John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 34:3

"Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings; but ye feed not the sheep." — Ezekiel 34:3 (ASV)

You eat the fat
The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "the milk"; the words for fat and milk differ only in the points; and this was not unlawful, for who feeds a flock, and eats not of the milk of the flock ?
(1 Corinthians 9:7) , provided it was done with moderation, that they ate some, but not all; but these rulers milked their subjects too much, oppressed them with heavy taxes, and got their substance into their own hands.

The Targum is, ``you eat the good;'' they got possessed of the best of their substance; as did also their ecclesiastical rulers, who were greedy shepherds, that could never have enough; they looked for their gain from their quarter, and even devoured widows' houses, (Isaiah 56:11) (Matthew 23:14) :

You clothe you with the wool :
the pure wool, as the Targum, the finest of it; they fleeced the flock, and stripped the people of their riches; and minded nothing but their own backs and bellies:

You kill them that are fed ;
or, that "are fat" ^F17 ; the richest of the people they brought accusations and charges against for capital crimes; and so put them to death under a colour of justice, that they, might get their estates into their hands: but you feed not the flock ;
did not govern the people well, by doing justice and judgment among men, as became civil magistrates; did not deliver out words of faith and sound doctrine, to feed the souls of men with, which is the duty of those that preside in the church of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F17: hayrbh "quod pingue est", Vatablus, Bochartus; "pinguem", Cocceius, Starckius. So Ben Melech.