Hi @alison,
Thanks for starting this interesting topic for discussion. Recently, as I have been studying Walking with God in the Desert by Ray Vander Laan with a church group, I have begun to appreciate why scriptures describe God as a Shepherd and its relation to the Messianic Kingdom.
What I have learnt is that the geography of the lands of the Bible - Egypt, the desert and the promised land, played a significant role in the history and spiritual development of the Jewish people, and biblical writers used imagery from everyday experiences of these ancient cultures assuming the reader’s familiarity with that world. God had led the Israelites through the deserts of Sinai, wilderness of Paran, Negev, Zin and Judea. Unlike the lush green pastures that we modern day readers tend to imagine as we read Psalm 23, the desert terrain had steep rocky mountains, scarce water, few trees, a meager amount of grass along with dangers such as scorpions and snakes. The western edge of the steep Judean mountains was the main area that received enough rain to provide sufficient grazing. Like the sheep in the desert, whose lives depended on the shepherd’s knowledge of daily pasture and water to survive, this relationship became an appropriate metaphor for God and his people. The desert imagery such as wadis, thirst, miry clay, hunger, darkness were often used to describe hardships the Israelites faced. However, the desert was also where Israelites came to know God as a shepherd, as when God provided the Israelites with manna, quail, water from the rock and protection from enemies (Ex 13-17), David found safety from King Saul’s murderous intentions (1 Samuel 23:14) or as when Elijah escaped Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-8). The desert was the classroom where they learnt about moving away from self-sufficiency to dependence on God.
This may be related to the fact that the shepherds exercised complete and undisputed authority over their flocks. The sheep had to obey the voice of the Lord and follow him or face danger of death. So, if Jesus Christ is our Shepherd, we put ourselves under his complete authority, as a sovereign King! Through my book study, I came across several scriptural references in both the Old and New testament that link Jesus as the Messianic King who has been given divine authority as a shepherd over God’s flock- Isaiah 9:6-7, Jer 23:1-6, Micah 5:2, Matt 2:5-6, Micah 5:4, Zech 9:9, Matt 21:2-5, Zech 9:16, Eze 34:20-31, Rev 7:15-17.
The idea that the ancient cultures viewed a shepherd as a king is particularly evident in Psalm 78:70-72 where David’s rule as a king is compared to shepherding. What is also unique about this verse is that David is described as both shepherd and sheep! In King David just as @blake mentioned, we see the foreshadowing of prophecy that was, is and will be fulfilled in Jesus, as our King, Shepherd and Lamb!
Rev 7:15-17 ESV
15 Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
It was striking for me to see the continued usage of the desert imagery like hunger, thirst, sun, heat, and the identification of God as Shepherd and King, all the way from the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament. Considering Israelites knew the stories of hardships and God’s deliverance in the desert, the prophetic language with desert imagery would have brought great comfort to readers living in that context.