John 10:4

πάντα (BDLX) for πρόβατα (A).

4. ὅταν τὰ ἴδια πάντα ἐκβ. When he hath put forth all his own. ‘There shall not an hoof be left behind’ (Exodus 10:26). Ἐκβάλῃ is remarkable, as being the very word used in John 9:34-35 of the Pharisees putting forth the man born blind: here we might have expected ἐξάγειν rather than ἐκβάλλειν. The false shepherds put forth sheep to rid themselves of trouble; the true shepherds put forth sheep to feed them. But even the true shepherds must use some violence to their sheep to ‘compel them to come’ (Luke 14:23) to the pastures. This was true at this very moment of the Messiah, who was endeavouring to bring His people out of the rigid enclosure of the Law into the free pastures of the Gospel. But there are no ‘goats’ in the allegory; all the flock are faithful. It is the ideal Church composed entirely of the elect. The object of the allegory being to set forth the relations of Christ to His sheep, the possibility of bad sheep is not taken into account. That side of the picture is treated in the parables of the Lost Sheep, and of the Sheep and the Goats.

ἔμπροσθεν. As soon as they are out he does not drive but leads them, as Oriental shepherds do still: and they follow, because they not only hear (John 10:3) but know his voice. Note the change from sing. ἀκολουθεῖ to plur. οἴδασιν; Winer, p. 646.