ten´ding : The Scriptural allusions to pastoral life and the similes drawn from that life are the most familiar and revered in the Bible. Among the first verses that a child learns is "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not wants" ( Psalm 23:1 the King James Version, the English Revised Version). What follower of the Master does not love to dwell on the words of the "Good Shepherd" chapter in the Gospel of John (Jn 10)? Jesus must have drawn a sympathetic response when He referred to the relationship of sheep to shepherd, a relationship familiar to all His hearers and doubtless shared by some of them with their flocks. As a rule the modern traveler in the Holy Land meets with disappointment if he comes expecting to see things as they were depicted in the Bible. An exception to this is the pastoral life, which has not changed one what since Abraham and his descendants fed their flocks on the rich plateaus East of the Jordan or on the mountains of Palestine and Syria. One may count among his most prized experiences the days and nights spent under the spell of Syrian shepherd life.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
WikipediaThe ISBE is a classic Bible reference compiled from nearly 10,000 entries written by over 200 different Bible scholars and teachers. In addition to the encyclopedia articles, all of the major words of the Bible are represented and defined.
The historical, cultural, and linguistic information in the ISBE can be of great value in Bible study and research.
But as with any writings of men, the careful student of the Bible must always compare them with Scripture. As you use this helpful study resource, remember that only God's word is pure.
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