And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of 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).