This stronger form (“most varied”) occurs in Eph.

3:10: God’s wisdom has shown itself

in Christ with boundless variety or richness. [H. SEESEMANN, VI, 484-85]
poimḗn [shepherd], archpoímēn [chief shepherd], poimaínō [to tend], poímnē [flock],
[flock]
A. The Palestinian Shepherd. Tending flocks and herds is an important part of the Palestinian
economy in biblical times. The sheep and cattle have to roam widely, and caring for them is an independent
and responsible job that can even involve danger. Owners or their sons may do it (Lk. 15:6; Jn. 10:12), but
shepherds are also hired.
B. Transferred Usage.
I. The Ancient Near East.
Shepherd is a common designation for rulers and combines a number of associated tasks or attributes
(e.g., in Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt). The gods may also be viewed as shepherds; thus Amun is a strong
drover who guards his cattle.
II. The OT.
1. God is early called the Shepherd of Israel who goes before the flock (Ps. 68:7), guides it (Ps. 23:3),
leads it to food and water (Ps. 23:2), protects it (Ps. 23:4), and carries its young (Is. 40:11). Embedded in
the living piety of believers, the metaphor brings out the fact that the people is sheltered in God.
2. In Jeremiah the term is applied to political and military rulers, but not as a title. The shepherds have
proved unfaithful; hence God himself will take up the office and appoint better shepherds (Jer. 3:15; 23:4).
He will set up one shepherd who will reunite the people (Ezek. 34:23-24; 37:22, 24). The term thus takes
on a messianic significance which undergoes unique development in Zechariah. After the exile bad
shepherds bring down judgment, but a shepherd suffers death according to God’s will and in so doing
ushers in the time of salvation (12:10; 13:1ff.).
C. Later Judaism.
I. Palestinian Judaism.
a. Shepherds are classified by the rabbis as thieves and cheats, and thus lose certain civil rights. Their
roving life enables them to steal from the flocks; it is thus forbidden to buy milk, wool, or kids from them.
b. In spite of the bad reputation of shepherds, God is still called Israel’s Shepherd, who has led his flock
out of Egypt, guides it in the present, and will one day gather it again. Leaders and teachers, e.g., Moses
and David, are also called faithful shepherds. In the Damascus Document the leader is a shepherd, and Ps.
Sol. 17:40 compares the Messiah to a shepherd.
II. Philo. Philo develops a shepherd typology from the OT stories. The is a shepherd of irrational
powers of the soul, rulers are shepherds, and God is the Shepherd who feeds the world and all that is in it
through his
D. The NT.
I. Jesus and Shepherds. The NT does not judge shepherds adversely. They know their sheep (Jn. 10:3),
seek lost sheep (Lk. 15:4ff.), and hazard their lives for the flock (Jn. 10:11-12). The shepherd is a figure for
God himself (Lk. 15:4ff.). The depiction rests on Jesus’ real acquaintance with shepherds and sympathy
with their lot.
II. The Nativity Story. Mention of actual shepherds occurs only in the birth story in Lk. 2. Theories
explaining their presence are (1) that there is similarity to the story of the child Osiris; (2) that they
represent the ideal world; (3) that they represent the sinners for whom the gospel is intended; (4) that they
carry a reference to David; and (5) that they are the only ones awake at the time. The probability is that the
stall in which Jesus is born belongs to the shepherds, and this is why they are told that as a sign the Savior
will be found lying there.
 III. The Shepherd as a Picture of God. The NT never calls God a shepherd, and only in the parable of
the lost sheep (Lk. 15:4ff.; Mt. 18:12ff.) does the comparison occur. Here God, like the rejoicing shepherd
of the parable, takes joy in the forgiveness and restoration of the sinner. The choice of the image reflects
vividly the contrast between Jesus‘ love for sinners and the Pharisees’ contempt for them.
IV. Jesus the Good Shepherd.
1. Sayings of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.
a. To describe his mission Jesus uses the image of gathering the scattered flock (cf. Mt. 10:6; 15:24; Lk.
19:10 [Ezek. 34]).
b. In Mk. 14:27-28; Mt. 26:31-32 Jesus uses the shepherd comparison in intimation of his death and
return (with an allusion to Zech. 13:7). The death of Jesus initiates the scattering of the flock and the
testing of the remnant, but it is followed by the gathering of the purified flock under the shepherd’s
leadership (Zech. 13:7ff.).
c. The nations assemble like a flock at the judgment in Mt. 25:31-32, and the shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats.
2. Christological Statements of the Primitive Church. In 1 Pet. 2:25 Christ is the shepherd of souls,
providing for his people and watching over them. In Heb. 13:20 he is the “great shepherd,” surpassing all
who precede him, like Moses. In 1 Pet. 5:4 he is the “chief shepherd” to whom all others must render an
account. As the earthly Lord he has pity on the leaderless flock (Mk. 6:34), as the exalted Lord he is the
Lamb who leads his people to springs of living water (Rev. 7:17), and as the returning Lord he is the
eschatological ruler who rules the nations with an iron rod (Rev. 12:5; 19:15).
3. John 10:1-30.
a. Apart from a possible but hardly probable confusion of order, there are good reasons to treat Jn.
10:1-30 as a unity without critical manipulation.
b. The section 10:1-5 is a simple parable contrasting the shepherd with the thief and the stranger.
Unlike the thief he comes through the door, and unlike the stranger he knows his sheep and is known by
them. In interpretation Jesus first compares himself to the door (vv. 7ff.) and then to the shepherd (vv.
11ff.). Unlike the hireling, the true shepherd is ready to give his life for the sheep that he knows so
intimately (v. 14). Jesus’ office as the shepherd extends beyond Israel, thus fulfilling the promise of one
flock and one shepherd. The sacrifice of life will be followed by the taking of it again (vv. 17-18).
c. The Palestinian materials and the many Semitisms point to an OT setting. The motifs are in full
agreement with the sayings in the Synoptic Gospels. The thought of the shepherd’s death as voluntary and
vicarious develops an impulse already present in Mk. 14:27-28. No parallels exist in the syncretistic or
Gnostic world apart from Mandaean allegories that are clearly based on Jn. 10.
4. Postcanonical Writings and Early Christian Art. In early shepherd statements the didactic element
steadily develops as Logos Christology endows Christ with the symbols and features of the Logos
shepherd. Yet Christ as teaching shepherd leads people, not to freedom from the reign of the senses, but to
eternal truth and salvation. From the third century depictions of the Good Shepherd portray Christ as a
radiantly youthful figure who is not simply a guide of souls but the teacher and redeemer who brings
salvation.
V. Shepherd as a Term for Congregational Leaders. Only in Eph. 4:11 are congregational leaders
called shepherds. The pastors and teachers are a single group of ministers. Shepherd is not yet an
established title. Parallel passages are 1 Pet. 5:2; Acts 20:28; Jn. 21:15ff. Only in the last of these is a wider
ministry in view. Pastors are to care for the congregation, seek the lost, and combat error. The chief
shepherd is an example (1 Pet. 5:3), and he will grant recognition at his coming (v. 4).
E. The Shepherd of Hermas. In this second-century work, the angel of repentance appears in shepherd
garb to mediate revelations. Sent by the Most Holy Shepherd Christ (Visions 5.2), this shepherd is a teacher
and companion of Hermas as he proclaims the revealed message of one repentance for sin after baptism.
The idea of a mediating angel shepherd does not come from the NT but possibly from the Hermetic sphere.
poímnē, poímnion.
A. The Palestinian Flock. The term poímnē or is used for flocks or herds of sheep or cattle
numbering from 20 to over 500. A mixed herd is in view in Mt. 25:32; such herds are common in ancient
Palestine. The sheep and goats pasture together but are separated at night because goats are more
susceptible to cold. On summer nights several shepherds come together with their flocks and watch over
them in open fields. For better protection the flock might be kept in a walled court with the door closed and
the shepherds on guard.
B. Flock as a Term for the Community in the OT and Pre-Christian Judaism. The OT describes
Israel as the flock of God, the flock of his pasture, the sheep of his pasture, the sheep of his hand or
possession (cf. Pss. 95:7; 100:3; Mic. 7:14; also Hos. 4:16; Jer. 13:17; 23:1-2). In Sir. 18:13 and Eth. En.
85ff. the flock will include all nations at the consummation. Ps. Sol. 17:40ff. restricts the flock that the
Messiah feeds to Israel, but the reign of the Messiah will extend to the Gentiles too (vv. 30ff.).
C. The Community as the Flock in the NT.
1. OT usage (Israel as God’s flock) occurs in Mt. 10:6; 15:24. Jesus goes after the dispersed of the flock
in Lk. 19:10 (Ezek. 34:16). He bewails the absence of a shepherd in Mk. 6:34 (Num. 27:17). He has pity on
the exhausted flock in Mt. 9:36.
2. In the NT however, the disciples are mainly the flock as God’s eschatological people (Mk. 14:27-28;
Mt. 10:16; Lk. 12:32; Jn. 10:1ff.). They are a little flock (Lk. 12:32) but need not fear because they are
promised dominion (cf. Dan. 7:27). Threats come from wolves both without (Mt. 10:16) and within (7:15).
The flock will be scattered but then regathered (Mk. 14:27-28), and the righteous of all peoples will belong
to it (Mt. 26:31-32). In John the flock replaces the missing term ekklēsía. Its members know the Good
Shepherd, believe in him, hear him, and follow him (Jn. 10). In Jn. 10:26 the meaning might be that only
predestined members of the flock can believe, but in the context of v. 24 the point seems to be that the
witness that finds a hearing and obedience in Jesus‘ sheep is neither understood nor believed by his
opponents (cf. Mk. 4:11-12). The flock is the community which Jesus assembles from Israel and with
which he then associates the children of God among the Gentiles (v. 16). After his death and resurrection
the straying sheep (1 Pet. 2:25) that do not belong to the flock (Jn. 10:16), but are scattered children of God
(11:52), are gathered into the eschatological flock. Christ’s atoning death mediates membership in the
community of salvation. [J. JEREMIAS, VI, 485-502]
[war, conflict], poleméō [to wage war, fight]

A. The Religious Understanding of War in the Greek World and Hellenism.

1. The Problem.
a. Homer and Hesiod. Even before Homer it is felt that divine favor rests on holy wars and that the gods
invoked in treaties are displeased when treaties are broken. In Homer war is bound up with the rule of the
gods. While there may not be gods of war in the strict sense, Ares is the ideal hero and Athene promotes
and rewards martial activity. Hesiod accepts the view that divine counsels stand behind human wars, but
war is not for him a natural divinely ordained human activity.
b. Religious Practice. Young Athenians swear their readiness for war in the name of Ares, and troops
go into battle with the nickname of Ares on their lips.
c. Critical Reflection. Various views arise as a result of critical reflection. War might be seen as a valid
principle of life even though it is without parallel in nature. The true goal of reflection might be seen as the
prevention rather than the prosecution of war, since war profits nobody. The Greeks are too realistic to
suppose that war is a humble submission to the wisdom of Athene, who steps in to settle things according