The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 216

<>f men on the ground of social rank or of circumstance finds no place at all in the mind and h~rt of God. He car~s for men as the¥ are ; possessed as they nre with a nature that rs capable of grea~ things-great s~~~rmgs, sorrows, degrad,ltion, iniquities, on the one band, and great Joys, hopes, nob1ht1es 1 achievements, on the other hand. Not where we stand or what we hold,,but what we are and what we may become is the Divine consideration. ' II. DRAWN TOWARDS THE NEGLECTED. It is the guilty neo-lect of the flock by the selfish sheph~rds. t_hat drives the she~p to the notice of the Di;ine Shepherd, and that draws out hrs pitiful pastoral affection (vers. 8-11). And we may infer that the neglected, because they are such, are the objects of the Divine sympathy. The neglected child in the home, member of the Church, pupil in the school student or toiler in the world of art and industry, citizen in social circle or the broader sphere of the nation, is the object of the pitiful regard of One who never overiooks, who under- stands how that heart feels which is wounded by the disregard of men, who "lifteth up the meek," who" bath respect unto the lowly." III. CONCERNED FOR THE LOST A.ND SCATTERED. 'l'hose who are far away from Zion .and fro~ all its sacred and hallowing influences are still "my sheep" (ver. 11); and the stram of the twelfth verse is one of tender sympathy and earnest solicitude for those who "in the day of clouds and thick darkness" have been" scattered on the wild." ,Ve have wandered away from the home of the Father; some of us into a very "far country;" it may be that of almost entire forgetfulness; or of an utter shameless indifference; or of a deliberate disobedience of his known will; or of an absolute denial of his existence; or of a want.on endeavour to corrupt and destroy the character of his -children. And yet, however far we have gone astray, in all the emptiness and spiritual poverty of our distance from home, in all our misery and aching of heart, in all our hopelessness, onr Divine F;itbcr follows us and pities us; his heart is filled with a parental solicitude for us. "For though deceived and led astray, We've travelled far and wo.ndered long, Oox God bath seen us all the way, And all the turns that led us wrong." IV. ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THEm REDEMPTION. "I will seek out my sheep, and -deliver them." L 'l'he restoration of the exiled Jews may be one part of the fulfilment of this promise. 2. The coming of the Son of man "to seek and to save that which was lost " was a later and better fulfilment. And we find a further, a perpetual Divine redemption of this ancient word of promise in : 3. The putting forth by the Church of -Christ of all its redeeming energies. Whenever and however any one that, filled with the spirit of his Saviour, seeks to raise the fallen, to bring back to truth and piety those that have gone away in the darkness, to heal the stricken and suffering spirit and to enrobe it with "the garment of praise," there God is himself "searching out hie sheep," and "delivering them from the places whither they have wandered." How excellent is the portion of those who are his agents in this gracious work 1---0. Ver. 14.-The mounf,ain-height of Israel-7/Wral and spiritual elevation. "I will feed them " upon the mountains of the height of Israel" (literally, eee Revised Version; see also eh. xviL 23 and XL 40); i.e. upon the mountain-height of Israel ; and the reference is to- L THE EXCELLENCY oF leRAEL IN THE BIGHT OF GoD. 'l'he neglected and scattered sheep that had been untaught or misdirected by their rulers should be cared for by the Lord himself; they should be placed on the very summit of sacred privilege, they should be sheep feeding on the mountain-heights of the Holy Land. Mount Zion was "the holy mountain" (eh. x.x. 40), where the best 1:1piritual pasture was to be had for the hungering heart of the devout Hebrew; but "everythin~ in Israel had a moral elevation." At any rate, Israel in its best days, under David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Josiah, attained to an elevation of knowledge and of character -which was comparatively great and high. Its superiority to all surrounding nations was seen in: 1. Its krwwl,edge of the living God. While they were worshipping gods -of their own creation-false, capricious, cruel, lustful-the people of God were honour- <JH. xxx1v. 1-31.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 223