We are in chapter 48 of Genesis with our word for today. רָעָה pasture, tend, graze, feed, drive to pasture, shepherd. It is used 167 times in the Old Testament. The majority of time it is used to refer to a person whose occupation is tending, feeding, and guarding sheep in a pasture. Genesis 4:2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a רֹ֣עֵה keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
We also see it used in the sense of someone who rules conceived of as a shepherd. In the book of Ezekiel the word is used to describe the leaders of Israel that were failing to fulfill their roles. Ezekiel 34:1-10 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the רוֹעֵ֣י shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the לָרֹעִ֜ים shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, רֹעִ֣ים shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not הָרֹעִֽים shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no רֹעֶ֑ה shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts...Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the הָרֹעִ֜ים shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their מֵרְע֣וֹת feeding the sheep. No longer shall the הָרֹעִ֖ים shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
After God points out this leadership failure he identifies the true leader that he will send to solve all of this mess. Ezekiel 34:23 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one רֹעֶ֤ה shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their לְרֹעֶֽה shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. Ezekiel 37:24-25 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one וְרוֹעֶ֥ה shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever.
This is a messianic prophecy predicting Jesus who will come and be not only the good shepherd but the great one. It is this idea of God himself being our leader that we find it used in our chapter today. We see our word in our chapter used as part of Jacob’s blessing to Joseph’s sons Genesis 48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my הָרֹעֶ֣ה shepherd all my life to this day.
I’ll close with these great verse that describe Jesus being our true leader and shepherd. John 10:11-15 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
