Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. 7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock: and I took unto me two staves: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another. 10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that; it was the word of the Lord.
The flock of the slaughter, plainly means the Lord's people. And as the great ones of the earth oppress them, they are very properly so called. But how sweet and gracious are the expressions of the Lord Jesus. Though their own shepherds regard them not, yet Jesus will. Every oppressed child of God should remember this! Various have been the opinion of learned men, concerning what is meant by the two staves; Beauty and Bands. It hath struck me since I began these observations upon the passage, that by Beauty is meant the Gospel, and by Bands, is meant the Law. For surely a Gospel that proclaims mercy, pardon, and peace, through another's righteousness, and not our own, must be beautiful and engaging to a soul truly convinced of sin, and conscious that he hath no righteousness in him. While, on the other hand, the law, which is the ministration of death, may always be called bands, for we are by nature, and by practice, bound in the chains of it all our lives long, until Christ hath made us free. Reader! can you truly say, and say it with full assurance of faith: Truly, Lord, I am thy servant, thou hast loosed my bonds. Psalms 116:16. By breaking the staff Beauty, is not meant the Lord's breaking off connection with his people, or lessening the sweet effects of the blessed gospel; but it may mean with-drawings, hidings, corrections, and the like. Psalms 89:30-35.