Ezekiel - episode 5

I myself will search for my sheep

«It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month [end of 586 – beginning of 585 a.C.], that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been struck.” Now the hand of the LORD had been on me in the evening, before he who was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute» (Ezek 33,21-22). Ezekiel’s prophecy, which we read in the last post, is realised. All seems finished: Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed, part of the people who remained in the country is deported (see 2Kgs 25).
However, after the immense damage caused by dishonest and rapacious ruling classes, comes the time of the Lord’s direct intervention, that will lead to an unexpected rebirth. «“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You haven’t strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them. They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought.”’ [...] ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.’” “‘For thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.



As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. [...] I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord GOD. “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.” [...] I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them;” I, the LORD, have spoken it. “‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. [...] “You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord GOD.’”» (Ez 34). The Lord will even give His people a «prince» from King David’s offspring (according to the promise in 2Sam 7) and the Covenant will be renewed. Christians consider that prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, «son of David»; the Evangelist John specially recalls the flock metaphor, defining Jesus «the good shepherd» (John 10,11; see 10,1-18).
The new future of hope will only come through the mercy and faithfulness of the Lord, without merit by the people. «Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols; and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them. When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.’ But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went. “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Nor for your sake do I this,” says the Lord GOD, “be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”’» (Ezek 36,16-32). The heart, according to the biblical anthropology, collects the typical human faculties (understanding, will, love, feelings); a stone heart cannot beat, it is dead in its owner’s chest. The Lord’s “heart surgery” replaces it with a flesh one, capable of a new faithfulness. It is a total renovation of the person, a new creation. Christians have seen in this prophecy the foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit gift (see for example Gal 5,22-23; 1John 3,23-24; Jeremiah - episode 8).
We will continue this discussion in the next post, reading the «dry bones» vision (Ezek 37).