Texts in Conversation
Matthew 9 describes the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, echoing language from the Hebrew Bible that describes Israel’s lack of leadership. Judith also uses this language when she tells Holofernes he will drive Israel like sheep without a shepherd.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Judith 11:19
Deuterocanon
17 For your servant is religious, and serves the God of heaven day and night. Now, my lord, I will stay with you; and your servant will go out by night into the valley. I will pray to God, and he will tell me when they have committed their sins. 18 Then I will come and tell you. Then you can go out with all your army, and there will be none of them that will resist you. 19 And I will lead you through the midst of Judea, until you come to Jerusalem. I will set your throne in the midst of it. You will drive them as sheep that have no shepherd, and a dog will not so much as open his mouth before you; for these things were told me according to my foreknowledge, and were declared to me, and I was sent to tell you.” 20 Her words were pleasing in the sight of Holofernes and of all his servants. They marveled at her wisdom, and said,
Date: 100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 9:36
New Testament
35 Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest-ready fields.”
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... “sheep without a shepherd ” The phrase, while not a direct quotation, has a strong Old Testament and early Jewish pedigree It is used in contexts of military and political upheaval. See Numbers 27:17, 2 Chronicles 18:16 and Judith 11:19. The phrase culminates in a Davidic messianic expectation. As in these other cases, the phrase connotes the predicament of Israel in the absence of a royal political figure. It implies the inauguration of the restoration of a territorial kingdom of Israel over which God’s Davidic Shepherd-King will reign with his under-shepherds (Matthew 10:1-5; 19:28) ..."
Joel Willitts, “Zionism in the Gospel of Matthew: Do the People of Israel and the Land of Israel Persist as Abiding Concerns in the Gospel of Matthew?” in The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel & the Land, ed. Gerald R. McDermott (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2016), 107–140.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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