The Future, Both Temporal and Eternal.
“And my servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes, and do them. And they will dwell in the land which I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers dwelt. And they will dwell in it, they, and their children, and their children's children, for ever. And David my servant will be their prince for ever.”
This verse is very important in determining our view of what exactly Ezekiel's prophecy is all about and how to view it. It stresses that ‘they will dwell in the land which I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers dwelt'. This would seem to make crystal clear that it is speaking of the actual land of Israel. That was what was given to Jacob. Their fathers dwelt in it. So it might be asked, what could be clearer?
But then it goes on to say that they will dwell in it for ever, and that David will be their prince for ever. Now we can understand Ezekiel, with no concept of eternity, thinking in terms of everything going on without changing, into millennium after millenium, and never ceasing. (Although he certainly does not have in mind here a mere millennium). So we must either see this as teaching that this world will go on forever, unchanging, or we must recognise that there is here something here that goes beyond Ezekiel's ability to conceive and which he can only express vaguely in idealistic terms. He knew that they would return to the land, and he knew that they would find everlasting rest. And he combined the two pictures together, because he had no other way of emphasising that God's people would dwell in a place given to them by God for ever.
Thus from our viewpoint we must say that the first aspect will become literally true, they will return to the land, and the second aspect is his way of describing what is beyond his ability to conceive, the eternal future. He knows that God's people will enjoy everlasting peace and rest, and that God will always have ‘a land' available for His people.
So we would argue that it is quite clear that the near partial fulfilment of this took place when Israel were again gathered in Jerusalem with a temporal Davidic king over them (Zerubbabel), who was called ‘My servant' (Haggai 2:23), and rejoiced in the triumph of God, the ‘day of small things' (Zechariah 4:6-14), and when (for a time) they turned back to His ways. That it went on when Jesus, the son of David, became Shepherd of His people and led them into the ways of truth and righteousness and began to establish the Kingly Rule of God. And that it finally goes on to reveal that this will in the end result in a perfect existence in an eternal land, where God's will will always be done and an eternal king will rule over them
For in the end it is quite clear that the everlasting kingdom is in mind here, the everlasting kingdom ruled over by an everlasting king, and resulting in everlasting obedience. Living in ‘the land' has been changed into something idealised, something far better for them to enjoy; and it is eternal, as is David their prince. It is Ezekiel's way of portraying the glory of ‘the new earth' in the only terms available to him. They would be given all that God had promised, and more, under an eternal ruler, (compare Daniel 7:14. No earthly millennium could fulfil this promise). This is thus clearly an ‘idealistic future', expressed in the terminology of his day, but awaiting further revelation.
We can compare here the words of the writer to the Hebrews about Abraham. He tells us that Abraham dwelt ‘in the land of promise', but that he ‘looked for a city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God' (Hebrews 11:10). He is crystallising what was probably a vague thought in the mind of Abraham. There is the near view and the far view. It gives a more practical explanation of what Abraham vaguely looked for, a hope that he could not fully understand, and that he would have been totally unable to describe. On his part he just believed that God had a future for him, a future he could not put into words.
The portrayal of the coming eternal king as ‘my servant' and ‘one shepherd' portrayed the coming of God's chosen one who was both faithful to God and would watch over His people.
‘My servant' was a distinguished title and ever the description of the specially chosen of Yahweh. It was used:
· of Abraham in Genesis 26:24;
· of Moses in Numbers 12:7-8; Malachi 4:4; Joshua 1:2 and often as ‘the servant of Yahweh' in Joshua, also in 2 Kings 18:12; 2Ch 1:3; 2 Chronicles 24:6;
· of Caleb in Numbers 14:24;
· of Joshua (as ‘the servant of Yahweh') in Joshua 24:29; Judges 2:8;
· of David in Ezekiel 34:23-24; 2 Samuel 3:18; 2 Samuel 7:5; 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Kings 11:13; 1 Kings 11:32; 1 Kings 11:34; 1 Kings 11:36; 1Ki 11:38; 1 Kings 14:8; Psalms 89:3; Psalms 89:20; Isaiah 37:5; Jeremiah 33:21; and often in Kings and Chronicles;
· of Job in Job 1:8; Job 2:3; Job 42:7-8;
· of Isaiah in Isaiah 20:3;
· of Eliakim the son of Hilkiah in Isaiah 22:20;
· of Israel as chosen witnesses in Isaiah 41:8-9; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:19; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:1-2; Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 49:6; Jeremiah 30:10; and often;
· of the Servant of Yahweh in Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 52:13;
· of ‘my servants the prophets' in Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 26:5; and often; Ezekiel 38:37; Zechariah 1:6;
· of Zerubbabel in Haggai 2:23, where he is specifically stated to be the chosen of Yahweh;
· of ‘the Branch' in Zechariah 3:8; compare Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15;
· and even (temporarily) of Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 25:9; Jeremiah 27:6 as the one chosen to bring His judgment on Jerusalem.
But only Moses and David were spoken of as ‘my servant' after their deaths. They were seen as His servants par excellence, and they were the archetype of God's perfect Servant (Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). This ties in with the fact that another Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18) and another David (Ezekiel 34:23-24 compare 1 Kings 9:5; Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:1-5; Hosea 3:5; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 30:9; Jeremiah 33:15; Jeremiah 33:17; Jeremiah 33:20-26; Zechariah 12:10 to Zechariah 13:1) were expected to come in the future, a new lawgiver and a new king, a promise fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The ‘one shepherd' represents the new David (Ezekiel 34:23) acting in cooperation with Yahweh (Ezekiel 34:13-16; Psalms 23:1; Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 40:11). The idea of a shepherd was regularly applied to Near Eastern kings (compare 1 Kings 22:17) who liked to see themselves as benefactors to their people, even when they were far from being so, and Yahweh described Cyrus as His shepherd because he would perform His pleasure as regards Israel (Isaiah 34:28). But the son of David would be the true shepherd, Yahweh's shepherd (even though he would be smitten while caring for the sheep (Zechariah 13:7) and would care for them for ever.