Flock, Fold
Flock, Fold
FLOCK, FOLD.For a general treatment of these words see Sheep, Shepherd. But it may be noted here that, whereas in Joh 10:1; Joh 10:16 we find in Authorized Version fold three times (he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold; and other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd), there is in the original a marked distinction. Two words, absolutely unconnected with each other, are employed. In Joh 10:1, and in the first clause of Joh 10:16, the Greek word is = enclosure, court, fold, in the strict sense. It is the word used of the enclosed court of the high priests palace (Mat 26:3, Mar 14:54, Luk 22:55, Joh 18:15), of the strong mans palace (Luk 11:21), and of the outer court of the Temple (Rev 11:2). In using this word our Lord seems to refer to those walls of partition (cf. Eph 2:14) which separated the Jews from the Gentiles and made them a nation by themselves. Within this Jewish fold (), our Lord tells us that, at the time when He spoke, He had a number of sheep who were His own; and also that, outside of it, among the Gentiles, dark and miserable as their condition was, He had other sheep, who were His already, and were known to Him, even if they knew it not themselves. These too, He announces, He must bring, and put them along with His Jewish-born sheep; and, He adds, there shall be one flock (He uses here the other word ), one shepherd. He does not say there will be one fold (), or, indeed, any fold at all. He has unity in view for His sheepunion; but not such as is to be secured by the erection round His flock of such outwardly-enclosing, or constraining walls of partitiongeographical or racialas had hitherto divided nation from nation and Jew from Gentile. The union whereof He speaks is to be the union of a flock, which is kept together on the one hand by its own instinct of gregariousness, or the mutual affection of the members, and on the other hand by its common subjection to its one Shepherd, who loves it, died for it, and whom through all its members it knows. It does not, however, follow that this unity is not a visible unity. The unity of the flock, as it moves along the road under its shepherds guidance, is just as visible to the beholder as the unity of the fold whose white walls gleam from the hillside. The difference is not in regard to the visibility of the effect, but the nature of the unifying bond. The distinction is brought out in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 .
James Cooper.