Good Shepherds, by Peter J. Leithart

By Peter J. Leithart, First Things, Nov. 24, 2023

Peter J. Leithart is president of the Theopolis Institute, and organizing pastor of Immanuel Reformed Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Advent, which will begin in a little over a week, celebrates the coming of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. The good news of his arrival is first announced to actual shepherds in the fields around Bethlehem. That’s a clue to the scope and aims of Jesus’s mission, a sign the coming of the Good Shepherd will produce a host of good shepherds.

Bethlehem’s worshipful shepherds symbolize Israel. From the beginning, Israel was a nation of shepherds. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob cared for flocks of sheep and goats. When Jacob’s household moved south into Egypt, Pharaoh segregated them in the land of Goshen because the Egyptians found this race of shepherds repellent. Moses and David were literal shepherds, Moses appointed Joshua to shepherd Israel to the promised land, and Israel’s prophets regularly portray kings as shepherds. According to Isaiah, Israel will be led out of exile by a Gentile shepherd-king, Cyrus. …

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