5 It is true that the idea of shepherd as leader was not exclusive to the Bible. Even in Egypt, a divine symbol of kingship was the shepherd’s crook. 4 It came to be a symbol of protection, power and authority. Shepherds commonly used long poles such as these to poke around crevices in caves to scare out scorpions and snakes. 49:19 and 50:44, where God asks, “ who is the shepherd who can stand against me?” In this connection, the royal staff, or scepter, a common accessory for kings in the Ancient Near East, was itself a form of shepherd’s rod. 2 In fact, history has shown, “from ancient antiquity rulers were described as demonstrating their legitimacy to rule by their ability to ‘pasture’ their people.” 3 This makes sense then of verses like those found in Jer. King Hammurabi of Babylon called himself a shepherd 1, and Homer regularly styles the Greek chiefs as shepherds of their people. However, it may be most noteworthy to realize that leaders and rulers being called shepherds was not exclusive to the Bible or for that matter to the nation of Israel.
Everyone was familiar with shepherding - to say the people to whom the scriptures were first written had a working knowledge of the concept would indeed be an understatement. Sheep are moved from one area to another with relative ease and require less water than other domestic animals. There is scarcity of grass and less than abundant sources of water. (It was to shepherds in the field that the news of the birth of Christ was first revealed!) The terrain and geography of the area lend itself to the raising of both sheep and goats, but in particular sheep. The Patriarchs were all shepherds, as was Moses and of course David. Shepherding was, and still is to a certain extent, a very common occupation for those in the Middle East. However, there would appear to be several good reasons. Why did God choose to include this motif as part of His revelation to man? Scripture itself does not give a direct explanation, so the answer cannot be definitive. It appears at critical times in the narrative of the history of God’s people, and hardly another motif is as rich in content. While perhaps not found with as much frequency as other motifs in the Bible, the theme of the shepherd is very significant.
In Genesis 48:15, as Jacob, on his deathbed summarized his life, he declared that God had been his “ shepherd all of his life to this day.” In Revelation 7:17, when the saints who come out of the tribulation are brought before God, John brings together two of the most striking images of the scripture by stating, " for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them to springs of the water of life and God shall wipe every tear from their eye.” The idea of shepherding, and in specific the idea of God acting as the Shepherd of His people, is a motif found throughout the Bible, from beginning to end. In specific it will answer the following three questions: Why might have God chosen to use this particular image? What are the characteristics of a good shepherd? Who is the Shepherd that is to come referred to in the Old Testament? Why the image of the shepherd? This paper will attempt to explore the shepherding motif in some detail. In the New Testament, Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd and we find in the epistles the notion of good shepherding extended to those who would lead in the church. In the Old Testament God has words of strong rebuke and warning for bad shepherds, and prophecies of a good shepherd that is to come. The motif of the shepherd is found throughout the scripture.
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