under which it was used by the Master.
Pastoral conditions prevailed in Palestine, and the dignity of the
shepherd's vocation was very generally recognized. By specific prophecy
a Shepherd had been promised to Israel. David, the king of whom all
Israelites were proud, had been taken directly from the sheepfold, and
had come with a shepherd's crook in his hand to the anointing that made
him royal.

As the Teacher showed, a shepherd has free access to the sheep. When
they are folded within the enclosure of safety, he enters at the gate;
he neither climbs over nor creeps in.[875] He, the owner of the sheep
loves them; they know his voice and follow him as he leads from fold to
pasture, for he goes before the flock; while the stranger, though he be
the herder, they know not; he must needs drive, for he cannot lead.
Continuing the allegory, which the recorder speaks of as a parable,
Jesus designated Himself as the door to the sheepfold, and made plain
that only through Him could the under-shepherds rightly enter. True,
there were some who sought by avoiding the portal and climbing over the
fence to reach the folded flock; but these were robbers, trying to get
at the sheep as prey; their selfish and malignant purpose was to kill
and carry off.

Changing the figure, Christ proclaimed: "I am the good shepherd." He
then further showed, and with eloquent exactness, the difference between
a shepherd and a hireling herder. The one has personal interest in and
love for his flock, and knows each sheep by name, the other knows them
only as a flock, the value of which is gaged by number; to the hireling
they are only as so many or so much. While the shepherd is ready to
fight in defense of his own, and if necessary even imperil his life for
his sheep, the hireling flees when the wolf approaches, leaving the way
open for the ravening beast to scatter, rend, and kill.

Never has been written or spoken a stronger arraignment of false
pastors, unauthorized teachers, self-seeking hirelings who teach for
pelf and divine for dollars, deceivers who pose as shepherds yet avoid
the door and climb over "some other way," prophets in the devil's
employ, who to achieve their master's purpose, hesitate not to robe
themselves in the garments of assumed sanctity, and appear in sheep's
clothing, while inwardly they are ravening wolves.[876]

With effective repetition Jesus continued: "I am the good shepherd, and
know my sheep, and am known of mine.