Dumb

[Shepherd]

This is one of my Blackbelly sheep, named "Sissy". As you might notice, she is communicating to me that she wants the petting to continue. In my 15 years of raising sheep, I have also observed other indications of even higher levels of intelligence from these animals. For a little genetics background, these beautiful creatures are the result of breeding French Rambouillet, Barbados Blackbelly and European Mouflon. The Mouflon is a wild sheep but they are sheep in every sense of the word. The King James Bible does mention a sheep as being "dumb", but the word does not mean "stupid": it means "silent" or "unable to speak". Many times I have heard men say things like "sheep are dumb" and "God didn't do us any favors comparing us to sheep". Really? So where is that found in the Bible? It DOES say that they "go astray". What say you?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vSvS8w3lQjY

 

[Genipher]

Haven't had much experience with sheep. Have had goats, though, and they are fun, playful things. Will follow like dogs. Never understood why sinners are compared to goats since they're very sweet.

Eta: love your sheep!
The kids and I were just talking about getting a lamb or 2 next spring.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

This is one of my Blackbelly sheep, named "Sissy". As you might notice, she is communicating to me that she wants the petting to continue. In my 15 years of raising sheep, I have also observed other indications of even higher levels of intelligence from these animals. For a little genetics background, these beautiful creatures are the result of breeding French Rambouillet, Barbados Blackbelly and European Mouflon. The Mouflon is a wild sheep but they are sheep in every sense of the word. The King James Bible does mention a sheep as being "dumb", but the word does not mean "stupid": it means "silent" or "unable to speak". Many times I have heard men say things like "sheep are dumb" and "God didn't do us any favors comparing us to sheep". Really? So where is that found in the Bible? It DOES say that they "go astray". What say you?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vSvS8w3lQjY

That's a good clarification on the definition.

In Acts 8 Philip explained to the Ethiopian a passage in Isaiah referring to the Lord. It defines itself, as much of the King James Bible does, on these key terms.
This is especially important when sharing how one is saved from sin and the wages which is death in hell. Good news is that this guy is in Heaven due to the Holy Spirit and His evangelist Philip explaining the gospel. It is an excellent example.

29Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

 

[HealthAndHappiness]

Sirs, What must I do to be saved?

And they answered,<

 

[Shepherd]

Haven't had much experience with sheep. Have had goats, though, and they are fun, playful things. Will follow like dogs. Never understood why sinners are compared to goats since they're very sweet.

Eta: love your sheep!
The kids and I were just talking about getting a lamb or 2 next spring.

You will love them. I would advise getting at least two; sheep don't do well alone.

 

[Gideon300]

Haven't had much experience with sheep. Have had goats, though, and they are fun, playful things. Will follow like dogs. Never understood why sinners are compared to goats since they're very sweet.

Eta: love your sheep!
The kids and I were just talking about getting a lamb or 2 next spring.

Goats are independent, capable and self sufficient. You hear a lot about feral goats; not so much about feral sheep. Sheep must be shorn or eventually they will be wool blind and perish.

Sheep need a shepherd. They do not do well on their own. They are also dumb and can get into trouble very easily. Believers are those who need Jesus, who see their need of a Saviour and cannot thrive without the Great Shepherd. Sheep are prone to wander and get in trouble. And that is why real Christians are called sheep.

 

[Shepherd]

Goats are independent, capable and self sufficient. You hear a lot about feral goats; not so much about feral sheep. Sheep must be shorn or eventually they will be wool blind and perish.

Sheep need a shepherd. They do not do well on their own. They are also dumb and can get into trouble very easily. Believers are those who need Jesus, who see their need of a Saviour and cannot thrive without the Great Shepherd. Sheep are prone to wander and get in trouble. And that is why real Christians are called sheep.

Do you know all this, about sheep, from first-hand experience? Around my neck of the woods, Northwest Florida, there used to be what they called "Free range" wherein livestock was allowed to roam freely to be later rounded up to sell. My elderly next door neighbor, who still plowed with a mule when I met him, told me he could remember sheep running free in these woods. There are two breeds of sheep, today, which came from that history. One is called "Gulf Coast Sheep" and the other is "Cracker Sheep". Do you remember the sheep which went astray from the 99? Do you remember where it went? It went into the mountains and hills. That is the natural home of a sheep. it went it's own way. This is also where most wild sheep live too.

Sheep do not naturally "need" a shepherd to survive. They are also no more "dumb" than any other farm animal. Living on a farm, I've seen cows, horses and even dogs which were pretty stupid. Actually, some of my own sheep show varying levels of intelligence. So I like to get my theology from the Bible. I would like to see where it says in the Bible that God wanted us to know that sheep are stupid. I've already explained what "dumb" means in Isaiah 53:7 That is a picture of a sheep being exploited and mistreated. Here is another....

Ezekiel 34: 1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. 6My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

What will keep sheep from going BACK to their natural home? Look at the ewe in my video. She will actually come to me simply to be petted. I gave her some medicine, one time, and she choked on it. It took a full year before she trusted me again. Now we're friends again. Sheep like companionship and they want to be fed. But they won't eat even slightly contaminated feed; they will turn up their noses and walk away. They won't come close either unless you have proven that you are trustworthy. But when you do, they will be your friend for life. Otherwise, they do not need a shepherd, at least not an exploitive, untrustworthy one. They will leave and head for the nearest, highest hills. Here is an article on "feral sheep" https://share.google/aimode/M6E0HZJZfltvJEENe

 

[timf]

We had Southdown sheep. They would get their head stuck in a fence and fight you at every turn when you tried to free them.

 

[ThereRoseaLamb]

We had Southdown sheep. They would get their head stuck in a fence and fight you at every turn when you tried to free them.

Yep, that sounds like when God is trying to get us out of messes we made on our own!

 

[Ceph]

Haven't had much experience with sheep. Have had goats, though, and they are fun, playful things. Will follow like dogs. Never understood why sinners are compared to goats since they're very sweet.

Eta: love your sheep!
The kids and I were just talking about getting a lamb or 2 next spring.

There is lean sheep and fat sheep, male goats and horned rams.
The way I see it, lean sheep are regular loving people, while fat sheep are evil rich people.
Male goats are faithful priests, officers, and wise men, while horned rams are gnostics, authority abusers, and factious people.

 

[Shepherd]

We had Southdown sheep. They would get their head stuck in a fence and fight you at every turn when you tried to free them.

Virtually all grass-eating 4-footed farm animals will stick their heads through a fence. When we had horned goats they were constantly getting their heads stuck in the fences. But Southdowns are polled . Sounds like you had the wrong type of fence. In over 15 years of raising sheep I don't recall ever having a polled sheep get her head stuck in our fences. Young horned rams sometimes do because of the horns.

 

[Shepherd]

There is lean sheep and fat sheep, male goats and horned rams.
The way I see it, lean sheep are regular loving people, while fat sheep are evil rich people.
Male goats are faithful priests, officers, and wise men, while horned rams are gnostics, authority abusers, and factious people.

Do you have Bible references for these? I know that God will separate the "sheep" from the "goats" with the sheep being the believers. and goats being unbelievers. Jesus said "my sheep know my voice". Also it was a "horned ram" which God chose as the sacrifice in place of Isaac. And Ezekiel 34 is speaking of ALL the "cattle" which included "rams and he goats".

Ezekiel 34
17And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

Seems to me, He didn't single out "sheep" as the sole "evil" perpetrators of these sins.
As for "factious people", there are factious people who are "heretical" but then the Bible doesn't have much good to say about "traditions of men" either. So, again, I ask, where in the Bible does it single out sheep for their stupidity?

 

[Ceph]

Do you have Bible references for these? I know that God will separate the "sheep" from the "goats" with the sheep being the believers. and goats being unbelievers. Jesus said "my sheep know my voice". Also it was a "horned ram" which God chose as the sacrifice in place of Isaac. And Ezekiel 34 is speaking of ALL the "cattle" which included "rams and he goats".

Ezekiel 34
17And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. 18Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? 19And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

20Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. 21Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; 22Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

Seems to me, He didn't single out "sheep" as the sole "evil" perpetrators of these sins.
As for "factious people", there are factious people who are "heretical" but then the Bible doesn't have much good to say about "traditions of men" either. So, again, I ask, where in the Bible does it single out sheep for their stupidity?

Verse 18 and 19 are about what the strong and powerful people on this earth use and know about, compared to what they show to the public, and how they manipulate the world to keep themselves rich while everyone else is poor; and how people who preach the word of God by their own authority pollute the pure message with their own opinions and other delusions.
Contemplate it, and the spirit will testify that it is true.

And I don't imply at all that sheep are stupid. I say the lean sheep/cattle and goats are the same yet distinguished, though apart from the fat and horned ones; because there is distincion between everyday people and the creative and powerful people who influence things in life, yet both are loved the same by God, and both must rely on one way to be saved.

 

[Shepherd]

The "Shepherds" of Israel were the political and religious leaders, exploiting the people instead of leading and genuinely caring for them. Some religious leaders today behave more like politicians and will use Bible passages like "touch not mine anointed" to keep their "flock" in check and suppress dissent. This falls within the "false teachings" category because, ANY person who is a born again, Holy Spirit indwelled believer is "anointed".

Then, there are some, I believe, who use the erroneous "sheep are dumb" thing as something akin to the "big brain, little brain" fallacy. In other words; lead your "dumb flock" to believe that only you have the correct interpretation of scripture, spiritual discernment and direct guidance from God. Others who mention "sheep are dumb" have probably just heard it so many times that they believe it, and repeat it, but don't know any better.,

Remember Jim Jones and the "People's Temple" cult drinking the KoolAid? What about Marshall Applewhite leading all those people to commit suicide so they could all get on a spaceship trailing Haley's Comet? Those are just two examples of people blindly following a false prophet to their destruction. All that seems pretty "dumb" to me. Sadly dumb. But those people were NOT the "sheep" which will be "separated from the goats" to enter Heaven and certainly not the ones who The Lord Jesus had in mind when he said "my sheep know my voice". Instead, that relationship is the one found in Psalm 23 and Isaiah 40:11. Stop saying stupid stuff like "sheep are the dumbest animals" and "sheep are the closest animal to to being like a human"(yeah I've heard that one from the pulpit). Do some think that I'm rocking the boat with some new and factious teaching? Why would anyone have reason to think that? After all, the "dumb sheep" belief is something propagated by this secular world: it is not in the Bible.