ARAMAIC WORD STUDY: GOOD (SHEPHERD) – TAWA’  אוט 

John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep.”

Today I heard about a pastor who felt it would be wrong for him to clean the bathrooms in his church.  If his congregation truly loved God they would be ashamed to allow their pastor, their shepherd to clean the bathrooms.

Jesus calls himself a good shepherd.  There are a few words in Greek which are rendered as good and about four words in Aramaic rendered as good.  The Aramaic words Hana (pleasurable, beautiful, find) and Taqan (honest, blameless, high moral character) would best match the Greek word kalos that is used in John 10:11.  However, the Aramaic New Testament Peshitta uses the word tawa (perfect harmony) instead.   Jesus spoke these words in Aramaic and John heard them in Aramaic and perhaps he or a scribe translated them into Greek. 

The Aramaic word tawa’ is rooted in a relationship.  In review of all the Greek words, I could not find any that would actively speak of a relationship.  All, more or less, address one’s character, courage or appearance.   Yet, the whole idea of Jesus illustrating Himself as a shepherd carries the idea of a relationship and really speaks little of his appearance, moral character or courage.  Perhaps the word good is not our best rendering although I for one would never be a part in tearing down this iconic expression of a Good Shepherd.  I like calling Him the Good Shepherd, but we really need to define good. 

There were two types of a shepherd in Jesus day.  There were the hired shepherds who watched someone else’s sheep and the self-employed shepherds who owned their own sheep.  In the ancient Eastern culture, a shepherd was a highly respected occupation.   Women desired to see their sons become shepherds.  If a man had no sons he would be forced to hire a stranger to watch his sheep.  This was not the best option as shepherding was a very hazardous job.  A shepherd had to protect a bunch of senseless animals from attack by wolves, bandits, hostile weather and any number of threats.  The first sign of a bunch of knife welding thieves and a hired shepherd will say: “Risk my life for a shekel a day,  I’m out of here.”   However, if a man’s personal livelihood is threatened, which also threatened his wife, children, and his future, he would take the risk.   

There were plenty of courageous, honorable hired shepherds, but they did not have a relationship with their sheep, their relationship was with their paycheck. Get fired from one shepherd job they just move to another community; background checks were difficult in those days.  

Jesus is not only our Good Shepherd, or the Shepherd who is not into it for the paycheck and will abandon his sheep first time one wanders off a dangerous cliff or faces hungry wolves, but He has also set Himself up as a role model for Christian leaders.  How many pastors would walk into a crack house and bodily pick up one of the young people from his church and drag him home?  How many pastors would get up in the middle of the night during a snowstorm and drive to the bedside of a church member who needs prayer and his handheld?  How many pastors would take a pay cut during a recession so members of His congregation would not be burdened with dipping into their unemployment checks?  How many pastors are really in harmony with their congregation? How many pastors would clean the toilets in the church?  Jesus was the tawa’ Shepherd,  the Shepherd who was so in harmony with his congregation of 12 that he even washed their feet.