3 to this one the doorkeeper doth open, and the sheep hear his voice, and his own sheep he doth call by name, and doth lead them forth;
and other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these also it behoveth me to bring, and my voice they will hear, and there shall become one flock -- one shepherd.
and when his own sheep he may put forth, before them he goeth on, and the sheep follow him, because they have known his voice;
it is having been written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God; every one therefore who heard from the Father, and learned, cometh to me;
and if any one was not found written in the scroll of the life, he was cast to the lake of the fire.
lo, I have stood at the door, and I knock; if any one may hear my voice, and may open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
`And to the messenger of the assembly in Philadelphia write: These things saith he who is holy, he who is true, he who is having the key of David, he who is opening and no one doth shut, and he shutteth and no one doth open! I have known thy works; lo, I have set before thee a door -- opened, and no one is able to shut it, because thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name;
to whom it was revealed, that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering these, which now were told to you (through those who did proclaim good news to you,) in the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, to which things messengers do desire to bend looking.
sure, nevertheless, hath the foundation of God stood, having this seal, `The Lord hath known those who are His,' and `Let him depart from unrighteousness -- every one who is naming the name of Christ.'
praying at the same time also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to speak the secret of the Christ, because of which also I have been bound,
for a door to me hath been opened -- great and effectual -- and withstanders `are' many.
but ye do not believe, for ye are not of my sheep, according as I said to you: My sheep my voice do hear, and I know them, and they follow me,
For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I -- even I, have required My flock, And I have sought it out. As a shepherd's searching of his drove, In the day of his being in the midst of his scattered flock, so I do seek My flock, And have delivered them out of all places, Whither they have been scattered, In a day of cloud and thick darkness. And brought them out from the peoples, And have gathered them from the lands, And brought them unto their own ground, And have fed them on mountains of Israel, By streams, and by all dwellings of the land. With good pasture I do feed them, And on mountains of the high place of Israel is their habitation, There do they lie down in a good habitation, And fat pastures they enjoy on mountains of Israel. I feed My flock, and cause them to lie down, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. The lost I seek, and the driven away bring back, And the broken I bind up, and the sick I strengthen, And the fat and the strong I destroy, I feed it with judgment.
In those days, and at that time, An affirmation of Jehovah, Come in do sons of Israel, They and sons of Judah together, Going on and weeping they go, And Jehovah their God they seek. `To' Zion they ask the way, Thitherward `are' their faces: Come in, and we are joined unto Jehovah, A covenant age-during -- not forgotten. A perishing flock hath My people been, Their shepherds have caused them to err, `To' the mountains causing them to go back, From mountain unto hill they have gone, They have forgotten their crouching-place.
Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them `are' blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one -- together, A great assembly -- they turn back hither. With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way -- they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim -- My first-born `is' he.
And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, He hath made him sick, If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, He seeth seed -- he prolongeth days, And the pleasure of Jehovah in his hand doth prosper. Of the labour of his soul he seeth -- he is satisfied, Through his knowledge give righteousness Doth the righteous one, My servant, to many, And their iniquities he doth bear. Therefore I give a portion to him among the many, And with the mighty he apportioneth spoil, Because that he exposed to death his soul, And with transgressors he was numbered, And he the sin of many hath borne, And for transgressors he intercedeth.
To say to the bound, Go out, To those in darkness, Be uncovered. On the ways they feed, And in all high places is their pasture. They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them.
And I have caused the blind to go, In a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I cause them to tread, I make a dark place before them become light, And unlevelled places become a plain, These `are' the things I have done to them, And I have not forsaken them.
As a shepherd His flock He feedeth, With His arm He gathereth lambs, And in His bosom He carrieth `them': Suckling ones He leadeth.
The companions are attending to thy voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe,
And causeth His people to journey as a flock, And guideth them as a drove in a wilderness, And He leadeth them confidently, And they have not been afraid, And their enemies hath the sea covered.
In pastures of tender grass He causeth me to lie down, By quiet waters He doth lead me. My soul He refresheth, He leadeth me in paths of righteousness, For His name's sake,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 10
Commentary on John 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
In this chapter we have,
Jhn 10:1-18
It is not certain whether this discourse was at the feast of dedication in the winter (spoken of v. 22), which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep, v. 26, 27, whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the pastors of the church, and that Jesus, having no commission from them, was an intruder and an impostor, and therefore the people were bound in duty to stick to then, against him. In opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds, and who the true, leaving them to infer what they were.
Jhn 10:19-21
We have here an account of the people's different sentiments concerning Christ, on occasion of the foregoing discourse; there was a division, a schism, among them; they differed in their opinions, which threw them into heats and parties. Such a ferment as this they had been in before (ch. 7:43; 9:16); and where there has once been a division again. Rents are sooner made than made up or mended. This division was occasioned by the sayings of Christ, which, one would think, should rather have united them all in him as their centre; but they set them at variance, as Christ foresaw, Lu. 12:51. But it is better that men should be divided about the doctrine of Christ than united in the service of sin, Lu. 11:21. See what the debate was in particular.
Jhn 10:22-38
We have here another rencounter between Christ and the Jews in the temple, in which it is hard to say which is more strange, the gracious words that came out of his mouth or the spiteful ones that came out of theirs.
Jhn 10:39-42
We have here the issue of the conference with the Jews. One would have thought it would have convinced and melted them, but their hearts were hardened. Here we are told,