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.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
In verse one, we see how the word LORD is written. I covered this in a previous article, but I'll remind you that when one sees it written in this way, where all of the letters are capitalized, this is a reference to Yahweh, what is considered the proper name of God, but since the Jews have never spoken this name, it has been transliterated in the written Word as LORD. So here, David is not simply referring to one to whom he answers, but he is speaking about Yahweh, God the Father. David is viewing God the Father as his shepherd, and he goes on to explain how God has tended to David in the ways that a shepherd tends his sheep.
David tells us that with God as his shepherd, all of his needs are met. This verse has been taken from the NASB95 version of the Bible, but other versions state this as "I lack nothing" (NIV); "I have all that I need" (NLT) and "there is nothing I lack" (NABRE). This is not a promise that we will have everything that we want, but that if we trust on Him as our shepherd, we will have everything that we need. I can attest that this is a true statement. Even when I was at my lowest point, I have never lacked for food, shelter and clothing. There were other things that I wished I had, but they were not necessities. My family has been held and cared for by God through all of our difficulties.
Verse two states that "He makes me lie down in green pastures". This is not due to a command from God; the shepherd does not forcibly make the sheep lie down. When the shepherd has met all of the needs of the sheep, the sheep will lie down of their own accord. They are fed, watered and they feel safe and secure under the care of the shepherd. Only when these conditions are all met will the sheep lie down. If they feel anxious about anything they will remain standing and alert. For the sheep to lie down is to show that they are completely at peace.
"He leads me beside quiet waters". Sheep are timid animals. If water is moving too fast in front of them, they will not approach it because they are easily spooked. Alternatively, if water is completely stagnant, it may have bacteria and fungi growing in it and it may make the sheep sick. The water must be moving, but it must move in such a way that it is calm and quiet so that the sheep will drink their fill of healthy water. There is also the fact that if a sheep happens to fall into the water, as is more likely if the water is moving quickly, it will take very little time for it to drown. The wool will quickly become water logged and the sheep will not be able to right itself; it will not be able to get it's head above the waterline. The shepherd needs to be on alert when he has his sheep by the water to drink, and he will not leave the sheep near a body of water if he is not able to watch them the entire time.
"He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake". The word 'restores' is H7725, שׁוּב shûwb, which means to turn back or to bring back. When sheep wander away from the shepherd, he turns them back towards where he wants us them be; to where it is safe. He guides his sheep on paths that are for their good and he does so to protect them and to allow them to attain to their very best.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me". Sometimes, when a pasture is depleted, finding a better pasture means traversing a low land, a place of potential danger and hardship. But the dangers do not come near to the sheep as long as they are near to the shepherd; they are but a shadow that lurks nearby as long as the shepherd is near. Wild animals and thieves are not eager to confront a shepherd; if the sheep were left alone, they would be vulnerable, but with the shepherd near they are safe; they have no fear of evil overtaking them. "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me". The rod and the staff are tools of the shepherd; they may have been separate items or the same item used in different ways. They each amount to a sturdy stick, though the staff tended to have a curved end which the shepherd could hook around a sheep to lift or redirect it. The rod tended to be used as a weapon to defend the sheep from predators. The sheep were also made to walk under the rod of the shepherd as they entered the sheep fold for the night, and the shepherd would count his sheep so he would know if they were all safe and accounted for. So whether as two different items or as one item, the rod for protection and the staff for guidance and rescue would be items of comfort to the sheep.
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Here, I believe that David abandons the analogy of the sheep and the shepherd and switches to speaking directly of what the LORD has done for him as a man. Under David's leading, the armies of Israel were successful in their battles and David and his cohorts became known for their feats of strength and bravery in battle, as we can read about in 2 Samuel 23:8-39, feats that will blow your mind when you read about them. God also anointed David as king of Israel even though the king of the time, King Saul, would place himself as the enemy of David. David knew that he was living under God's blessings and anointing to a degree above what he felt he deserved. David proclaims assurance that God's goodness and benevolence will be with him for his entire life, and David has expectations that He will remain in the presence of God throughout his life and even after his death.
Jesus is our Good Shepherd; He states as much in John 10:11 in the middle of explaining how He acts as the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-6, 11-18). Jesus fulfills all of the things that David talks about when he speaks of the LORD being his shepherd. Much of what He accomplishes in us today is through the work of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit speaks to us for Jesus, who leads us according to God's Word. If you are having trouble following this, please look at my article here which lays out the different roles of the three persons of the Godhead.
Jesus meets our daily needs; He makes us secure so that we feel peace to rest in Him; He leads us to places of calm where we can be refreshed; He turns us back to Him when we begin to stray if it our intention to remain close to Him; He guides us in our decisions to keep us on the path that He desires for us; He stays with us and protects us in the times when we have to travel a dark and hard path in order to attain to a better understanding of Him and a stronger faith; with Him, we find peace from our fears as He protects and leads us through; He lifts us up in the face of our enemies when they see that they are unable to overcome over us the way they want to and He blesses us in their presence; His goodness and His mercy and His lovingkindness stay with us when we remain in His presence, and we are safe in His arms now and in the future.
When we abide in Christ and accept Him as our shepherd, we learn to hear His voice. This is the voice that we hear when we quiet ourselves and listen for His guidance. Other voices may try to overwhelm His voice and sway us to another way, but we can know our shepherd's voice (John 10:27-28), and we will learn to listen only to His instructions.
I came across a video[a] displaying how sheep know the voice of their shepherd and will listen only to his voice. Even when others are saying the same thing to the shepherd's flock, they will respond only to his voice. This is how it should be for us when our Saviour speaks. Please watch this video and see how the sheep respond when their shepherd calls them.
One more point of interest that I want to bring to you is this, in Luke where we read about the birth of Jesus at His first coming, we read that there were shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem, and that these shepherds were the ones to whom God sent His angels to announce the birth of the Messiah. Based on tradition found in the Mishnah (a historic Jewish rabbinical document), there is a theory that these were not regular shepherds. It is speculated that these shepherds specialized in raising sheep for the sacrifices that were made in Jerusalem, mere miles from where they tended their sheep. The specifications that God laid out for the sacrificial lambs was that they had to be without any blemish of any kind. This lead to the shepherds who raised these sheep to protect them from practically the moment they were born by wrapping them in cloths so they wouldn't injure themselves in the first moments after birth.
So think of this, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) arrived on earth to be the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the final unblemished sacrifice, the sinless One (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22), to take the punishment for our sins that we commit. At His birth he was wrapped in cloths and laid in a feed trough in a barn (Luke 2:7), and His birth was announced to shepherds who would understand the significance of it all, since they were intimately involved in meeting the requirements of the sacrificial system.
The Scriptures have so many of the same intricate threads woven throughout, by dozens of authors spanning hundreds of years, if you study the Bible, you can't help but to admit that it has to be the inspired Word of God unless you refuse to bend the knee to God. I especially like the connections made between the Passover celebration, the Passover lamb and Jesus, the Lamb of God. I'm not sure if I have written about those things yet, but I may need to prepare an article on that sometime.
Sheep required an immense amount of watching and care in the time that Jesus walked the earth. Undoubtedly there were those alive back then who did not understand the significance of what Jesus was saying at the time, just like there are now; they were simply too far removed from the care of sheep and lambs to grasp the truth of what He was saying. Now you know, though. Jesus accepted the job of being our Good Shepherd, caring for us; watching over us; leading, guiding and protecting us. He loves us the way a good shepherd loved his own sheep, not as a hired hand who was not willing to sacrifice himself for the sheep (John 10:11-13). I urge you to come to Him if you haven't already, and if you have accepted Jesus as your shepherd, I encourage you to give yourself to Him completely.
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