Ezekiel 34:3

Eze 34:3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: [but] ye feed not the flock.

Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat.] Ecce, lac et lanam recipitis. This ye might do, if in measure, for the workman is worthy of his wages, {see 1Co 9:7} but ye gorge yourselves with the best of the best. Et si ventri bene, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace, If the belly may be filled, the back fitted, that is all you take care for. In parabola ovis capras quaeritis, et vestrum maxime compendium spectatis; ye are all for your own ends, nourishing your hearts as in a day of slaughter, or of good cheer. {Jas 5:5}

Ye kill them that are fed.] Heb., Ye sacrifice them; so ye pretend, but mind your own fat paunches. See Pro 7:14.

But ye feed not the flock.] As being falsi et ficti imo picti pastores, mock shepherds.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 34:3-4. Ye eat the fat — Or, the milk, as the LXX. render it. The Hebrew words chalab, milk, and cheleb, fat, differ only in their points, so that the ancient versions take them promiscuously one for the other. These shepherds of the Lord’s flock, these civil and ecclesiastical rulers of the people, used their power over them, and exercised their offices, merely for their temporal advantage and emolument. “They exacted their tribute and taxes, their tithes and perquisites, with great earnestness; and they oppressed, and even destroyed the people, to enrich themselves: but they bestowed no pains to provide for the welfare of the state, or of the souls of those intrusted to them.” — Scott. Ye kill them that are fed — Ye take away the lives of the wealthy and substantial by unjust means, in order to enrich yourselves with their estates. But ye feed not the flock — Ye take no care for their benefit, temporal or spiritual. Ye are so ignorant that ye know not how to feed them, and ye are so indolent that ye will not take any pains to do it, and ye are so treacherous and unfaithful that ye never desired or designed it. The diseased — The weak and languishing; have ye not strengthened — With your help, counsel, or countenance. Ye have not applied proper remedies to the wants and necessities of those committed to your charge. The magistrates have not taken care to relieve the needy and defend the oppressed. The priests and the prophets have not been diligent in giving the people proper instructions, in rectifying the mistakes of those that were in error, in warning the unruly, or comforting the disconsolate. Neither have ye bound up that which was broken — Ye have not given relief to the afflicted and miserable: a metaphor taken from surgeons binding up wounds in order to cure them. Neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, &c. — Or, which was gone astray, as the word נדחה is translated, Deu 22:1. Ye have not, by your instructions and exhortations, endeavoured to reduce those who had wandered from the way of truth, or to reclaim those who were ready to perish in their sins; but with force and cruelty have ye ruled them — Have endeavoured to reduce and govern them by the rough methods of compulsion and cruelty, and not by the gentle way of reason and argument, longsuffering, meekness, and love; and your government over them has been exercised by tyranny and oppression, instead of justice, kindness, and beneficence.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye seek to enrich yourselves by their commodities, and to spoil their riches and substance.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

fat--or, by differently pointing the Hebrew, "milk" [Septuagint]. Thus the repetition "fat" and "fed" is avoided: also the eating of "fat" would not probably be put before the "killing" of the sheep. The eating of sheep's or goats' milk as food (Deu 32:14; Pro 27:27) was unobjectionable, had not these shepherds milked them too often, and that without duly "feeding" them [BOCHART], (Isa 56:11). The rulers levied exorbitant tributes.

kill . . . fed--kill the rich by false accusation so as to get possession of their property.

feed not . . . flock--take no care of the people (Joh 10:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Ye eat the fat] I think החלב hacheleb should be translated the milk; and so most of the Versions understand it. Or they lived on the fat sheep, and took the wool of all.

"The priests," says Calmet, "ate the tithes, the first-fruits, and the offerings of the people; the princes received the tributes and imposts; and instead of instructing and protecting them, the latter took away their lives by the cruelties they practiced against them: the former destroyed their souls by the poison of their doctrine, and by their bad example. The fat sheep point out the rich, to whom these pastors often disguised the truth, by a cruel condescension and complaisance."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Ye eat the fat] LXX. the milk (the consonants are the same). Cf. Isa_7:22; Zec_11:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye eat the fat,.... The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "the milk"; the words for fat and milk differ only in the points; and this was not unlawful, for

who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Co1 9:7, provided it was done with moderation, that they ate some, but not all; but these rulers milked their subjects too much, oppressed them with heavy taxes, and got their substance into their own hands. The Targum is,

"ye eat the good;''

they got possessed of the best of their substance; as did also their ecclesiastical rulers, who were greedy shepherds, that could never have enough; they looked for their gain from their quarter, and even devoured widows' houses, Isa 56:11,

ye clothe you with the wool: the pure wool, as the Targum, the finest of it; they fleeced the flock, and stripped the people of their riches; and minded nothing but their own backs and bellies:

ye kill them that are fed; or, that "are fat" (q); the richest of the people they brought accusations and charges against for capital crimes; and so put them to death under a colour of justice, that they, might get their estates into their hands:

but ye feed not the flock; did not govern the people well, by doing justice and judgment among men, as became civil magistrates; did not deliver out words of faith and sound doctrine, to feed the souls of men with, which is the duty of those that preside in the church of God.

(q) "quod pingue est", Vatablus, Bochartus; "pinguem", Cocceius, Starckius. So Ben Melech.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Fat. Pastors often disguise the truth to flatter the rich, or the more just souls are ruined by their negligence.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The fat; rather the milk, which insatiably and without measure you devour; you exhaust their purses and weaken their estates by tributes, exacted by extortions: so the temporal rulers and the spiritual rulers had their methods and arts to milk them dry, these lived on the sins of the people.

With the wool; with best and finest, as best suiting with your pride and luxury, on which you force the people to bestow so much that they have not to clothe themselves and theirs; this was mighty oppression.

Ye kill them; contrive methods for a seeming legal course to forfeit first the life, and next the estate, of the well-fed, the rich, and wealthy, and then make merry and feast, as voluptuous, unfaithful shepherds feast on the fattest of the sheep in their masters’ fold. Ye feed not the flock; take no care to lead, protect, provide for, and watch over them, but, as idle shepherds feasted with the fattest, let the rest starve for any thing they care.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ye eat the fat. The LXX and the Vulgate, following a different reading, give milk, and, as "killing" comes in the next clause, this is probably preferable. (comp. 1Co_9:7; Isa_7:22)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye kill - You contrive methods, to take first the life, and next the estate of the well-fed, the rich and wealthy. But - You take care to lead, protect, provide for, and watch over them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.