8. Omnes quotquot venerunt, fures sunt et latrones, et non audierunt eos oves.8. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.

8. All others, as many as [pg 180]have come (many ancient authorities add “before Me”). The sense is: all others who have come forward before now, pretending to be the door, the Messias, are thieves and robbers. The present “are” is used to denote the essential character of their nature. But (ἀλλ᾽, at not et) the sheep heard them not; i.e., did not listen to them so as to remain their disciples. Many such impostors pretending to be the Messias had arisen before this time; such were Theodas and Judas of Galilee (Acts v. 36, 37); and, after the time of Christ, Simon Magus, Barchochebas, and others appeared in the same character.

9. Ego sum ostium. Per me si quis introierit, salvabitur: et ingredietur, et egredietur, et pascua inveniet.9. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.

9. Christ here declares Himself the door absolutely; and therefore, as we have held, the door of both sheep and shepherds. He then proceeds to explain in this verse what this means in reference to the sheep, and in next verse what it means in reference to the shepherds. Shall go in and go out is a Hebraism (1 Kings xxix. 6; 2 Paral. i. 10; Psalm. cxx. 8), meaning he shall deal securely, confidently, and freely.[72]

10. Fur non venit nisi ut furetur, et mactet, et perdat. Ego veni ut vitam habeant, et abundantius habeant.10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.

10. In reference to the pastor, he who enters not through Christ (and who is therefore a thief, verse 1), cometh not but to steal, &c. This verse effects the transition from Christ as door to Christ as shepherd. He here sets Himself in opposition to the thief, and so passes on naturally to another parable in which He speaks of Himself as shepherd.

11. Ego sum pastor bonus. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis.11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.

11. I am the good shepherd (ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός); that particular shepherd foretold by [pg 181] the prophets (Ezech. xxxiv. 11, 15, 16, 22, 23; Zach. xi. 17; Isai. xl. 11). There is no difficulty in the fact that Christ now calls Himself the shepherd, whereas in the preceding verses He has spoken of Himself as the door of the sheepfold. For we hold that a new parable begins in verse 11, and it is obviously open to Christ to use a new metaphor, in which to express under a new aspect His relations to the faithful. See [xv. 1], where, in the metaphor of the true vine, His relations with the faithful are set forth under yet another aspect. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. This is to be understood, of Christ, and is the first note of this great Shepherd.

12. Mercenarius autem et qui non est pastor, cuius non sunt oves propriae, videt lupum venientem, et dimittit oves, et fugit: et lupus rapit, et dispergit oves:12. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep.

12. The hireling is most probably a pastor who has a divine mission like the Pharisees (Matt. xxiii. 2) which, however, he abuses for base motives of self-interest. Such an one, and also he who has no true mission, flieth at the approach of any danger, the particular danger from the wolf being put to represent danger in general.