John 10:1

The Allegory of the Door of the Fold

1. Verily, verily This double affirmation, peculiar to this Gospel (see on John 1:51), never occurs at the beginning of a discourse, but either in continuation, to introduce some deep truth, or in reply. This verse is no exception. There is no break between the Chapter s, which should perhaps have been divided at John 9:34 or 38 rather than here. The scene continues uninterrupted from John 9:35 to John 10:21, where we have a reference to the healing of the blind man. Moreover John 10:6 seems to point back to John 9:41; their not understanding the allegory was evidence of self-complacent blindness. This chapter, therefore, although it contains a fresh subject, is connected with the incidents in chap. 9, and grows out of them. The connexion seems to be that the Pharisees by their conduct to the man had proved themselves bad shepherds; but he has found the Good Shepherd: they had cast him out of doors; but he has found the Door: they had put him forth to drive him away; the Good Shepherd puts His sheep forth to lead them. We are not told where these words are spoken; so that it is impossible to say whether it is probable that a sheepfold with the shepherds and their flocks was in sight. There is nothing improbable in the supposition.

He that entereth not by the door The Oriental sheepfolds are commonly walled or palisaded, with one door or gate. Into one of these enclosures several shepherds drive their flocks, leaving them in charge of an under-shepherd or porter, who fastens the door securely inside, and remains with the sheep all night. In the morning the shepherds come to the door, the porter opens to them, and each calls away his own sheep.

some other way Literally, from another quarter:the word occurs here only in N.T.

the same Better, he; literally, that one. It is a pronoun of which S. John is very fond in order to recall with emphasis some person or thing previously mentioned. Comp. John 1:18; John 1:33; John 5:2; John 5:39; John 9:37; John 12:48; John 14:21; John 14:26; John 15:26. In John 1:33 (-the same said unto me"), John 5:11, and John 12:48 it is inaccurately translated, as here, -the same."

a thief and robber Everywhere in this Gospel (8, 10, John 12:6; John 18:40), as also 2 Corinthians 11:26, these words are given correctly as renderings of the Greek equivalents; but everywhere else in N.T. (Matthew 21:13; Matthew 26:55; Matthew 27:38, &c., &c.) the word here translated -robber" is less well translated -thief." The -robber" is a brigand, a more formidable criminal than the -thief;" the one uses violence, the other cunning.