God; so that the return to the latter was
inseparable from the return to the former. Those from among Israel who
were converted to the true God, either returned altogether to Judea,
or, at least, there offered up their sacrifices. But Zion and the Holy
Land likewise come into consideration, as the seat of the Kingdom of
God _only_; and, for that very reason, the course of the fulfilment
goes on incessantly, even in those times when even the North has become
Zion and Holy Land.--The circumstance that two are assigned to a
family, while only one is assigned to a town, shows that we must here
think of a larger family which occupied several towns; and the
circumstance that the town is put together with the family, shows that
it is cities of the land of Israel which are here spoken of, and not
those which the exiled ones inhabited.

Ver. 15. "_And I give you shepherds according to mine heart, and they
feed you with knowledge and understanding._"

The question is:--Who are here to be understood by the shepherds?
_Calvin_ thinks that it is especially the prophets and priests,
inasmuch as it was just the bad condition of these [Pg 382] which had
been the principal cause of the ruin of the people; and that it is the
greatest blessing for the Church, when God raises up true and sincere
teachers. Similar is the opinion of _Vitringa_ (_obs._ lib. vi., p.
417), who, in a lower sense, refers it to Ezra and the learned men of
that time, and, in a higher sense, to Christ. Among the Fathers of the
Church, _Jerome_ remarked: "These are the apostolical men who did not
feed the multitude of the believers with Jewish ceremonies, but with
knowledge and doctrine." Others refer it to leaders of every kind; thus
_Venema_: _Pastores sunt rectores, ductores._ Others, finally, limit
themselves to rulers; thus _Kimchi_ (_gubernatores Israelis cum rege
Messia_), _Grotius_, and _Clericus_. The latter interpretation is, for
the following reasons, to be unconditionally preferred. 1. The image of
the shepherd and of feeding occurs sometimes, indeed, in a wider sense,
but ordinarily of the ruler specially. Thus, in the fundamental
passage, 2 Sam. v. 2, it occurs of David, compare Micah v. 3. Thus also
in Jeremiah ii. 8: "The _priests_ said not. Where is the Lord, and they
that handle the law knew me not, and the shepherds transgressed against
me, and the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal;" comp. ver. 26:
"They, their kings, their princes, and the