Research library · Reception history · Dependency analysis

Luke 15:4–7 ↔ Ezekiel 34:11–16 — seeking the lost sheep

A reusable research record with provenance and relationships kept separate from the presentation layer.

INTERTEXTUAL_RELATIONSHIPINTERTEXT_LUK_15_EZE_34_SHEPHERD

Statement layerBerean synthesis

ConfidencePlausible

Relationship classThematic Parallel

IntentionalityIntentional Allusion Not Asserted

Ezekiel 34 portrays YHWH as the shepherd who personally seeks the lost/strayed flock, while Luke 15 opens its parabolic response with a shepherd who goes after the lost sheep until finding it. The thematic parallel is strong enough to display; deliberate literary allusion or dependence remains disputed and is not asserted.

History-of-interpretation links

Interpreter Id: INTERPRETER_ERNEST_VAN_ECK

Work Id: WORK_VAN_ECK_2011_LOST_SHEEP

Role: modern scholarly counterpoint to making OT shepherd imagery the controlling reading

These links document interpretive history or scholarly framing; they do not increase a claim's evidentiary confidence merely because a view has precedent.

Supporting evidence

Kind: scripture_passage

Id: PASSAGE_EZE_34_11_16

Kind: scripture_passage

Id: PASSAGE_LUK_15_1_32

Kind: history_of_interpretation

Source Id: SRC_VAN_ECK_2011_LOST_SHEEP

Note: Van Eck documents how commonly interpreters use Ezekiel 34 and other shepherd texts as an interpretive key.

Counterevidence / challenges

Source Id: SRC_VAN_ECK_2011_LOST_SHEEP

Note: Van Eck explicitly challenges treating the OT shepherd tradition as the controlling key for the historical parable and offers a social-economic reading instead.

What this does not establish

Luke directly quotes Ezekiel 34.

Luke 15 was literarily dependent on the Greek or Hebrew form of Ezekiel 34.

The shepherd must automatically be identified as God/Jesus solely because of the parallel.

Release Introduced: v52
Passage Id: PASSAGE_LUK_15_1_32
Source Passage Id: PASSAGE_LUK_15_1_32
Target Passage Id: PASSAGE_EZE_34_11_16
Status: CURATED_PUBLIC

Relationships

3 linked records

Explore relationship paths

Has Intertextual RelationshipLuke 15:1–32 — Lost, found, rejoicing, and two sonsreasonable inference Relates To PassageEzekiel 34:11–16reasonable inference Work Provides Interpretive CounterpointVan Eck 2011 — social-scientific reading of the lost sheepdocumented scholarly counterpoint

Sources & provenance

4 sources

SBL Greek New Testament v1.2CC BY 4.0 · AI/RAG: YES_WITH_ATTRIBUTION

Displayed Greek New Testament edition. Do not describe MorphGNT morphology/lemma data as part of the SBLGNT edition itself.

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible / Westminster Leningrad CodexWLC base public domain; OSHB work CC BY 4.0 · AI/RAG: YES_WITH_ATTRIBUTION

Hebrew base text with OSHB morphology and lemma metadata used by the reader.

Greek Septuagint / LXX (eBible GRCLXX)Public Domain · AI/RAG: YES

Displayed Greek Septuagint edition. Do not attach external LXX lemma records as GRCLXX token annotations unless edition-specific alignment is verified.

Ernest van Eck — In the kingdom everybody has enough: A social-scientific and realistic reading of the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4–6)Creative Commons Attribution (journal page identifies CC BY; current journal policy states CC BY 4.0 unless otherwise stated) · AI/RAG: LICENSE_REVIEW_REQUIRED_BEFORE_FULLTEXT_AI

Useful both as social/economic context and as counterevidence to automatically treating Ezekiel 34/OT shepherd imagery as the controlling interpretation of Luke 15:4–6.

Citations

Ernest van Eck, “In the kingdom everybody has enough — A social-scientific and realistic reading of the parable of the lost sheep (Lk 15:4–6),” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 67.3 (2011), Art. #1067.