TRV
Augustine of Hippo
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500
7,530 passages across 62 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Ezekiel
20 of 72-
Ezekiel 34:4
The shepherds who feed themselves and not the sheep are being told what they are diligent about and what they are negligent about.
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Ezekiel 34:4
As regards the feeble it is to be feared that some trial may happen to him and break him. But the sick person is already ill with some kind of greed and prevented by some kind of greed from entering on the way of God, from submitting to the yoke of Christ. Think of people who want to lead a good life, who are already determined to lead a good life and are less capable of enduring evil, while they are quite ready to do good. But it is part of a Christian’s strength not only to do what is good but also to put up with what is bad.
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Ezekiel 34:4
If I do not worry about the one that strays and gets lost, even the one that is strong will think it is rather fun to stray and get lost. I do indeed desire outward gains, but I am more afraid of inner losses.
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Ezekiel 34:6
Pursuing all earthly objects, things that glitter obviously on the face of the earth, they love them, they set their hearts on them. They do not want to die, that their life may be hidden with Christ.… Not all heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth, but still heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth. Some here, others there, but there is no lack of them anywhere.
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Ezekiel 34:8
But which shepherds are dead? Those who seek their own advantage, not that of Jesus Christ. So will there be shepherds, and will they be found, who do not seek their own advantage but that of Jesus Christ? There certainly will be, and they will certainly be found; they are not lacking, and they won’t be lacking. So let us see what the Lord has to say, who says he lives; whether he says he is going to take the sheep away from the bad shepherds, who feed themselves, not the sheep, and give them to good shepherds, who feed the sheep, not themselves.
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Ezekiel 34:10
Listen and learn, you sheep of God; from the bad shepherds God will require his sheep, and from their hands he will require their death.… So let us see, because that is what I had proposed to do, whether he takes the sheep away from the bad shepherds and gives them to good shepherds.
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Ezekiel 34:11
Rain and fog, the errors of this world; a great darkness arising from human lusts, a thick fog covering the earth. And it is difficult for the sheep not to go astray in this fog. But the shepherd does not desert them. He seeks them, his piercing gaze penetrates the fog, the thick darkness of the clouds does not prevent him.
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Ezekiel 34:12
When it is difficult for them to be found, now I will find them. The fog is dense, the storm cloud thick; nothing escapes his eyes.
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Ezekiel 34:13
He established the mountains of Israel, the authors of the divine Scriptures. Feed there, in order to feed without a qualm. Whatever you hear from that source, let that taste good to you; anything from outside, spit it out. In order not to go astray in the fog, listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Gather yourselves to the mountains of holy Scripture. There you will find your heart’s desire, there is nothing poisonous there, nothing unsuitable; they are the richest pastures.
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Ezekiel 34:13
There, life is wisdom, through which all these things come into being, both those that have been and those that will be. Yet, it is not made but is as it was, and thus it will be forever. Or rather, to have been in the past or to be in the future does not pertain to it, but simply to be, for it is eternal. To be in the past or to be in the future is not to be eternal.
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Ezekiel 34:14
This is feeding Christ, this is feeding for Christ, this is feeding in Christ, not feeding oneself apart from Christ. There is not really a dearth of shepherds.
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Ezekiel 34:15
Lift up your eyes to the mountains, by all means, from where help shall come to you—but pay attention to him saying, I myself will be the shepherd.
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Ezekiel 34:16
The Lord did not say, “I will provide other good shepherds to do these things,” but “I myself,” he said, “will do them. I will commit my sheep to nobody else.” You are all right, brothers; you are all right, you sheep. It is we bishops, it seems, who have got to worry, there being apparently not a single good shepherd.
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Ezekiel 34:17
I am judging. What a relief, what reassurance! [The Lord] is judging; the good can be reassured. No opponent can corrupt their judge, no counselor twist him round their little finger or witness play fast and loose with him. But just as the good can be reassured, so to the same extent the bad should be afraid. He is not the sort of judge things can be kept hidden from. Do you imagine, after all, that God as judge is going to examine witnesses, to learn from them who you may be? How can he possibly be mistaken about who you may be, seeing that he knew what you were going to be?
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Ezekiel 34:17
What are he-goats doing here in God’s flock? In the same pastures, at the same springs, he-goats, though destined for the left hand, are mixing with those of the right hand, and those who are going to be separated are first tolerated. And this is to exercise the sheep in a patience after the likeness of God’s own patience.
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Ezekiel 34:17
If you really think, brothers, what a very great blessing it is to be God’s flock, you must be filled even in the midst of these tears and troubles of ours with very great joy.
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Ezekiel 34:18
God’s pastures are good, and God’s springs are pure. We have them in the holy Scriptures.
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Ezekiel 34:20
He makes no further mention of the he-goats. He mentioned them once, so that we would know they exist. He knows them well. After that he speaks as if all are sheep.
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Ezekiel 34:21
If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about. It is only strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong? Those who rely on their own righteousness. None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside. Shoulders bold at shoving, because they do not bear God's burden; evil sides, conspiracies of friends, companions in obstinacy; horns lifted up, high and mighty pride. Shove with sides and shoulders, flail with your horns, drive outside what you have not bought. Certainly this is your whole case, that you are just and others are unjust, and it was unfitting that the just should remain with the unjust, unfitting, that is to say, that the corn should remain among the weeds, unfitting that the sheep should feed among the goats until the shepherd should come who would make no mistake in separating them.
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Ezekiel 34:22
Just as we must abominate their injustice and cruelty, so we must praise the mercy of our Shepherd, who is truly our God; he will save his sheep. Perhaps, my brothers, he is doing this when we say this, doing it through the least of his servants, doing it perhaps through unworthy servants. Let him save his sheep; let them hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow him. Do not let them look for a proof of the church from the mouth of people. Let them look for it from the mouth of God, look for it from the mouth of Christ. Whoever he calls ungodly is ungodly, whoever he calls just is just, whoever he calls a sheep is a sheep, whoever he calls a goat is a goat. He himself is truth, let him speak, let the church be sought from him. Tell us, Lord, where is your church?