than feeding God’s sheep they slaughtered them; they were oppressive. They had not restored those that needed restoring nor sought those that had wandered away and needed finding. They had dominated God’s flock rather than providing loving, self-sacrificial leadership. The primary responsibility of a leader is to care for the needs of those he leads, even if this requires sacrificing his own desires.