Ezekiel 34 - Don't muddy the water for others

Sometimes a verse or two in Sunday's scriptures jumps out at me as though it were written in bold. Yesterday, it was this:

Ezekiel 34: 17-19 - As for you, my flock, this is what the soverign LORD says: I will judge between one sheep and another and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

Muddying the waters! What an indictment! That speaks loudly to me, and I think I have the essence of it, but I'm not really clear. What was behind this statement?

Unger's and Halley's had little to say about it, but my Concordia Self-Study Commentary says this:

Man's inhumanity to man was not limited to the shepherds' abuse of the flock. Among the sheep, the rams, and the he-goats there were stronger and fat ones who oppressed and injured the weak and lean ones.

I don't think I can focus on the word shepherd in the explanation and, thus, discard the ethical concepts in Ezekial's words. That would be the easy thing to do. Applies to someone else. Close book. Nah, can't do that.

My NLT Life Application Study Bible has this to stay about Ezekiel:

• Written about 571 BC (during the Axial age, per what I'm learning from Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation. This is when mankind began to study and understand the self in relation to others - in other words, an ethical point of view - a serious effort during all world-wide religions.)
• The writing was directed to the Jews in captivity in Babylonia
• Parallel to the time of Jeremiah, who was prophesying in Jerusalem that the city would soon fall to the Babylonians.

There's more history here than I know, and knowing it would be much enlightening, I'm sure. But the concept of the verses is very similar to the (ethical) concepts in many other places in the Bible. Take just these two verses, for example:

Micah 6:8 - ... this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Romans 14:3-4 - Those who think it is all right to eat anything must not look down on those who won't. And those who won't eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for Go has accepted them. Who are you to condemn God's servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him tell them whether they are right or wrong....

And then there's always Do unto others ...:

Ethical treatment of others - it's part of the great command. There's a lot of fine lines here, and it never seems simple when we are close to the border between doing nothing and doing something, between accepting or criticizing, between doing good or attempting harm. Even when we're not close to the border, the thing we often do is nothing.

However, I think if we take this from one side only, the other side will usually take care of itself. The side we should start with is just this:

Rejoice in what we have, and be thankful. What we have was provided to us freely. We did not deserve it - or deserve to do without it, and it has nothing to do with either our rights or wrongs or the rights and wrongs of others.

Don't assume we're right and everyone else is wrong. Don't assume that we deserve good stuff and those who are not like us deserve bad stuff. Reach out with generosity. Reach out with acceptance. Reach out with love. Put all that other stuff behind us. Our first duty, if we are followers of Christ, is to reach out the way he did and still does.

Maybe we could say we always need to do something, but that something we need to do should be for the benefit of others. And as Christians, it's always good to remember that when we do something for the benefit of others, we're doing it in the name of Jesus.