Shepherd Us

I was watching The Prince of Egypt with the grandkids recently. I love this movie. The animation, cinematography and score is superb.They really should do a live action film of this movie. The opening musical number is called “Deliver Us.” As the song plays, there is a montage of scenes of the harsh slavery the Israelites are enduring under Egyptian rule. God’s people are making pleas to save them from this misery they live in. 

“Deliver us

Send a shepherd to shepherd us

And deliver us to the Promised Land

Deliver us to the Promised Land

Deliver us”

I saw three applications for these verses.

The Israelites are begging God to send someone to lead them out of slavery and into the Promise Land. The verse from the song is a setup to introduce the main character of the film, Moses. Moses is born, sent on a trip down the river in a basket to escape population control through murder by order of the Pharaoh. The wife of the pharaoh finds Moses and raises him as her own. As an adult, Moses kills an Egyptian who is punishing a Hebrew slave. Moses then flees into the desert. After he marries Zipporah, Moses encounters God where he is directed to become the shepherd of God’s people. Eventually, Moses leads them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. This is the basis for the film and I feel it is faithful to the spirit of scripture (Exodus 1-14).

The other application I see should be obvious to believers. The song also refers to Jesus the Messiah.

In John 10, Jesus says, 

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” (John 10:11-18)

Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd. He will lay down His life for His flock and only He has authority to do so (John 19:11,30). He knows His sheep and they know Him (John 10:3-5). Jesus leads His Church from this life, this world, to His Promised Land of the New Heaven and the New Earth (Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, 2Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1). Moses knew his people and they knew him. Moses was putting his life in jeopardy by approaching the Pharaoh and telling him to release his people (Exodus 10:28). He was ready to lay down his life if need be. Jesus led, just as Moses led. Both were answers to prayers from God’s people, send a shepherd to shepherd us.

The final application should be obvious but is often missed. Twice, I have been through a situation where the church body had to pray in a new pastor. Finding a new pastor takes time and prayer. We prayed over the new pastor and his family, though we did not know who it was. We prayed God would send us the pastor our church needed, we prayed for the blessing and protection of the pastor and his family and we prayed that God would lead us in this journey. We were essentially praying for a shepherd to shepherd us. Obviously, this song could refer to our local clergy for us today. However, why do we only think of pastors being shepherds? Elders are shepherds. And I am going to take it one step further. Men are called to be shepherds. 

Shepherds protect their flock, men protect their family (Ephesians 5:25, Nehemiah 4:13-14, 1 Peter 3:7). Shepherds provide for their flock, men provide for their family (1 Timothy 5:8, Genesis 3:17-19). Shepherds lead their flock, men lead their family (Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Peter 3:7, Titus 1:9 ). Though most of these verses apply to married men with children, it is not exclusive to them. I would argue that every man feels these responsibilities. Every man is called to protect, provide and lead. When people cry out for providers, protectors, leaders, and shepherds to shepherd, lead, protect and provide for us, they are calling not only for Christ, but until He returns, they are calling for men to step up and shepherd.