And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them: they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.

“Here he threatens punishment: and first the threat is set forth against the shepherds. "I will visit." Above, 21: "I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your studies." Second, the consolation of the scattered flock is set forth, "I will gather": where first he sets forth the gathering. Ezekiel 34: "I will lead them out from the peoples, and gather them from the lands," etc. And the prosperity of their state, "and they shall increase." Genesis 1: "Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth." Second, he promises them the amendment of their prelates: and first he promises them careful princes, setting forth the carefulness of the shepherds: "and I will raise up" — when you shall already have fallen away into nothing — "shepherds." Ezra, and others, according to some. But better, the apostles. Above, 3: "I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine." And the usefulness of their carefulness, namely security: "they shall not fear" — as to the outward signs of fear — and "they shall not dread" — inwardly — "and none shall be missing out of their number," as if to say: none of the number of the Church shall fear, or fail through the negligence of the apostles. Or it is referred to the number of the predestined. John 17: "none of them has perished but the son of perdition." This security, however, is not perfected in this life, but will be perfected when perfect charity casts out fear: 1 John 4 — but it will be consummated in the future. Second, he promises them a best king, showing the fitness of the time: "behold" — on account of certainty — "the days" — of grace. 2 Corinthians 6: "behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation." The condition of the coming king as to the nobility of his lineage: "and I will raise up to David a just branch." Below, 33: "I will make to spring up to David a branch of justice, and he shall do judgment and justice in the earth." As to the authority of his dignity: "and the king shall reign" — not only over the Jews, but also over all kings. Luke 1: "and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever." Daniel 7: "whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and obey." As to the wisdom of his heart: "and he shall be wise" — nay rather, wisdom itself. Corinthians 1: "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." And as to the execution of justice: "and he shall do judgment" — in the first coming, against the Devil, who was called the prince of the world: John 12: "now is the judgment of the world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out," namely, into the outer darkness; but in the second, against all, punishing by a general sentence. John 5: "the father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the son." And "justice," which he taught was to be kept. Matthew 5: "unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And for fulfilling it, the help of grace: whence he sets forth the usefulness of his coming, as to salvation from punishment: "in those days it shall be saved": in the first coming, in part; in the second coming, universally, when all Israel shall be saved: Romans 11. Isaiah 10: "if the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be converted of it." And as to security: "and Israel shall dwell confidently." And this is to be expounded as above. Isaiah 32: "my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, in the tabernacles of justice, and in wealthy rest." He says "Judah" as to the two tribes; "Israel" as to the ten, to signify that in the faith of Christ they shall be in concord. Hosea 1: "and they shall appoint themselves one head," etc.”

“And I will set shepherds over them, which shall feed them,.... Good shepherds, rulers and governors, that shall rule them with wholesome laws, and protect and defend them; such as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and others, after the captivity: or Christian kings and princes, when the Gospel came to be published and established in many kingdoms and provinces, and the sheep of Christ were gathered out of them. Jerom interprets these shepherds of the apostles of Christ; and it may include other ministers of the Gospel, who feed Christ's sheep with knowledge and understanding; see Jer 3:15; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed; not the shepherds, as Jerom understands it, but the sheep. This looks as if this prophecy had respect to more future times than those immediately following the return from the Babylonish captivity; since the Jews were made to fear, and were dismayed by Sanballat and Tobiah, and, in later times, by the Greeks and Romans; even to the times of Christ, and the Gospel dispensation; in which the saints receive not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but, through the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, of Christ, have much spiritual peace and boldness of faith, and fear no enemy; neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord; not one of the sheep brought back, or of the remnant gathered, shall be missing or lost; this is exactly true of Christ's sheep, Joh 10:28.”

“When the Lord shall gather His people out of the dispersion, then will He raise up shepherds over them who will so feed them that they shall no longer need to fear or to be dismayed before enemies who might be strong enough to subjugate, slay, and carry them captive. The figurative expressions are founded on the idea that the sheep, when they are neglected by the shepherds, are torn and devoured by wild beasts; cf. Eze 34:8. They shall not be lacking; cf. for נפקד with this force, Sa1 25:7; in substance = not be lost. לא יפּקדוּ is chosen with a view to לא פקדתּם אתם (Jer 23:2): because the shepherds did not take charge of the sheep, therefore the sheep are scattered and lost. Hereafter this shall happen no more. The question as to how this promise is to be accomplished is answered by Jer 23:5 and Jer 23:6. The substance of these verses is indeed introduced by the phrase: behold, days come, as something new and important, but not as something not to happen till after the things foretold in Jer 23:4. According to Jeremiah's usage throughout, that phrase does not indicate any progress in time as compared with what precedes, but draws attention to the weightiness of what is to be announced. There is also a suggestion of "the contrast between the hope and the existing condition of affairs, which does not itself justify that hope. However gloomy the present is, yet there is a time coming" (Hgstb.). The promise: I make to arise (raise up) to David a righteous branch, rests upon the promise, Sa2 7:12; Ch1 17:12 : I raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons-which the Lord will hereafter fulfil to David. Graf tries to show by many, but not tenable arguments, that צמח has here a collective force. That he is wrong, we may see from the passages Zac 3:8 and Zac 6:12, where the same "branch" foretold by Jeremiah is called the man whose name is צמח; and even without this we may discover the same from the context of the present passage, both from "He shall reign as king," and still more from: they shall call his name Jahveh Tsidkenu. Neither of these sayings can be spoken of a series of kings. Besides, we have the passages Jer 30:9 and Eze 34:23., Eze 37:24, where the servant to be raised up to David by Jahveh is called "my servant David." Although then צמח has a collective force when it means a plant of the field, it by no means follows that "it has always a collective force" in its transferred spiritual signification. And the passage, Jer 33:17, where the promise is explained by: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of Israel (cf. Jer 33:21), does not prove that the branch of David is a collective grouping together of all David's future posterity, but only that this one branch of David shall possess the throne for ever, and not, like mortal men, for a series of years only; Sa2 7:16. צמח denotes the Messiah, and this title is formed from צמח, Isa 4:2 (see Del. on this passage). Nor does the mention of shepherds in the plural, Jer 23:4, at all oppose this. An untenable rendering of the sense is: first I will raise up unto you shepherds, then the Messiah; or: better shepherds, inprimis unum, Messiam (Chr. B. Mich.). The two promises are not so to be joined. First we have the raising up of good shepherds, in contrast to the evil shepherds that have destroyed the people; then the promise is further explained to the effect that these good shepherds shall be raised up to David in the "righteous branch," i.e., in the promised "seed" of his sons. The good shepherds are contrasted with the evil shepherds, but are then summed up in the person of the Messiah, as being comprised therein. The relation of the good shepherds to the righteous branch is not so, that the latter is the most pre-eminent of the former, but that in that one branch of David the people should have given to them all the good shepherds needed for their deliverance. The Messiah does not correspond to the series of David's earthly posterity that sit upon his throne, in that He too, as second David, will also have a long series of descendants upon His throne; but in that His kingdom, His dominion, lasts for ever. In the parallel passage, Jer 33:15, where the contrast to the evil shepherds is omitted, we therefore hear only of the one branch of David; so in Ezek 34, where only the one good shepherd, the servant of the Lord, David, stands in contrast to the evil shepherds (Jer 23:23). Hence neither must we seek the fulfilment of our prophecy in the elevation of the Maccabees, who were not even of the race of David, nor understand, as Grot., Zerubbabel to be the righteous branch, but the Messiah, as was rightly understood by the Chald. He is צדּיק in contrast to the then reigning members of the house of David, and as He who will do right and justice in His realm; cf. Jer 22:15, where the same is said of Josiah as contrasted with his ungodly son Jehoiakim. מלך is subjoined to מלך to bespeak His rule as kingship in the fullest sense of the word. Regnabit rex, i.e., magnifice regnabit, ut non tantum appareant aliquae reliquiae pristinae dignitatis, sed ut rex floreat et vigeat et obtineat perfectionem, qualis fuit sub Davide et Salomone ac multo praestantior (Calv.). השׂכּיל, deal prudently, rule wisely, as in Jer 3:15, not: be fortunate, prosperous. Here the context demands the former rendering, the only one justified by usage, since the doing of right and justice is mentioned as the fruit and result of the השׂכיל. These words, too, point back to David, of whom it is in Sa2 8:15 said, that he as king did right and justice to all his people.”