coupons
03-27-2005, 01:30 PM
Bah bah bah sheep talk. Bearing in mind Psalm 23 the good shepherd
Goats hunt out the best feeding-grounds, but sheep are more helpless and have to be led to their food (compare Numbers 27:16-17); nor do they possess the instinct of many other animals for finding their way home (compare Ezekiel 34:6-8). Flocks should be watered at least once a day. Where there are springs or streams this is an easy matter. Frequently the nearest water is hours away. One needs to travel in the dry places in Syria or Palestine, and then enter the watered valleys like those in Edom where the flocks are constantly being led for water, to appreciate the Psalmist's words, "He leadcth me beside still waters." Sometimes water can be obtained by digging shallow wells (Genesis 26:18-22, Genesis 26:25, Genesis 26:32). The shepherd frequently carries with him a pail from which the sheep can drink when the water is not accessible to them. On the mountain tops the melting snows supply the needed water. In other districts it is drawn from deep wells (Genesis 29:2; John 4:6). The usual time for watering is at noon, at which time the flocks are led to the watering-places (Genesis 29:2-3). After drinking, the animals lie down or huddle together in the shade of a rock while the shepherd sleeps. At the first sound of his call, which is usually a peculiar guttural sound, hard to imitate, the flock follow off to new feeding-grounds. Even should two shepherds call their flocks at the same time and the sheep be intermingled, they never mistake their own master's voice (John 10:3-5).
Goats hunt out the best feeding-grounds, but sheep are more helpless and have to be led to their food (compare Numbers 27:16-17); nor do they possess the instinct of many other animals for finding their way home (compare Ezekiel 34:6-8). Flocks should be watered at least once a day. Where there are springs or streams this is an easy matter. Frequently the nearest water is hours away. One needs to travel in the dry places in Syria or Palestine, and then enter the watered valleys like those in Edom where the flocks are constantly being led for water, to appreciate the Psalmist's words, "He leadcth me beside still waters." Sometimes water can be obtained by digging shallow wells (Genesis 26:18-22, Genesis 26:25, Genesis 26:32). The shepherd frequently carries with him a pail from which the sheep can drink when the water is not accessible to them. On the mountain tops the melting snows supply the needed water. In other districts it is drawn from deep wells (Genesis 29:2; John 4:6). The usual time for watering is at noon, at which time the flocks are led to the watering-places (Genesis 29:2-3). After drinking, the animals lie down or huddle together in the shade of a rock while the shepherd sleeps. At the first sound of his call, which is usually a peculiar guttural sound, hard to imitate, the flock follow off to new feeding-grounds. Even should two shepherds call their flocks at the same time and the sheep be intermingled, they never mistake their own master's voice (John 10:3-5).