God knows your name.
God knows your name.
To appreciate this parable it is important to understand its setting in a small Jewish village. Most village families owned a few sheep. The houses of the villagers had small walled courtyards where the sheep were kept. Because each family had only a few sheep, a shepherd for each household was not justified, so several households would have one shepherd to look after their sheep. Often the shepherding was done by a son (or two daughters) from one of these families. If such a person was not available a stranger/hireling was employed. Early each morning the sheep would be taken out to graze in the open country. The shepherd moved from house to house, and because he was known to the doorkeepers they opened their courtyard doors to allow him to call out the sheep. The sheep knew his voice and eagerly followed him into the open country to feed. The walls of the courtyards could be up to six and a half feet high. One who was not the shepherd, who had ulterior motives, would have to climb over the walls because the doorkeeper would not admit him, and, of course, the sheep would not recognize his call and would flee from him.