Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all patriarchs of the Hebrew people, were shepherds by occupation. They each acquired wealth and status in their worlds, and were each the early “chosen” ones of God. Their descendants would receive the distinction of this “chosenness,” and multiply into a nation: Israel. The prophet Hosea, speaking for the Lord God, said, “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hosea 9:10)

In Moses’ time the people of Israel traveled as shepherds for forty years.

Shepherding had a strong imprint upon the Israelite people, and it continued to be a bond with their God. The sacrifice of lambs was at the center of their worship. At the birth of Christ, the shepherds were gifted with the angelic announcement of the arrival of the promised child.

It should be no surprise that Jesus, in response to the Pharisees’ disbelief, would speak of himself as a shepherd: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . . .I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:11&14)

Jesus’ choice of the shepherd should ring true to the descendants of Abraham, placing Jesus in the line of those embraced and “chosen” by God. Jesus, a carpenter, was revealing his unique relationship with God to the people who should have been able to understand his words, but didn’t. Jesus had just performed a miraculous healing upon a man born blind, who was being questioned by the Pharisees : “We know that this man (Jesus) is a sinner!. . . the man answered, “Now that is remarkable! We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does His will. . . If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (John 9:30-31)

Centuries earlier, the shepherd king David wrote of the bond between the shepherd and his sheep, a Psalm that has reached every corner of the world; the twenty third: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. . . He restores my soul. . . surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The man born blind recognized his shepherd.

Love in Him,

Prue