Ezekiel 34 (Part 1)

Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the LORD God, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill, and My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth; and there was no one to search or seek for them." ' " Ezekiel 34:1-6 (NASB)

The first thing I see, besides the woe pronounced, is that the LORD criticizes shepherds for feeding themselves instead of feeding the flock. I admit I'm a bit puzzled by this, as he says just after this that the shepherds eat the fat, and slaughter the fat sheep. How did these sheep get fat if the shepherds were not feeding the flock? Maybe the were feeding a select few in order to slaughter them? Maybe they were getting fat simply by being where they were in the field? I don't know. I will give some more thought to this as this series develops, and skip to the next group of issues for now.

Ezekiel then brings an accusation against the shepherds based on the lack of fulfilling their responsibilities. They were supposed to, as shepherds, strengthen the sickly. They were supposed to heal the diseased. They were supposed to bind the broken. They were supposed to bring back the scattered. They were supposed to seek for the lost. But they did none of these things. Then, an accusation of doing something they weren't supposed to do...dominate the flock with force and severity.

I believe that these failures of shepherds today are as true as they were in Ezekiel's day. Failure of shepherds to know their duties is widespread. I have experienced these failures personally at the hands of a number of shepherds over my 20+ years as a Christian and have read countless testimonies of others. Reading this passage and looking back at the churches I attended, I would barely know from the teaching I received that these are responsibilities of shepherds. But here, God lists them so that there is no question as to responsibility.

Ezekiel 34 Series - Coming Soon

I have been reading and pondering Ezekiel 34 lately (the last year or so) and have decided to make a series of blog posts on the chapter. (Click here for Ezekiel 34, NASB)

I have long understood God's judgment against shepherds for neglecting their duties toward their sheep in this prophesy, but there are other actions of God as well. God judges between sheep; the fat and lean sheep. I will strive to touch upon the duties of shepherds in this passage and how this relates to today in America. I will also look at the distinction between fat and lean sheep. I see a parallel between ancient Israel and today's evangelical/Reformed church.

Stay tuned for the Ezekiel 34 series.

Not In The Bible Either, Rev. Sproul

A huge hat tip to Arthur Sido at The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia for pointing out a post made by R.C. Sproul Jr. on the Ligonier Ministries website.  The title of Sproul Jr's post is "5 Things I'm Surprised I Can't Find In The Bible."  The title of Sido's post is "Make that six things" and you can use your imagination as to why.

Sproul Jr. lists five things that are relatively unclear in the bible.  They are: 1) Proper form of church government; 2) Proper form of a service of worship; 3) Proper form for preaching the word; 4) Proper way to move from single to married; and 5) More information on the incarnation and the Trinity.  But contained in Sproul's No. 1, Sido finds No. 6, with my emphasis added:

The Bible is crystal clear that women are not to rule in the church, and that we are to submit to the elders over us. See Hebrews 13 for the latter.  Thus the Reformers were correct to list discipline as a mark of the true church. If you are not under the authority of name-able specific elders, you are not part of the visible church and thus do not have a credible profession of faith. You should get under authority.

Sido has some choice things of his own to say about this, some of which I'll lift and place here:

It always bothers me and should always cause you to pay close attention when someone airily claims that a whole chapter of Scripture [Sido references Heb. 13 in his argument] supports the point they are making without attempting to engage in the text at all and you should especially be on guard when they make statements with enormous implications to your very salvation based on these sweeping generalities. The idea that if you are not a member of a “proper” local church with name-able elders who carry out church discipline that you don’t have a credible profession of faith is a dangerous and Scripturally untenable statement. It sounds sweet to the ears of those who embrace certain church traditions but to question the salvation of someone because they don’t cling to your ecclesiastical traditions is arrogant and prideful.

And he concludes with:

 

The lesson here is that just because someone refers to a passage of Scripture and is published by a famous ministry doesn’t mean you should just take them at their word, especially not when they are questioning the salvation of other Christians.

Now I want to bring up the point I was making in my previous post on Ezekiel 34.  God's sheep can be lost, scattered, dominated, sickly, diseased, broken, wandering and slaughtered all at the hands of shepherds who did not care properly for the sheep.  And God doesn't blame the sheep in that passage.  Many people today who aren't currently involved in a church, or maybe are but are minimally involved, or who even are completely involved but haven't "signed the dotted line" of the membership papers can all fall under the pronouncement of Sproul Jr. and others who believe similar things.  I love to hear Christians' testimonies and life stories.  It amazes me how many people - including devout pastors - have had short periods of time or even seasons of their lives without the kind of church involvement Sproul Jr. speaks about.  And for many of these people, myself included, having your spirituality, level of humility or even salvation continually questioned or doubted doesn't help the cause any.  Especially for those who are younger in the faith.  Men like Sproul Jr. need to stop the "my way or the highway" authority trip and see God's sheep for who they are.  God's.

My Flock, My Sheep, But Not My Shepherds

I'm giving the readers of this post a reading assignment.  Read Ezekiel 34.  If you don't have time, I'm providing the link to Ezekiel 34 here.  It's only one chapter, so even if you don't link here, read it sometime soon.  And even though I'm going to highlight an important portion of it and put it here, please read it in its entirety.

Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.  Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?  You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; my flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them."'"  Ezekiel 34:1-6

I think this sounds like a pretty good picture of today's church.  Would you agree?  Shepherds have lost the art of shepherding.  This is a pretty scathing indictment from God.  I stopped at verse 6, but his judgment starts in the next verse.  That's one reason you should read the entire chapter.  Another reason to read the whole thing is to gain a flavor of what God thinks of the characters involved.

You see, as I read through the entire chapter I noticed a peculiar thing.  God uses the first person possessive in referencing the sheep.  Four times I count God using the term "My sheep."  He uses the first person possessive in referencing the flock.  Eleven times I count God using the term "My flock."  Only once does God use the term "My shepherds."  It is in verse 8, but it is not pretty, saying, "...My shepherds did not search for My flock..."  at that point he ceases using the term "My shepherds" and doesn't use it again the rest of the chapter.

I think this passage is important in the light of the now popular teaching among the celebrity rock star pastors in the "Reformed" world.  This teaching says that anybody who claims to be a Christian but is not a formal member of a church, or is not currently attending a church or is not under the direct authority of some kind of pastor is a great sinner at least, and probably not even a true believer.  Well for those who hold that kind of belief, I offer you Ezekiel 34.  How many of "My sheep" or "My flock" are spoken ill of by God in this chapter?  They are wandering, they are scattered, they are subject to wolves and other dangers.  How convenient for the shepherds of today to scatter and neglect the sheep, to dominate the sheep, to exalt themselves and then blame it on the sheep.  How convenient.