Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
The unfaithful shepherds
I. Human rulers stand in the same relation to the people whom they rule as shepherds to their flocks. Therefore the qualifications required are similar.
1. A special knowledge (Genesis 46:34). So to rule men successfully requires a knowledge of men. Christ is the preeminent Ruler of men, because He knows them--because He needs not that any should “testify of any man” whom He is shepherding for eternity (John 2:25).
2. A willingness to endure hardship for those whom they shepherd (Genesis 31:40). Shepherds of men must likewise be willing to deny themselves for their flock, even as Christ was willing to spend His nights upon the mountains (Luke 6:12) and to be consumed with labour during the day, in order to be “the Good Shepherd.”
3. Affection for the flock (1 Samuel 17:34). It cannot be dispensed with in ruling men. To love men is to understand them. To love them is to be willing to suffer for them, and must beget a correspondent feeling. The Great Shepherd had as much love for His flock as He had knowledge of them (John 10:11).
II. The rulers of Israel had lacked these qualifications.
1. Their self-indulgence had led them to neglect to feed the flock.
2. They had gone from neglect to positive acts of crime. They had taken the lives of their subjects in order to enjoy their possessions. Sins of omission lead to sins of commission.
III. The effect of the negative and positive transgressions of Israel’s rulers. “My sheep were scattered.” They were so widely sundered as to be beyond the recall of any but the Omniscient One, who alone knew the mountains upon which they were wandering.
IV. God Himself would raise up a Shepherd who would combine all the qualities needed to gather in the scattered flock.
1. The name given to this divinely appointed shepherd--David. The Messiah is called by this name in Isaiah 55:3-4; Jeremiah 30:9; Hosea 3:5.
2. His two-fold office. His Father’s servant and His people’s king (verse 24).
V. That which is intended to be a great blessing to ourselves and others, namely, power, may become the greatest curse to both. (A London Minister.)
Gospel ministers shepherds
I. Christian ministers as shepherds have devolving upon them the care of Christ’s flock. Believers are exposed to many evils, surrounded by numerous enemies, liable to many wants and diseases. To promote their comfort and safety, God sends His servants to take the oversight, and care for them as shepherd for flock.
II. Christian ministers as shepherds must feed their flocks.
1. They must do this by leading them into green pastures, etc.
(1) The pastures of the Divine word. Where there is an exhaustless fulness and variety of refreshing promises.
(2) The pastures of Divine ordinances.
2. The shepherd is to render the word instructive and consolatory, and the ordinances refreshing and edifying.
III. Christian ministers as shepherds are to watch over their flocks. To warn them against danger,--to admonish, to counsel, and to direct them into safe and plain paths. Their dangers are numerous. From the world, from Satan, from false professors, from their own weakness, etc. How necessary, then, is a spirit of holy energy, vigilance, etc.
IV. Christian ministers as shepherds are to regard especially the weak and afflicted of the flock. “Who can understand his errors?” How often is spiritual disease evident in the mind, in the heart, in the spirit, in the conversation, in the walk and conduct! Now it is for the shepherd to labour for the healing of these maladies.
V. Christian ministers as shepherds must give an account of their flocks. They are responsible to God. Application--
1. How truly solemn is the office of the Christian shepherd--the charge of souls.
2. How necessary for its right discharge are Divine qualifications and help.
3. Faithful shepherds should have the kind sympathy and aid of all the members of the Church.
4. How glorious the meeting when all the flock of God, with each shepherd, shall appear before Christ to receive His blessing, even life for evermore. (J. Burns.)
Neither have ye healed that which was sick.
Hospital Sunday
The obligation of rulers and Christians generally to care for the sick poor. The government of a great empire embraces many responsibilities--the protection of property and of life, the encouragement of art and science and every form of learning and of commerce, the maintenance of justice, the punishment of crime. We are concerned now with only one aspect of the obligation of rulers--the obligation to consider and to care for the diseased and the bruised poor. Most of the poverty and distress, most of the diseased and broken frames which are to be found amongst us are the results of vice and sin. Intemperance and immorality are fertile soils, producing plentiful harvests of mangled and agonised and loathsome bodies. Hence the necessity for adopting a policy of prevention--for establishing such legislative measures as shall check and, if possible, effectually prevent, the ravages of intemperance and vice. Prevention is better than regulation when a nation’s strength and a nation’s morals and a nation’s life are at stake. Much may be done, and much must be done, in this direction; but meanwhile, our rulers have to regard and to deal with existing miseries which have resulted, for the most part, from transgressions and sins. At this present moment there are in the great metropolis thousands upon thousands of wretched creatures, their bodies consumed by disease, or mangled and broken through accident or self-inflicted suffering. And they are poor and helpless! Unless someone aid them they must wrestle with their agony alone, they must languish and die. But the obligation to care for the sick lies not with the rulers alone. In a special manner does it rest upon the Christian Church generally. Ministers of religion should be the first to welcome a Hospital Sunday. Ah! giving for the sick, caring for the diseased and the bruised, brings its own sweet reward. To spare one pang, to bring one ray of light into a heart environed with darkness--this is worth living for. And now what we have to do is to enlarge our sympathies. Think of the multitudes of agonised mortals in the London hospitals today. Without money, those necessary institutions cannot be supported. Without money, the poor must pine away and perish. In our relation to the afflicted poor we must think of the example and precepts of our Lord. Jesus was not a philosophical theologian. He was a practical Saviour. The blind came to Him, and He gave them sight. The sick were brought to Him, and He healed them. We cannot heal the sick with a word as Christ did. But we can follow Christ in doing good ill the way open to us. What we want is the spirit of Christ--the thoughts of Christ--the purpose of Christ. In this lies the glory of Christianity. (A. G. Maitland.)