Jn.
10:16 says: “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I
must bring, and they shall bear my voice; and they shall become one flock, one
shepherd.” This has a much broader meaning than merely the bringing together of
Samaritans and Jews. In that connection one could turn to Ezek. 37 and read how
the stick of Joseph and the stick of Judah become one stick (Ezek. 37:19), or
Yahweh’s statement to Ezekiel: “And My servant David will be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd”, or again (Ezek. 37:27): “My tabernacle
shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (v.
28) And the nations shall know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies Israel, when My
sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.” One might see this last
statement as lying behind Jn. 1:14: “And my Word became flesh and dwelt among
us and we beheld His glory . . . “ But it is very far removed from Jn 1:14. The
Fourth Gospel is not thinking of just Samarians and Jews. In Isa 56:6 Yahweh
speaks of
.
. . the strangers who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to
love the name of the Lord, to be His servants . . . (v. 7) even them will I
bring to My holy mountain an make them joyful in My house of prayer . . . for
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (v. 8) Adonai
Yahweh who gathers the outcasts of Israel says: ‘Yet will I gather others
to him, beside his own that are already gathered.’ (John Bowman, The Fourth
Gospel and the Jews: A Study in R. Akiba, Esther and the Gospel of John [Pittsburgh
Theological Monograph Series 8; Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 1975], 202-3)
