The Ancient Word...

God told King David,

I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. (2 Samuel 7:8, NIV)

But what kind of ruler? The Lord reached into David's background to explain that God's appointed rulers must "shepherd my people Israel" (2 Samuel 7:7).

As a shepherd guards the welfare of his sheep, so must the anointed king of Israel guide and protect, provide and care for his people.

Sadly, the davidic kings and Israel's other leaders did not always follow God's intent. Instead of caring for their people, they exploited them.

In Ezekiel 34, the Lord complains:

Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?...You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured...You have ruled them harshly and brutally. (vv. 2, 4)

So the Lord promises to raise up a new king, descended from David, who will be the kind of ruler God intended:

I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. (v. 23)

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, is that promised King.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

Jesus declares,

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

... for Today

Our culture has little experience with sheep or shepherding. Consequently, the ancient analogy does not have the same strength of meaning for us.

We 21st century western urbanites have nothing that truly compares. We think of shepherding in the same way we think of caring for our pets. Make sure that they have food to eat and get them to the vet if they fall sick.

But shepherding in the ancient world was a matter of livelihood -- of survival. Failure to care for the sheep did not mean another trip to the pet store. Instead, it could spell disaster for the family -- the equivalent of losing a job today with no hope for re-employment. The well-being of the sheep was essential to the well-being of the family.

We often hear about the stupidity of sheep, but God was not judging the intelligence of His people. To the contrary, when He likens Israel (and us) to sheep, He declares our value and worth.

But there's another aspect of this analogy to understand.

The davidic king was to care for the precious flock of God, and the Messiah comes to save every lost sheep. However, we too are expected to be shepherds to the flock around us: not looking down on them, but just the opposite -- seeing their enormous worth to the Shepherd and his desperate desire to preserve them for his "family."

Peter expected the elders in the early congregations to act as shepherds (see 1 Peter 5:2), but his instruction can be extended to us all.

We shepherd the flock not with violence or force, arrogance or condescension. Rather, we shepherd with devotion and love. My brother is part of that flock...and so am I. The Lord calls each of us to value and care for one another, following the example of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for us all.

Discuss...

1. How might you be a better shepherd of those around you?
   
2. Who might you more intentionally shepherd this week?

Publishers Note...

This issue concludes our series on Jesus as the Son of David. After a brief break, we will launch a new series on the Cross of Christ during the week of April 16.

Chris Davis, PhD & David Timms, PhD
Hope International University
Fullerton, California

Bare Roots is a regular publication, intended for small group discussion or
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