Matthew 9:36

36. When he saw the multitudes That is, whenever, during his circuit, he saw the vast congregations attracted by the fame of his works and listening with ready ear to his words. He was moved with compassion A tender pity would arise in his heart, day after day, at the sight of the successive crowds. Because they fainted The epithet fainted is applied to them in their character of sheep, who are worried and exhausted in the way.

Having no shepherd Even Moses is no shepherd to them, for the Galileans were half Gentile in their views. Their professed religious teachers were rather wolves than shepherds, who fed upon rather than fed the flock. The words of truth and mercy from the lips of Jesus were new to their ears and hearts. Doubtless the evangelist, in this verse, expresses the feeling of the Saviour in the very words which fell from his own lips.