John 10.1-42 will give us a contrast between a good shepherd and a false shepherd of Israel; he reveals there are other sheep that are not of this fold of Israel; Yeshua states that he has power over life and death; he is accused of being demon possessed and mad; Yeshua is in the Temple at the dedication called Chanukah, and responds to adversarial questions; Yeshua identifies the condition of the religious leaders; declares he and the Father are one in purpose; he does a quick midrash on Psa 82; he departs and goes beyond the Jordan and many believe.
v 1…Truly, truly (“amen, amen” and is related to the word for faith, “emunah” which means confidence, action), I say to you (scribes and Pharisees of the Sanhedrin), he who does not enter by the door in the fold of the sheep (Yeshua continues with his statements and teachings in Ch 9 and calling the rulers blind. The sheepfold is the “kahal” or the eschatological congregation he is building), but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber (The Jewish leaders dare not present themselves to the doorkeeper because he knows they are corrupt hirelings. They must get into the sheepfold by hypocrisy, deceit and usurped their positions, they were never sent by God; keep in mind that these things were said around the the time of Chanukah and these leaders were a far cry from the leaders of the Maccabean revolt-v 22).
v 2… But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
v 3… To him the doorkeeper (the breach-maker, who was John the Baptist, who opened up the way for the sheep to go out into the kingdom of God with the shepherd/king at their head-Mic 2.12-13; Isa 62.10-12; Isa 40.3-5; Matt 11.12, 17.11) opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out (into the kingdom of heaven, good pasture, away from the world’s goats. He has exact knowledge of his elect).
v 4… When he puts forth all his own (sheep are lead out), he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice (they know the Torah, the Word of God).
v 5… And a stranger they simply will not follow (because they were not sent by God), but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers (in other words, the Torah is instruction, guidance and teaching from the Lord. When someone comes along and says that it has been done away with, that it isn’t for today, the true sheep of the Lord will not listen to that voice nor approve of their doctrine. The man born blind did not listen to the Pharisees).”
v 6… This figure of speech Yeshua spoke to them (the rulers, starting in 9.40), but they did not understand what those things were which he had been saying to them.
v 7… Yeshua therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly (amen, amen), I say to you, I am the door (the way, the only access to Yehovah; the entrance into his kahal, the sheepfold-Psa 118.20; Isa 62.10-12).
v 8…All who came before me (not literally everyone because Moses, the prophets, John and many others were sent by God. He is talking about those not sent by God, the wolves and false prophets who perverted what Moses said) are thieves and robbers, but the sheep (the elect sheep) did not hear them (did not receive their false doctrines).
v 9…I am the door (the only way in); if anyone enters through me, he will be saved and shall go in and out (entering in by faith and having good works in line with the Torah), and find pasture (in the kingdom of heaven, understand the Scriptures).
v 10…The thief (false teachers and false prophets) comes only to steal (invade in order to carry away the truth) and kill (by oppression and persecution, to slaughter the sheep) and destroy (mangle the sheep, make them useless); I came that they (the sheep) might have life (lack nothing in regards to eternal and spiritual life), and might have it abundantly (all that is needed to maintain life and lack nothing).
v 11… I am the good (ideal and perfect-Ezek 34.11-15) shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (exposes his life to danger).
v 12… He who is a hireling (who is only interested in his “wages”), and not a shepherd, who is not the owner (doesn’t really have an affection for them), beholds the wolf coming (any false prophet or teacher) and leaves the sheep (not willing to harm himself to protect them), and the wolf catches them (some of them), and scatters the sheep (events in Ch 9 and the blind man is a perfect illustration of this action. Instead of properly caring for the man born blind, the Pharisees and rulers have thrown him out of the synagogue. Yeshua, the good shepherd, found him and taught him about good pasture).
v 13… The hireling flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned with the sheep (his true nature is revealed).
v 14… I am the good shepherd (Ezek 34); and I know my own (he has an affectionate love for them), and my own know me.
v 15… even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep (the elect in the twelve tribes-Matt 10.5-6, 15.24).
v 16… And I have other sheep, which is not of this flock (He is referring to those who are not a part of the twelve tribes and are not in the kingdom yet, the Gentiles-Eph 2.11-22; John 7.35; Isa 56.6-8. Though uncalled as yet, he had them on his mind and heart, his eye was upon them and they were under his care); I must bring them also, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock and one shepherd (Eph 2.11-22).
v 17… For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.
v 18… No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to take it up again. This commandment (to lay his life down and take it up again) I received from my Father.”
v 19… There arose a division (schism) again among the Jews (the rulers who didn’t believe) because of these words (they still didn’t understand).
v 20… And many of them were saying, “He has a demon, and is insane; why do you listen to him?”
v 21… Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he (John 9.7)?”
v 22…At that time (or “it was at”) the dedication (the phrase “the feast of” is not in the Greek; this was probably Chanukah, a feast that remembered when the Maccabees overthrew the Greeks and rededicated the Temple back to God around 167 BC. The Maccabean rulers after that became bad shepherds) took place in Jerusalem and it was winter (taking place in the month of Kislev, our Nov-Dec. Everyone knew when it was, but “winter” here tells us about the type of weather they were experiencing, which may have been cold and rainy. This doesn’t say that Yeshua was celebrating Chanukah, it just tells you what time of year these events took place. But if he was celebrating Chanukah, it was a good time to contrast the good shepherds who stood up against assimilation into Greek idolatry and led the people according to the Torah, with the bad shepherds who were leading the people in Yeshua’s day).
v 23… And Yeshua walked in the Temple in Solomon’s porch (also called Solomon’s Portico; it gave shelter for the people because it was the rainy season).
v 24… The Jews (the rulers) gathered around him, and were saying to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense (means literally “take away our life, to annoy, to bother.” Yeshua provokes judgment. He did not come to bring peace, but a sword thus “taking away” the life of those who reject him)? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly (there was also a teaching that said that when the Messiah came, he would tell them what to do with the defiled stones from the desecrated Maccabean altar that was stored in the Temple).
v 25… Yeshua answered, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in my Father’s name, these bear witness of me.
v 26… But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep (they were not chosen, predestined to be part of the elect unto eternal life-Rom 8.29-30; Eph 1.4).
v 27… My sheep hear my voice (God speaks in many ways. There is what is called the “bat kol” or daughter of the voice, which is audible. There are messengers sent to you, the Scriptures, circumstances, dark speech like parables and puns, dreams, visions and the still, small voice) and I know them, and they follow me,
v 28… and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
v 29… My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand (either).
v 30… I and my Father are one (“echad”, a compound unity, in nature and essence, one in purpose).”
v 31… The Jews (the rulers) took up stones again to stone him (see 8.59).
v 32… Yeshua answered them, “I showed you many good works (that would answer your question as to whether I am the Messiah-v 24) from the Father; for which of them are you stoning me?”
v 33… The Jews (the rulers) answered him, “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself out to be God (remember this was around Chanukah; Antiochus Epiphanes said he was “god” too, but with Yeshua it was true, not blasphemy. The definition of blasphemy is calling something holy when it isn’t, or calling something that isn’t holy, holy).
v 34… Yeshua answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law (already recorded in the Torah), ‘I said, you are gods (Exo 22.8-9;Psa 82.6 or “elohim”, which is spoken about civil judges appointed by God, to pronounce sentence in his name. What he is saying is this, if mere men can be called “gods” or “elohim” and were vehicles of God’s word, and it wasn’t blasphemy, to assert he is the son of God, who is the Word of God in the flesh isn’t either)?’
v 35… If he called them gods (appointed and sent true judges and adjudicators of everyday life into the world), to whom the word of God came (was entrusted to them for enforcement and adjudication) and the Scripture cannot be broken,
v 36… do you say of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God (a king; why is it considered blasphemy that God would send his own son into the world)’?
v 37… If I do not the work of my Father, do not believe me;
v 38… but if I do them (and there are many witnesses to that fact), though you do not believe me, believe the works (done in power and and compassion to help others in need) that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
v 39… Therefore they were seeking again to seize him; and he eluded their grasp (it was not his time to suffer and die).
v 40… And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing (into Perea for awhile; and he was staying there.
v 41… And many came to him; and they were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man is true (miracles and signs are done to draw attention to what that person is teaching and saying).”
v 42… And many believed in him there (because John and his talmidim had planted and watered before Yeshua ever got there, and Yeshua gave the increase-John 4.36-38; 1 Cor 3.5-9; Ecc 11.1-6).
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