What Does it Mean to Be A Shepherd?

Have you ever heard about the things that a shepherd has to do in order to keep his sheep safe and healthy? Over the years, I have heard different things about the amount of work that it is to have sheep. Sheep are very foolish animals and are prone to causing their own death if it weren't for the intervention of the shepherds. Nowadays, sheep are often kept in fenced in areas that have had the dangers removed or otherwise alleviated, so someone who is raising sheep can let them out into the pasture and almost leave them alone. This was not the case in Bible times. Sheep were let out onto open fields to graze, so whatever dangers the sheep may face as they were moved from one area to another in order to find suitable pasture were left as danger spots. This is where the shepherd came into play. We know that King David started out as a shepherd boy. I presume that each of David's brothers had to spend some time as the shepherd as they were growing up. I imagine that as each boy...