Shepherd of the Sheep
“The God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, [with] the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work” (Hebrews 13:20, 21).
This text refers to Jesus as the “Shepherd of the Sheep.” The thought that Jesus is our shepherd is expressed by Jesus himself in John 10:11, 14, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep … I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep” (John 10:14).
This thought is also expressed by the prophets of the Old Testament. Zechariah 13:7 is a well known example, “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd … smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” This text is applied to Jesus directly in Matthew 26:31.
Ezekiel 34:23 is another example, “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.” Here “David” refers to Messiah, the descendant of David of old. Jesus is that Messiah whom God appointed to shepherd His flock.
MORE SPECIFIC
However, the reference by Paul in Hebrews 13:20 to Jesus as the “Shepherd of the sheep” is more than merely Paul’s application of this general metaphor. Paul apparently drew this expression from a specific Old Testament text. However, the reference is veiled to us because Paul drew from the Septuagint version.
The passage comes from Isaiah 63:11. In this text Isaiah speaks of Israel in the days of Moses and the Exodus. “He remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock?” (Isaiah 63:11). The expression “shepherd of the flock” is given in the Septuagint as “shepherd of the sheep.”
In Hebrews, Paul applied this expression to Jesus when referring to Jesus being raised from the dead by the power of God. In Isaiah 63:11 it is used of Moses – who was a type of Christ – when he was coming up out of the Red Sea – which is a type or picture of Christian baptism. “All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1, 2).
Elsewhere Paul specifies that baptism into Christ is a baptism, immersion, into sacrificial death with Christ. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3). Thus, Moses, coming up out of the Red Sea as the leader of Israel, represents Jesus coming up out from death to life at his resurrection – which is exactly the construction Paul puts upon it in Hebrews 13:20.
Our forerunner, Jesus, has already completed his death baptism (Matthew 20:22). Many of the saints have completed their’s as well, but the latter members of the body of Christ, we who are still in the flesh, are still passing through this experience.
UP TO HEAVEN, ACROSS THE SEA
Forty years later, Moses addressed Israel in his final exhortation, contained in the book of Deuteronomy. In chapter 30, verses 12-16, Moses urged Israel to faithfully observe the Law of God which had come to them as a marked favor from above. That Law, Moses told them, “is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?” (verse 12). Actually Moses had gone up to heaven in a sense, on their behalf, as he climbed the heights of Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God from angelic messengers.
Then Moses adds, “Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?” (verse 13). Actually Moses had gone across the sea, and led Israel through the sea, as the first part of their trip toward Mount Sinai where they had obtained the Law of God.
So now, as Moses exhorted Israel, it was not necessary to mount up to heaven, or to cross the sea – that had been done, and Israel now had the precepts of God right before them, “the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it” (verse 14).
So it is with us, and with the one who is “greater than Moses,” our Lord Jesus. He came down from heaven to teach us of God and deliver His precepts into our mouths and hearts. Jesus crossed through the Red Sea (Christian baptism), and has been raised out of death again, enthroned as our deliverer on high, to teach us the precepts of God.
This application of Moses’ words is made by Paul in Romans 10:6 and forward. “The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) (7) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) (8) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Paul is clearly referring here to Moses’ words, but notice the change of language. Deuteronomy 30:13 says the Law is not “beyond the sea” or “over the sea” – Romans 10:7 says “descend into the deep? … to bring up Christ again from the dead.” These are two ways of saying the same thing.
To go “beyond” or “over the sea” was done by Moses by passing through the sea as it opened, thus descending to the depth of the sea bed, or as Paul says, “descend into the deep” – and coming up out the other side is to rise up again, which Paul applies as a figure of the raising of “Christ again from the dead.”
Thus here Paul is consistent with his later statement in Hebrews 13:20, that Jesus is the “shepherd of the sheep” – the counterpart to Moses who led Israel through, up, and out of the Red Sea – as Jesus was raised to glory, and we follow after in the same example.