(1-2) Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

Cedars are a valued, strong, tall, evergreen, long-lived tree. "Vintage" is similar describing that which is old and valued, particularly wine. Who are the mighty? Who are the old who claim a long line of honored heritage? Who are those who will fall, but claim "eternal life" and are "sealed up"?

Ironically Bashan was one of the idolatrous kingdoms utterly destroyed by the Israelites. It included the Jordan river. They were also known as Amos refers to them as they which "oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink."1

 

(3) ¶There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

What animal howls? As the work of the Lord progresses, those dressed in sheep's clothing will begin to appear more and more like their true selves. They will claw, cut off, gnash with the teeth and "howl".

Jordan is known for its river and the tall trees that grew along its bank. The glory of the shepherd are, or should be their sheep, but instead it is the glory of their own estimation which was shaken and destroyed2. Their own estimation was struck down or "fallen" and "spoiled". In 3 Nephi Christ prophesied that the Lehite lineage, primarily Lamanites, would, as young lions, tear in pieces the Gentile kingdoms.3 The trees in Jordan are thought to have been the lair of lions and when the Jordan overflowed (symbolism), the lions would come out of the wilderness as they did in the days of Enoch.4 Young lions represent royalty and a rightful heir. Their roar is the word of God. All it takes to lay waste to a corrupt Gentile kingdom is for a lion to roar, to speak truth.

 

(4-5) Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

By what riches, besides money (stipends, generous  expense accounts) are the "posessors" enriched? Keys, power, authority, titles, honors, priesthood? In a recent leadership training meeting Elder Bednar was asked “How are you guys (referring to the brethren) so in tune with the Lord?” Elder Bendar responded saying: “First of all, we are not ‘guys’.  We are prophets, seers, and revelators. We are special witnesses. Don’t refer to us as guys.”5 or his more recent statement "I Am Scripture".6

How are the flock "slain"? What kind of death matters most? All it takes to kill sheep is a famine of the word of God.7

What about Eyring's talk on taking the tithing of the poor?8

How are the flock "pitied not" while the shepherds are pouring out honors to themselves?

"All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, they will make you observe and do; for they are ministers of the law, and they make themselves your judges. But do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and lay on men's shoulders, and they are grievous to be borne; but they will not move them with one of their fingers. And all their works they do to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, (which is master.)" (Matthew 23:2-4, Inspired Version)

 

(6) For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

How did the Lord "pity" the Nephites and Jaredites before total carnage ensued? Did he strive with them despite their poor choices? Might the result of ceasing to strive be described as "delivering the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them"?

 

(7) And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

Who are the "poor" flock which are being slaughtered by regurgitated platitudes9 and forms without power?10 Severed for want of noirishment. Who has promised to come feed the flock? Is it a servant, or is it "I". If a servant speaks the words of Christ, is it Christ which feeds them?

The staves will be referred to later when they are broken.

This process of removing pity, breaking staves, cutting off shepherds and letting what is in the process of dying, to go ahead and die, is how the Lord is setting up the circumstances in which He "feeds the flock."

 

(8) Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

The word "Yerach" translated as "month" means a lunar cycle, leaving open the interpretation of the time period referred to. Their shepherds were cut off in one lunar cycle. The Lord grew weary of the shepherd. They offered no substance to his soul, whose glory is the sheep. Can a shepherd throw around the name of Christ and yet abhor what it is the Lord requires? When something is "abhorred" it is typically something quickly put out of the mind and then forgotten. Perhaps a painful memory.

 

(9) Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

The Lord will let those that have determined not to hear go on to their own punishment.11 If the word has died in their heart in favor of something else they will be left to reap what they have sown.

What has been cast aside could have nourished, but instead everyone feeds on each other. They do as they see the shepherds do and crave to fill the lusts of their hearts upon each other (see verse 16).

 

(10) ¶And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

The Hebrew "no^?am" is translated as "Beauty" It carries the meaning of kindness, pleasantness, delightfulness, beauty, favour and pleasantness.

The favor once shown to a people shall be cut off. Despite the wickedness of the shepherds and "all the people," those people have been the recipient of the patience and kindness of the Lord, in hopes that some natural fruit might be produced. 

In the days of John the Baptist preceeding the first coming of the Lord, the Lord, through John "wrested the keys, the kingdom, the power, the glory from the Jews, by the holy anointing and decree of heaven."12

Joseph left an ordinance which, while untampered with, left a promise, or a covenant (between Joseph and the Lord, not between the Lord and the Gentiles) to the Gentiles.

More often than not, the scriptures have shown ironically, that it is the choice, chosen people that have been set up as examples of folly.

 

(11) And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

At hearing the staff was broken, a remnant of sheep rejoiced. Not that something had fallen, but that the Lord was working again, that the famine was over, realizing each person was responsible for themselves.13 It was the poor, the lame and the blind of the flock which were then invited and they rejoiced in their Lord.14

 

(12-13) And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

Thirty pieces of silver was the price paid by the Pharisees for Jesus. Jesus is also the potter who molds us or we get destroyed and try again.15 It is a value for which salvation was traded, in exchange for a "goodly price". The goods of the world and the honors heaped upon the unredeemed. We are under condemnation because we didn't honor heavenly riches.16 This was done in "the house of the Lord" meaning some righteousness was ascribed to their act of rejecting the Lord.

 

(14) Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

The Hebrew word for "Bands" carries with it the sense of "a cord, rope, territory, band, company, (1) a rope, cord (2) a measuring-cord or line, (3) a measured portion, lot, part, region, (4) a band or company" as well as "pain, sorrow, travail, pang."

Perhaps this staff symbolizes the scripture that "the first shall be last and the last shall be first." The Jews, primarily Judah, were the first recipients of Gospel blessings from the days of Jacob to the days of Christ. Then came the time of the Gentiles when Peter was given the vision of the unclean. The times of the Gentiles, or the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, and in the Lord's time, the promise is that the Jews who were first will now get the last opportunity.

The bands seem to refer to a brotherhood. Ten of the twelve tribes disappeared from history. Lehi and his family were of the tribe of Joseph. These Israelites were promised the land that the Gentiles now temporarily occupy. The promises to Lehi's seed are much more optimistic than those of the Gentiles. Perhaps the band refers to the tribe of Joseph breaking free from the scales that blind his seed first, as we step back into history, unfolding symmetrically. Then Judah will have the last opportunity.

 

(15) ¶And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

Besides all that the Lord has done, there will yet rise up shepherds that will do the same. What are the instruments of a foolish shepherd but pretended words, woolen coats, ordination without power.

 

(16) For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

The shepherd will feed his lusts upon the submission of the sheep and the lusts of their eyes seek for power, and rend from them any authority, as referred to in the Lectures on Faith: "Authority by faith"17 and "authorized at all."18 And the sheep, even the very elect, or the fat, will be left without power to gain that which nourishes the spirit.

 

(17) Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Note this is "idol" and not "idle." The shepherd has become something that is worshipped. The arm is something that is extended in covenant making. The right eye is the dominant eye. That which is sought with the dominant eye is darkness. They cannot see anyway, the eye serves no purpose.19

 

Notes

1. Amos 4:1-3

2. Shaken and destroyed whatsoever remains...

3. Young lions 3 Nephi.

4. Article: The Roar of Lions Was Heard Out of the Wilderness

 

5. Article: Like One Another.

6. Article: I Am Scripture.

7. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst." (Amos 8:11-13)

8. Article: Studying and Teaching Iniquity.

9. See Isaiah 28.

10. See JSH 1:19.

11. Two of the blood moons are placed over the bands of Pisces, the last blood moon on the 28th will cross the band of the larger fish, setting it free towards its directionless course. See article: Eclipses.

12. See article: Discerning the Kingdom of Heaven and The Two Dispensations of Christ.

13. "President Joseph Smith read the 14th chapter of Ezekiel--said the Lord had declared by the Prophet, that the people should each one stand for himself, and depend on no man or men in that state of corruption of the Jewish church--that righteous persons could only deliver their own souls--applied it to the present state of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--said if the people departed from the Lord, they must fall--that they were depending on the Prophet, hence were darkened in their minds, in consequence of neglecting the duties devolving upon themselves...." (Joseph Smith, TPJS, Section Five 1842-43, p.237)

14. D&C 58:8-11

15. Jeremiah 18:1-6

16. See article: Today is September 22.

17. See Lectures on Faith, Lecture Third, Paragraph 23

18. Ibid.

19. "Therefore, let every man stand or fall, by himself, and not for another; or not trusting another. "Seek unto my Father, and it shall be done in that very moment what ye shall ask, if ye ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive. And if thine eye which seeth for thee, him that is appointed to watch over thee to show thee light, become a transgressor and offend thee, pluck him out.  It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God, with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. For it is better that thyself should be saved, than to be cast into hell with thy brother, where their worm dieth not, and where the fire is not quenched. For if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? (the sacrifice) Therefore it must needs be that ye have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." (Mark 9:40-50, Ins. Version)

 

See Also

Bishop Koyle Prophecy: "Near the time of the end, many of the General Authorities will become quite old. Troubles will start when three leaders will die in close proximity to one another. The new replacements will not be able to hold the Church together."