NT Text: Luke 15:4
OT Source(s):
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Typology (Direct Type, Backward-Looking) + Promise-Fulfillment
Significance: Jesus' parable of the lost sheep — "What man among you … does not leave the ninety-nine and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?" (Luke 15:4) — is a direct enactment of the divine promise in Ezekiel 34: "For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them … I will search for the lost and bring back the strays" (ʾăbaqqēš ʾet-hāʾōbedêt, Ezek 34:11-12, 16). Ezekiel's oracle condemns the false shepherds of Israel and promises that Yahweh himself will personally come to do the shepherding they failed to perform. Jesus' parable does not merely illustrate divine care — placed in the context of his practice of welcoming sinners (Luke 15:1-2), it identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of Yahweh's promise to personally seek the lost. Luke 19:10 provides the interpretive key: "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost," making the Ezekiel 34 claim explicit.