Jeremiah 23:1-6, part of a segment that extends to verse 8, has the theme of the obligation and failure of the monarchy of Judah. The passage continues the discussion from 21:11-22:9. The passage offers a final commentary on the sad and sinful history of the kings, recording his explanation for the cause of the exile. The whole of the passage allows a view of Jeremiah's understanding of the kings during his lifetime. The principle in 19:1-9 is that the Davidic monarchy has the obligation under God of establishing justice in society, specifically defending the rights of the helpless. If it does this, it will continue to exist. If it does not, it will be under judgment.
Jeremiah 23:1-6 is a classic example, where the prophet pronounces God’s judgment. He begins with elements of the “woe” speech. Woe to the incompetent shepherds who 1) destroy and 2) scatter the sheep of my (!) pasture! says the Lord. Jeremiah reminds the leaders that the sheep they are guiding and tending do not belong to them. They belong to the Lord. The Promised Land was no longer a safe place for the people of God. Calling a leader a “shepherd” was standard in many ancient Near Eastern cultures. The Old Testament, however, more often uses the term as a litmus test to point out the failure of Israel’s leaders. The Lord was the true shepherd of Israel who had entrusted the “flock” to the kings and leaders of the nation who were to act as competent and genuine representatives of the Lord. The leaders let down the people and they let down the Lord.
The image of shepherds as symbolic of rulers in ancient Israel is one of the oldest and most familiar (cf. Ezekiel 34). Although modern readers with a low opinion of the intellectual capacity of sheep have a tendency to find the analogy of shepherds and sheep insulting when applied to either national leaders and their people or pastors and their congregations, the ancients most likely did not share this bias. Herding small flocks was an essential part of Israel’s subsistence economy. Sheep and goats were a vital source of many of the items Israel needed to survive — milk and meat for food, wool and hide for clothing and shelter, and quick capital for barter with their neighbors. Although the Israelites were not completely nomadic — preferring to settle in and plant vineyards and orchards, and build terraces for farming the hill country when the climate supported these efforts — the ability to become mobile and take their flocks to better pastures when drought or other natural disaster hit was a vital feature of their agricultural life. In lean years, their whole economy could hinge upon their skills as the caretakers of their flocks. Therefore, comparing a skillful ruler to a skillful shepherd implied that this ruler understood how to guarantee the nation’s survival in hard times, see to their prosperity in good times, and guide them between the two. Conversely, bad rulers, like bad shepherds, do not know how to be good caretakers. They may use up precious resources in good times without a thought to lean times that may come. They do not value the flock beyond what that flock is worth at any given moment. They do not care for the flock so that it can be consistently strong. Exploitation is the norm when the shepherd does not understand the true value of the flock. We are sheep in the sense that we have a tendency (individually and in “flocks”) to get lost without guidance, to get into dangerous situations from which we cannot rescue ourselves. Shepherds provide protection from human and animal predators, guidance to adequate grazing and water, rescue from precarious circumstances, and healing from wounds. Even David, the youth-shepherd, mighty warrior general and king of Israel, knew that he needed the Lord to be his own shepherd (Psalm 23). Human shepherds appointed by the Lord were to provide good guidance for God’s people, but frequently failed to do so.
Verse 2 begins with elements of the judgment speech. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my (!) people: It is you who have 3) scattered my (!) flock, and 4) have driven them away,[1] and 5) you have not attended to them.[2] The prophet again reminds the leaders that the sheep do not belong to them. They belong to the Lord. As subordinate shepherds, the kings were supposed to gather in the nation and protect it. They were to make sure as leaders that their people received proper care. However, proper shepherding was precisely what the kings of Judah had failed to do. God laments the loss of good shepherds to watch over his people Israel. Jeremiah’s prophetic word singled out Jehoiakim as a prime example. Jehoiakim abused his people through misrule, unrighteousness, injustice, economic oppression and creative accounting. When the powerful Pharaoh of Egypt demanded that his nation pay 100 talents of silver and one talent of gold, Jehoiakim raised this money by levying a tax on the whole land (II Kings 23:35). Worse still, he kept some of this money to upgrade his personal penthouse. He was a bad shepherd. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Rather than care for the flock, Jehoiakim had practiced “oppression and violence” by using his royal power to exploit the poor for his own material gain (Jeremiah 22:13-17). Instead of a shepherd, Jehoiakim and many of the other rulers of the people were ravenous wolves in kings’ clothing. Divine judgment on the deceptive and destructive acts of the royal house would come down hard in the form of the Babylonian exile, which would “scatter” and “drive away” God’s people from their land (Jeremiah 23:2). While the Lord would prescribe the exile as punishment, the primary cause was the failure of appointed shepherds to guard the flock from danger — especially when that danger was the shepherds themselves!
In verses 3-4, we find elements of a deliverance speech. The Lord will gather the flock after the exile and provide good shepherds for the people. The Lord would become the good shepherd of the people. The imagery is reasonably common. Israel (Jacob) testified that God was his shepherd throughout his life (Genesis 48:15). The Mighty One of Jacob, the Shepherd, the the Rock of Israel, would strengthen Joseph (Genesis 49:24). The Lord will gather scattered Israel as a shepherd would his flock (Jeremiah 31:10). The Lord will be their shepherd, gathering them to their own land, feeding them and giving them water, giving them rest and security, seeking the lost, and feeding them with justice (Ezekiel 34:13-16). The Lord will gather the remnant like a shepherd gathers his flock and will be at their head as a shepherd leads the flock (Micah 2:12-13). The Lord is the shepherd of the psalmist (Psalm 23). The psalmist prays that the Lord would be the shepherd of the people can carry them forever (Psalm 28:9). God led the people of God out of Egypt like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock (Psalm 78:52). The psalmist addresses the Lord as the Shepherd of Israel, the one who leads Joseph like a flock (Psalm 80:1). The psalmist testifies that the people receive nourishment in the pasture provided by God and are the sheep of the hand of God (Psalm 95:7). The psalmist testifies that the we are the people of the Lord and the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my (!) flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. The prophet continues his emphasis that the sheep do not belong to the leaders. Rather, they belong to the Lord. Echoing the creation account (Genesis 1:28), Jeremiah lifts up a vision of the future of Israel as fulfilling its original calling to become a fertile and thriving flock. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
Verses 5-6 are verses that play little role in the rest of Jeremiah's thinking. The prophet has moved beyond Judah's recent dismal past and is looking ahead to the day when the first of the promised good shepherds in v. 4 will emerge to rule over the people. None other than Yahweh will name the future king Jeremiah envisions. 5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch (tzemach, or “shoot”). A technical term for this expected king as in Zechariah 3:8, 6:12. Jeremiah affirms the Davidic hope, but says they will now be fulfilled by a "true shoot" of a different stamp. Like Isaiah (Isaiah 11:1, who uses different terms choter and netzer) Jeremiah plays on the image of David’s line as a tree and the promised ruler as a new plant that grows from the roots of the original. Isaiah uses the terms, the second of which provides Matthew 2:23 with the novel interpretation that Isaiah 11:1 predicts that the messiah will be a notzer, or “Nazarean.” And he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land, unlike his ancestors. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. Thus, the Lord does not intend to take over the role of shepherd permanently. The Lord intends to raise up new shepherds — competent shepherds, who will preserve the flock from the fear of annihilation. It is here that we come to understand the primary failing of the original shepherds. They failed because they were not righteous and they allowed unrighteousness to run rampant among the people — idolatry, rejection of covenant law and a host of other abuses including child sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:27-34). This is consistent with the Deuteronomistic assessment of what led to the fall of the northern kingdom (II Kings 17). It is Jeremiah’s assessment of what will lead to Judah’s downfall. The only thing which can prevent this inevitable decay from occurring again is for God to handpick a successor from David’s lineage who will possess what all the others have lacked, namely, righteousness. And this is the odd and unexpected name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness (YHWH tzidkenu).” There appears to be a dig at one of Israel’s final corrupt kings in the name which Jeremiah designates for the promised ruler. King Zedekiah’s name in Hebrew is tzidkiyahu, or in English “YHWH is myrighteousness.” Whereas Zedekiah’s name implies that he personally possesses YHWH’s righteousness, God’s promise is that the true shepherd will impart God’s righteousness to the whole people, thus insuring their future in the land and in God’s favor. Only a good shepherd would be able to do this for the sheep.
The divine promise, in fact, is that not only will the Lord provide good shepherds, but the shepherds will arise out of the line of David. The Lord would restore the line of David’s kingship that had been so corrupted by the likes of Jehoiakim and others who led the nation into disaster. This new Shepherd-King, the Messiah, would rule over a reunited flock and bring salvation and safety to his people. Jeremiah proclaims a messianic monarch who will be the exact opposite of the weak and sinful rulers the people have endured for so long. The prophecy deals with the actualization of the just and victorious rule of all dynastic hope in the ideal king (Messiah) of the Davidic line.
The New Testament considers Jesus Christ (the anointed King) to be the ultimate fulfillment of such messianically understood promises as Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34. He is God’s Good Shepherd. Matthew refers to the prophecy that out of Bethlehem will come a ruler who is to shepherd the people of God (Matthew 2:6). Jesus viewed his ministry as like the shepherd who found his lost sheep and invited his neighbors to rejoice with him (Luke 15:1-7). Jesus viewed the ministry of the Son of Man as coming to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, in contrast to bad shepherds who are hirelings (John 10:1-18). Those who are sheep will voice of their good shepherd (John 10:27-29). The Lord Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20-21). We were like sheep going astray but have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of our souls (I Peter 2:24-25).
Revelation 7:17 presents a remarkable image: “The Lamb [symbolically in Revelation the crucified, but now risen-from-the-dead Jesus Christ] at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Jesus is also the Lamb of God (in John 1:29, 36) and the paschal lamb (in I Corinthians 5:7b). The Good Shepherd offered his life for us, God’s sheep, and died; and now God has raised him up to be anew our Shepherd-King and Lord.
And God calls some of Jesus’ followers to be undershepherds (the English word “pastors” comes from the Latin word meaning “shepherds,” corresponding to the NT Greek use of the word poimhn (“shepherd”) in Ephesians 4:11 to mean “pastor,” a guide for a group of Jesus’ followers). Such imagery contains promise and responsibility. The risen Lord invites Peter to feed his lambs/sheep (John 21:15-17). The elders of the congregation are to tend the flock of God in their charge, exercising oversight in a genuine way by being examples to the flock, for when the chief shepherd appears, they can win the crown that never fades, clothing themselves with humility (I Peter 5:1-4). Paul addresses the elders of the church in Ephesus to watch over th flock, since the Holy Spirit made them overseers, to shepherd the church of God, knowing that after he leaves wolves will come among them who will not spare the flock (Acts 20:28-32).
It would be easy to share stories of incompetent and insincere shepherds of the people of God. Allow me to share a story of a different type. Rev. Henry Lyte (1793-1847) looked down from the parsonage and could see the tragic story of his life. His 24 years as a pastor had seemed for the most good, but now dark clouds of anger and senseless dissension had appeared. His health was failing. He did not have long to live. People in the village hated him. It was as if he had never worked or prayed with them at all. He slipped quietly into his study, not disturbing other members of the family. On the desk was his Bible, opened to the 24th chapter of Luke. He placed his forefinger on the margin of the 29th verse and read in a whisper of the familiar plea made by the disciples to Jesus: `Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.' He felt deeply that the day was far spent. He was weary. Friends and health gone. What is left? Only one thing ... God. And God had promised to abide. Within minutes he composed a poem, "Abide With Me." His doctors told him he did not have long to live. In two weeks, he would die. William H. Monk in 1874 discovered other poems, "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" and "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken." Mr. Monk put the words to music, and "Abide With Me" has become a treasure to many.
May those of us who are pastors/leaders live up to God’s promise in Jeremiah 3:15, “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
[1] The NRSV and the New Jewish Publication Society translation have a subtle variation in the way that the verb forms in this passage are translated. In Jeremiah 23:2, the NRSV reads “It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away.” The NJPS version reads “It is you who have let my flock scatter and go astray.” The Hebrew verbs in this passage (hafitzotem and taddichum) are in the Hiphil form, which is usually translated as causative — “you are the ones who have caused them to scatter,” and “you have caused them to stray.” The translation of the NJPS version is perfectly acceptable, however, and most probably derives from the idea that the shepherds are ultimately responsible for the cohesion or division of the flock. If the shepherd allows the sheep to stray, then it is the shepherd who has caused the destruction of the flock to occur by not insuring against it.
[2] Jeremiah plays on the dual meaning of the verb pqd. The NRSV reads: “you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you.” The verb pqdmeans both “to attend” in the sense of “taking care of“ or “tending to someone,” but it can also be used to mean “inspect,” or “attend to” in the sense of “evaluating performance” and meting out punishment for transgressions based on one’s evaluation. Those shepherds who fail to tend to their flock will find their failings attended to by God’s justice.
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