Please read the passage before reading the commentary
Prophets strongly urge repentance and threaten calamity for non-repentance. Then when the calamity happens, they preach encouragement and God’s mercy. Ezekiel had preached disaster and the need for repentance. Then, as Exodus happened he put the blame where it belonged and pushed God’s mercy.
The shepherds are the leaders of the people, kings, high priests and the like. Ezekiel accuses them of shepherding for their own benefit and of not caring for the common good of the people. Shepherding for self is a constant temptation of people in power. Special interests use this tendency by lobbying their special interests with donations to lawmakers, judges and those with executive power.
Those who have shepherded themselves, according to Ezekiel, have allowed the sheep to scatter and be exiled. The people were exiled, forcibly removed from their homes to places far away. God’s people had gone into exile. God’s people were as good as dead. Their shepherds had shepherded themselves not the people.
Ezekiel said that God had a remedy. He said that God would start shepherding the people. He said that God would claim his sheep and protect them. God would see that the sheep would be properly cared for; God would save them.
God puts some people in charge of other people so that those in charge can help those who need help and those in charge can pass on to the others the gifts God has given the leaders. Those of us who are in charge of others are in charge for the sake of the others, not for our own sakes. We are leaders not for our egos, but for the growth of everyone else. If we shepherd ourselves, we are liable to be tested and found lacking. If we shepherd others properly, we shall be considered great and wise. We should apply Ezekiel’s words to ourselves.