Favor and Union—two staffs
Then the LORD said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!”
“You do not want the Good Shepherd? Then have a bad shepherd.” This was God’s verdict.
This bad shepherd would not do all of the things a good shepherd does. The list provides a very good summary of the work a good shepherd does: (1) he goes looking for the lost, (2) he seeks the young, both the young in years and the young in faith, (3) he works to heal those who have gotten hurt in their faith (in the spirit of Galatians 6:1: “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently”), and (4) he works continually to provide for the needs of the healthy that they might remain healthy. In the case of the bad shepherd, he does the opposite of all these things a good shepherd would do.
The closing verse of the chapter contains the final woe. There is judgment spoken of here both to the flock and to the shepherd—to the flock because it detested the Good Shepherd, and to the shepherd because he failed in his sacred duties of shepherding. Such a bad shepherd, according to the description of this verse, was to end his existence crippled. The eyes, hands, and abilities he used to exploit and rob were to be taken from him. As in the case of the stewards in the New Testament parable, the unfaithful will have even what they had taken away from them.