Biblion Bible Commentary
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The Sheep Hear His Voice
John 10:1-6
1 “Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber. · WEB
A picture of a sheepfold with two ways in, told to men who have just expelled a man for seeing.
"One who doesn't enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber" John 10:1.
There is no break between this and the end of chapter nine. The same men are being addressed, and they have just thrown a healed beggar out of the synagogue John 9:34. What follows is about shepherds, which in the older Scriptures is the standing word for the leaders of Israel — and Ezekiel's furious oracle against shepherds who fed themselves and scattered the flock Ezekiel 34:2–6 is standing directly behind the whole chapter.
A village fold was a walled enclosure, often shared, with one entrance and a keeper at it. Coming over the wall is not merely irregular; it identifies the climber.
"The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out" John 10:3.
The details are pastoral and accurate. Several flocks were penned together overnight, and in the morning each shepherd separated his own by calling — the sheep sorted themselves by voice, which no amount of driving could achieve.
By name is the detail this chapter turns on, and the man in the last chapter has just experienced it: he was a fixture nobody looked at, and he was seen John 9:1.
"Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" John 10:4.
Eastern shepherding led rather than drove, which is why the picture works. The animals are not pushed from behind; they follow something that has gone ahead of them into whatever is out there. It is the same promise as the pillar of fire John 8:12, in a homelier form.
"They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don't know the voice of strangers" John 10:5.
The protection described is not vigilance but familiarity. Sheep are not clever and do not evaluate; they know one voice and will not go with another. What keeps them safe is a relationship rather than a capacity — which is a great mercy, since the flock in view includes a beggar who could not argue theology and knew one thing.
Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn't understand what he was telling them John 10:6.
The writer's note is dry and damning. The men whose office is in the picture cannot see themselves in it — and the failure to recognize the voice is the parable's own subject, being demonstrated by its hearers while it is being explained.
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