‘And as for you, O My flock, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? And to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
19 And as for My flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.
20 “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them: Behold I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns till ye have scattered them abroad,
22 therefore will I save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23 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.” Ezk 34: 17-23
When the Lord finishes judging the Fat, disobedient shepherds, He turns His attention to the flock, and proceeds to lay into them and call out the differences and injustices amongst them, according to their doings. “And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God”……,….The Lord makes a distinction between them calling some rams, and some of them he-goats. I would venture to say the he-goats are the “tares” in the Lord’s flock. He-goats are smelly, obstinate creatures known to eat anything, (and believe anything), and can be mean as well, attacking and fighting others.. They shouldn’t even be allowed in the flock. Remember, the Lord Jesus never told Peter, or His church to feed His goats. He said, “Feed my sheep”, those that belonged to Him…….
The fat head strong rams are there bullying, abusing and lording it over the milder, gentler sheep of the flock.
We’ve seen these bully types in the church, who always seem to be next in line to the pastor perhaps holding leadership positions, such as “elder” or “deacon”, have more money and influence and often times sitting on the board. They also tend to butt sheep away from the shepherd when they get too close, because bully rams want to have the preeminence.
According to the Lord’s description of the rams and he-goats, they have selfishly taken the best for themselves and not ministered to the needs of the weaker sheep and lambs in the flock, but have pushed them aside and possibly even out of the flock to fend for themselves, much like one of the troublemakers Apostle Paul had to deal with..
I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 10For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church. 3 John 1: 9-10
That’s the bad news…the good news is the the Lord said He was going to remedy this situation. Apostle Paul knew the Truth, that the Lord Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ, not those who set themselves up to be somebody and rule over the flock with manipulation, demanding to be the ones served and catered to….Apostle Paul resisted these types of hirelings, bullies and tares in the Church, and we should as well by not supporting them, or even participating in their leaven. The Lord Jesus has given us every means to know His gospel and how to learn, mature and serve Him.
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