John 10 - NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

10:1 sheep pen. Used during winter nights to protect against lions, wolves (cf. v. 12) and other dangers to the sheep. Wolves normally had trouble penetrating a well-built pen. Shepherds could construct makeshift shelters using thornbushes, more enduring shelters with stone walls near a cave or adjoining homes, or even a roofed shelter. The “door” and climbing thieves here may suggest a walled enclosure; some modern villages have these structures higher than six feet (1.8 meters) in family courtyards. a thief and a robber. See note on v. 8.

10:1–18 By identifying Jesus’ hearers as Pharisees, the NIV rightly recognizes that Jesus is continuing to speak to those whom he addressed in 9:40–41. In this context, the healed man is one of the sheep who hears Jesus’ voice; those who expelled him from the synagogue are compared to thieves, robbers and wolves; and Jesus is the good shepherd. By putting the man out of the synagogue, Israel’s leaders treated him as not part of Israel. In light of OT background, however, Jesus as the good shepherd (corresponding to Yahweh in the OT, e.g., Ps 23:1; 28:9; Isa 40:11) affirms that the man really is one of his sheep, i.e., does belong to God’s people (Ps 74:1; 78:52; 79:13; 100:3). Meanwhile, Jesus portrays some of Israel’s leaders in his day as being like the leaders of Israel who were condemned as exploitive shepherds in the OT (Jer 23:1–2; Eze 34:2–6, 8).

10:3–4 the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name . . . they know his voice. Shepherds could separate their sheep from others grazing with them simply by calling them (or apparently in some cases by distinctive flute melodies); sheep recognized their shepherd’s voice and were known for their obedience. Shepherds also could have names for various sheep. In the OT, hearing God’s voice meant heeding his message (including both the law and what God was saying through the prophets); in this context, the healed man heeds Jesus. Also in the OT, God knew his people by name (Isa 43:1; 45:3), especially those most intimate with him (Ex 33:12, 17). Jesus goes on to speak of this experience for his followers in terms of a personal relationship with him (Jn 10:14–15).

10:5 never follow a stranger. It is true that sheep mistrust strangers.

10:7 I am the gate. Because the hill country was cool during winter, shepherds kept sheep in pens close to home; during pasturing season, however, they used temporary shelters. Although ancient writers did not mind mixed metaphors, some scholars have even suggested that the shepherd here is the gate. They note, drawing on some modern Middle Eastern shepherding practices, that some shepherds sleep across the entrance to a temporary shelter, guarding it themselves.

10:8 thieves and robbers. Robbers typically accosted travelers whereas thieves broke into homes, but here they are paired more generally as dangerous threats to the sheep’s welfare (like wolves in v. 12). Those who attacked at night were considered most dangerous and faced serious penalties if caught.

10:9 come in and go out. Jesus may here refer to the sheep pen, but he also evokes OT language. Shepherds God had appointed over his people had led them “out and . . . in” (Nu 27:17; a literal rendering of 2Sa 5:2). Sheep would start grazing at dawn, take shelter from heat starting around noon, and then would graze until, in the evening, they would return to their night shelter.

10:10 steal and kill and destroy . . . that they may have life. Robbers desire to exploit the sheep (see vv. 1, 8), but shepherds watch for the sheep’s welfare.

10:11 I am the good shepherd. Although Moses and David were shepherds of Israel, Israel’s chief shepherd in a greater number of OT passages was God himself, an observation that fits John’s message about Jesus. Because the human shepherds of Israel failed to care for the sheep properly, God himself promised to shepherd his people (Eze 34:11–17). The good shepherd lays down his life to protect the sheep—thus suffering at the hands of the thieves, robbers, and wolves mentioned in the context.

10:12 hired hand. Other ancient writers noted that a hired hand often did not watch over the animals as carefully as an owner would; on leaders who failed to care for the sheep, cf. Jer 23:1–2; Eze 34:2–10. when he sees the wolf coming. Writers often depicted wolves as sheep’s enemies.

10:14–15 my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. In the promised new covenant (Jer 31:31), God’s people would know him (Jer 31:34), perhaps as intimately as a wife ideally knows her husband (cf. Jer 31:32; Hos 2:19–20). Exceeding the context’s metaphor of sheep knowing the shepherd’s voice, the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son depicted elsewhere in this Gospel is here shared with believers (cf. Jn 15:15; 16:13–15).

10:16 other sheep . . . one flock and one shepherd. In the Prophets, uniting sheep from different folds represented gathering God’s scattered people (Eze 37:21–24; Mic 2:12), though Jesus may include here Gentiles grafted in through loyalty to him. The new king from the house of David would be the “one shepherd” (Eze 34:23; 37:24).

10:20 demon-possessed. See note on 7:20. raving mad. Prophets were sometimes deemed mad by others (2Ki 9:11; Jer 29:26); see notes on Ac 26:24, 25.

10:22 Festival of Dedication. Hanukkah lasted eight days; less well attended (and less expected for Galileans) than the recent Festival of Tabernacles, it nevertheless drew many pilgrims from Galilee and even from the Diaspora. This festival celebrated Israel’s deliverance and the temple’s rededication in the time of the Maccabees. Allusions to the festival are possible in this passage even if not completely clear: unknown to Jesus’ hearers at this festival, he is Israel’s new deliverer, himself consecrated like the temple (v. 36).

10:23 Solomon’s Colonnade. Because the outdoor colonnades of Greek temples offered shelter from the elements, people often congregated there. The same was true of the porticoes in the Jerusalem temple; they offered shelter during winter (v. 22). Solomon’s Colonnade, a long outside hallway framed by two rows of pillars, lay along the eastern end of the temple’s outer court. In Jesus’ day, many people believed that the colonnade’s pre-Herodian stonework went back to Solomon’s time.

10:27 My sheep listen to my voice. Cf. perhaps Ps 95:7, which speaks of hearing God’s voice and being “the flock under his care,” or (lit.) “the sheep of his hand” (thus the “hand” in Jn 10:28–29).

10:31 picked up stones to stone him. See note on 8:59. Stoning was the conventional punishment for blasphemy, showing that Jesus’ hearers understand v. 30 as a claim to divinity. The Festival of Dedication partly commemorated liberation from Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a man who claimed to be divine; but Jesus, though divine, became human (1:14).

10:32 I have shown you many good works from the Father. In antiquity, one way to shame opponents was to remind them that the speaker had been kind and generous to them.

10:34, 35 “gods.” Ps 82:6, quoted here in v. 34, probably mocks ancient Near Eastern rulers who saw themselves as divine (cf. Ps 82:7), an issue appropriate to the memory enshrined in this festival (see note on Jn 10:31). Some ancient Jewish interpreters, however, applied this passage to Israel receiving the law at Mount Sinai. Possibly Jesus appeals to his contemporaries’ interpretation; or possibly he simply leaves the matter ambiguous, offering another riddle (see notes on 6:54; 7:33–34; 8:24).

10:36 the one whom the Father set apart. The Festival of Dedication celebrated the setting apart of the temple after it was purified from its desecration. Some think that Jesus, who mentions being “set apart” here, alludes to himself as the new temple (cf. 2:21).

10:40 across the Jordan. In Perea, governed by Herod Antipas. The ruling class in Jerusalem, from whom Jesus faced danger (cf. v. 39), lacked authority in Perea.