Thursday, August 4, 2022

John Bowman on John 10:16 and its Relationship to Ezekiel 37 and Isaiah 56

  

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)

 

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