The Messianic Chain of Suffering Shepherds: The Links that Tie Abel, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David to Jesus

On the afternoon of the resurrection, Jesus mildly scolded Cleopas and his traveling companion on the road to Emmaus for their failure to believe what the prophets had spoken.

Their downcast faces showed the hopelessness they felt inside. Jesus had been nailed to a Roman cross, suffered, and died. Their hopes for him were dashed. After listening to Cleopas explain what had tragically happened to this Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord then entered the conversation and put his finger on their problem:

25 So he said to them, “You foolish people—how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things written about himself in all the scriptures. 

Luke 24

I am confident that among many other passages in the Law[1] and the Prophets,[2] Jesus showed them the chain of shepherds to persuade them that Israel’s Messiah first had to suffer and then enter his glory. The chain of shepherds in Scripture shows that it was a non-negotiable fact that the Messiah had to suffer. So, they should have expected Jesus to suffer. But they were slow to believe. If they had been quick to believe what they read in the chain of shepherds, Jesus’ suffering and death, while tragic, would have been understood and accepted with hope. The chain of shepherds provides confident expectation that the Messiah’s death on a Roman cross was not the last gasp of a fanciful dream, but a necessary stepping-stone to his glory.   

The Chain of Shepherds

When we put on our canonical glasses, the chain of shepherds becomes visible to our eyes and the suffering and death of Jesus makes so much sense. It’s a chain composed of six links. The chain begins with Abel’s death and resurrection and ultimately finds its fulfillment in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Let me unravel that canonical chain, link by link.  

The chain of shepherds is composed by linking six major characters who are explicitly said to “tend sheep.”[3] The various authors of the OT shaped the stories of these six characters so that the key elements of one story are repeated (with variation) in another story. Those repeated key elements include the following: the Hebrew phrase, ‘tend sheep’, the rejection or hatred of the shepherd by either family members or their own people, a period of exile from family or people of various lengths, and eventual restoration, a type of resurrection from the dead. So, the chain of shepherds contains shepherds who suffer at the hands of family, but after a time of exile, eventually are restored to their people.

The First Link in the Messianic Chain: Abel the Suffering Shepherd

Genesis begins this chain of links with the account of Abel[4] (Gen. 4:2), who is said to ‘tend sheep’,[5] is killed (suffers) by his brother Cain and replaced by Seth the third-born son. Seth is the seed[6] that replaces Abel in Gen. 4:25,[7] language that recalls the verb (אָשִׁ֗ית) and noun (זַרְעָ֑הּ) in Gen. 3:15. Seth thus represents a restoration, a resurrection from the dead, a return in the form of the resurrected Abel. Seth is a portrait of future younger brothers and future shepherds who will also experience rejection and exile, but eventually return as a type of resurrection.

The Second Link in the Messianic Chain: Jacob the Suffering Shepherd

Like Abel, Jacob is the younger brother of two (Gen. 30:36) and a shepherd who “tends sheep” (Gen 30:36). He also suffers hatred by his older brother and, for the sake of safety, is forced into exile for a lengthy period of time. But like Abel, Jacob is eventually restored to his family, reminding readers of Abel’s resurrection through Seth’s birth. The pattern of Jacob as shepherd follows the same trajectory as the pattern of Abel the shepherd.

The Third Link in the Messianic Chain: Joseph the Suffering Shepherd 

Joseph’s story appears to reenact the account of Jacob. Both men are younger brothers and are said to “tend sheep” (Joseph—Gen 37:2) and are favored by a parent. Both are exalted above their brothers. And like Abel and Jacob, Joseph suffers and is condemned to exile because of fratricidal jealousy. But eventually he also is reconciled with his brothers in Egypt who no longer seek vengeance. Joseph’s reunion with his father Jacob is depicted as a resurrection from the dead. The pattern of earlier suffering shepherds (Abel, Jacob) is now again repeated in the life of Joseph the suffering shepherd.

The Fourth Link in the Messianic Chain: Moses the Suffering Shepherd 

The chain of suffering shepherds continues with Moses. He, too, is said to “tend sheep” (Ex. 3:1). Moses’ portrait is a mirror image with that of Joseph before him. Both Joseph and Moses were recognized by their parents at an early age as marked for a special role and both rise to prominence in Pharaoh’s court. Both are shepherds who were separated from families early on but become shepherds of people. Both obtain Egyptian names,[8] marry daughters of foreign priests,[9] have two sons, leave Egypt together, one dead, one alive. Joseph and Moses are commissioned by the Lord to lead and make provision for an unruly people who display a pronounced proclivity to reject their leaders. And both Joseph and Moses save their people by supplying food for them.

And like Joseph before him, Moses suffers and is rejected by a fellow Israelite and is forced to flee into exile for 40 years where he tends sheep. And like Jacob and Joseph, Moses is restored and returns to his people with his family accompanying him.

The Fifth Link in the Messianic Chain: David the Suffering Shepherd

The Old Testament chain of suffering Shepherds climaxes with a human king, David, also a younger brother. David, like the preceding shepherds, is said to “tend sheep” (1 Sam 16:11; 17:34), is rejected by his older brothers and his people. In danger for his life, he flees into exile, symbolic for death, for period of time and eventually turns up alive, returning to his people accompanied by his family. David is the last human figure characterized as suffering, younger shepherd.

The Future Link in the Messianic Chain: A Future Davidic Shepherd 

The same task of shepherding Israel is to be performed by a future David, the Lord himself as shepherd, according to Ezekiel 34: 

12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. 13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord… 23 “‘I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them—namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd.

At the time of this passage, David is dead and buried. Yet, on the foundation of God’s promise to King David (2 Sam 7:16), Ezekiel looks forward with hope to the arrival of a future shepherd, a future Davidic King. So, the last chapter of David’s royal house had not been written. Sailhamer argues,

 Ezekiel saw a time in Israel’s future when they would be regathered from exile among all the nations and returned to the land (24:13-22). At that time God would place his servant David over them as a shepherd (v.23) and prince (v.24). Undoubtedly Ezekiel used the notion of the kingship of David as a figure of that of Messiah.[10]

Five Suffering Shepherds Foreshadow a Future Suffering Shepherd

 This suggests that the stories of Abel (Gen. 4, the very first story occurring after the entrance of sin, Gen. 3), Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and King David, then, are not merely biographies of shepherds. Each story is Messianic in nature, pointing ahead with hope to a future suffering shepherd. The parallel patterns of each shepherd-- suffering and rejection by his own, enduring a period of exile, but eventually returning to his people as a type of resurrection—form a chain of suffering shepherds. The chain foreshadows the arrival of a future, suffering shepherd, another royal David of which Ezekiel spoke.  

Who do you think that future, royal David might be?

The Final Link in the Messianic Chain: Jesus the Suffering Shepherd

The portrait of Jesus in the John’s Gospel provides the literary climax of the chain of suffering shepherds.

 Like the preceding characters, Jesus, too, was a shepherd (John 10:1-18), rejected by his own family (John 7:5) and people (John 10:19-21; 18:2). The rejection ultimately resulted in suffering death by crucifixion and temporary exile in burial (John 19:38-42).

Like his predecessors before him, Jesus’ return from suffering and death as exile was an unexpected, total surprise (John 20:1-31). And as a result of his resurrection from the dead, Jesus returns to his disciples who are, for the first time, called his brothers and sisters (John 20:17). In other words, just as Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David returned to their people after exile, Jesus returns from exile to his family.

Jesus’ Point: Israel’s Messianic Shepherd had to Suffer

The chain of shepherds shows that Jesus was spot on when he scolded Cleopas and his traveling companion on the road to Emmaus that Sunday afternoon: it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and then enter his glory. The Law (containing the stories of Abel, Jacob, Joseph, Moses) and the Prophets (1 Samuel, containing the story of David) testified to a chain of suffering shepherds, climaxing in Ezekiel’s promise of a future Davidic shepherd. 

Cleopas and his companion no doubt had heard and read these stories and observed all of the striking, canonical connections between the five shepherds who suffered family rejection, exile, and eventual return. They should have expected Jesus, then, to suffer at the hands of his people, be exiled, and then return to them. But they were slow to believe the chain. And that tardy faith in the Scriptures quickly sent them down a path of discouragement and hopelessness.

Thank you for reading.

NOTES

[1] The Pentateuch, Genesis—Deuteronomy.

[2] The Prophets begin with the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel; 1 & 2 Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and “the Twelve”, Hosea – Malachi.

[3] רֹעֶ֖ה בַּצֹּ֑אן ;

[4] Adam’s role in the birth of Abel is not explicit (Gen. 4:2), unlike Cain (Gen. 4:1), and so is cast as the offspring of Eve. This same pattern is repeated in the birth of Jesus. Joseph’s role is not explicit and so Jesus’ birth is cast as Mary’s offspring.

[5] וַֽיְהִי־הֶ֨בֶל֙ רֹ֣עֵה צֹ֔אן (Gen. 4:2) ; this particular Hebrew phrase is used with each of the shepherds in the sequence.

[6] זֶ֣רַע (Gen. 4:25).

[7] הֲרָגֹ֖ו קָֽיִן׃ זֶ֣רַע אַחֵ֔ר תַּ֣חַת הֶ֔בֶל כִּ֥י  (Gen. 4:25).

[8] Joseph is changed to Zaphaneth-Paneah; Moses is an Egyptian name given to him by Pharaoh’s daughter.

[9] Joseph married Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On in Egypt; Moses married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian.

[10] Sailhamer, NIV Compact Bible Commentary, p.393.