John 10 - The King James Study Bible

10:1. Door is the one who stood in the opening of the (stone) fold. The thieves and robbers were the Pharisees. See also verse 8.

10:3. Sheep know only their own shepherd’s voice. In the Near East several flocks belonging to different shepherds may be in one fold (a fenced-in area). But only a shepherd’s own sheep will follow him out of the fold. Cattle can be driven, but sheep must be led.

10:10–16. Good shepherd: When Jesus uses this terminology, thoughtful Jews remember Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd,” and even understand Jesus’ claim to be God. In verse 11 Jesus again predicts His crucifixion (cf. v. 15).

10:12. A hireling (a servant for pay) will flee in time of personal danger, because he is working for money, and neither owns nor loves the sheep.

10:16. The other sheep are Gentiles who will be saved later (cf. John 11:52; Eph. 2:13–22).

10:17,18. Jesus does more than predict His crucifixion and resurrection. He also shows that He has the power to lay down His life and take it up again, once more asserting His deity.

10:22. The feast of the dedication celebrated the cleansing of the temple by Judas Maccabeus after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes in 165 B.C. It began on the twenty-fifth of Kislev (or Chislev, November-December) and lasted eight days. It was called Hanukkah (Heb. for “Dedication”).

10:27–29. Never perish: These verses declare the assurance that all believers will be utterly safe from any creature that might wish to destroy them.

10:30. Here is the plainness of speech they desire, a clear indication of His deity (cf. v. 24).

10:33. Blasphemy: They understood that He claimed to be God.

10:34. Ye are gods (cf. Ps. 82:6) refers to Hebrew judges who interpret God’s Law and justice. His point is not to deny deity, but to deny that He had said anything that could necessarily be construed as the crime of blasphemy. He was also demonstrating His superior knowledge of Scripture.

10:35. Scripture cannot be broken means that the Scriptures are a binding authority. Jesus understood the Old Testament Scriptures to be inerrant.

10:36–39. Essentially, Jesus’ claim to deity is attested not so much by His verbal witness, but by His works—and they are conclusive (v. 38).

10:40. And went away: Jesus retreated to a ministry in Perea on the east side of the Jordan.