Wolves for Shepherds

Two men stood before one another after four years of battling one another in the mountains of Bosnia, the heartland of the Roman province of Illyricum. One was the supreme military leader of the Roman Legions; the other a regional warlord who believed in his ‘what if?’ moment. It was 9 AD when Tiberius, the future emperor of the Roman Empire, asked his defeated foe Bato the Daesitiate why he had rebelled against Roman rule over Illyricum. The expected motive surely must have been a feeble and barbaric attempt to gain power, wealth and riches. The reply was: “You Romans are to blame for this; for you send as guardians of your flocks, not dogs or shepherds, but wolves.”

The pagan Roman worldview of rulership was ‘master/slave’; in contrast, and in what is truly a Biblical viewpoint, Bato expressed governance in terms of ‘shepherd/flock’. Bato expressed the heart cry of every individual, for which we were created, which is to be shepherded. We do not want to be ruled, we want to be shepherded. The task of shepherding is not confined to a ministry offered by a religious institution, but is the essential value of all levels of leadership in society.

There is no way of knowing if Bato was familiar with the prophets of Israel, but God definitely deals in like terms with this issue in Ezekiel 34. The three basic tasks of a shepherd are 1) to guide to, 2) to provide for, and 3) to protect from.

Here are a few thoughts on Ezekiel 34 [KJV]:

SHEPHERDS IN NAME, SHEEP AS GAME

1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

SHEPHERDS PRAY, WOLVES PREY

7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; 8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; 9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

SHEPHERDS GATHER, WOLVES SCATTER

11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

SHEEP’S WOOLLY, PIG’S FOLLY

17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18 Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21 Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

ONE SHEPHERD, ONE FLOCK

23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. 24 And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. 25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. 27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. 28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. 30 Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. 31 And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

In 6 AD, when Bato the Daesitiate rejected Roman rule of his home province of Illyricum, a new Roman province was established that year called ‘Judaea‘, where a young Boy was being taught how to read the words of Ezekiel.

Instead of executing Bato, Tiberius sent him to the Italian city of Ravenna to live out his days. It is in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna that the mosaic Christ The Good Shepherd (top of page) was placed over the north entrance. It pictures Christ with His sheep, holding an imperial Roman staff joined to the Christian cross, symbolizing His rulership of heaven and earth through shepherding. The ‘What if?’ Bato dreamed of for his Bosnian homeland would be established for all nations from out Judaea, and be celebrated in the city of his death.

I wonder if Bato the Daesitiate lived long enough to hear about the Good Shepherd? ‘What if’ he …