Feed the Flock
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 45, “A New Spirit Will I Put within You,” on Gospel Library
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In Ezekiel’s day, Israel had shepherds who ate well and wore warm wool while their sheep wandered off and were lost (Ezekiel 34:2–6).
Read Together
The shepherds in this chapter are Israel’s leaders, who were supposed to care for the people. The sheep are the Lord’s people (Ezekiel 34:31).
4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
15I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. 16I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
What It Teaches
Read verse 4 and verse 16 side by side. The sick, the broken, the driven away, and the lost appear in both. The leaders left each of them behind, and the Lord promises to go back for each one himself. “Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out” (Ezekiel 34:11).
A lost sheep wanders off. A sheep that is driven away gets pushed out, and verse 21 describes strong sheep shoving the weak ones with their horns until they scatter. Some people drift away from the Lord’s flock, and others leave because someone hurt them. The Lord goes looking for both.
The Lord promised “one shepherd” and called him “my servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). King David had died about four hundred years earlier. The promised shepherd is Jesus Christ, born into David’s family line, who said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
After he rose from the dead, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Lovest thou me?” Each time he told Peter to feed his lambs or his sheep (John 21:15–17). Ministering to a family or a friend is shepherd’s work.
Talk About It
Who might feel lost or pushed out at school, at church, or in our neighborhood? What is one thing we could do this week to go and find them?
Take to Church
Ezekiel 34 names the sheep that Israel’s leaders left behind, and then the Lord promises to go back for every one. When we minister, we do that work with the Good Shepherd.