28. TO FEED, SHEPHERD
28. TO FEED, SHEPHERD
Both and are translated ‘feed.’ The former word (except in Joh 21:15-17) is used for the feeding of swine. Mat 8:30; Mat 8:33; Mar 5:11; Mar 5:14; Luk 8:32; Luk 8:34; and Luk 15:15
refers to the feeding of cattle, as in Luk 17:7, but is used figuratively, as of feeding the flock or church of God. Act 20:28; 1Pe 5:2. It is four times translated ‘rule’ as applied to the people of Israel and to the nations in a future day. Mat 2:6; Rev 2:27; Rev 12:5; Rev 19:15. It is from the root , ‘a shepherd,’ and may be translated ‘to shepherd,’ as implying care or oversight as well as feeding.
In Joh 21:15-17, both and occur, though the force of this is lost in the A.V. In these verses we should read “Feed my lambs;” “Shepherd my sheep;” ” Feed my sheep.” It has sometimes been asked (since ‘to shepherd’ implies more than ‘to feed’) why the Lord went back in the last case to . Perhaps it may refer to the tendency of professed shepherds to be occupied with the flock without really leading the sheep to the true pasture provided for them in Christ, and consequent failure to feed them