not a shepherd." _Michaelis_ pertinently remarks: "Nothing is
so miserable as sheep without a shepherd,--a thing which Scripture so
often repeats, Num. xxvii. 17," &c. As a commentary upon our passage,
Ezek. xxxiv. 4-6 may serve; [Pg 287] and according to that passage we
shall be compelled to think of their being destitute of the care of a
shepherd: "And they are scattered, because there is no Shepherd; and
they become meat to all the beasts of the field. My sheep wander on all
the mountains, and on every high hill, and over the whole land my sheep
are scattered, and there is none that careth for them, or seeketh
them." The point of comparison is very distinctly stated in Matt. ix.
36 also: [Greek: idon de tous ochlous esplanchnisthe peri auton, hoti
esan eskulmenoi kai erhrimenoi hosei probata me echonta poimena.]
Without doubt, turning to one's own ways is sinful, comp. chap. lvi.
11; but here it is not so much the aspect of sin, as that of misery,
which is noticed. As the chief reason of the sheep's wandering and
going astray, the bad condition of the shepherd must be considered,
comp. Jer. l. 6: "Perishing sheep were my people; their shepherds led
them astray," John x. 8: [Greek: pantes hosoi pro emou elthon, kleptai
eisi kai lestai.]--[Hebrew: pge] with [Hebrew: b] signifies "to hit;"
hence _Hiphil_, "to cause to hit." The iniquities of the whole
community _hit_ the Servant of God in their punishments; but according
to the biblical view, their punishments can come upon Him only as such,
only by His coming forward as a substitute for sinners, and not because
He suffers for the guilt of others to which He remained a stranger. By
this throwing the guilt upon the Servant of God, the condition of being
without a shepherd is _done_ away with, the flock is gathered from its
scattered condition. The wall of separation which was raised by its
guilt, and which separated it from God, the fountain of salvation, is
now removed by His substitution, and the words: "The Lord is my
Shepherd," now become a truth, comp. John x. 4.

Ver. 7. "_He was oppressed, and when He was plagued, He does not open
His mouth, like a lamb which is brought to the slaughter, and as a
sheep which is dumb before her shearers, and He does not open his
mouth._"

In these words, we have a description of the manner in which the
Servant of God _bore_ such sufferings. It flows necessarily from the
circumstance, that it was a vicarious suffering. The substit