sheep, of their life and safety. He 'came'13 for them, to give, not to take, 'that they may
have life and have abundance.'14
12. ver. 10.
13. Not as in the A.V., 'am come.'
14. As Canon Westcott remarks, 'this points to something more than life.'
'Life,' nay, that they may have it, I 'lay down '15 Mine: so does it appear that 'I am the
Good16 Shepherd.'17
15. This is the proper rendering.
16. Literally 'fair.' As Canon Westcott, with his usual happiness, expresses it: 'not only
good inwardly (αγαθος) but good as perceived (καλος).'
17. This would be all the more striking that, according to Rabbinic law, a shepherd was
not called upon to expose his own life for the safety of his flock, nor responsible in such a
case. The opposite view depends on a misunderstanding of a sentence quoted from Bab.
Mez. 93 b. As the context there shows, if a shepherd leaves his flock, and in his absence
the wolf comes, the shepherd is responsible, but only because he ought not to have left
the flock, and his presenc e might have prevented the accident. In case of attack by force
supérieure he is not responsible for his flock.
2. The Good Shepherd Who layeth down His life for His Sheep! What a contrast to a
mere hireling, whose are not the sheep, and who fleeth at sight of the wolf (danger),
'and the wolf seizeth them, and scattereth (viz., the flock): (he fleeth) because he is a
hireling, and careth not for the sheep.' The simile of the wolf must not be too closely
pressed, but taken in a general sense, to point the contrast to Him 'Who layeth down
His Life for His sheep.'18
18. See an important note at the end of this chapter.
Truly He is - is seen to be - 'the fair Shepherder,'19 Whose are the sheep, and as such, 'I
know Mine, and Mine know Me, even as the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father.
And I lay down My Life for the sheep.'
19. See Note 4.
3. For the sheep that are Mine, whom I know, and for whom I lay down My Life! But
those sheep, they are not only 'of this fold,' not all of the Jewish 'fold,' but also scattered
sheep of the Gentiles. They have all the characteristics of the flock: they are His; and
they hear His Voice; but as yet they are outside the fold. Them also the Good Shepherd
'must lead,' and, in evidence that they are His, as He calls them a nd goes before them,
they shall hear His Voice, and so, O most glorious consummation, 'they shall become
one flock20 and one Shepherd.'
20. Not 'fold,' as in the A.V.