TOMS: Ezekiel 34-36

For an introduction to this series, click here.

Oct. 11, 2006

This section marks the major transition section in Ezekiel's prophecy. Ezekiel's message has changed from near-term judgment for Israel to long-term blessings. But he cannot get too far without pointing out more of Israel's failures, and he does so at the beginning of chapter 34. He goes after the leaders of Israel, both political and especially spiritual, saying that they have fed themselves instead of feeding the "sheep" of Israel. Because God's flock has become sick and ill-fed, God will remove those evil shepherds and set Himself as their shepherd, with David as His assistant.

"I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them." (34:22-24, ESV)

At this point in my original article, I made a long rant about dispensationalism. I'm not as hardcore as I used to be on the topic, but I'm still dispensational in outlook, and it's passages like this one that convince me of that. This passage is very specific. Why would God promise Israel that they would one day have David ruling over them if He were planning to permanently take away Israel's place as God's chosen people? I fully acknowledge that we as Christian Gentile believers are grafted into God's tree, as Paul writes, and that we are the spiritual children of Abraham. There is a spiritual transfer from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. But I have yet to be convinced that all of God's promises to Israel such as the one above have been spiritually fulfilled in the church. Where is David in the church? Is he spiritually ruling over a portion of it somewhere? I could be wrong. I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers. But I've studied the Scripture and the theological debates enough to know that the easy answers on both the dispensational and covenental side have holes as well. All I'm basically asking is that fellow believers be willing to tolerate differences that do not affect orthodox faith and practice in this age.