Jeremiah 23:2-4 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Therefore thus saith the Lord against the pastors that feed my people That undertake the care of my people, though they do not faithfully execute their trust. God calls them his people, his flock, the sheep of his pasture, with respect to the ancient covenant which he had made with their fathers. They are said to have fed this people, because it was their duty to have done so. Ye have scattered my flock Namely, by acts of violence and oppression, driving them from their places to seek more safe and quiet abodes. Or, instead of looking after them, you have suffered them to be dispersed, and through your ill example they have gone astray to idolatry, and that, with your other sins, has brought upon them their expulsion from their own land and a general dispersion. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings Will deal with you as your sins have deserved. They would not visit the flock in the way of duty, and therefore God will visit them in a way of vengeance. And I will gather the remnant of my flock Though there be but a remnant of my flock, a little remnant left, that has narrowly escaped destruction, I will gather that remnant; will find them out wherever they are, and will find out ways and means to bring them back out of all countries whither I have driven them. It was the justice of God for the sins of their shepherds that dispersed them, but the mercy of God shall gather them when the shepherds that betrayed them are cut off. And being brought to their former habitations, as sheep to their folds, there they shall be fruitful, and increase in numbers. And I will set up shepherds over them Who shall make it their business, not only to rule, but also to feed them, namely, with knowledge and understanding. They shall fear no more As they formerly did, when they were continually exposed to the oppressions of their rulers at home, or the invasions and assaults of their enemies from abroad; but they shall be preserved in peace and safety, and none of them shall be lacking. Though the times may have been long bad with the church, it does not follow that they will be always so. Such pastors as Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, though they did not live in such pomp as Jehoiakim and Jeconiah lived in, nor made such a figure, were as great blessings to the people as the others were plagues to them. The peace and prosperity of the church are not connected with, much less do they depend upon, the pomp of her rulers.