“By day and
by night the shepherd is always with his sheep…..This was necessary on account
of the exposed nature of the land, and the presence of danger from wild animals
and robbers. One of the most familiar and beautiful sights of the East is that
o f the shepherd leading his sheep to the pasture…..He depends upon the sheep
to follow, and they in turn expect him never to leave them…..As he is always
with them, and so deeply interested in them, the shepherd comes to know his
sheep very intimately….
“One day a
missionary, meeting a shepherd on one of the wildest parts of Lebanon, asked
him various questions about his sheep, and among others if he counted them
every night. On answering that he did not, he was asked how he knew if they were
all there or not. His reply was: ‘Master, if you were to put a cloth over my
eyes, and bring me any sheep and only let me put my hands on its face, I could
tell you in a moment if it was mine or not.’” (George M. Mackie, “Bible Manners and Customs” p 33,35)
When
the apostles returned from their first mission, they presented themselves to
Jesus to account for all their labours (Mark 6:30). Mark notes that the crowds
thronged them so much that they could not find time or place to eat (v31). For
this reason Jesus invited them to retreat with Him by ship to a solitary place.
When they arrived and Jesus came out of the ship he saw a multitude of people
who had run on foot out of all the cities to see Him (v33).
Mark
records that Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw them ‘because they were
as sheep not having a shepherd and He began to teach them…’ (v34). And when the
day was far spent He would not send them away hungry but fed 5,000 men plus
women and children with five loaves of bread and two fishes (Matthew 14:21). As
with the first, so the second occasion of feeding 4,000 men beside women and
children, who were with Him for three days, with seven loaves and a few little
fishes, all because: “I have compassion on the multitude….” (Matthew 15:30-38)
In my favourite chapter of
Ezekiel, Jehovah speaks extensively
about the shepherds of Israel who had scattered His sheep through neglect and
then promises He would find them and feed them upon the high mountains of
Israel (Ezekiel 34:2,4,11-16,25,31). Was He cognisant of the promise He made
through Ezekiel when the physically and spiritually lame flocked to Him, like
sheep seeking their Shepherd, feeding upon the compassion spilling from His soul
and turning the high mountains of Israel into pasture hereto before unknown??
Compassion
rent His godly heart
When
He saw His scattered sheep,
Upon
the high mountains of Israel
Running
to His shelter,
His
promise for Him to keep.
A
promise He would honour
That
His lost sheep He would find,
Upon
the high mountains of Israel
That
heartless shepherds left behind.
So
His promise He valiantly fulfilled
As
His sheep sat hungry on Bethsaida’s hill,
And
fed upon the loaves and fishes
That
multiplied upon His will.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Shepherd of My Soul by Gabriel Heaton)
