Northrop Frye

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. — Rumi God is not a celestial prison warden jangling the keys on a bunch of lifers–he’s a shepherd seeking for sheep, a woman searching for coins, a father waiting for his son. — Clarence Jordan Songs about Shepherds and Sheep Shepherds: • The Shepherds Song by Shanghai Quartet (instrumental) • Shepherd’s Hymn from Beethoven’s Symphony #6 • Good Shepherd by Jefferson Airplane (folk rock ballad) • The Shepherd Song by Mississippi Children’s Choir (gospel) • Shepherd’s Song by Coldcut (pop/world music) • The Shepherd’s Song by Katzenjammer (pop/dance) • The Lonely Shepherd by Andre Rieu featuring George Zamfir (instrumental) • Shepherd by Amanda Cook (Christian) • The Shepherd’s Song (God With Us) by Hearts of Saints (Christian seasonal-Christmas) • Shepherd’s Song by Josh Garrel (Christian acoustic/seasonal-Christmas) Sheep: • Sheep by the Housemartins (pop) • And Dream of Sheep by Kate Bush (ballad) • Sheep by Lay and Alan Walker (K-pop/latin?) • Sheep Song by Bad Luck (pop) • Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by Set it Off (metal/rock) • Sheep by Pink Floyd (rock) • Counting Sheep by Safia (pop) • Sheep Song by Dresden Dolls (ballad/melancholy) • Baa Baa Black Sheep (children’s nursery rhyme music)

Verse on Libyan Shepherds (excerpt) — Virgil Now, shall my verse pursue the Libyan nomads, Their pastures, huts, their scattered settlements? Their flocks will often, day and night for a month, Roam and graze the empty tracts and find No shelter in the vast expanse of land. This African shepherd takes his world along, His household, weapons, dog, his bow and arrows, Much like the Roman soldier fierce in arms Who marches forth, unfairly burdened down By all his field equipment, and arrives Ahead of time, to catch the foe off guard. VI — Wendell Berry The old shepherd comes to another lambing time, and he gives thanks. He has longed ever more strongly as the weeks and months went by for the new lives the ewes have carried in their bellies through the winter cold. Now in gray early mornings of barely spring he goes to see at last what the night has revealed. Through many of its generations he has husbanded his flock … he remembers from the time, as sucklings, they caught his eye. Lineages … having stayed unbroken through many years, his flock …

Shepherd Reflections

Compassion is a Shepherd, Always tending his herd. — Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
 
It was shepherds who were the first to recognize a king that the rest of the world refused to acknowledge. — Paulo Coelho
 
… we’re lazy when it comes to doing things that are good for us; we also want someone to follow – someone to go first, for them to take the risks thereby smoothing our path; a sort of guarantee that we won’t stumble. Ironically, we also want to be followed in some way; we are both sheep and shepherd. ― Renée Paule
 
Man is not the lord of beings. Man is the shepherd of Being. — Martin Heidegger

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty. — Abraham Lincoln

Too many leaders act as if the sheep… their people… are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep. — Ken Blanchard

A true shepherd leads the way. He does not merely point the way. — Leonard Ravenhill
 
Shepherds know many mysterious languages; they speak the language of sheep and dogs, language of stars and skies, flowers and herbs.
— Mehmet Murat Ildan

And if the line between pasture and wilderness wasn’t clearly drawn, neither was it safely fenced, which meant that the shepherd not only had to worry about sheep wandering off but about wild animals snatching them in the dark—not to mention bandits. … had to be prepared to fight them off—that’s what that staff was for … the shepherd’s staff was a tool and a weapon. It could be used to block a sheep’s path into danger or to prod it to safety; and it could be used to beat off an attacking wolf—or an attacking human. A shepherd had to be continuously alert, always ready both to care kindly for his sheep and to do battle with enemies. “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me,” not because the shepherd looks so comfortable leaning on them, but because they show that he’s ready to defend us. — David Walbert

Christian Commentary on Shepherds

The Lord IS my shepherd. Not was, not may be, nor will be. . . is my shepherd on Sunday, is on Monday, and is through every day of the week; is in January, is in December, and every month of the year, is at home, and is in China; is in peace, and is in war; in abundance, and in penury. — Hudson Taylor

When we are fearful and worried all the time, we are living as if we don’t believe that we have a strong and able Shepherd who is tenderhearted toward us, who only leads us to good places, who protects us and lovingly watches over us. — Joseph Prince
 
You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need. — Max Lucado
 
God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure – people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character. — John Ortberg

Verses about Shepherds
 
Shepherds lift their heads,
not to gaze at a new light
but to hear angels.
― Richelle E. Goodrich
 
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb.
If I were a Wise Man
I would do my part.
Yet what can I give Him?
I give Him my heart.
— Christina Rossetti
 
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work … begins:
…To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
— Howard Thurman

The Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd’s care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye.
— Joseph Addison

Sheep Reflections
 
If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off the side of a mountain….. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them. The welfare of sheep depends solely upon the care they get from their shepherd. Therefore, the better the shepherd, the healthier the sheep. — Kay Arthur

I am like the sick sheep that strays from the rest of the flock. Unless the Good Shepherd takes me on His shoulders and carries me back to His fold, my steps will falter, and in the very effort of rising, my feet will give way. — St. Jerome

The metaphor of the king as the shepherd of his people goes back to ancient Egypt. Perhaps the use of this particular convention is due to the fact that, being stupid, affectionate, gregarious, and easily stampeded, the societies formed by sheep are most like human ones. — Northrop Frye

Trust the Lord. He is the good shepherd. He knows His sheep. And His sheep know His voice. — M. Russell Ballard
 
Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow. He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving. If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will without fail be led. Of that I am sure. — Elisabeth Elliot