My Grandfather Quaintance was a farmer in the 1940's and 1950's. He had several different farm animals on his farm - horses, cows, hogs, chickens, and sheep. I learned from spending time on his farm that the sheep were the most fragile of those animals, requiring more care and attention than the others. It doesn't surprise me, therefore, to see that the imagery of the shepherd and sheep is used throughout the Bible to represent God and human beings respectively. People, like sheep, are fragile, needing care and attention.
Shepherd Theme
As we look at the history of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament we can see that the concept of a shepherd watching over his sheep was of central importance to the formation of the nation. The "father" of the nation, Abraham, was a nomad farmer who was noted for his large herds of animals, many of them sheep and goats. Moses worked for 40 years as a shepherd before he led the people of Israel out of Egypt. When Moses spoke to God about the appointment of his successor he said,
“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community, who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.” (Numbers 27:16-17 NET
God chose David, a shepherd, to be the second king of the nation of Israel. This concept of sheep and shepherding was a central part of their culture from the beginning.
Spiritual Shepherds
It is no surprise, then, that this concept began to be used symbolically to describe the relationship between God, the human leaders of Israel, and the people. I would like to look at an example of this symbolism. The prophet Ezekiel was active during the siege of Jerusalem by Babylon and spoke of the failure of the human leaders of Israel that led to the conquest and destruction of the city. He spoke also of a future time when the people would again have a good shepherd. Consider Ezekiel chapter 34:1-6 which describes the failure of those leaders:
The Lord’s message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them." (NET)
Note how the symbolism of shepherds and sheep is used to describe how the human leaders of Israel exploited the people for their own self interest instead of serving them and caring for them. Then in verse 11, speaking of a future time of restoration, God says, "Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out." Then in verses 23-24 God explains how he will accomplish this restoration:
I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them—namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken! (NET)
God will provide a new leader, like the great king David, who will serve God and the people and lead them to spiritual restoration.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
This theme continues into the New Testament where Jesus takes on the title and responsibility of the Good Shepherd in John 10:11-14:
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." (NET)
Jesus led them and served them. As a descendant of David, Jesus fulfilled God’s statement in Ezekiel 34:23 that he would provide a human shepherd-leader like David. As the Son of God, Jesus also fulfilled God’s statement in Ezekiel 34:11, “I myself will search for my sheep…”
Jesus leads us and serves us. He is our Good Shepherd.
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Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)
Trade Paperback ISBN 978-0-525-65325-7
ebook isbn 978-0-525-65326-4
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