“Like sheep without a shepherd”
Matthew 9:36
IdiomSettledNarrator
When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A gentle pastoral image of aimlessness.
The cultural key
A charged Old Testament formula. Moses begs God for a successor 'that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd' (Numbers 27:17); Micaiah sees Israel scattered leaderless (1 Kings 22:17); Ezekiel 34 indicts Israel's 'shepherds,' its rulers, for feeding themselves while the flock is ravaged, and God vows to come shepherd them himself.
Recovered meaning
Not 'the crowds are lost souls' but 'Israel's leadership has failed them': an indictment of the shepherds in office, with Ezekiel's promise humming underneath: God himself arriving to take over the flock.
Parallels: Mark 6:34