Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
The verse is God's pronouncement of woe and certain judgment upon pastors, shepherds and spiritual leaders who destroy his people and scatter them from his care. He holds them accountable for their evil deeds, will visit those deeds upon them, and they will not escape. The sheep are God's people, the flock of his pasture and of Christ's pasture. To destroy and scatter them means to fail to feed and care for them faithfully, to harm them and tear apart the flock, to drive them away and leave them to suffer and scatter.
This destroying work is done by corrupting spiritual food, trampling and defiling the food of the pasture, filling minds with erroneous theories, and giving corrupted teaching. It is done by opposing truth, neglecting to teach present truth, and pursuing selfish interests, and such unfaithfulness is a chief cause of the people's backsliding. It is also done by sacrificing truth to gain human approval and by scorning God's message and warnings. It is done by offering false assurances of peace, safety and life to the wicked, providing a false refuge, and encouraging the wicked not to repent, which leads trusting people to ruin with a harvest in lost lives.
It includes trampling God's law, quenching the light, and disregarding God's Sabbath. Religious position, sacred office, or outward nearness to God does not shield such shepherds from divine wrath. The immediate context explains that these leaders have driven the flock away and failed to care for it. God promises to gather his scattered remnant, restore them to their fold, and appoint shepherds who will care for them.
The passage therefore calls for earnest effort for scattered sheep and neglected fields to bring people to salvation, while unsound leadership that fills minds with error makes a person unfit for responsibility. Applied to Christ's flock, the warning requires those who care for his people to guard their own spirit under Christ's influence and avoid anything that scatters. It requires them to protect the people from teachers who reject God's warnings and lead into false beliefs. Rejecting his word risks spiritual blindness, hardness of heart and deception, and even those who help a leader walk in false paths and become deceived will also be judged. Unwise conduct that burdens the flock itself scatters the sheep, such as leaving one worker to carry burdens alone and increasing hardship for him and the people.
The verse is God's pronouncement of woe and certain judgment upon pastors, shepherds and spiritual leaders who destroy his people and scatter them from his care. He holds them accountable for their evil deeds, will visit those deeds upon them, and they will not escape. The sheep are God's people, the flock of his pasture and of Christ's pasture. To destroy and scatter them means to fail to feed and care for them faithfully, to harm them and tear apart the flock, to drive them away and leave them to suffer and scatter.
This destroying work is done by corrupting spiritual food, trampling and defiling the food of the pasture, filling minds with erroneous theories, and giving corrupted teaching. It is done by opposing truth, neglecting to teach present truth, and pursuing selfish interests, and such unfaithfulness is a chief cause of the people's backsliding. It is also done by sacrificing truth to gain human approval and by scorning God's message and warnings. It is done by offering false assurances of peace, safety and life to the wicked, providing a false refuge, and encouraging the wicked not to repent, which leads trusting people to ruin with a harvest in lost lives.
It includes trampling God's law, quenching the light, and disregarding God's Sabbath. Religious position, sacred office, or outward nearness to God does not shield such shepherds from divine wrath. The immediate context explains that these leaders have driven the flock away and failed to care for it. God promises to gather his scattered remnant, restore them to their fold, and appoint shepherds who will care for them.
The passage therefore calls for earnest effort for scattered sheep and neglected fields to bring people to salvation, while unsound leadership that fills minds with error makes a person unfit for responsibility. Applied to Christ's flock, the warning requires those who care for his people to guard their own spirit under Christ's influence and avoid anything that scatters. It requires them to protect the people from teachers who reject God's warnings and lead into false beliefs. Rejecting his word risks spiritual blindness, hardness of heart and deception, and even those who help a leader walk in false paths and become deceived will also be judged. Unwise conduct that burdens the flock itself scatters the sheep, such as leaving one worker to carry burdens alone and increasing hardship for him and the people.