Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
Ver. 3. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds] Pastores Impostores; the greedy priests and false prophets, main causes of the captivity; because through their default there was no knowledge nor fear of God in the land, Isaiah 5:13 Hos 4:6-7 Jer 23:1 Ezekiel 34:1 .
And I punished the goats] The grandees and governors, temporal and ecclesiastical, see Ezekiel 34:17. They should have been as the he goats before the flock, Jeremiah 50:8, worthy guides to God. But they were goats in another sense, unruly, and nasty, and lascivious (as those two filthy fellows, for instance, whom for their adultery the King of Babylon roasted in the fire, Jer 29:22), and such as begat kids of their own kind, men of their own make, and went before them in wickedness, as the goats lead the flocks.
For the Lord of hosts] Better to read it, but the Lord of hosts, &c. And this is spoken for the comfort of those that called upon God, and abhorred idols, and idol shepherds, that were in special covenant with him, and therefore owned by him, as his flock, or peculiar charge. Now to such he promiseth to feed them as his sheep, and to furnish them as his horse for service, his goodly war horse, mainly respected by his master, as Bucephalus was by Alexander. This may in part be understood of the Maccabees' victories; but principally of the apostles, those white horses, upon which they rode through the world, conquering and to conquer, Revelation 6:2. St Paul is fitly compared to that war horse in Job 39:20, whose neck is clothed with thunder, and the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He mocketh at fear, and turneth not back from the sword. He goeth on to meet the armed man, and swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage.