Page 18 - November 2022 - Truth & Tidings

heep and shepherds, flocks and as representing the nation’s leaders.
folds, leading and feeding. These Contrasts are then highlighted between
Sthemes litter the landscape of the the faithful and the fraudulent leaders
Old Testament as both literal narrative throughout Israel’s history (cf. Eze 34, Zec
and metaphor. From righteous Abel, a 11). This now forms the background of the
keeper of sheep slain by his brother, to the shepherding discourse of John chapter 10.
smitten Shepherd of Zechariah 13:7, our While these articles are not Bible stud-
understanding of God and His character ies, with outlines and textual nuances
is enriched when these real people and explained, we would do well to consider
events are combined with their intended the overall structure of John 10:1-18. Some
analogies of spiritual truth. This essay see this as one continuous or two separate
deals with the Door of the sheep, with “parables” in the style of the Synoptic
many of the shepherding references to be Gospels. This, however, is a misconcep-
further developed in future articles. tion, as the word translated “parable”
The Scriptures use sheep and lambs in in verse 6 differs from the common term
different, sometimes contrasting, ways, used in the first three Gospels. While we
as in Isaiah’s applications in chapter 53. are still dealing with earthly illustrations
There, sinners are viewed as sheep going shedding light on spiritual teaching, this is
astray, but we also see the Lord Himself more simply a figure of speech, observing
as a “Lamb to the slaughter and a Sheep shepherding as a vehicle to get across the
before her shearers.” In this we learn that desired message in symbolic ways. 1
sheep in their weakness and need are apt While this may seem unimportant, it
pictures of people with their sinful ten- will help us avoid errors. Basically, instead
dency to stray, and a lamb in its meekness of using one parable, providing consistent
is a beautiful depiction of Christ in His imagery and application, the Lord uses
character and sacrificial death. the everyday activities of sheep and shep-
Similarly, shepherds are sometimes seen herds to teach different lessons about His
in contrasting ways. The nation of Israel character and purpose. Remembering this
was shaped in the context of shepherding, keeps us from tying ourselves into inter-
with one particularly prominent shepherd pretational knots. We won’t have to assign
helping to frame our understanding of the unnecessary significance to the absence
figurative application of the theme. God of the article before verse 2’s shepherd, or
took David from the sheepfolds to feed the ¹ D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John,
Lord’s people (Psa 78:70-71), substantiat- PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans,
ing the metaphorical use of the concept 1991), 380.

338 TRUTH kTidings November 2022