Commentary - Jeremiah 23:1-8

Bird's-eye view

This section of Jeremiah opens with a formal covenant lawsuit. God pronounces a "woe," a declaration of impending judgment, upon the corrupt shepherds of Israel, the kings and priests who were supposed to care for His people. The charge is severe: they have not merely neglected the flock, but have actively destroyed and scattered it. But as is so often the case in Scripture, the declaration of judgment on human failure serves as the dark velvet on which God displays the diamond of His grace. The failure of the undershepherds leads directly to the promise of the True Shepherd. God Himself will intervene. He will gather His remnant, appoint faithful shepherds over them, and, climactically, will raise up a Messianic King from David's line. This King, the "Righteous Branch," will reign in true justice, and His name will reveal His nature: "Yahweh our righteousness." This act of redemption will be so profound that it will establish a New Exodus, a greater gathering of God's people from all nations that will eclipse even the deliverance from Egypt.

In short, this is a glorious prophecy of the gospel. It diagnoses the terminal disease of human leadership and prescribes the only cure: the divine King who does not just model righteousness, but who is our righteousness. The passage moves from the woe of judgment to the wonder of grace, from the scattering under faithless kings to the secure gathering under King Jesus.

Outline

Context In Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23 comes on the heels of a series of specific judgments leveled against the royal house of Judah in chapter 22. The prophet has just pronounced doom upon Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Coniah (Jehoiachin), the last kings of Judah. Their reigns were characterized by injustice, idolatry, and faithlessness. They were the epitome of the bad shepherds. So, after dealing with these particular failed kings, chapter 23 broadens the scope to pronounce a woe upon the entire class of corrupt leadership. This denunciation then serves as the necessary prelude to the glorious prophecy of the true King who is to come. The profound darkness of Judah's apostasy and the impending Babylonian exile provide the stark backdrop for the brilliant light of this Messianic hope. God is tearing down a corrupt kingdom built by human hands in order to establish an everlasting one through His Son.

Key Issues

Shepherds Good and Bad

The metaphor of a ruler as a shepherd of his people is common in the ancient Near East and throughout Scripture. David, the model king, was taken from following the sheep to shepherd God's people Israel (2 Sam 7:8). A good shepherd feeds, leads, protects, and cares for the flock. He puts the needs of the sheep before his own. The charge here is that Israel's leaders have inverted this. They have become wolves. Instead of feeding, they destroy. Instead of gathering, they scatter. They have used their position to fleece the flock for their own gain.

The central issue is a matter of the heart. The bad shepherds see the flock as a resource to be exploited. The Good Shepherd, and the undershepherds He appoints, see the flock as a trust to be nurtured. This passage makes it clear that God takes leadership seriously. To whom much is given, much is required. And when leaders abuse their authority and harm God's people, they invite a special kind of divine attention, a "woe" that is both a verdict and a sentence.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh.

The prophecy opens with the declaration of a covenant curse. A woe is not an expression of pity; it is a formal announcement of judgment. The defendants are the "shepherds," which in this context refers primarily to the kings of Judah, but also includes the priests and false prophets who were complicit. Their crime is twofold: "destroying and scattering." They are predators, not protectors. And the gravity of their crime is magnified by the possessive pronoun God uses: they are the sheep of "My pasture." These are God's people, and He is a jealous owner. To harm His sheep is to attack Him directly.

2 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh.

God now elaborates on the verdict. He repeats the charge: scattering and banishing. Then He identifies the root sin: "you have not attended to them." This is criminal negligence. And it is met with a divine and terrible irony. The Hebrew verb for "attend to" is paqad, which can mean to care for, to visit, or to punish. God says, since you failed to paqad my sheep with care, I am about to paqad you with judgment. Your inattention to them has secured my absolute attention to you. God always balances His books.

3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.

Here is the great gospel turn. Human leadership fails, but God does not. The phrase "I Myself" is emphatic. This is not a task God will delegate; He is taking direct action. He will gather not everyone, but the "remnant," the elect kernel of His people. And He will gather them not just from Babylon, but from "all the land," a prophecy that looks far beyond the return from exile to the worldwide gathering of the church. He will restore them to "their pasture," a place of safety and provision, and there they will fulfill the original creation mandate to be "fruitful and multiply." This is the business of the gospel.

4 I will also raise up shepherds over them, and they will shepherd them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.

God's ultimate plan does not do away with human leaders; it provides good ones. After the Chief Shepherd gathers the flock, He appoints faithful undershepherds, pastors and elders in the New Covenant, who will actually do the work of shepherding. The result of this good leadership is security and peace for the flock. Fear is banished. And in a direct reversal of the charge in verse 2, none will be left "unattended" (paqad). Where the bad shepherds failed to attend, the good ones will succeed, under the authority of the One who appointed them.

5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and prosper And do justice and righteousness in the land.

The prophecy now zooms in from the many good shepherds to the one Great Shepherd. The phrase "Behold, the days are coming" signals a new era in redemptive history. God will raise up for David a "Branch." The house of David looked like a dead stump, but God will cause a new shoot of life to spring forth. This is not just any branch; He is a "righteous Branch." His entire being and administration are characterized by righteousness. He will not be like the failed kings of Judah; He will truly "reign as king and prosper." His prosperity will not be in palaces and gold, but in the successful execution of His mission: to "do justice and righteousness in the land." He is establishing a kingdom of perfect justice.

6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’

The result of this King's reign is salvation and security for the covenant people of God, here represented by "Judah" and "Israel." But the absolute peak of the passage is the revelation of the King's name. A name in Hebrew reveals character and essence. His name is Yahweh Tsidkenu, "Yahweh our righteousness." This is a staggering claim. The Messiah, the Branch of David, is identified as Yahweh Himself. He is God. And He is not just a righteous example; He is the very source of our righteousness. This is the doctrine of imputation in its Old Testament glory. We are saved because the King Himself becomes our righteousness before God. He doesn't just show us the way; He is the way.

7-8 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As Yahweh lives, who brought up and brought back the seed of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I had banished them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

The work of this Messianic King will be so definitive, so monumental, that it will establish a new high-water mark in the history of redemption. The Exodus from Egypt was the foundational saving act of the Old Covenant. It was the event to which Israel always looked back. But God says a new day is coming when that great deliverance will be surpassed by an even greater one. This New Exodus will not be from one country, but from "the north land and from all the lands." This is the gospel call going out to the nations, gathering the elect from every tribe and tongue. And when they are gathered, "they will live on their own soil." This is not a promise of political control of a patch of dirt in the Middle East. This is the promise of inheriting the earth, of dwelling securely in the expanding kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Application

First, this passage is a sober warning to anyone in a position of leadership in the church. God does not take shepherding lightly. Pastors and elders are accountable to the Chief Shepherd for how they care for His flock. The temptation is always to serve ourselves, to build our own platforms, to scatter through harshness or to destroy through false teaching. We must constantly repent of this and ask for the grace to be faithful undershepherds who feed and protect the sheep.

Second, for all believers, our ultimate confidence must never be in human shepherds, who will always fail us to one degree or another. Our security is in the fact that the Righteous Branch, Jesus the Christ, is our King. He is reigning now, and He is successfully doing justice and righteousness. He is gathering His people from every corner of the globe.

Finally, the heart of our confidence is found in His name. We are not righteous. Our best efforts are shot through with sin. But our standing before God does not depend on our righteousness. Our King's name is "Yahweh our righteousness." We are clothed in His perfect record. He is our righteousness. This is the bedrock of our salvation and the fuel for our worship. Because He is our righteousness, we can dwell securely, without fear, knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.