“... The metaphorical shift from the imperial parousia to the shepherd caring for his flock is less sudden than might appear to the modern reader, since the topos of king as shepherd of his people was entirely familiar at that time and in that place. David shepherded his people (2 Sam 5:2), and it is anticipated that Cyrus will do the same, with special reference to Judeans (Isa 44:28). The representation of Yahveh as shepherd, familiar to many from Ps 23 but also appearing frequently elsewhere (Gen 49:24; Ps 78:52; 80:2; Ezek 34:1-31) is a slippery metaphor that, given the association of sheep with passivity and fecklessness in general, carries potentially unflattering implications for the shepherd’s charges. The original intent of the metaphor, however, was to temper the image of absolute royal power with a concern for justice and care for society’s losers and outcasts, and in this sense the figure of the good shepherd was taken up in the Gospels (Luke 15:3-7; John 10:1-18). ...”