Ezekiel 34:23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.
In addition to God becoming the shepherd for Israel, he also promised to appoint a ruler the Messiah from the line of David who can risk their lives for the sheep
1Sam 17 (NKJV)
³¹ Now when the words which David spoke were heard, they reported them to Saul; and he sent for him.
³² Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
³³ And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
³⁵ I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.
³⁶ Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
³⁷ Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
2Sam 7 (NKJV)
¹² “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
Ps 89 (NKJV)
⁴ ‘Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.’ “ Selah
²⁰ I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him
²⁹ His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven.
Jeremiah equated the Messiah with the true Shepherd from the line of David, calling “a branch of righteousness” and “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” During His reign “Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely”
Jer 23 (NKJV)
⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
⁶ In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
This identity is also indicated elsewhere in the prophetic literature
Isa 55 (NKJV)
³ Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David.
⁴ Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.
“But they shall serve the Lord their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them.”
— Jer 30:9 (NKJV)
Ezek 37 (NKJV)
²⁴ “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.
²⁵ Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.
“Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”
— Hos 3:5 (NKJV)
David is referred to by name elsewhere in passages that looks into future restoration Israel
Isa 11 (NKJV)
¹ There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
³ His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
⁶ “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
⁹ They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
¹⁰ “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”
Thus the Lord would be Israel’s God; His servant David, the Messiah would be Israel’s ruler on earth after he restored Israel to her land.
My servant David was a standing title of King David
1Kin 11 (NKJV)
³⁴ However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.
³⁶ And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.
³⁸ Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you
“Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of his servant David, as He promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.”
— 2Kin 8:19 (NKJV)
“To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
— Ps 36:1 (NKJV)
Ps 78 (NKJV)
⁷⁰ He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance.
⁷² So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Isa 55 (NKJV)
³ Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David.
⁴ Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.
David was important not just historically but theologically as well . This is evident from the covenant that God established with him in (2sam 7) This covenant was ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus, the Messiah. He is the good shepherd
John 10 (NKJV)
¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
¹² But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
¹³ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
¹⁵ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
¹⁶ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
¹⁷ Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
Who descended from the line of David to be king of Israel
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:”
— Mat 1:1 (NKJV)