11<\/strong>. search my sheep<\/em> ] i.e. search for, or, search out.<\/p>\n 11 16<\/strong>. Jehovah himself will undertake the care of his flock<\/p>\n Yahweh is the shepherd of His people. He will do all which the shepherds should have done and did not. These promises – partially fulfilled in the return from Babylon, and in the subsequent prosperity under the Maccabees – point to the ingathering of all nations in the Church of Christ the Good Shepherd. Compare Mat 18:11<\/span> : John 10:1-18<\/span>; Rom 9:25-33<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Eze 34:11-19<\/span><\/p>\n I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n The flock sought and found<\/strong><\/p>\n Is the Great Shepherd to leave the stray sheep to wander and perish? or is He to pity and reclaim them? In the Crimean War there were two ways, very different from each other, in which heroic deed manifested itself. One was, by our soldiers indomitable courage in the field,–when brave men stood manfully to their guns, and poured the iron hail against fearful odds. That was the stern glory of carnage and destruction. The other unfolds a picture in strange and startling contrast with this. At midnight, in stiffed hospital wards, amid the light of dim lamps and moans of sufferers, a gentle form of pity flitted from couch to couch, with words and looks and deeds of mercy;–pale lips kissing the shadow on their pillows as it passed. On which of the two does the mind love most to dwell? On that field of stern desperate valour; or on these hushed corridors, away from the roar of battle, with the one hero-heart moving like a ministering angel amid the congregated crowd of wounded and dying? Gods way regarding man (with reverence we say it) was the latter. We may look to this truth, first, in its simplest aspect. The soul, as we have already noted, is ever and anon manifesting some undefined longing after its lost portion in God. But it has in itself a hopeless moral inability to return. It cannot retrace its lost way. Alas! often there is rather the plunging deeper and deeper amid the pathless wilds of ruin, till, in addition to inability, there is added disinclination to be restored to the long lost fold. The sheep, rather than return to the Shepherd, will go roaming in search of other pastures–increasing its mournful distance from the fold, and bringing it only into more perilous vicinity to the lions dens and the mountains of the leopards. How, then, can the sinner be reclaimed? It is manifest that by no self-originated effort can he return. If saved, it must be by another. Himself he cannot,–himself he will not save. Omnipotence alone can bring it back. It is easy enough to take the tiara of priceless diamonds, or the necklace of gold, and plunge it down in mid ocean; but it is not so easy to descend through that untraversed barrier, that liquid rampart which rolls defiant between, and get them up again. The soul, the true casket of lost treasures, by reason of its own sad principle of moral gravitation, sinks easily downward. But it is He alone who taketh up the waters in the hollow of His hand that cart rescue it from the depths of ruin and despair. Here, then, is the Gospels glorious history of the restoration of the wanderers. Marvellous condescension–unspeakable grace! He speaks in one of the verses which precede this chapter as if it were something wondrous,–something well-nigh incredible: Behold I, even I. The spot is still pointed out with pride, amid the rocky wilds of Dauphine, where nil eagle bore in its talons the infant which had been left smiling in fearless innocence in its cradle by the cottage door. One stalwart form after another tried to climb that giddy height for the rescue, but had to abandon it in despair. At last a fleet and nimble foot spurns all difficulties. Up she climbs, from crag to crag, until, reaching the dizzy eminence, she buries the yet living child in her bosom, saying, as a mothers tongue in such an hour alone could say, This my child was dead, and is alive again–was lost, and is found! But that was a mothers speechless affection for her offspring. As she brought her loved and lost back to her cottage home, and replaced it in the empty cradle, we would think it strange to hear her saying, Behold I, even I, have done this. Who could have done it but she? But what does the Infinite Jehovah see in us?–What claim have these sheep on this Shepherd of the universe–these sinners on their God?–None! The natural heart is a den of pollution, a haunt of evil, the nurturing home of rebellion. Not only, however, are we called to note and admire Gods grace and condescension; but to admire the sovereignty of that grace as shown in the selection of its objects. Mankind were not the only fallen family in the universe. Other sheep, not of the earthly fold, had also strayed from the Shepherd. Might we not have expected that, in resolving on the ransom and recovery of any lost ones, he would have made choice rather of a different race of wanderers? Fallen angels (the aborigines of heaven) were greater than man. Well may we pause and ponder this wondrous manifestation of sovereign grace in the salvation of sinners of the dust! Truly, indeed, this salvation of man is a story of grace. Turn the moral kaleidoscope as we may, the gleaming words still stand radiant before our eyes, By the grace of God we are what we are. Once more. Gods grace and compassion are further manifested in His untiring love and patience in the pursuit of the lost, till restoration and safety be ensured. In other words, we have to admire, not only His free grace and His sovereign grace, but what the old writers call His irresistible grace. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search My sheep and seek them out. He will not only search for them, but He will search till He discover them. He goeth after that which was lost until He find it. The Saviours love is bounded by no distance, is cooled by no difficulties, is repulsed by no obstacles. One of the noblest records of true heroism in Englands annals is of comparatively recent date; when a gallant vessel, manned with gallant hearts, vent forth amid the frowning icebergs of the Northern Seas, to search for a band of missing explorers. They sailed thither, buoyed with the faint, feeble hope that the object of their search might still be found, battling bravely with eternal winter. Alas! they went after the lost until they found them; but they found them with the stiffened snow and ice as their winding sheet! They brought not back the living, but only some sad mementoes and memorials of the dead. Not so is the journey, not so the pursuit, of the Great Shepherd of the sheep. His omniscient eye follows every wanderer. Those whom He has marked for His own He will, without fail, bring home. Not one can elude His pursuit, nor evade His loving scrutiny. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Divine Shepherd<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>His character: a shepherd (Joh 10:14<\/span>).<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>His employment: seeketh out (Eze 34:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The objects of His care: His flock (Isa 40:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Their condition: scattered (Joh 11:52<\/span>).<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>Then the time of gathering: the day (Zec 13:1<\/span>).<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>His situation: among them (Psa 132:13-14<\/span>).<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>By the word written (2Ti 3:15<\/span>).<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The word preached (1Co 1:23-24<\/span>).<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>But always by the Spirit (Zec 4:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>This implies determination: I will (Eze 13:21<\/span>).<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>It denotes contest: deliver (Isa 49:25<\/span>).<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>It signifies power: I will deliver them (Isa 40:29<\/span>). All places.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> From all parts of the world.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> From all sinful practices.<\/p>\n (3)<\/strong> From all opposing powers (Rev 7:9<\/span>).<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>It also denotes great wisdom in searching and distinguishing them; simply because–<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> They are separated one from another.<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> They mingle with the wicked. (T. B. Baker.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n In the cloudy and dark day<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Shepherd seeking the flock in the cloudy and dark day<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Lost! He seeks you. Though you have forgotten Him, He has not forgotten you.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Ye who have been driven away, He will bring you again. Ye who, like the Psalmist of Israel, have unwarily left the pastures of peace and security, and entangled yourselves in the midnight forest of danger and sin; the grace of Him who first brought you to the fold is able to bring you back again, and restore to you the joys of His salvation.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Broken ones! Ye who are crushed and mutilated by the thousand ills of suffering and sorrow: rejoice! That Shepherd came to bind up breaking hearts; His name is The Healer of the broken hearted.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Sick! Ye pining sufferers in earths great hospital! Ye bleating sheep, lying languid and helpless in the fold–He, the Great Shepherd, comes to strengthen you. A sick bed–where the noisy world is shut out–where its cares and anxieties and aspirations and ambitions are no longer present to hamper and harass–what a blessed season for converse with the Infinite.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>He seeks the lost; and on finding them a look of love suffices to bring the conscience-stricken wanderers back.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>He brings again the driven away. Those cowering in terror at their own wilful blindness and apostasy, their deep ingratitude and heinous guilt, need help, encouragement, guidance;–they need being carried in the Shepherds arms.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>He binds up the broken; He stanches the bleeding wound with the application of tender restoratives–the balm words of His own exceeding great and precious promises. He, the Brother born for adversity, teaches the wounded spirit, and He alone can, how to bear in this dark and cloudy day; He turns the shadow of death into the morning.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>He strengthens the sick–those who for years on years have been laid on couches of languishing–secluded from the gladsome light of day, on whose ears the tones of the Sabbath bell fall only to tell of forfeited privileges. They can best bear attestation how a mysterious, sustaining strength, not their own, is imparted to them, which makes them wonders to themselves.<\/p>\n Let us close with two practical reflections.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The all-sufficiency of the Shepherds power and love. There is no case He cannot meet. Lost ones, driven ones, broken ones, sick ones. It seems to exhaust the circle of human wants and necessities. He seems to anticipate every supposable case, so that none dare say that Shepherd-love does not include me.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>This precious passage, so full of tenderness and love to the erring, the backsliding, the suffering, ends with a brief but most solemn utterance of judgment on the impenitent, the self-righteous, and unbelieving. He that has rest for disquieted saints, says Matthew Henry, has terror to speak to presumptuous sinners. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Shadows of religious life<\/strong><\/p>\n Night and morning are familiar types of human life in its alternation of shadow and sunshine, its chequered history of grief and joy. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. It is the law of nature and of humanity. Is it not also the law of the higher spiritual life? No doubt there are moments of rare enjoyment in the experience of a godly man; moments of special communion with the Unseen. But there are seasons, too, of a widely different complexion, when the firmament above him darkens into a hemisphere without a star, and the heart within him grows sick of the weary struggle, and he is sorely tempted, like Elijah, to fold his head in his mantle, and lie down in despair to die.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in physical disease. Very wonderful is the sympathy between body and soul. Many a life might be comparatively blithesome, but that chronic dyspepsia fills it with morbid fears and feelings. Trifling with the delicate mechanism of the human frame has brought upon many excellent people a settled melancholy, an impression that they have committed some unpardonable sin, and are absolute outcasts from Gods covenant of mercy. Let the organ be out of tune, and Handel himself could not bring good music out of it; and when the nervous organism is unstrung, it is not surprising if the secret harmonies of the soul be turned into jars and discord. Temperance, chastity, and godliness,–the mens sana in corpore sano,–are a wellspring of perennial cheerfulness; but without them, the fountains of real pleasure are poisoned, life loses its zest and buoyancy, and becomes little better than a funeral march to death and judgment.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in personal wrong-doing. Misconduct is the ruin of tranquillity, and may cast a pall and blight over lifes fairest prospects. He who can do a deliberate wrong without a pang of regret is more demon than man. Peters backsliding cost him bitter tears. Davids double crime made his children a scourge and his conscience an accusing hell. Sauls transgression caused an evil spirit to enter into him, so that he sat in his palace, javelin in hand, silent, moody, and downcast. And the sin of Gods people, in like manner, may still rob them of solid peace, and make them acquainted, otherwise than by book, with Bunyans Slough of Despond, Doubting Castle, and Giant Despair.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in providential trials. Saint or sinner, if you are pricked you bleed; with this difference, that in the one case you possess a balm for the wound, in the other not. Insensibility would render Divine discipline a nullity. It is right to feel appropriately towards all things as they really are; nay more, such inflexion of feeling is a necessary condition of human amendment; Christianity is a nobler science of life than stoicism, for it teaches how sable and gold may both be woven into a robe of immortal radiance–how adversity, even more than prosperity, may come laden with the richest blessings.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in spiritual conflicts. No fortress on earth is so often beleaguered as the citadel of the human heart. No din of contending hosts is there–no anxious nations look on in breathless suspense–no change of temporal dynasty or statecraft or dominion is imminent; but the doom of an immortal soul is involved, and heaven and hell hang upon the final issue. The stake is tremendous, and all trifling is simply insane. The ground has to be won inch by inch, and, maybe, lost and won again. Shield of faith, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, girdle of truth, sword of the Spirit, greaves of love and peace, all bear marks of the severity of the strife. Protracted to the end of life, the battle is as arduous as it is honourable, and its wavering fortunes not unfrequently make one pensive, careworn, and disheartened. Thank God! though he fall, he shall rise again–he shall not be utterly cast down. An invincible Captain leads us on.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in doctrinal perplexities. It has been said that the Bible has shallows in which a lamb may wade, and deeps in which an elephant may swim. Unhappily, some who are not elephants venture to leave the terra firma <\/em>of revealed truth, and to plunge into the bottomless sea of metaphysical divinity; and, as they cannot swim, they sink in deep waters, or flounder about like a log in a tempest, and the waves and billows go over them. Without putting a veto on legitimate inquiry, it is well to remember that secret things belong unto the Lord–that His eternal wisdom and kindness will manage them without human meddling–that no prying curiosity of ours can ever modify them in the least degree; and that for us the only possible solution of them is the testimony of individual character and life.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>These shadows of religious life sometimes originate in the enigmas of Divine government. God in history, subordinating everything to His supreme will, and accomplishing through secondary agencies or otherwise His own sovereign purposes, is the basis of a good mans creed, and the sole pledge of humanitys regeneration. But, to mans thinking, how often do the ways of God seem a mystery, an anomaly, or even a contradiction! Everywhere the old Titanic forces of good and evil wrestle with each other in mortal combat, and the wonder is how the strife will end. And, standing face to face with facts like these, after some six thousand years of credible history, and some nineteen centuries of Christian teaching, many a heart cries out in fearfulness and pain: How long, O Lord, how long? Why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot? Oh, when shall the wickedness of the wicked come to a perpetual end? Pilgrims of the night! amid all this darkness, turmoil, and misery, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. (L. B. Brown.<\/em>)<\/p>\n I, even I:<\/B> the construction is emphatical in the Hebrew and well expressed here; I, the Owner, the Lover, the Maker, the great Shepherd, even I, who committed them to your care, never submitted them to your rapine and cruelty, am as angry with you for devouring them as I am zealous for their welfare. <\/P> Search; <\/B>will demand the them of you. I know how many I delivered to your keeping and I expect an account of so many again; I will see in what state and condition they are too. Seek them out: see Eze 34:5<\/span>,6<\/span>; under your hand many are, but under my hand not one shall be lost. <\/P> <\/p>\n 11. I . . . will . . . search<\/B>doingthat which the so-called shepherds had failed to do, I being therightful owner of the flock.<\/P><\/p>\n For thus saith the Lord God<\/strong>,…. Since the shepherds are so negligent, careless, and cruel:<\/p>\n behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out<\/strong>; as he did the Jews, in all countries where they were, so his elect in all places where they are: he is the omniscient God, and knows them that are his, and can call his own sheep by name; he knows the places where they are; for he has fixed the bounds of their habitation, and was delighting himself in the habitable parts of the earth, where he knew they would be, even before the world was; he knows the time of finding them, which he himself has fixed, and which is a time of love, and a time of life; and he can distinguish them, notwithstanding the filth they have contracted by their sins and transgressions, and from the crowd they are among: and he is the omnipotent God, that can take them out of what hands soever they may be, or in whatsoever state and condition they are; though in the hands of Satan, in the paws of that devouring lion, and in a pit wherein is no water, in a horrible pit, the mire and clay: he that says this is the owner and proprietor of them; and that is the reason why he searches and seeks them out; and which he repeats for the confirmation of it, and to show the vehemence of his affection towards them, and how bent he is upon it, and how eager and resolute in his pursuit after them: he searches for his chosen people among the ruins of Adam’s fall, in whom they fell as others; among the men of the world, where they are; among the dust of the earth, where his lost piece of silver and those pearls lie; among the mountains of sin or self-righteousness, where these sheep are wandering; and he never leaves off seeking and searching till he has found them: and what moves him to it is not their nature, for they are no better than others; nor their numbers, for they are few; but his love to them, the relation he stands in to them as their shepherd, his interest and property in them, his covenant on their account, and also his own glory.<\/p>\n Jehovah Himself will seek His flock, gather it together from the dispersion, lead it to good pasture, and sift it by the destruction of the bad sheep. – Eze 34:11<\/span>. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I myself, I will inquire after my flock, and take charge thereof. <\/em> Eze 34:12<\/span>. As a shepherd taketh charge of his flock in the day when he is in the midst of his scattered sheep, so will I take charge of my flock, and deliver them out of all the places whither they have been scattered in the day of cloud and cloudy night. <\/em> Eze 34:13<\/span>. And I will bring them out from the nations, and gather them together out of the lands, and bring them into their land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all the dwelling-places of the land. <\/em> Eze 34:14<\/span>. I will feed them in a good pasture, and on the high mountains of Israel will their pasture-ground be: there shall they lie down in a good pasture-ground, and have fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. <\/em> Eze 34:15<\/span>. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. <\/em> Eze 34:16<\/span>. That which is lost will I seek, and that which is driven away will I bring back; that which is wounded will I bind up, and that which is sick will I strengthen: but that which is fat and strong will I destroy, and feed them according to justice. <\/em> Eze 34:17<\/span>. And you, my sheep, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, and the rams and the he-goats. <\/em> Eze 34:18<\/span>. Is it too little for you, that ye eat up the good pasture, and what remains of your pasture ye tread down with your feet? and the clear water ye drink, and render muddy what remains with your feet? <\/em> Eze 34:19<\/span>. And are my sheep to have for food that which is trodden down by your feet, and to drink that which is made muddy by your feet? <\/em> Eze 34:20<\/span>. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah to them, Behold, I, I will judge between fat sheep and lean. <\/em> Eze 34:21<\/span>. Because ye press with side and shoulder, and thrust all the weak with your horns, till ye have driven them out; <\/em> Eze 34:22<\/span>. I will help my sheep, so that they shall no more become a prey; and will judge between sheep and sheep.<\/em> – All that the Lord will do for His flock is summed up in Eze 34:11<\/span>, in the words , which stand in obvious antithesis to ‘ in Eze 34:6<\/span> – an antithesis sharply accentuated by the emphatic , which stands at the head in an absolute form. The fuller explanation is given in the verses which follow, from Eze 34:12<\/span> onwards. Observe here that biqeer is substituted for . , to seek and examine minutely, involves the idea of taking affectionate charge. What the Lord does for His people is compared in Eze 34:12<\/span><\/em> to the care which a shepherd who deserves the name manifests towards sheep when they are scattered ( without the article is connected with in the form of apposition); and in Eze 34:12<\/span><\/em> it is still more particularly explained. In the first place, He will gather them from all the places to which they have been scattered. implies that in their dispersion they have fallen into a state of oppression and bondage among the nations (cf. Exo 6:6<\/span>). belongs to the relative clause: whither they have been scattered. The circumstance that these words are taken from Joe 2:2<\/span> does not compel us to take them in connection with the principal clause, as Hitzig and Kliefoth propose, and to understand them as relating to the time when God will hold His judgment of the heathen world. The notion that the words in Joel signify “God’s day of judgment upon all the heathen” (Kliefoth), is quite erroneous; and even Hitzig does not derive this meaning from Joe 2:2<\/span>, but from the combination of our verse with Eze 30:3<\/span> and Eze 29:21<\/span>. The deliverance of the sheep out of the places to which they have been scattered, consists in the gathering together of Israel out of the nations, and their restoration to their own land, and their feeding upon the mountains and all the dwelling-places of the land ( , a place suitable for settlement), and that in good and fat pasture (Eze 34:14<\/span>); and lastly, in the fact that Jehovah bestows the necessary care upon the sheep, strengthens and heals the weak and sick (Eze 34:15<\/span> and Eze 34:16<\/span>) – that is to say, does just what the bad shepherds have omitted (Eze 34:4<\/span>) – and destroys the fat and strong. In this last clause another side is shown of the pastoral fidelity of Jehovah. has been changed by the lxx, Syr., and Vulg. into , ; and Luther has followed them in his rendering, “I will watch over them.” But this is evidently a mistake, as it fails to harmonize with . The fat and strong sheep are characterized in Eze 34:18<\/span> and Eze 34:19<\/span> as those which spoil the food and water of the others. The allusion, therefore, is to the rich and strong ones of the nation, who oppress the humble and poor, and treat them with severity. The destruction of these oppressors shows that the loving care of the Lord is associated with righteousness – that He feeds the flock .<\/p>\n This thought is carried out still further in Eze 34:17-21<\/span>, the sheep themselves being directly addressed, and the Lord assuring them that He will judge between sheep and sheep, and put an end to the oppressive conduct of the fat sheep and the strong. : between the one sheep and the other. is extended in the apposition, “the rams and he-goats,” which must not be rendered, “with regard to the rams and he-goats,” as it has been by Kliefoth. The thought is not that Jehovah will divide the rams and he-goats from the sheep, as some have explained it, from an inappropriate comparison with Mat 25:32<\/span>; but the division is to be effected in such a manner that sheep will be separated from sheep, the fat sheep being placed on one side with the rams and he-goats, and kept apart from the lean ( , Eze 34:20<\/span>) and the sickly sheep ( , Mat 25:21<\/span>). It is to the last-named sheep, rams, and he-goats that Mat 25:18<\/span> and Mat 25:19<\/span> are addressed. With regard to the charge brought against them, that they eat up the pasture and tread down the remainder with their feet, etc., Bochart has already correctly observed, that “if the words are not quite applicable to actual sheep, they are perfectly appropriate to the mystical sheep intended here, i.e., to the Israelites, among whom many of the rich, after enjoying an abundant harvest and vintage, grudged the poor their gleaning in either one or the other.” , a substantive formation, like , literally, precipitation of the water, i.e., the water purified by precipitation; for , to sink, is the opposite of , to stir up or render muddy by treading with the feet (compare Eze 32:14<\/span> and Eze 32:2<\/span>). , Eze 34:20<\/span> = or . Eze 34:22<\/span> brings to a close the description of the manner in which God will deliver His flock, and feed it with righteousness. points back to in Eze 34:12<\/span>, and to in Eze 34:16<\/span>. – To this there is appended in Eze 34:23<\/span>. a new train of thought, describing how God will still further display to His people His pastoral fidelity.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n WHEN THE SHEPHERD BRINGS HIS SHEEP HOME<\/p>\n Verses 11-31:<\/p>\n ISRAEL RESTORED–THE DAVIDIC KINGDOM SET UP<\/strong><\/p>\n Verses 11, 12 assert <\/strong>that the Lord will Himself search for and bring forth His sheep, Israel, as a true shepherd will do, v. 23, 24; Eze 37:21-28<\/span>; Zec 12:8<\/span>. He further declares that He will liberate them from every dark place they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day (hour or period) of Divine judgment, or affliction, over all the earth, Jer 13:16<\/span>; Joe 2:2<\/span>; Amo 5:18-20<\/span>; Zep 1:15<\/span>; Act 2:19-21<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 13 pledges <\/strong>that the Lord will bring (draw) them from the peoples of the earth, and the countries where they shall have been scattered or dispersed over the earth, Isa 65:9-10<\/span>; Jer 23:3<\/span>; Eze 28:25<\/span>; Eze 36:24<\/span>; Eze 37:22<\/span>; Luk 21:24<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verses 14, 15 reaffirm <\/strong>that the Lord will feed His flock in a good pasture, upon the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold, because He will cause them to lie down peacefully to rest, well fed and protected again, as described Psa 23:2<\/span>; Psa 34:8-10<\/span>; Isa 25:6<\/span>; Isa 30:23-24<\/span>; Isa 40:11<\/span>; Jer 31:12-14<\/span>; Jer 31:25<\/span>; Joh 10:9<\/span>; Rev 7:16<\/span>; See also Jer 32:12-13<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 16 promises <\/strong>that at that regathering of Israel, as God’s flock in her own land. He will Himself provide every physical and spiritual need, of which her false shepherds had deprived her in former days, as in v. 4; Deu 32:15<\/span>; Jer 5:28<\/span>. He also warns that He will destroy those who made themselves fat off His people, who prospered at the expense of His flock, which they had cruelly neglected and abused, Isa 40:11<\/span>; Mi. 4:6; Mat 18:11<\/span>; Mar 2:17<\/span>; Luk 5:32<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 17 declares <\/strong>to His flock that He judges between cattle and he goats. The idea is degrees of wrong, guilt, and sin, are to be administered on the basis of cause and a corresponding responsible trust, whether ruler, prophet, priest, or one of the common people, Eze 20:37<\/span>; Mat 25:32<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verses 18,19 charges <\/strong>that his flock had been left only the scanty grass, which the “fat-cat” shepherds, thieving rulers, had defaced and polluted. Addressing the rulers, God would have them explain whether or not their behavior was a trivial matter. God’s flock not only ate scantily of the trodden down grass, but also drank sorrowfully of the polluted water the sorry shepherds had left from the washing of their dirty feet, Eze 22:12<\/span>; Isa 24:2<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verses 20-22 area <\/strong>reaffirmation of the Lord’s covenant pledge to judge His people as men judge between fat and lean cattle, the poor and the rich, and as good shepherds and good cattlemen care for the wounded and weak and diseased, to rescue them from becoming victims to the prey of flies, maggots, vultures, and wild beasts. For He cares for all men; This was partially fulfilled in the restoration of a remnant from Babylon, Neh 5:1-19<\/span>. But the Great Liberation and homecoming of Israel’s flock is yet on the horizon, at the soon coming of the Lord, Luk 1:30-34<\/span>; Jer 23:3-6<\/span>.<\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The simile of Christ to a shepherd.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The important declaration. I will seek out.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Why they are called His sheep.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>The deliverance of the sheep.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>The lost. We may regard the figure as descriptive of those who (by imperceptible degrees) have erred and strayed from the Shepherds fold and presence. Once their landscape was bathed in sunshine;–the mountain tops of Gods faithfulness were clear;–the summits of the heavenly hills sparkled gloriously;–theirs were the green pastures and still waters,–the Shepherds voice to cheer them, and the Shepherds steps to guide them. But all is gloomy now;–the storm clouds have gathered in their once serene sky. It may arise from their own sluggish unconcern;–a drowsy, sleepy, callous frame,–the result of a gradual, but ever-deepening insensibility to Divine things;–a trifling with their spiritual interests;–languor in prayer–conformity with the world–tampering with sins of omission–venturing on forbidden or debatable ground.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Those who are driven away. Some overt act has been the cause of their scattering. Look at David as an illustration. His own iniquities separated between him and his God. He never after was the joyous believer he once was. He was indeed restored, pardoned, loved;–but the memory of that sad day followed him to the grave, and mantled Iris whole moral landscape with clouds, even to the very entrance of the dark valley. And how many among the true flock of the Shepherd have to tell a similar mournful tale! Some one guilty deed has laid the foundation of weeks and months–ay, years, of spiritual alienation and distance from the fold.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The broken. How numerous are these! Some are broken by calamity;–penury scattering them in its cloudy and dark day. Some are broken by bitter disappointment; an aching heart wound too sacred to be revealed has left them bleeding and desolate, refusing to be comforted. Some are broken by bereavement.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>The sick. We might take this in a figurative sense; as descriptive of those who are sick at heart,–sad and disconsolate with the trials and sins and sorrows of death, and with the corruptions of their own natures. But why not regard it literally, an applied to those laid on beds of sickness? Many among us who inadequately appreciate the talent of health are apt also to forget and overlook this large section in Gods world;–the poor afflicted ones, the maimed members of the flock.<\/p>\n
V. <\/strong>To one and all of these scattered ones the Great Shepherd comes. He has a special word of comfort for each separate case.<\/p>\n
VI. <\/strong>The gracious adaptation of Christs dealings to the different wants and trials and necessities of His people.<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n