Verse 3
After this judgment the Lord Himself would, as a good shepherd, re-gather the remnant of His people that were left from all the countries where He had driven them into exile (cf. Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 24; Jeremiah 31:10; Jeremiah 40-44; Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 37:4; Micah 2:12; Micah 4:7; Micah 5:4; Micah 7:14; Micah 7:18). The Lord was the final cause of the exile, but the shepherds of Judah were the instrumental cause (Jeremiah 23:2). He would bring them back into the Promised Land and cause them to be fruitful and multiply (cf. Genesis 1:22; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:1; Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 1:7). There is a double contrast in this verse between the Lord and the false shepherds and between their respective works.
The reference to the many countries to which the Lord had driven them suggests an eschatological return to the land that exceeded the return from Babylonian exile. [Note: See Feinberg, pp. 517-18.]
"History has shown that restoration [from Babylon] to be a temporary flicker of light, for by the time of Malachi (the last of the prophets, ca. 400 B.C.), Israel had degenerated again to a people with stony hearts." [Note: Jensen, p. 70.]
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