Verily, verily, I say unto you
To the Scribes and Pharisees, who had taken it ill that they
should be thought to be blind; and who had cast out the man that
Christ had cured of blindness, for speaking in favour of him; and
who had traduced Christ as an impostor, and a deceiver, and set
up themselves to be the shepherds of the flock, and the guides
and rulers of the people; all which occasion the following
parable; the design of which is to show, that Christ is the true
and only shepherd, who was appointed, called, and sent of God,
whose the sheep are, whose voice they hear, and know, and whom
they follow; and that they, the Scribes and Pharisees, were
thieves and robbers, and not shepherds of the flock; who were not
sent of God, nor did they come in at the right door, but in
another way, and usurped a domination, which did not belong to
them.
He that entereth not by the door into the
sheepfold:
the sheepfold, with the Jews, was called (ryd) ; and this, as their writers say F15, was
an enclosure sometimes in the manner of a building, and made of
stone, and sometimes was fenced with reeds, and in it was a large
door, at which the shepherd went in and out, when he led in, or
brought out the sheep. At tithing, which was done in the
sheepfold, they made a little door, so that two lambs could not
come out together; and to this enclosure is the allusion here;
and by the "sheepfold" is meant the church of God; see ( John 10:16 ) ; and a
good fold it is, ( Ezekiel
34:14 ) . The church may be compared to a sheepfold, because
it is separated from the world: it is where the people of God,
and sheep of Christ are gathered together; where there is a
strict union between them; have society with each other; keep one
another warm and comfortable; and where they are fed and
nourished, and are preserved; and where they lie down and have
rest; and which, like a sheepfold, will be taken down, and not
always continue in the form it now is: and by "the door" into it,
is meant Christ himself, as appears from ( John 10:7 John 10:9 ) ; faith in
him, a profession of him, and authority from him. Now he that
does not come into the church of God, whether as a member of it,
or officer in it, at this door,
but climbeth up some other way;
by hypocrisy and deceit: or, like the prophets of old, who ran
and were not sent; prophesied when they were not spoken to, but
took their place and post by usurpation:
the same is a thief and a robber;
steals into the church, or into an office in it, and robs God or
Christ of their power and authority; and such were the Scribes
and Pharisees: the Persic version renders the words, "whoever
does not introduce the sheep through the door of the sheepfold,
know that that man is a thief and a robber"; which these men were
so far from doing, that they would not suffer those that were
entering to go in, ( Matthew
23:13 ) . The difference between a thief and a robber, with
the Jews, was, that the former took away a man's property
privately, and the latter openly F16.
F15 Maimon & Bartenora in Misn. Becorot, c. 9. sect. 7.
F16 Maimon. Hilchot Genuba, c. 1. sect. 3.