ON 10:1-18{ON 10:25-30{How sweet and precious to the heart, and profitable to the soul, of the believer, to search out and meditate upon any of the characters in which the Lord Jesus comes before us, as recorded by the Holy Spirit, in the word of God. Perhaps there is none more so than that of "The Shepherd."
First, let us see what the significance of that title is, apart from any qualifying word as "good," "great," "chief," which we find used in connection with shepherd, and applied to our Lord, and which we will consider farther on; for in ver. 10, He speaks of Himself as "The Shepherd of the sheep." In Gen. 46:34, we read: "Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." Does this not furnish us with the clue? Egypt is the type of the world in its natural state, from which the people of God are delivered. A shepherd then is a position despised by the world. Is not that a suitable description of the place that the blessed Lord Jesus took on coming into this world? " He is despised and rejected of men.... we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not "(Isa. 53:3. See also Isa. 49:7; Psa. 22:6; 69:7, 12; Matt. 2:23; Phil. 2:7, 8, etc.). How all the incidents connected with His birth into this world were in keeping with this. Born in a manger because there was no room for Him in the great Inn of this world Was it not also in perfect harmony with this, that, when heaven would announce His birth, those who were selected to hear the "good tidings of great joy" were, not the great people of the world in that day, but "shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night"? The despised ones of the world, in the simple discharge of their duties. No soul taught of God, but will exclaim, "How suitable! " It is worthy of notice that the Lord Jesus does not speak of Himself as shepherd till he was cast out by thy religious world as we see in John 8:59.
If we desire to understand the Lord's teaching on the subject before us, and in any measure to appreciate the beauty of what He brings out, we must divest ourselves of our western notions of a shepherd's life and of everything not in accordance with the Scriptures and the habits of those eastern countries where the events recorded took place.
A sheepfold was a roofless enclosure with a high wall into which the shepherd took the sheep at night to protect them from the attacks of robbers and wild beasts. Judaism was, in one of its aspects, a fold, being an earthly system of religion adapted to man in the flesh. The door is the appointed means of entrance to a place. So Jesus entered the Jewish fold by the appointed way. All that Scripture had foretold of the Messiah, He fulfilled. He entered by the door. Now they did not, as is customary in these parts, drive the sheep nor use dogs. Gen. 31:38-40 and Luke 2:8, give us some idea of a shepherd's life; showing us that they were with their flocks night and day. What an exquisite picture we have in Isa. 40:11 of a shepherd's care. Every little lamb that was born had a name given to it, and when the shepherd wanted any one he simply called it by its name, and it came to him. What vividness and force all this gives to our Lord's words in these verses in John 10 How the shepherd being night and day with the sheep, etc., brings before us the unremitting care of Him who, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end, knowing each one from its birth, calling it by its name (read Rev. 2:17), tending, feeding, yea, all that such a Shepherd can and does do for His sheep. Oh! dear reader, how far are your heart and mine enjoying this, and giving Him credit for it all; and in the confidence which all His love and care should give, and which delights His heart," casting all our care upon Him for He careth for us" ( 1 Pet. 5:7). How many thoughts suggest themselves to the soul as one ponders over such a subject, and how we realize in some measure the truth of those words, “My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord" (Psa. 104:34).
I pass on, however, to the first of the three qualifying words which are used in Scripture in connection with the title "Shepherd," as applied to the Lord, viz; "Good." Not a heart that knows His love but echoes, Amen; and when we find it. is used in connection with the cross and giving His life for the sheep (vs. 11, 14, 15), the soul is prostrate before Him in adoration and worship.
"Our sins were laid on His sacred head,
The curse by our Lord was borne;
For us a victim our Savior bled,
And endured the death of scorn;
HIMSELF He gave our poor hearts to win
(Was ever love, Lord, like Thine?)
From the paths of folly, and shame, and sin,
And fill them with joys divine."
In Heb. 13:20,21, we find the Lord Jesus, when "brought again from the dead" (resurrection power), spoken of as the " Great Shepherd of the sheep." There seems to be an allusion to Ezek. 37:24. In both passages, it seems to me, the connection is with leading into the path of obedience those once characterized by self-will, see Isa. 53:6.
Lastly, when ascended to the glory, He is spoken of as the "Chief Shepherd" (1 Pet. 5:4). From that position, He not only watches over His own night and day, but also appoints under shepherds, as we see in Eph. 4:8-11, where the word translated" pastors" is that usually rendered " shepherd." In 1 Peter 5:1-4, Peter (or rather the Holy Spirit by him) gives both instruction and warning to those whom the Chief Shepherd has called to act as under-shepherds. In ver. 2, he says to them, " Feed (or rather " shepherd" or "tend," for a shepherd has other things to do as well as feed) the flock of God." In these words we are reminded that there is only one flock (see John 10:16, and footnote on preceding page) and that the flock is God's and not man's. He goes on, "taking the oversight, not by constraint, but willingly." Constraint from man is not allowed, and yet there is a constraint that is according to the mind of God. Read 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, and John 21:15-17. A similar line of thought is in both passages. In the former, "The love of Christ constraineth us." In the latter, when Peter, in answer to the Lord's question, " Lovest thou Me, etc." says, "Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee," he is enjoined by the Lord, "Feed my lambs" (ver. 15), "Shepherd My sheep" (ver. 16), "Feed. My sheep" (ver. 17). When the sense of the Lord's love is in power in the heart, it makes that one "willing." Peter then goes on to say, " not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." How this recalls what the Lord said in John 10:12,13, where He speaks of one that looks after the sheep for stipulated wages (" the hireling").
In ver. 3, Peter continues: " Neither as lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." Now this takes us back to a scene where Peter was present, recorded Mark 10:34-45. The sons of Zebedee had sought the best places in the kingdom for themselves, and the ten were displeased at them. The Lord uses the occasion to warn them against the spirit that obtains in the world; "Ye knew that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them....but so shall it not be among you.... and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all." He then brings Himself, and His own path before them, as the great "Ensample of the flock," " For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many."
What a contrast the " Good Shepherd" presents to the other, that "will come in his own name" (John 5:43), the antichrist spoken of in Zech. 11:17 as the "idol (worthless) shepherd"! And through what is said of him in the previous verse (16) we get by contrast valuable instruction as to the proper duties of a true shepherd. I append a literal translation of the verse, as it brings out the meaning with greater distinctness
"For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land,
The cut-off he doth not inspect,—
The wanderer (or 'strayed one') he doth not seek,
And the broken he doth not heal,
The standing he doth not sustain (or 'complete '),
And the flesh of the fat he doth eat,
And their hoofs he doth break off."
Fellow believer, let us ponder over all this and take it to heart, and seek grace from the Lord to be faithful amid the surrounding unfaithfulness. Let us also keep before us what Peter says in ver. 4 to encourage faithfulness to such a Master; "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the (not "a" but "the ") crown of glory that fadeth not away."
"Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry."