Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

10:1-42 Chapter 10 continues the series of festival sermons (see study note on 5:1–10:42). Here, the setting is Hanukkah (the Festival of Dedication), the timing of which is crucial to understanding the story (see study note on 10:22).

10:1-21 This illustration of a shepherd and his sheep assumes a Middle Eastern understanding of shepherding and draws on Old Testament tradition deeply embedded in first-century Jewish culture. God was the shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Pss 23; 78:52-53; Isa 40:10-11). Spiritual and political leaders of Israel were also shepherds of God’s people, the flock of God (Isa 56:9-12; Jer 23:1-4; Ezek 34). Jesus’ sermon builds on the occasion of Hanukkah (see John 10:22) to address the theme of shepherds, using this festival as an opportunity to reflect on Israel’s leaders (“shepherds”) in light of Ezek 34. Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11-14).

10:1 A wilderness shepherd would build a sheepfold, a pen with low stone walls topped by thorny branches, to hold his sheep at night and protect them from danger. • The pen had one gate (or opening in the wall) that was closed with branches. Any invasion of the pen was a threat to the flock. • A bad shepherd was like a thief and a robber. He exploited the sheep for his own interests and did not care for or nurture them. Bad shepherds took the sheep’s milk and wool for themselves and butchered the sheep without providing for the animal’s safety (Ezek 34:3; see Isa 56:11; Jer 23:1-4). This was Jesus’ most stinging indictment of the Jewish leaders.

Verse 3

10:3 the sheep recognize his voice: The Middle Eastern shepherd is well known for having intimate knowledge of the sheep. Sheep are led with flute tunes, songs, or verbal commands.

Verse 4

10:4 A good shepherd always leads his sheep; he never drives them. When they recognize his voice, they trust his leadership and follow him.

Verse 7

10:7 I am: See study note on 6:35. A good shepherd is known for guarding the sheep at the gate as a sentry.

Verse 9

10:9 will be saved (or will find safety): As gatekeeper, Jesus keeps away those who might harm his sheep, keeping his sheep inside the pen where they are safe.

Verse 10

10:10 Jesus’ followers must be wary of bad shepherds who desire to steal and kill and destroy. As the Hanukkah story was told to the Jewish people (see study note on 10:22), they were reminded about false religious leaders whose failures had led to the loss of God’s Temple in Jerusalem.

Verse 11

10:11-14 I am: See study note on 6:35. The good shepherd leads his sheep, finds food and water, and locates paths in the wilderness (see Ps 23). The good shepherd stands between his sheep and danger (John 10:11) and fights to protect them. The Old Testament describes God as Israel’s shepherd (Pss 23; 80:1; Isa 40:10-11). The leaders of God’s people should shepherd their flock as God does (Ezek 34:23). However, the leaders of Israel in Jesus’ time were bad shepherds.

10:11-13 Small villages often created communal flocks and employed a hired hand to tend the sheep. However, an employee lacked the commitment of a true shepherd. The wilderness of Judea had many predators. When a wolf or other predators attacked, the hired hand would run rather than defend the sheep. Jesus will never do this; he will always stand between his sheep and danger.

Verse 14

10:14-17 I sacrifice my life for the sheep: Jesus was alluding to his crucifixion (ch 19).

Verse 15

10:15 The Father and the Son share a profound intimacy, which Jesus shares with his sheep through the Holy Spirit (14:23-31; 15:1-11).

Verse 16

10:16 other sheep: Believers outside Judaism would one day join Jesus’ sheepfold (see 11:52). In Jesus’ vision for his people, Jewish and Gentile believers from diverse cultures would become one flock with one shepherd (17:20-23).

Verse 18

10:18 No one can take my life from me: The Son’s death was voluntary. Jesus was not a martyr or a victim. His decision to die was freely given in obedience and intimate relationship with his Father (see Acts 2:23-24). • Jesus’ resurrection was not an afterthought in which God rescued his Son from tragedy. God could not be contained by a tomb, and since Jesus and the Father are one, Jesus possessed the authority to rise from death.

Verse 19

10:19-21 Jesus divided his audience yet again (see also 6:66-69; 7:43; 9:16), inspiring either opposition or faith. • He’s demon possessed: Cp. 7:20; 8:48-49, 52.

Verse 22

10:22 Hanukkah was a winter festival that commemorated the rededication of the Temple after it had been defiled by Antiochus IV (175–163 BC). Two hundred years before Christ, Greek soldiers captured and pillaged the Jerusalem Temple, took its treasures and artifacts, and made it unusable for worship. In the winter of 165–164 BC, a Jewish army led by Judas Maccabeus reclaimed the Temple and rededicated it to the Lord. The Festival of Hanukkah (“dedication”) marked this dedication (see 1 Maccabees 3–4; 2 Maccabees 8:1–10:8). During the festival, priests examined their commitment to service, using Ezek 34 as their principal text for reflection (also Jer 23:1-4; 25:32-38; Zech 11). At this Hanukkah celebration, Jesus used the shepherd theme from Ezek 34 to distinguish between himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11) and Israel’s current religious leaders as bad shepherds (10:10, 12-13).

Verse 23

10:23 Massive covered colonnades surrounded the four sides of the central courtyard of the Temple. Solomon’s Colonnade, on the east, provided shelter from winter weather.

Verse 24

10:24 The people who surrounded Jesus might have been seeking clarity, or they might have been hostile. In Luke 21:20 and Heb 11:30, the same word describes how Jerusalem and Jericho were surrounded before being destroyed; in Acts 14:20 it refers to Paul’s disciples rallying around him after he was injured.

Verse 25

10:25-42 In Jesus’ final public presentation of evidence about himself in this Gospel, he gives an exhaustive statement of his identity (10:30).

10:25 Jesus had already provided the Jewish people and their religious leaders with sufficient proof that he is the Son of God. The problem was not lack of information, but their unwillingness to believe him.

Verse 27

10:27-29 As the good shepherd, Jesus would die for his sheep and secure them from all predators and thieves (10:1, 8, 11; cp. Ezek 34:22-23). • The power of the Father, appearing in Christ, keeps his sheep safe. Believers cannot be taken from Jesus because no one is more powerful than he is. Their security is not sustained by their own efforts, but by Christ. • The word translated snatch implies violence (as in John 6:15).

Verse 30

10:30 The Father and the Son are two separate persons with one purpose and nature (1:1, 14; 14:9; 20:28). This is the basis of Jesus’ power to protect God’s flock (10:28-29) and a stunning expression of Jesus’ divinity.

Verse 31

10:31-33 The people realized Jesus’ meaning (see 10:33) and wanted to kill him. The problem was not Jesus’ good works, but his claim to divinity (see 6:42, 60; 7:29-30). Committing blasphemy was punishable by stoning (Lev 24:23; see John 8:59).

Verse 34

10:34-36 I say, you are gods! If the word god could be applied to people other than the Lord, then Jesus was not breaking the law by referring to himself in this way. Yet Jesus is not just any son of God; he is the Son of God who was sent . . . into the world.

Verse 38

10:38 Jesus’ miraculous works should help true believers know and understand that the full reality of God dwells in Jesus.

Verse 40

10:40 His revelation to the Jewish leaders now complete, Jesus retired to the region beyond the Jordan River where John the Baptist had once worked and where Jesus was baptized.

Verse 41

10:41 everything he said about this man has come true: See 1:19-51; 3:22-36. The fulfillment of John the Baptist’s predictions confirms both that he was a prophet and that what he said about Jesus was true.

Verse 42

10:42 This is a note of irony. While Jesus found little faith among the religious leaders in the holy city of Jerusalem, in the desert he found many who . . . believed.