Ezekiel 34:17
And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
Sheep stand as a symbol of the people of God, and the declaration that the Lord God judges is that God Himself renders judgment within His flock, distinguishing between cattle and cattle and between the rams and the he goats. That judging takes place where those who should have served as shepherds and proved a blessing to the needy, the helpless, the broken, the sick, and the driven away did not minister to them, because they had no fear and love of God and no true commission. Instead they consumed the good pasture and trampled the residue with their feet, and drank the deep waters while fouling the residue with their feet, with the result that the flock was left to eat what had been trodden and to drink what had been fouled.
The verse belongs to a chapter directed against shepherds who fail the flock, and that failure is joined to the charge that leaders reject the Lord's truth and trample His law rather than faithfully caring for His people. Against such neglect God undertakes to search out, seek, deliver, gather, feed, bind up, and strengthen His scattered sheep. At the same time He will destroy the fat and the strong, feeding them with judgment.
The chapter, including its judgment between members of the flock, is to be read carefully as a warning to God's people not to be deceived and not to act under the power of the great deceiver in the character of unfaithful shepherds. The chapter is to be studied by each person individually in order to know what the Spirit saith unto the churches and what the Lord requires of each one. So studied, it bears on preparing with joy to meet the Lord when He shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, by watching and praying, by trusting in the living Word, by being daily converted to God, and by forming a character after the divine similitude instead of continuing to do as one pleases. It also bears on discerning a settled wrong choice and on refusing to place oneself under the influence of one who has apostatized, while holding that if such a one turns and does that which is lawful and right none of his sins shall be mentioned unto him and he shall surely live.