Our Shepherd

Our Shepherd

The Hebrew word for shepherd is “roi” or “ro’eh” (רֹעִי).  The term is used throughout the Brit Hadashah by Yeshua to describe Himself.  He is the Good Shepherd Who cares for His sheep.  He has come to seek and save the lost.  He told stories in which a shepherd figures prominently (finding the one lost sheep).  He described the lost as sheep without a shepherd.

The allusions are vivid and meaningful and even comforting to readers of the Scriptures.  But I wonder if sometimes we miss the rich and full significance of Jesus’ references to His role as shepherd?

In Jesus’ Bible, the TaNaK, the prophets speak of shepherd, too.  Consider Ezekiel 34.

 ² ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ³ You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed those who are ill or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵ So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
 ⁷ ‘“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.
The prophet spells out the role of shepherds (which most, if not all, readers would have understood intuitively because of the prevalence of shepherd in Jewish society and culture.  The shepherd has a clear job to do.  So, how does the LORD treat this abdication, this abuse?

¹¹ ‘“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹² As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.
 ¹⁷ ‘“As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
The LORD Almighty is the Shepherd of Israel.  If Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, and his audience would undoubtedly know all the prophetic references to the LORD as the Shepherd, what might they have thought about Jesus’ claims to be the Shepherd?  What title is He claiming for Himself?  Not just the Annointed One, but also the Divine LORD Himself – one with the Father?  It seems that way.

Jesus as the Shepherd is more than just comforting words to remind us of how He loves and cares for us.  It is that, to be sure.  But it is also more than that. It is a not-very-veiled reference to His own Divinity as God the Almighty.