What Is His Name?

The Shepherd

Harry Foster

Men are like sheep. This is one of the reasons why, in accepting responsibility for His people, God describes Himself as their shepherd (Ezekiel 34:12.) It is clear that He sees no incongruity nor lack of dignity in picturing Himself as a working man, even as belonging to a group of workers often regarded as low class or even unclean. Moreover He promised to provide His chosen king to be a shepherd to tend His flock (Ezekiel 34:23). Townsmen may enjoy the picturesque symbolism of a pastoral imagery; ecclesiastically-minded Christians may attribute status to the office of 'pastor', but the blunt fact is that the tending of sheep under Bible lands' conditions was a rough, dirty, taxing and thankless job which any of us would be glad to leave to somebody else (Genesis 31:40). The whole point of Ezekiel's prophetic chapter was to assure God's people that He does not leave it to others, but undertakes the work Himself.

What is more, when His Son became incarnate in order to give the world a comprehensible revelation of God's nature, He took up the name of shepherd and made it His particular self-description. Nobody gave Him the title. He adopted it Himself (John 10:11), and used it as a means of bringing comfort and assurance to His "little flock" (Luke 12:32). And in case any should imagine that He only favours the orthodox [38/39] or well-behaved, on more than one occasion He told the story of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4) to illustrate the shepherd's concern for the wandering and wayward. In addition He made it clear that non-Jewish sheep are equally precious and eligible members of the one flock of which He is shepherd (John 10:16).

In Old Testament days God had honoured the shepherd, Abel (Genesis 4:4); prospered the shepherd, Jacob (Genesis 32:10); trained Moses to lead Israel by giving him a forty years' apprenticeship as a shepherd (Exodus 3:1); and called His great king, David, from the family sheepfolds (Psalm 78:71). It was Jacob who initiated the prophecies of the coming shepherd (Genesis 49:24) and it was David who bequeathed to posterity the exquisite psalm which we treasure so dearly if we can truly say: "The Lord is my shepherd" (Psalm 23:1). The prophets took up the message about God's chosen shepherd (Isaiah 40:11), and finally He was born in the Bethlehem stable. It was no coincidence that the only rejoicing neighbours at that birth were themselves shepherds, the men best able to appreciate something of the sacrifices involved in the task of shepherding people -- and sinful people at that (Luke 2:8). For the shepherd is a man who does not spare himself, but works "not for gain, but out of sheer devotion" (l Peter 5:2 NEB). David risked his life for his father's lambs (l Samuel 17:34-35); Christ actually gave up His life for the sheep (John 10:15).

His sacrifice on the cross was not the end of His shepherding. He died in full expectation of taking up His life again in order to resume His role of gathering and leading the flock (Matthew 26:31-32). As Good Shepherd He had completed the task of recovery but He well knew (as any pastor ultimately discovers) that God's redeemed people are still sheep and, as such, need the constant care and protection of the shepherd. In this connection He is called the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20). It is not surprising that this description is found in the same epistle which is devoted to the matter of priesthood. The two functions have much in common. Our need of a high priest and our need of a shepherd will never cease and will -thank God- always find their sufficiency in the Lord Jesus.

In the eternal bliss of the blood-cleansed redeemed there will still be the shepherd to lead us to the fountain of living waters (Revelation 7:17 R.V.). So even in eternity we shall still want to sing:

"The king of love my shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never".

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