John 10:3

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him. The shepherd led the sheep into the sheepfold through the door, and the gatekeeper fastened the door from the inside and stayed with the sheep all night as a "night-watchman." [Some make this "gatekeeper" symbolize God.] In the morning, the shepherd comes to get his sheep, the gatekeeper opens the gate [door], and the shepherd calls his sheep to come. [More than one flock of sheep were sometimes kept together in a sheepfold, and each knew the voice. of their own shepherd and would come only at his call.] And he leads them out. Shepherds "make pets" of their sheep, giving them names as we do our dogs, etc. When they are called by name, they come playfully. The shepherd calls his sheep by name, and leads them out into the hills and meadows, where they eat the green grass.