Feeding the Flock

Ezekiel 34 contains the Lord’s rebuke against the “shepherds of Israel” who were not performing their duties as they were expected to.  The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!  Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?”  (Ezekiel 34:2).  As the Lord continued the chastisement against the shepherds in Israel in this chapter and testified of His own care for the flock, He focused extensively on the idea of “feeding” the flock.  He told the shepherds, “Ye eat the fat… but ye feed not the flock” (Ezekiel 34:3).  He continued, “I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more” (Ezekiel 34:10).  The shepherds had plenty to eat but they were letting those they were supposed to watch over go hungry.  “Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture… and as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet” (Ezekiel 34:18-19).  

                In contrast with these shepherds, the Lord will feed the sheep.  He told Ezekiel, “I will bring them out from the people… and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers…  I  will feed them in a good pasture… and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.  I will feed my flock” (Ezekiel 34:13-15). Later He said again, “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd” (Ezekiel 34:23). Presumably that “servant David” is really the Savior who was the Son of David.  As He taught during His mortal ministry, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep” (John 10:14).  Those called to be shepherds in Israel may not always come through, but Christ will always perfectly care for the sheep. 

                So what is the significance of “feeding” the sheep, and what does it represent?  In what ways do we “feed” ourselves instead of feeding those whom we are supposed to serve?  While perhaps it could be interpreted literally to be a rebuke for not feeding the physically hungry, it seems to me that the more likely intended meaning is the way in which we spiritually nourish and care for those in need.  Feeding the flock means that we seek to take the only source of lasting spiritual nourishment—the gospel—to those who have never received it or who have received it and left it.  As President Benson put it, “The answer, then, is found in prayerfully shepherding and feeding the flock—in other words, personal watchcare.  There must be real, heartfelt concern by a true and loving shepherd” (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, chapter 20).  This was what the Savior was most concerned about when He spoke with Peter by the Sea of Galilee after Peter returned to fishing: “Lovest thou me more than these?... Feed my lambs….  Feed my sheep…. Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).  That was to be Peter’s greatest priority once the Savior ascended to His Father: spiritually watching out for and teaching and serving all those he could reach.  So I think the question for us probably is not whether we love fish more than feeding the Savior’s flocks, but perhaps the Savior would ask it this way: “Lovest thou me more than thy time?  Feed my sheep.”  It is most of all our time that we must be willing to sacrifice in order to serve and teach and lift those God has put in our sphere of influence.  And if we can’t make that sacrifice, we may find some day that like the shepherds in Ezekiel’s day, we have only fed ourselves.