YAHWEH’s Reprobation of the Shepherds of Israel (Ezekiel 34:1-10) in the Context of the 21st Century Church Leadership in Nigeria

Abstract

The shepherd-leader motif has occupied a pride of place in scholarship, it is 
found in various texts of the Old Testament and the New Testament. One of such 
texts that has increasingly come to the fore is Ezekiel 34, concerning the nature 
and function of pastoral leadership. Though it may be argued that in the studies 
of pastoral leadership, some scholars have discussed the implication of the motif 
of ‘shepherd-leadership’ in Ezekiel 34 for modern ecclesiastical structure. 
Nevertheless, the nexus between the ineptitude and corrupt dispositions of 
Christian leadership practices in Nigeria in the 21st century and YAHWEH’s 
reprobation of the profiteering and corrupt shepherds of Israel has not gained 
considerable attention. This leaves a lacuna in literature filled by this paper, 
which focuses on contextualisation of the shepherd motif of Ezekiel 34:1-10 and 
its lessons for pastoral ministries and Church leadership in Nigeria using 
rhetorical textual criticism/analytical approach. This is based on Clines (2014)’s
rhetorical criticism as the theoretical framework. Rhetorical criticism focuses 
on “the way the language of the selected texts is deployed to convey meaning” (Clines, 2014: 31). Findings reveals that, like the shepherds of Israel condemned 
by YAHWEH many Nigerian Church leaders in the 21st century have become 
economically bankrupt, sexually corrupt, and lacking integrity in many fronts. 
This is a great departure from God’s expectation of His shepherds. However, the 
life, leadership and contributions of many faithful church leaders who had 
joined the Church triumphant and some who are still part of the church militant 
are praise worthy. It is recommended therefore, that probity, civility and 
integrity should be promoted among church leaders in Nigeria.