He could do this because they recognized his particular voice. To graze them, the shepherd would call them from their pen where they were gathered with others’ flocks. The sheep were gathered into an enclosure, and the shepherd guarded them by night and led them out to feed in the best pastures by day. He numbered them, knew them (and they knew him), and protected them with his life against predators. Most understand that the shepherd in certain societies cared for and protected his sheep. One example of this more familiar visual material common to scriptural teaching is that of the shepherd and his sheep. Fortunately, some scriptural imagery has been explained to us more frequently by those trained in such things 4 (or used in our influential literature and iconography) 5 and therefore the interpretive gap has been minimized, if not entirely eliminated. 3 Historically distant times and places and the emergence of more modern concerns and questions naturally place limitations on our ability to fully comprehend. Reading scripture is a risk that requires a mutual interest in the text and in the exegete’s experience. This is because references, even those once considered ordinary, cannot be fully appreciated without cultural context.

Symbolic imagery in the ancient scriptures can be lost on modern believers. Implicit in this approach is an affirmation that the gathering and numbering of the sheep requires meeting the conditions of the gospel covenant of peace as articulated in the Book of Mormon and elsewhere in scripture. This paper, therefore, seeks to explain not only who the other sheep are, but more significantly, when and especially how they are to be brought into the fold according to the eschatological prophecies that employ pastoral imagery. The Good Shepherd’s voice, for these scholars, would be unto all the “children of God, both Jews and Gentiles.” 2 Nevertheless, what is precisely evoked when examining John 10:16 appears to remain a relative mystery.

Some scholars have posited in the concise and elusive passage in John 10:16 an assurance that others would yet hear the voice of the Good Shepherd in future generations, that his voice would eventually be unto all across time and place. 1 On one hand, though, a little learning is a dangerous thing insofar as it diminishes the expectation of discovery due to received assumptions on the other hand, where there is no exegetical inheritance, scholarly speculations tend to multiply. Among non-Latter-day Saint scholars, there appear to be several perspectives on the “other sheep,” but one predominates: the other-sheep phrase refers to those who would hear the Good Shepherd’s voice among the early Gentiles. Latter-day Saint scholars generally view the reference as pointing to the Lehites that Jesus addresses in 3 Nephi and those of the lost tribes of the house of Israel whom he subsequently visits, of whom we have no present account. Jesus Christ’s reference to his “other sheep” in John 10:16 is perhaps not well understood. “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) The value of this comparative approach is to recast our understanding of various passages of scripture, even as additional value is assigned to the Nephite record as the covenant of peace. The Nephite record’s coming forth to eventually establish peace on earth was foretold by prophets such as Isaiah (Isaiah 52:7–10), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:23–25 37:15–26), and Nephi (1 Nephi 13:34–37, 40–14:2 1 Nephi 22:16–28). The Nephite record has come forth so that the Lord’s sheep (those who hear his voice in and through that record in the final dispensation) may be safely gathered into the fold before he comes in glory to reign as a second King David. Specifically, the Book of Mormon, according to the Good Shepherd (3 Nephi 15:12–16:20), effectively serves as his recognizable voice to the inhabitants of the earth across time and space.

In this paper, using a comparative method that traces intersecting pastoral imagery, I argue that John 10:16–18 (as opposed to merely John 10:16) not only refers to Jesus’s visit to the Lehites in Bountiful and the lost tribes of Israel (the standard LDS view), but that it has a scripturally warranted covenant-connection to the emergence and dissemination of the Nephite record. Complexities in the English Language of the Book of Mormon - 2015Ībstract: The Book of Mormon sheds light on a “great mystery” located in John 10:16 (D&C 10:64).The Ultimate Egypt – Interpreter Foundation Tour.

Lds scriptures kindle edition