Sheep

Listen from:
An important animal among Hebrews, and a main source of wealth
Shepherd’s occupation highly respectable (Gen. 4:22And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. (Genesis 4:2); Ex. 3:11Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. (Exodus 3:1); 1 Sam. 16:1111And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. (1 Samuel 16:11); Job 42:1212So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. (Job 42:12)), though odious to Egyptians. Used for sacrifices (Ex. 20:24; 29:3824An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. (Exodus 20:24)
38Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. (Exodus 29:38)
; Lev. 9:33And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering; (Leviticus 9:3)); for food (1 Sam. 25:1818Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. (1 Samuel 25:18)). Wool used for clothing (Lev. 13:4747The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment; (Leviticus 13:47)). Skins used for tabernacle coverings (Ex. 25:55And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, (Exodus 25:5)). Paid as tribute (2 Kings 3:44And Mesha king of Moab was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool. (2 Kings 3:4)). Sheep and shepherd employed much figuratively (2 Chron. 18:1616Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master; let them return therefore every man to his house in peace. (2 Chronicles 18:16); Psa. 119:176176I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments. (Psalm 119:176); Matt. 9:3636But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36); John 10:1111I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11); Heb. 13:2020Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, (Hebrews 13:20)). The common sheep of Syria and Palestine was the broad-tailed variety.