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(
, 7462), “to pasture, shepherd.” This common Semitic root appears in
Akkadian, Phoenician, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and Arabic. It is attested in all periods of
Hebrew and about 170 times in the Bible. (The word should be distinguished from the
verb “to have dealings with or associate with.”)
represents what a shepherd allows domestic animals to do when they feed on
grasses in the fields. In its first appearance Jacob tells the shepherds: “Lo, it is yet high
day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and
go and feed them” (Gen. 29:7).
can also represent the entire job of a shepherd. So
“Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and [he was
still a youth]” (Gen. 37:2). Used metaphorically this verb represents a leader’s or a ruler’s
relationship to his people. At Hebron the people said to David: “Also in time past, when
Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord
said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel” (2
Sam. 5:2). The verb is used figuratively in the sense “to provide with nourishment” or “to
enliven”: “The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom” (Prov.
10:21).
is used intransitively describing what cattle do when they feed on the grass of
the field. So Pharaoh dreamed that “there came up out of the river seven well-favored
kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow” (Gen. 41:2). This usage is applied
metaphorically to men in Isa. 14:30: “And [those who are most helpless] shall feed, and
the needy shall lie down in safety.…” This word is used to describe destruction: “Also
the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken [literally, “consumed as a domestic
animal utterly bares a pasture”] the crown of thy head” (Jer. 2:16).
B. Nouns.
(
, 7462), “shepherd.” This noun occurs about 62 times in the Old
Testament. It is applied to God, the Great Shepherd, who pastures or feeds His sheep (Ps.
23:1-4; cf. John 10:11). This concept of God, the Great Shepherd, is very old, having first
appeared in the Bible on Jacob’s lips in Gen. 49:24: “… From thence is the shepherd, the
stone of Israel.”
When applied to human kings,
recalls its usage among non-Israelites. There it
depicts the king as the head of the cultus (official public worship) and the mediator
between the god(s) and men. It also suggests that he is the center of national unity, the
supreme protector and leader of the nation, the bestower of every earthly blessing, and
the dispenser of justice. Interestingly, no biblical king claimed the title
for himself
(cf. 2 Sam. 5:2). In later times leaders other than the kings were also called “shepherds”
(cf. Isa. 44:28; Ezek. 34:2).
Other nouns derived from the verb
occur infrequently.
"
, which occurs 12
times, means “pasture or pasturage” in the sense of where animals graze, and/or what
they graze on (Gen. 47:4).
"
appears 10 times and refers to a “pasture” (Ps. 74:1).
is found once and means “pasture” (1 Kings 4:23).
TO SHUT