From the Hebrew דָּרַשׁ (darash): to seek, to enquire after, to search out with care. Semantic force: The verb implies diligence rather than glance. It is used of investigating a matter thoroughly, of consulting God, of tracking something down — searching that intends to find. Theological depth: Throughout the Old Testament it is Israel who is told to seek the LORD. Here the subject reverses: God says He Himself will darash His sheep. The searching that the covenant required of the people is undertaken by God on their behalf.

Supporting Scriptures

Until He Find ItNew Testament

“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?”

(KJV)

Christ makes the seeking indefinite in duration and definite in outcome, which is the whole difference between the shepherds.

I Am the Good ShepherdNew Testament

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

(KJV)

He claims the office Ezekiel promised God would take up personally, and adds what it will cost.

Their Shepherds Caused Them to Go AstrayOld Testament

“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.”

(KJV)

The sheep did not merely wander. Jeremiah lays it at the door of the men paid to prevent it, which is why God says He will come Himself.

The Exposition

Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. The emphatic doubling in the Hebrew is not decoration — it is a contrast being drawn as sharply as language permits. The whole chapter is an indictment of the shepherds of Israel, who fed themselves and not the flock, who did not strengthen the diseased or bind up the broken or seek that which was lost. Against them God sets Himself: I, even I. The verb is darash, the word used everywhere else for what Israel was supposed to do toward God. Seek the LORD while he may be found. Here the direction reverses, and the reversal is the gospel in a single grammatical move. The flock in is not lost through misadventure; they were scattered by the negligence of the men appointed to keep them, which makes them the least likely candidates for a rescue and the most likely to assume they have forfeited it. Anyone who has been failed by those who should have shepherded them will recognise the situation, and possibly the conclusion drawn from it — that having been driven off by the ones representing God, one is unlikely to be searched for by God. Ezekiel forecloses that conclusion. The failure of the under-shepherds is precisely the reason the Chief Shepherd takes the search into His own hands.

The Altar

If you were driven away from the faith by someone who represented it badly, put the two figures side by side today and decide which one you have actually been dealing with.

Daily Reading & Meditation

Passage:

Focus: Compare what the shepherds failed to do in the opening verses with what God promises to do in verses eleven to sixteen.

Ask yourself: Has anyone in the church made God harder for you to trust? Say that to Him plainly. He has said harder things about bad shepherds than you are likely to.

Jehovah-Rohi, the LORD my Shepherd, You sought me out when I was scattered and lost. Let Your Holy Spirit keep me resting on Your shoulders rather than striving to find my own way home. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Amen.

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