John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

Shepherds and sheep are a recurring theme throughout the Bible and for good reason. Sheep were a commonly kept animal in Israel and the Near East. In fact, the book of Job mentions that he had 14,000 sheep and at the dedication of the Temple, King Solomon had 120,000 sheep sacrificed. Because of the abundance of sheep, the fact that they are not very smart, are pretty much defenseless, and in constant need of supervision, and because of the sheep’s dependence on the vigilance of a shepherd to protect them … The shepherd / sheep relationship made it a very apt metaphor of the relationship between the Lord and His people. (We probably think most easily of Psalm 23, in which David wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”)

The Hebrew word for Shepherd is Roi (Ro-EE). The word means shepherd, but at it’s heart, the meaning of the word is to see or to watch over and care for someone or something. Shepherds were men who watched over, cared for and tended to their sheep. As we’ve already seen, the sheep were not only dependent on their shepherd, but desperately in need of His care and attention.

Scripture gives God many names, such as El Shaddai (God Almighty), YHWH Yira (Jehovah Jireh – The LORD Provides), etc. One of those names is El-Roi which means, God Who Sees Me. El is a root Hebrew word that means Mighty or Strong but El, when in the right context also means God, so El with Roi means God Who Sees Me. This is why our Lord is The Good Shepherd. He is always watchful over us.

It’s a great reminder for us that God does have His eyes on us and He is watchful over us and when we follow Him, no matter where He leads us, we are safe in Him. In Psalm 23, where David calls the Lord his Shepherd, he says his Shepherd takes him to green pastures and to still waters, but also into the valley of the shadow of death. Yet, in every place, he is safe because the Lord is the Good Shepherd. Wherever God leads you today, know that He is El Roi, God Who Sees You. He is the Good Shepherd and wherever He leads you, you are safely in His sight and under His protection.