For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, [which] shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
Ver. 16. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land] Evil shepherds (that is, rulers in State and Church, see Jer 6:3 Nahum 3:18 Isa 44:28) are set up by God for a punishment of a sinful people. See Trapp on " Zec 11:15 " The evil shepherd here meant was Antiochus Epiphanes, saith Theodoret; Herod, the infanticide, saith Montanus; Titus and the Romans, saith a Castro; all the perverse priests and princes that ruled over the Jews, after the time of this prophecy, saith a Lapide; as Jason, Menelaus, 2Ma 4:1-50; 2Ma 5:1-27, Herod, Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas, the Scribes and Pharisees; but especially antichrist (according to Joh 5:43), whose forerunners all the former were. Of one Pope it is said, by those of his own side, that he entered upon the government of the Church as a fox, reigned as a wolf, died as a dog; and it is true enough of all the rest, and to them the following words do most fitly agree.
Who shall not visit those that be cut off] Or, look for the thing that is lost. Illos qui erraverunt, non quaerent, saith the ChaIdee: the word signifieth such as are hidden in thickets, hung among thorns and briers, and there likely to perish without help.
Neither shall seek the young one] The tender lambs of Christ, which Peter was doubly charged to feed. Stolidam non requiret, saith the Tigurine translation. Lambs are silly things, very apt to straggle; and least able of any creature to find their way home again.
Nor heal that that is broken] David, by leaping over the pale, as it were, of God's precepts, brake his bones, Psalms 51:8, and felt the fall the longest day of his life; so may any of Christ's flock. The good Shepherd, therefore, in pera gestat unguentum, hath his medicines ready in scrip, to apply as need requireth. Not so the idol shepherd, who will rather break the sound than bind up the broken.
Nor feed that that standeth still] Or, that is well underlaid, and is full of vigour. Vatablus rendereth it, Eam quae restitat, non portabit. He will not carry that which can go no further. Hitherto the negligence of these evil shepherds. Followeth next their cruelty, and that is more than bestial. For the ravening beasts lightly leave some foot or bone undevoured, Amos 3:12; but these do not only eat the flesh of the flock, and suck the fat, but barbarously tear the claws also in pieces, exercise utmost immunity; as it is here graphically and gallantly described.