Ezekiel 34:5, commentary and pictures

Because there is no true shepherd the people are scattered and left without guidance, exposed to danger and harm and made prey to destructive powers. The scattering comes when those charged with the flock fail to strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring back the driven away and seek the lost, ruling instead with harshness and cruelty and wounding them with accusation, suspicion and strife while feeding themselves and their own interests rather than the sheep. It comes also by doctrinal unfaithfulness in refusing feeding truth, obscuring God's law, confusing minds with human interpretations and letting the testing messages trail in the dust, and by preaching alone while temporal cares absorb the time that should visit homes, care for the sick, inquire after the absent and help souls known to be in danger. The sheep thus left wander over mountains and hills and over all the earth with none to search for them, staying long from meetings, starving for spiritual food, giving up truth under temptation and torn as prey. In contrast Jesus as the Good Shepherd knows each wandering and suffering one by name and cares for each as the purchase of His blood, and the work required is to restore the erring in meekness with the gospel and the righteousness of Christ, joining earnest preaching with personal labor in every home to seek out, visit and bring back the scattered to the fold.

Unfaithful Shepherds Scatter Sheep

Because there is no true shepherd the people are scattered and become meat to all the beasts of the field, left without guidance and exposed to danger, harm and destruction. When Israel's shepherds fail to care for the flock the scattering follows the absence of faithful shepherds who should have cared for the weak and sought the lost, and the lost sheep of God's fold are scattered in many places while the work of caring for them is neglected. To remain without faithful shepherding and the companionship of those of like precious faith, and to place oneself under apostate influence, is to be left exposed to be devoured.

The scattering comes from shepherds neglecting their charge to strengthen the diseased, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring back the driven away, and seek the lost. A shepherd is responsible to feed the flock with proper instruction, to watch for every danger lest the sheep be harmed and destroyed, to warn the flock, to keep it in the true pasture and bring it back when it strays, and to keep it from straying into harm. When shepherds fail to care for and feed the flock the people are left without proper instruction, perish, and become vulnerable, and seeing the poor sheep torn and scattered and giving no warning leaves guilt on the shepherd for suffering the flock to stray.

The scattering also comes from ruling with force and cruelty instead of caring for the flock. Harshness, indifference, and accusing and condemning those who err leave souls unprotected and wandering, while faultfinding, suspicion, and strife damage the flock like feeding the sheep poison rather than nourishing food. Unfaithful shepherds wound and tear God's flock and leave the poor sheep bleeding and scattered as prey to beasts.

The shepherds at fault feed themselves instead of the flock, caring far more for themselves and their own interests and using their God-given powers for their own interests. They are idle consumers and not producers who bring no fruit to the church because they do not themselves receive grace from God to impart to others, and who leave the flock unfed and unstrengthened by the truths of God's Word. They stand back and excuse themselves instead of taking their share of burdens, leaving one man weighed down and crushed beneath censure, causing more burdens than all the people do, feeling no burden for souls and not going forth to labor weeping and praying that souls might be converted and sowing seed that would bear fruit, so that the sheep suffer from unwise as well as false shepherds and the order is reversed until the sheep must carry the burden to warn, reprove, exhort, and weep over the reckless course of their shepherd.

The shepherds scatter the flock by doctrinal unfaithfulness in refusing the truth that should feed them, disregarding God's law and obscuring it, destroying the plain paths, and confusing people with their own interpretations and misinterpretation of Scripture. They betray their trust by using God's Word to teach that His law is not binding and by trying to persuade people to reject the light of truth, leaving souls to perish and churches whose shepherds refuse God's Word and commandments to become backslidden. They treat testing truth in a tame way as a subject every man is at liberty to regard as he pleased with no denominational bounds, acting a lie so they can link up with the disobedient instead of using persuasive influence to show that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question, laying hold of souls in intense earnestness and showing men their peril while forgiveness could still be reached. They shut truth away from the higher classes and from the very ones who need the message of warning, refusing every church to anyone who would preach any doctrine other than what their denomination believes, so that while halls draw numbers the needed warning does not reach those in ignorance, and they let the standard of the first, second, and third angels' messages trail in the dust.

The lack of a shepherd is preaching alone without further labor, with the work only half done and ending there. It is allowing matters of a temporal nature to absorb the time and attention that should be given to souls, failing to minister to the needs of sinners, failing to visit believers in their homes and when they are sick, failing to inquire when they are absent from church, and making no effort to help even when told of their spiritual condition. No excuse is accepted for this neglect, and it cannot be supplied by proxy nor shifted upon wives or some other person.

The scattered sheep wander over mountains and hills and over all the face of the earth with none to search or seek after them. They become tempted, stay away from meetings for a long time, even a year and a half, give up the truth through the temptations of the enemy, perish for lack of proper instruction, and are torn by wolves as prey. The scattered ones are souls left without labor who still cling to the truth while starving for spiritual food, torn by wolves and coming in from all directions seeking to hear.

The scattering is seen in Iowa, where two shepherds did this dreadful work of rebellion, tearing to pieces the flock of God with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice and jealousy. There ministers and laborers are consumers and not producers, bringing no fruit because they are not reaching the high standard that their knowledge of the truth requires, and church members are left distressed and unvisited through no fault of their own.

Warning and Faithful Restoration

Ezekiel 34 stands as a warning to guard against the great deceiver and against becoming the unfaithful shepherds it rebukes. Its charge is that leaders must not condemn or mistreat those in their care, but must seek, restore, and help them as the neglected weak, sick, injured, driven away, and lost whom Israel's shepherds left to be scattered and exposed by ruling with force and cruelty.

Unfaithful shepherds are answerable to God and bear guilt for suffering the flock to stray, and no excuse holds for leaving the poor sheep torn and scattered without warning. A shepherd cannot plead that the sheep led him astray, for such a plea only proves him unfaithful and unfit to be trusted with their care, since his work is to watch for every danger, warn the flock, keep it in the true pasture, and bring it back when it strays. By obscuring God's law and confusing people with their own interpretations, self-feeding ministers neglect their charge until souls perish, and they are answerable for that unfaithfulness, though their failure does not excuse those who reject God's Word. In the great day when each is judged and receives according to works of obedience to the law of His kingdom or transgression to the last, the lost will turn upon shepherds who knew the truth yet made no personal earnest effort to save them. Had those shepherds used persuasive influence to show that keeping His commandments just as written is a life-or-death question, and had they laid hold of souls in intense earnestness exalting righteousness and truth while forgiveness could still be reached, lives would have changed; instead they treated testing truth tamely as if every man were at liberty to regard it as he pleased with no denominational bounds, acted a lie to link with the disobedient, and never showed men their peril in earnest as they ought. Yet the shepherds' sin must not be visited upon the sheep nor allowed to keep needed help from distressed and unvisited church members left so through no fault of their own.

In contrast stands Jesus as the Good Shepherd, who knows each feeble, sickly, and wandering sheep and lamb by name. He knows the wants and hidden grief of each heart, is touched with the feeling of infirmities, sees when one of His little ones is injured and calls the offender to account, and cares for each one as though there were not another on earth. The Lord of heaven so cares for His own as the purchase of His blood, even when professed shepherds feed themselves, shut truth away from the higher classes and from those needing warning, and refuse their churches to any doctrine but their denomination's while crowds in halls still miss the message.

The work required instead of harshness, indifference, and accusing and condemning those who err is to love one another, pray for one another, weep over the erring, and restore in meekness. Faithful shepherds lead people in truth and righteousness rather than refusing the truth that should feed the flock, disregarding God's law, and destroying the plain paths. The scattered must be given the very help they lack by preaching the gospel as well as the law, the precious light of faith and the righteousness of Christ.

Faithful shepherding joins faith with earnest, diligent preaching of the Word in its real simplicity to personal labor in every accessible home and every opportunity. It means ministering to the needs of sinners, visiting believers when sick, inquiring when they are absent from church, and making personal effort to help those known to be in spiritual danger, with no excuse accepted and none supplied by proxy or shifted upon wives or another. Preaching alone without further labor leaves the work only half done, and when temporal matters absorb the time and attention that should be given to souls the people are left without a shepherd. This visiting is the most profitable work a gospel minister can do and the most essential part of ministry, for it binds off the work and binds the messenger to the sheep and lambs, making him a channel of light by identifying with the people. By it the weak are comforted, strengthened, and established at the right time until rooted, grounded, and established in the faith and many souls are gathered, while without it souls that heard the truth are lost and scattered, tempted, staying away from meetings for a long time, and giving up the truth through the enemy's temptations under such unwise management.

Those thus scattered must be sought out and restored to the fold of Christ, without waiting for unfaithful shepherds to invite it. They must be visited where most needy and labored for with intensity of feeling to save the wounded and bleeding left as prey to beasts, as when two shepherds in Iowa tore God's flock with opposition, falsehood, insult, prejudice, and jealousy. The scattered include souls left without labor who still cling to the truth while starving for spiritual food, torn by wolves, and coming from all directions seeking to hear, revealing deep need for the testimony and the Word to be given them. Without faithful visiting they remain exposed, tempted, giving up the truth, and away from meetings even for a year and a half.

Those placed with a leader in God's work must act as faithful shepherds by telling him his mistake when he does what they know is not right and correcting his course. Reproof to correct wrongs must be shared for the benefit of all associated, with light coming in clear lines, so associates are not left in darkness about his being out of the way and in danger of being led astray. Keeping silence because he will not acknowledge wrong or receive what does not harmonize with his ideas leaves that danger unchecked.

To remain without faithful shepherding and the companionship of those of like precious faith, and to place oneself under apostate influence, is to be left exposed to be devoured as meat to all the beasts of the field. Safety requires individually knowing what the Spirit says to the churches, watching and praying, trusting the living Word, being daily converted to God, and forming character after the divine similitude in deep earnestness. So prepared, one may with joy meet the Lord when He comes in the clouds of heaven with power and glory.