And today's sheepherders of the western plains ride either jeeps or horses and smoke Marlboro cigarettes and have neat little tattoos on their wrists. There's little or no resemblance to the shepherds of the Bible lands with their flowing robes and their shepherd's crooks. The Psalmist must have found it quite natural to compare the shepherd's devotion to his flock with God's caring for His people. Perhaps the Psalmist was inspired by that venerable ancient prophet, Ezekiel, who in the early years of the Chaldean exile had given the finest portrait of the Lord as shepherd to be found in the Old Testament. Through the words of Ezekiel, the Lord had offered himself to the exiles as a shepherd in the richest of thought.
Nurses are certainly in today's context of caring.
But if they can strike for higher wages and better working conditions, perhaps they aren't the best example. And I am not necessarily critical of nurses who strike-they know their working conditions far better than I do. Doctors certainly are caring figures. But I don't blame them for becoming a bit jaundiced in their caring, since they can barely afford the exorbitant rates of malpractice insurance. No, there must be a better metaphor for today's Psalmist.