Ezekiel 34 and the True Meaning of Biblical Leadership

Ezekiel 34 is one of the sharpest and clearest chapters in the Tanakh concerning the essence of biblical leadership. It is a chapter that serves as Urim and Thummim for every public and spiritual leader, because it defines in a precise way what proper leadership is and what leadership that deviates from its calling is.

The prophet opens the word of the LORD to the shepherds of Israel: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves. Should not the shepherds shepherd the flock?” (Ezekiel 34:2)

The verse sets forth a simple yet revolutionary truth: a leader exists for the sake of the people and not the people for the sake of the leader. Yet the reality described is the opposite. “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool. You slaughter the healthy, but the flock you do not shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34:3)

The leaders enjoy the authority, but they do not fulfill their mission. They take for themselves, but they do not give to the people. Therefore comes the moral indictment: “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, and the lost you have not sought. With force and with cruelty you have ruled over them.” (Ezekiel 34:4)

This is the complete opposite of the calling of leadership. Leadership is not domination, but caring, and here the priestly model enters, illuminating the depth of the rebuke. The high priest was not a ruler, but a servant. Upon his heart he bore the breastplate, and in it the stones of the tribes. The Torah emphasizes that this bearing of the breastplate is before the LORD and out of continual concern for the people. “And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he comes into the Holy Place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.” (Exodus 28:29)

The high priest bore the people upon his heart not in order to glorify himself and not in order to take for himself, but in order to stand in prayer, in love, and in responsibility. This is leadership that does not seek gain, but fulfillment of the call. When Ezekiel rebukes the shepherds of Israel, he rebukes them for having forgotten their identity as serving priests. They ceased to bear the people upon their heart and began to carry themselves above them.

Against this background the stance of Yeshua toward the religious leadership of his time is understood. He did not go out against the Torah, but against its distortion. He went out against leadership that burdens the people but does not carry them. Leadership that emphasizes outward appearance but neglects justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

Thus Yeshua says the following concerning leadership that has lost its heart: “For they bind heavy burdens and lay them on the shoulders of men, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with even one finger.” (Matthew 23:4)

In contrast to this, Yeshua sets forth another leadership, a serving leadership, leadership that bears the weak and draws near the lost. “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) This is a living fulfillment of the vision of Ezekiel: a shepherd who does not consume the flock, but gives himself for it. A priest who does not take for himself, but bears the people before God.

Therefore the message for our days is sharp and clear. Leaders are meant to be serving priests, to bear the names of the people upon their heart. To act out of prayer, love, and responsibility, not to dominate, but to serve, not to take, but to give.

At the close of Ezekiel 34:15, the LORD says: “I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will cause them to lie down, declares the Lord GOD.” When human leadership fails, the Holy One himself rises to be the shepherd. This is both comforting and a warning.

True leadership is measured not by the power it possesses, but by the love it carries. Not by what it takes, but by what it gives.