Eschatological Davidic Shepherd?

Some of you have asked what in the world eschatological Davidic shepherd means. Here is the best I can do at this point...

In the early part of the OT, shepherd imagery was used as a metaphor to describe God’s provision, protection and guidance for His people. Later the metaphor was extended to describe the leadership of God’s two prototypical leaders, Moses and David, who were both shepherds by trade before they were called to their duties by God. In the exilic and post-exilic literature (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah for example this imagery began to be used to describe God's intervention in the affairs of the world, His putting to rights all that was wrong. It was also a way to show God's continued faithfulness to His covenant and His people.

In Jeremiah for example, Israel’s impending predicament (exile) is credited to incompetent shepherds; God’s sheep have been dispersed for lack of good, caring shepherds. This scattering will not always be the case, however, since YHWH has promised to gather the remnant of His flock out of all the countries where He has driven them, and will bring them back to their fold (Jer 23.3; see also Jer 31.10). This re-gathering of the sheep will be done through a righteous branch of David, who will reign as king and execute justice (Jer 23.5).

In Isaiah, God’s mission of restoration is described with shepherd imagery. ‘He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms’ (Is 40.11). In Ezekiel 34, YHWH acknowledges that His sheep have been scattered, refers to Himself as the shepherd of His sheep, and promises to rescue His scattered sheep and to appoint over them a good shepherd from the Davidic line whole will feed them. This is repeated in Ezek 37.23.

Zechariah 9-14 builds upon these earlier traditions. Chapter nine speaks of an appointed day when God will save His people as His flock (9.16). In chapter ten, the sheep are said to wander for lack of a shepherd. They will not be scattered forever, however, because God will ‘whistle for them and gather them in’ (10.8). Chapter thirteen speaks of the coming day of the Lord, a shepherd being struck and sheep being scattered; it speaks of a remnant, one-third to be exact, who will be refined by fire and who will then call on the name of the Lord. God will respond by declaring them to be His people.

Even with this brief survey of the exilic and post-exilic literature, we begin to see some common themes emerge: (1) exile is often described as a result of evil, incompetent, self-serving shepherds; (2) the people of God are described as scattered or dispersed sheep; (3) God promises to gather in the sheep and restore them; (4) this will be done through a Davidic figure often described as a shepherd.

My survey of shepherd imagery in the OT has made me wonder how 1 Peter employs the term 'shepherd' and to what end (1 Pt 2.25; 5.4)? Surprisingly, next to nothing has been done with this imagery in the commentaries and monographs on 1 Peter. I am exploring how and if shepherd imagery in 1 Peter is related to the eschatological Davidic shepherd promised in the exilic and post-exilic literature just highlighted.

* Eschatological is a fancy adjective that means 'things related to the end times'.

---

---