Wolves in sheep's clothing: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Ezekiel 34:2

Ezekiel was a priest deported to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar and as a result of a vision he became a prophet in the times of exile in Mesopotamia. As a prophet he had the task of denouncing the sins that carried the people to a disaster situation, and for Ezekiel, much of the problem were the priests who did not correct the people of their errors, nor did they give them the correct spiritual guidance. The priests were, for the prophet, the shepherds who did not think for the common good of the nation but for their particular good. For Ezekiel, the priestly caste together with the ruling dynasty until exile, constituted true wolves in sheep's clothing.
Faced with this situation, Ezekiel receives a series of oracles and prophesies the future, the false shepherds must receive their retribution and the old covenant must be reestablished with a new spirit and heart. Ezekiel, as "son of man", anticipates the arrival of Jesus without naming him directly. With this oracle Ezekiel gives us a clear message, when leadership fails, the entire nation also fails.
Thus begins the Oracle of the prophet against false shepherds:
"The word of the LORD came to me: ´Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ´This is what the Sovereign LORD says; Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them" Ezekiel 34:1-6.

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