Isa 40:11, Eze 34:23, 37:24, Zec 13:7 | JFB | STEP | 11. feed-- including all a shepherd's care--"tend" ( ; ; ; ). carry-- applicable to Messiah's restoration of Israel, as sheep scattered in all lands, and unable to move of themselves to their own land ( ; ). As Israel was "carried from the womb" (that is, in its earliest days) ( , ; ), so it shall be in "old age" (that is, its latter days) ( , ). gently lead-- as a thoughtful shepherd does the ewes "giving suck" (Margin) ( , ).

‏ Isaiah 40:11

11. feed--including all a shepherd's care--"tend" (Eze 34:23; Psa 23:1; He 13:20; 1Pe 2:25).

carry--applicable to Messiah's restoration of Israel, as sheep scattered in all lands, and unable to move of themselves to their own land (Psa 80:1; Jr 23:3). As Israel was "carried from the womb" (that is, in its earliest days) (Is 63:9, 11, 12; Psa 77:20), so it shall be in "old age" (that is, its latter days) (Is 46:3, 4).

gently lead--as a thoughtful shepherd does the ewes "giving suck" (Margin) (Ge 33:13, 14).

‏ Ezekiel 34:23

23. set up--that is, raise up by divine appointment; alluding to the declaration of God to David, "I will set up thy seed after thee" (2Sa 7:12); and, "Yet have I set My king on My holy hill of Zion" (Psa 2:6; compare Ac 2:30; 13:23).

one shepherd--literally, "a Shepherd, one": singularly and pre-eminently one: the only one of His kind, to whom none is comparable (So 5:10). The Lord Jesus refers to this prophecy (Joh 10:14), "I am THE Good Shepherd." Also "one" as uniting in one the heretofore divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and also "gathering together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and on earth" (Ep 1:10); thus healing worse breaches than that between Israel and Judah (Col 1:20). "God by Him reconciling all things unto Himself, whether things in earth or in heaven."

David--the antitypical David, Messiah, of the seed of David, which no other king after the captivity was: who was fully, what David was only in a degree, "the man after God's own heart." Also, David means beloved: Messiah was truly God's beloved Son (Is 42:1; Mt 3:17). Shepherd means King, rather than religious instructor; in this pre-eminently He was the true David, who was the Shepherd King (Lu 1:32, 33). Messiah is called "David" in Is 55:3, 4; Jr 30:9; Ho 3:5.

‏ Ezekiel 37:24

24. David--Messiah (See on Eze 34:23, 24).

‏ Zechariah 13:7

7. Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself (Mt 26:31, 32). Thus it is a resumption of the prophecy of His betrayal (Zec 11:4, 10, 13, 14), and the subsequent punishment of the Jews. It explains the mystery why He, who came to be a blessing, was cut off while bestowing the blessing. God regards sin in such a fearful light that He spared not His own co-equal Son in the one Godhead, when that Son bore the sinner's guilt.

Awake--Compare a similar address to the sword of justice personified (Jr 46:6, 7). For "smite" (imperative), Mt 26:31 has "I will smite." The act of the sword, it is thus implied, is God's act. So the prophecy in Is 6:9, "Hear ye," is imperative; the fulfilment as declared by Jesus is future (Mt 13:14), "ye shall hear."

sword--the symbol of judicial power, the highest exercise of which is to take away the life of the condemned (Psa 17:13; Ro 13:4). Not merely a show, or expression, of justice (as Socinians think) is distinctly implied here, but an actual execution of it on Messiah the shepherd, the substitute for the sheep, by God as judge. Yet God in this shows His love as gloriously as His justice. For God calls Messiah "My shepherd," that is, provided (Re 13:8) for sinners by My love to them, and ever the object of My love, though judicially smitten (Is 53:4) for their sins (Is 42:1; 59:16).

man that is my fellow--literally, "the man of my union." The Hebrew for "man" is "a mighty man," one peculiarly man in his noblest ideal. "My fellow," that is, "my associate." "My equal" ([De Wette]; a remarkable admission from a Rationalist). "My nearest kinsman" [Hengstenberg], (Joh 10:30; 14:10, 11; Php 2:6).

sheep shall be scattered--The scattering of Christ's disciples on His apprehension was the partial fulfilment (Mt 26:31), a pledge of the dispersion of the Jewish nation (once the Lord's sheep, Psa 100:3) consequent on their crucifixion of Him. The Jews, though "scattered," are still the Lord's "sheep," awaiting their being "gathered" by Him (Is 40:9, 11).

I will turn ... hand upon ... little ones--that is, I will interpose in favor of (compare the phrase in a good sense, Is 1:25) "the little ones," namely, the humble followers of Christ from the Jewish Church, despised by the world: "the poor of the flock" (Zec 11:7, 11); comforted after His crucifixion at the resurrection (Joh 20:17-20); saved again by a special interposition from the destruction of Jerusalem, having retired to Pella when Cestius Gallus so unaccountably withdrew from Jerusalem. Ever since there has been a Jewish "remnant" of "the little ones ... according to the election of grace." The hand of Jehovah was laid in wrath on the Shepherd that His hand might be turned in grace upon the little ones.