“What Does a Real King Look Like?”

 

BIBLE READING: Ezekiel 34-36


                The fairytale notion of a king is well-ingrained in our minds from a young age. Kings are handsome and married to beautiful queens. They are strong like King Arthur who slayed dragons and conquered many lands. Kings are wise, powerful and wealthy. Kings command knights and armies.

Here, Ezekiel paints a very different picture of our Heavenly King. Ezekiel compares our Heavenly King to a shepherd.

Shepherds were outcasts in society, doing an important but dirty job. They were simple men, who owned little more than their staff and the cloak on their backs.

Ezekiel shows here that, as different as the two concepts are, the best kind of king is also a shepherd.

It seems weird to us, but the picture would have been treasured by the people of Israel. Ezekiel uses the name David here, not only because the Christ would come from the line of David, but also because David himself was also a shepherd king. David grew up in the fields and knew both the lowliness of the pastures and the grandeur of the palace. His father owned the sheep he tended and his brothers would inherit them. Our Heavenly King, Jesus, set aside the riches of Heaven for a life of human poverty. He set aside all power to take on our weakness. He could have chosen to be only our king, ruling with all power for all time, but as our great shepherd king, Jesus becomes so much more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -Michael Schottey

 

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