Unit Two:
“Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! (Luke 15:4-7)
Now we come to the first of the segments of the parable proper: The Lost Sheep. The first element of lostness. As I said in Gem 1030: “It is not a coincidence that we have here three examples of lostness all combined in one parable. Lost . . . lost . . . lost.” In Gem 1031 I wrote, “The first starts in the field, the second is in the home, while the third is in the family.” Notice it is moving closer and closer to “home”. Notice also the ratio or percentage of what is lost increases. In this example the loss factor is 1%. That is manageable. Any wise businessman factors in greater than a 1% loss factor. That lies in the realm of acceptable loss. Except with God when it comes to His sheep. Even losing 1/100 makes Him go to any lengths to bring back that one missing sheep. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should be saved.
Sheep are ornery creatures. They wander off at will. They get themselves caught in blackberry bushes or trapped by tangled foliage or caught on barbed wire and can’t get free themselves. If they fall into a stream with a heavy fleece of wool, they can’t get out of the stream because their wool becomes that much heavier when it is saturated with water. A bit like us humans aren’t they? Helpless if not for a shepherd.
Sheep are also interesting animals in that they are pack animals. They copy one another. If you watch sheep in a field you will see they all start wandering off in one direction because one of them started the trend. You will often see one running with the pack following and the leader will jump in the air for no apparent reason. When the others following the leader reached the spot where the leader jumped in the air, they will all do the same. Like lemmings or much like humans. There’s more I could tell you about sheep and shepherding in Israel but let’s look at the text before us.
Suppose one of you had a sheep. I imagine the Pharisees would have been highly indignant hearing that comment. “Are you calling us ‘am ha arets’? Are you calling us “people of the land” – manual workers? We don’t keep sheep. I personally wouldn’t touch the dirty animals. We are Pharisees. We are the keepers of the Law and standards. We are intellectuals and not common workers. How dare you suggest we keep sheep.” But the whole point of it is that they did. Not animal sheep but human sheep. They were the shepherds of Israel and not doing a very good job I might add. They show huge favouritism and abandon the ones they should be caring for: the poor, the broken, the weak, the sick – the sheep who were in need of a shepherd. Wouldn’t you leave behind the ones who are safe in order to find the one that is lost? Every Good Shepherd would do that. Not these shepherds. They have proved time and time again they are not into that.
It is quite likely that what is being referred to here as a shepherd was a hired professional. The average family at the time might have five to fifteen sheep to care for. Nothing like the thousands of sheep one farmer in the high country of the South Island in NZ would shepherd. These families would often combine together and hire a shepherd to look after their flocks. Note in other parts of Scripture the references to hirelings who don’t have a personal interest in the sheep. Remind you of anyone? So it is quite likely that one shepherd in this case would be caring for close to 100 animals at a time. That is not unrealistic. The next point to note is that he will leave the 99 and go and search for the one that is lost. But note where he will leave the 99 – “In the wilderness”. Much has been written and debated about that. Most likely what is happening here is that the sheep are taken out to pasture that is quite some distance from the village or built up area. They are pastured there for a while under the watchful eye of the shepherd and likely some underlings. Each night when they bring them all together again in an enclosure especially built in the pasture area they are counted and bedded down.
Another time they would have been counted would be prior to moving to a new pasture area again where there are enclosures to keep them penned at night. It is at times like these that some may be discovered to be missing. [Eremos] which is translated wilderness simply means uncultivated land, not tilled fields or land being used for cropping. Pasture land or grassed areas. The grass is not luxuriant and thick like it is in NZ but more sparsely scattered and requires the shepherd to constantly move the sheep in order of them to get sufficient feed. If the shepherd had to go off and find a lost sheep, in all probability he would leave the 99 in the hands of the underling to care for while he went to find the lost one.
Note when he found it he doesn’t have sheep dogs which muster it back to the flock. He doesn’t lead it back to the others by walking and it following him. He picks it up and carries it back on his shoulders. Notice the plural – shoulders. In typical middle eastern fashion the shepherd would place the sheep on his two shoulders with its stomach tucked against the nape of his neck while its four feet would either be tied or secured by his hands around each set of feet. This was normal practice. A full grown ewe normally weighed between 50 to 100 kg depending on breed and the fullness of fleece and whether it was dry or wet. So it is no easy feat. But at least put in that position, the sheep would not struggle. A kitten can be made docile and stop its struggling by picking it up by scruff of its neck. It will just hang there placidly. Sheep will do the same if they are carried as described above or sat on their rump in readiness for shearing.
This shepherd rejoices that he has found the lost sheep. If he is a hired shepherd his wages will be deducted for any lost animals or animals which have fallen prey to wild animals. But this seems to be describing a scene where they are closer to town than the wilderness technically speaking. Once this shepherd has found the sheep he seems to carry it back to the village and then calls the friends and neighbours to rejoice with him. So this story is a much more personal story than one of a hired shepherd. There are elements of both combined in this one story which has caused much debate.
Note the next element that is fascinating. Righteous sheep – 99 of them who have strayed. I haven’t realized that sheep can be righteous. I know they can stray, that is a feature of sheep. They are ornery and stubborn. But I hadn’t realized that sheep need to repent. There is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner sheep who repents. It is clear isn’t it that we are not talking about animal sheep, but rather people sheep?
Watch this space.
Sheep are a bit like us humans, helpless if not for a shepherd.
Anon
Sheep also copy the one in front; whatever the leader does, they all do. Again much like us humans. Well sometimes . . . it seems sheep are smarter.
Anon
We all like sheep have gone astray, everyone has turned each to his own way.
Isaiah 53:6
It’s simple to separate two flocks of sheep in Israel which have got mixed up. Just call them, they will follow the voice of their master. Now there is a lesson in that.
Ian Vail