And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.
The prophet has no more to say to the shepherds, but he has now a message to deliver to the flock. God had ordered him to speak tenderly to them, and to assure them of the mercy he had in store for them.
Commenting on Ezekiel 34:17-31
And they shall no more be a prey to the Heathen,.... To the Papists, who shall now be perished out of the land, Psa 10:16, neither shall, the beasts of the land devour them; neither that beast which rose up out of the sea, nor that which came up out of the earth, Rev 13:1, the pope, both in his secular and ecclesiastic power, being destroyed.
served themselves of them--availed themselves of their services, as if the Jews were their slaves (Jer 22:13; Jer 25:14; compare Gen 15:13; Exo 1:14).