The Obligations Of The Flock To The Shepherd

I will just briefly look at the sheep’s obligation to the shepherd. The sheep were kept were needed so as to provide milk, wool, horns for either anointing containers or as trumpets, fleece for providing clothing. Lastly to occasions they were needed for meat.

The meat was eaten on special and sacrificial purposes. The Passover lamb was roasted as a whole as in Exodus 12:9 (Gower, op.cit p 132). While the killing of the sheep was usually preserved for the owner of the sheep, the shepherd was allowed to milk the sheep.

In the case that the flock also consisted of goats, the goats also had a benefit (though I would be useful to know that goats always head-butt the sheep, though sheep have stronger heads. There are people in church who try to stifle the spiritual growth of others). Their milk was used to make a type of yoghurt and cheese. Their meat was used even for ordinary meals and also for sacrificial purposes. Their hair was used in tent-covering as well as for coarse clothing, for stuffing things like pillows, and the hangings in the Tabernacle were made of these. 

The Obligations Of The Flock To The Shepherd 

The skin provided good leather for a water-carrier (op.cit p 132-133). Both sheep and goats had benefits for the king, other people and also the shepherd. The pastor should know that as you feed the flock of the King, the flock itself will also provide you with some benefits which must never be gotten by the pastor manipulating people or out of selfish ambitions: "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" 1 Corinthians 9:11. Many people are now calling themselves and even ordaining themselves into the ministry for the love of money. This ought not to be so: “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Peter 5:2). The pastor must forever know that he or she is employed by the King and owner of the flock, the Shepherd and Bishop of all our souls not the flock.

However the sheep should be willing to provide the necessary resources for the well-being of a sherpherd:

• Love them
• Pray for them
• Speak well for them
• Defend them
• Listen and obey every godly word
• Promote them
• Give them gifts 
• Give them money
• Give them comfort

This imagery of the shepherd and his flock, especially from a traditional Palestinian point of view is one of the most meaningful and revealing ways of explaining the right relationship between a minister of God, in general , or specifically, a pastor and his or her sons and daughter in the church. A pastor should also benefit from those he ministers to.

By Apostle Pride Sibiya