What is the context?
The Lord now addresses His flock. The trouble is not limited to appointed shepherds: some of the sheep take the good pasture and clear water, then spoil what remains for others.
The strong shove and butt the weak until they are scattered. The picture exposes conduct that turns another person’s vulnerability into an opportunity to take more.
The Lord will judge between fat and lean sheep and save His flock from being prey. His promise to restore the people includes justice within the community, not only protection against enemies outside it.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Cambridge emphasizes injuries that members of the flock inflict on one another. Wesley connects the contrast with the greater and weaker members of society, including rich people and rulers who must answer for their conduct.
Henry likewise notes that people counted outwardly as one flock can be very different in character. The passage identifies oppression by what the strong do; physical size or poverty alone does not decide the whole moral question.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
A supported parallel appears in Matthew 25:31–46. The Son of Man separates people like a shepherd dividing sheep from goats, and their response to hunger, thirst, exclusion, sickness and imprisonment is brought before Him.
The scenes should not be treated as identical in every detail. Ezekiel exposes the strong harming the weak within the flock; Jesus describes judgment in which care for the least of His brothers is treated as care for Him. Together they place treatment of other people under the Lord’s searching judgment.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.