John 10:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Verily, verily, I say unto you,— Our Lord, having reproved the Pharisees in the foregoing chapter, for shutting their eyes against the evidence of his divine mission, continued the reproof by describing the characters of a true and false teacher; leaving them, who had so unjustly excommunicated the beggar, to judge to which of the classes they belonged. Jesus being now in the outer court of the temple, near the sheep which were there exposed to sale for sacrifice, he uses the language of the ancient prophets, who often compared the teachers of their own times to shepherds, and the people to sheep: accordingly, in describing the characters of the scribes and Pharisees, he made use of the same metaphor; shewing that there are two kinds of evil shepherds or teachers—One, who instead of entering in by the door, to lead the flock out and feed it, enter in some other way, with an intention to steal, kill, and destroy; another, who, though they may have entered in by the door, feed their flocks with the dispositions of hirelings. For when they see the wolf coming, or any danger approaching, they desert their flocks, because they love themselves only. The Pharisees plainly shewed themselves to be of the former character, by excommunicating the man that had been born blind, because he would not act contraryto the dictates of his reason and conscience to please them. But though they cast him out of their church, Christ received him into his; which is the true church, the spiritual inclosure, where the sheep go in and out, and find pasture. Some eminent commentators are of opinion, that the whole of this parabolical discourse was taken from the sheep which were inclosed in little folds within the outward court of the temple, whither they were brought by their shepherds to be sold; because our Lord speaks of such folds as the shepherd himself could not enter, till the porter opened to him the door, namely, of the temple. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door, &c. that is, "I assure you, whosoever in any age of the church assumed the office of a teacher without commission from me, and without a sincere regard to the edification and salvation of souls, was a thief and a robber; and in the present age he is no better, who assumes that office without my commission; particularly without believing onme, and without intending my honour, and the good of my church:" for, as our Lord calls himself the door, John 10:9 entering by the door must signify acting byhis commission; which could not be done without believing on him and regarding his interest. Others, however, object to this interpretation. "I cannot think," says one of them, "whatever occasion Christ might take from the sight of the sheep in the temple, to represent his people under that image, and himself as a shepherd, that he would describe them like sheep shut up in little folds to be sold, for sacrifice; nor does the shepherd's leading them out, &c. seem to agree with this circumstance. In countries where there were so many wild beasts, it might be necessary to have the folds better secured than among us; and the chief shepherd might often leave a servant to watch them while thus shut up, and come himself to lead them out to pasture in the morning." The reader must judge what force there is in this objection: it seems to me most reasonable to suppose, that our Lord, according to his usual manner, took his general idea from the sheep which were present in the temple; but by no means confined himself to the particular circumstances of those sheep; carrying on his discourse in a metaphorical manner, relative to the general and well known customs of shepherds in that country.