Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/379



THE SHEPHERD-KING 363

like sheep ; they are troubled (or afflicted ) because there is no shepherd " (ver. 2) ; but when Jehovah of hosts, in the person of the Messiah, again " visits His flock," namely, " the house of Judah " (ver. 3) and " the house of Joseph " (ver. 6), He " will pipe for them and gather them."

If I may digress for a moment, and mention incidents of personal experience, I would say that on more than one occasion I have had the figure referred to in this passage illustrated before my eyes. On one occasion (it was in 1891) while camping for a few days with missionary friends in a wild part high up on the Lebanon, a picturesque-looking young Bedouin shepherd was leading a small flock of sheep to some distant part in search of pasturage. Passing our encampment he stopped for a while to converse with us, and in the meantime his flock got scattered among the rocks ; but by and by, when he was ready to start, he pulled out from under his burnoose a reed pipe, and began to play on it a not very melodious tune ; and it was interesting and beautiful to notice how, as he was playing, his scattered sheep, some of which had wandered off to some distance, collected closer and closer around him, and formed into a flock ; and when they were all there he started off again at their head. Involuntarily this passage from Zechariah came to my mind : " / will pipe for them and gather them" On another occasion, when travelling in 1889 one whole night in a diligence in inland Algeria, we stopped about dawn at an inn in a small Arab village to change horses. While this was being done, an Arab who stood near began to play, or whistle, on one of the same kind of rough reed or bamboo pipe. At first I thought he was playing for our benefit in order to get baksheesh, but I soon observed that as he continued " piping," sheep and cows and goats came toward him from all directions. It was the village shepherd gathering his flock to lead them forth to pasture.

Thus also the Shepherd of Israel is going to gather His flock and lead them into their own pastures. " If any of thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven" He says, " thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee y and from thence