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The term shepherd is used in this chapter to refer to the leaders of Judah, and it may include both political and religious leaders. It was a common metaphor for such leaders throughout the ancient Near East.
As in ch. 22, Ezekiel again denounced the leaders of the people for their sin in taking advantage of their position and power to satisfy their greed rather than for the good of the people. Instead of feeding the sheep, they had fed on the sheep. Ezekiel also rehearsed the theme of responsibility he had emphasized in ch. 18, this time telling the leaders that God held them accountable for what had happened to the flock (v.10) and that he will remove them from office. Instead, God himself will be the Shepherd, searching out the people in all the places to which they have been scattered (vv.11-16). As the Good Shepherd, he will bring them back home and feed and care for them with justice, probably alluding to the restoration after the Exile.
The Good Shepherd also will correct the social and economic inequalities that resulted when people of wealth and power took advantage of the poor Israelites (vv.17-22). This theme so common among the prophets became Jesus' own emphasis, taking Isa 61:1-2 as the text of his inaugural sermon in Nazareth (Lk 4:16-21).
The main point of this chapter is God’s promise to raise up a ruler of the Davidic line, through whom God would rule his people (vv.23-24). At that time God would establish a covenant of peace (Heb. šalom, which includes all that makes for peace: wholeness, security, welfare, absence of hostility [v.25]). Peace is a reality when God rules, but only then.