"Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the ABEL the first shepherd: Gen. iv. 3, 4. Job the owner of very large flocks of sheep in the "land of Uz" in Arabia: Job i. 3, 16; xlii. 12. The Jews always a pastoral people: Gen xlvi. 31, 32; xlvii. 1. Especially the tribes of Reuben and Gad, on the eastern side of the Jordan-" the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead:" Numb. xxxii. 1, 4, 16, 24, 26, 36; Judges v. 16. Famous Jewish shepherds were: Jacob Gen. xxx. 31, 32: xxxi. 38-40. : David: 1 Sam. xvi. 11; xvii. 15, 28, 34, 35. The shepherds at Bethlehem: Luke ii. 8 -15. Sheep, from their liability to wander, and their need of a shepherd to care for them, often used in Scripture as types of men and women Ps. lxxiv. 1; cxix. 176; Isa. liii. 6; Matt. xv. 24. Of whom God Himself is said to be the Shepherd: Ps. xxiii. 1; Isa. xl. 10, 11. Especially our Lord Jesus Christ both calls Himself so, John x. 11, 14, and is called so by the Apostles: Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25; v. 4. It is the part of a good shepherd,-— 1. To seek out good pasture for the sheep: Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 13, 14. 2. To keep them from scattering: Ezek. xxxiv. 5, 6, 12, comp. 1 Kings xxii. 17; Matt. ix. 36; Luke xv. 4-6. 3. To protect them at the hazard of his life: John x. 11, 12. 4. To take special care of the weak ones and the lambs: Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 5, 16. All which is done by Christ for His people: 1. By providing spiritual nourishment for them in the ordinances of the Christian Church, especially in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: John vi. 27, 35, 51. 2. By uniting them to Himself and to each other, or, in other words, by the Communion of Saints: John xvii. 20, 21; Eph. iv. 4, 6; 1 John i. 3, 7. 3. By giving His life for mankind upon the Cross: John x. 10, 15. 4. By giving special grace to the lowly and contrite: Mark ii. 17; Matt. xii. 17— 20; James iv. 6. Christian ministers are called "shepherds" or "pastors," as tending and feeding Christ's flock, i.e. promoting the piety and nourishing the spiritual life of His people: John xxi. 15 -17; Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. "I am the true Vine."-ST. JOHN XV. 1. THE vine first cultivated by Noah: Gen. ix. 20. Its wood not useful: Ezek. xv. 2-6; but its leaves beautiful and its fruit noble. The vintage, or time for gathering the grapes a season of joy: Isa. xvi. 10; Jer. xxv. 30. Some grapes to be left at such times for the poor, under the Law of Moses: Lev. xix. 10; Isa. xvii. 6; xxiv. 13. Vines common in Palestine: Deut. viii. 7,8; comp. (for Samaria) 1 Kings xxi. 1, 2 and (for the country east of Jordan) Josh. xiii. 19; Isa. xvi. 8; Jer. xlviii. 32. ; Especially in Judea, fulfilling the prophecy of Jacob: Gen. xlix. 11. Examples: At Eshcol (which means "a cluster of grapes"): Numb. xiii. 23, 24; and at Engedi; Song of Sol. i. 14. The vine was the emblem of the Jewish nation on the coins of the Maccabees; and is still seen as an emblem on the tombstones of the Jews in the oldest of their European cemeteries at Prague. A vineyard used as a type of God's Church, both in the Old Testament and in the New. And this: 1. As representing God's great care for it: Ps. lxxx. 8, 9; Isa. v. 1 -3; Matt. xxi. 33. 2. As shewing that He expects fruit from it in return, i.e. holiness and good works : Isa. v. 4-7; Matt. xxi. 34; comp. Rev. xiv. 18. The Divine judgment upon the Jews, because this expectation was not realized in their case Isa. v. 5, 6; Matt. xxi. 40, 41. Christ calls Himself a vine, He being the Root and Stem, and Christians the branches ; God the Father the Husbandman or Vinedresser: John xv. 1, 5. In Christians, therefore, there must be seen the fair clusters of Christian virtues which the sap of the grace of Christ, and not the thorny wood of their fallen nature, will enable them to bring forth: John xv. 2, 4, 8; Matt. vii. 16. |