The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 41

VGics. "11<'n 11, shepherd 11pproachee the violenco of hie love, or even compelled them dunr to f<'lch the folded sheep which belong to go fort~ from o. fold iu which t.hcy may to hi 111. the porter opens that door for him; find secunty, but not pn.stul'O; l\ud when ho i.e. n true shepherd who has e.t heart the bes marslrn.lled them into obedience n.nd into interests of the sheep and of their supreme thankful trust by tho strength of his sym- Owner, finds the way made ready for him. pathy and knowledge of their need, he goeth In the fold are many flocks. All the sheep before them. He is tbeif leador e.nd ex- give hC'ed to his voice. Re oalleth 1 his own 11,mple; ho shows them in bis own life the 1heep by name, and leadeth them out. They kind of provision nmde for them; be shares know a shepherd calls, and then that shep. with them the perils of the wildemess, and herd addresses his O'lrn sheep by namo, and first of all is prepared to grapple with their he lc:,ds these forth into the pastur<'. Even fierce foes, "He drinks of tbe brook in the in our own pastures t.ho shepherds know way." The highest meoning, the only com- each sheep by name. Aristotle(' Hist.Anim.,' plete interpretation, of this passage is found \"i. 19) tells us the hell-wether knew his when Christ himself is the Shepherd, who name, and obeyed his shepherd. Arch- does summon from the old enclosure " all deacon Wat1.-ius gives e. quotation from his own," all who have entered into living Thcocritus' 'Idylls,' charmingly illustrating harmony with himself. And the sheep follow the habit. The shepherd, by the mere call him: for they know his voice. Nothing is to bis own sheep, would separate them from here said of "lost sheep" or of "goats: " those which did not belong t.o him, and lead these are all the " ideal sheep " of the flock, them forth to their pnsture in the wilder- individuals who recognize the voice of the ness. This method of Oriental life illus- true Leader, and discriminate their own trates the function of all true shepherds of shepherd from all others, whether pretenders men. It has bad many partial fulfilments in to their affections or destroyers of their lives the histor"V of the Church and of the world. -wolves or butchers, thieves or robbers. During the period of tbe old theocratic Should we persist in interpreting the apo• dispensation, many "thieves and robbers" logue o.s it stands, o. question arises about the made havoc of the flock; still there were Tpo{JaTa. that are not tbe shepherd's "own." propbetic and kingly men who, sent by God, Some have answered it by supposing that found their way to the heart of Israel ; the latter a.re the chief of his own flock, who many came to know that a prophet had been will bring the rest after them. The truth among them, and they followed him. It is is not obscurely hinted of that election to equally true now, though all the external highest pl'ivileges and duties, which does couditions e.re changed. The full applica- not declare that the rest a.re not sheep at all. tion of this part of the ellegory is only seen Ver. 5.-But a stranger will they by when " the good Shepherd" seeketh bis no means follow, for they know not the sheep; but the meaning of the first picture voioe of strangers. The negative is strongly is obscured by hurrying on to the enlarged expressed. Tbe sheep, who know their and double exposition which Christ gave of shepherd's voice, will not to.ke the lead of e. the two parts of bis own parable, e.nd much stranger or an elien ; i.e. of a " thief or is lost by cndea.ouring to force into e. pri- robber.'' If these secure .the sheep at all, it wo.ry exposition of vers. 1-6 the features is by violence or stealth, by unfair means, borrowed from a twofold interpretation of by illegitimate methods. the separate ideas suggested by the compo- Ver. 6.-Tbis parable speke J'esll8 unto site iwe.ge. them. The word Tapo,µ.!11 occurs only in Ver. 4.-In like manner, our Lord con- this place e.nd in eh. xvi. 25-29: 2 Pet. ii. tinues to describe what every true shepherd 22. It is the LXX. rendering of ~itl;l proverb, of men has done and ever will do : When in Prov. i. I, a similitude or didactic soying. he bath put forth all 2 his own, and not The Greek word means any speech (olµ.os) another's, dro.wn them by the music of his deviating (1ra.pr,,) from tbe common way voice, or constrained them by the sweet (Lange). It me.y deviate by its sententious or pe.re.bolice.l form, which conceals under a 1 Tischendorf(Bth edit.), Tregelles, Alford, closed metaphor a. variety of meanings. But and RT., on the authority of 1't, A, B, D, L, they, the Pharisees, who were confidentof their X, 1, 33, rearl l/>11JVE< in place of ica.M"i (T.R.), own position, and gloried in their influence a n,ading which empha•izea the individuali- over men, and whose more.I nature was steeled zing care of the shepherd. and armed to resist even e. possible reference • Td. l'liu, ,....,,.,. .. is the reading of t-t•••, B, to themselves as " thieves,'' or " robbers," or D, L, X, 1, 22, 33, and is sustained by "alieus," and who would not o.dmit e.ny of several vemons, adopted by Tischendorf Christ's claims to their own displl.ragement, (8th edit.) and R.T. Tel. 16111 -rpo/3d."Tri is the understood not what things they were reading of T.R., on the e.utJ1ority of A. r, which he wu 1&.ying to them. The blind A, A, Vulge.te, e.nd both Syriac Versione. mon had heard his voice, obeyed, found on. x. 1-42.] 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.