FOLLOWING
THE JUDAS GOAT

Topics: Compromise; Influence; Satan; Sheep; Teens; Temptation

References: Psalm 119:176; Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 9:36; 1 Peter 2:25

Shepherds and ranchers tell us that sheep are virtually defenseless against predators, not very resourceful, inclined to follow one another into danger, and absolutely dependent on their human masters for safety. Thus, when Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray,” he was referring to our tendency to move as an unthinking herd away from the watchful care of the Shepherd.

A documentary on television was filmed in a packinghouse where sheep were being slaughtered for the meat market. Huddled in pens outside were hundreds of nervous animals that seemed to sense danger. A gate opened that led up a ramp and though a door to the right.

To get the sheep to walk up that ramp, the handlers used a “Judas goat.” The goat did his job very efficiently. He walked to the bottom of the ramp and looked back. Then he took a few more steps and stopped again. The sheep looked at each other skittishly and then began moving toward the ramp. Eventually, they followed the goat to the top, where he went through a little gate to the left, while they were forced to turn to the right and to their deaths. It was a dramatic illustration of unthinking herd behavior and the deadly consequences it often brings.

—James Dobson, Life on the Edge (Word, 1995)