SHEPHERD
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary,
International Student’s Edition, shepherd or also known as sheepherder is a
person whose job is to take care of sheep. In general, shepherd is an
occupation for a person whose job is to take care, tend, feed, breed, milk, shear,
slaughter and guard flocks of sheep. [1]
Shepherding is one of the oldest
occupations that begin in some 6,000 years ago. In ancient times shepherds also
commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk. To maintain a
large flock, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture. The duty
of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and
other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock
and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing.
In many societies, shepherds were an
important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage
earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart
from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males
without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally.
Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not
inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family
member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elder who couldn't
help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.
Shepherds would normally work in groups
either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging
their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with
their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds
lived in covered wagons that travelled with their flocks.
Sheep can feed on rough pasture which is
unsuitable for cattle or agriculture, including, in summer mountainous terrain,
which implies seasonal herding along routes now known as drovers' roads. This
(for primitive human drovers) implies advanced hiking and survival skills. A
strong, multi-purpose stick can be used for balance, examining dangerous
undergrowth and for defence against attack by predators.
In modern times, shepherding has changed
dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and
nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of
massive estates. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep,
so a young son is sent out to guard them while the rest of the family tend to other
chores. In the USA, many sheep herds are flocked over public BLM lands.
Wages are higher than was the case in
the past. Keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the
eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for
shepherds. In places like Britain, hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left
alone without a shepherd for long periods of time. More productive breeds of
sheep can be left in fields and moved periodically to fresh pasture when
necessary. Hardier breeds of sheep can be left on hillsides. The sheep farmer
will attend to the sheep when necessary at times like lambing or shearing.
European exploration led to the spread
of sheep around the world, and shepherding became especially important in Australia
and New Zealand where there was great pastoral expansion. In Australia
squatters spread beyond the Nineteen Counties of New South Wales to elsewhere,
taking over vast holdings called properties and now stations.
Once driven overland to these properties,
sheep were pastured in large unfenced runs. There, they required constant
supervision. Shepherds were employed to keep the sheep from straying too far,
to keep the mobs as healthy as possible and to prevent attacks from dingoes and
Wedge-tailed Eagles. Lambing time further increased the shepherd's
responsibilities.
Shepherding was an isolated, lonely job
that was firstly given to assigned convict servants. The accommodation was
usually poor and the food was lacking in nutrition leading to dysentery and scurvy.
When free labour was more readily available others took up this occupation.
Some shepherds were additionally brought to Australia on the ships that carried
sheep and were contracted to caring for them on their arrival in the colony.
Sheep owners complained about the inefficiency of shepherds and the shepherds'
fears of getting lost in the bush.
Typically sheep were watched by shepherds
during the day and by a hut-keeper during the night. Shepherds took the sheep
out to graze before sunrise and returned them to brush-timber yards at sunset.
The hut-keeper usually slept in a movable shepherd's watch box placed near the
yard in order to deter attacks on the sheep. Dogs were also often chained close
by to warn of any impending danger to the sheep or shepherd by dingoes or
natives.[2]
In this modern technology, shepherd no
longer need to migrate the flocks from pasture to pasture. A special goat barn
is invented for a small area shepherding so that the flocks can have shelter
and hover in it instead of on the grass field. So it is possible to be a
shepherd although the poor do not have a large land. He also can rent a lot of
land as a start up.
There are many benefits for the poor
being a shepherd either for himself or for the society. First benefit is he has
plenty of time to think and observe the wonderfulness of Allah’s creations. It
is because shepherd is job is to deal with the sheep, not people. So this gives
him much lonely time. Another benefit is he can isolate himself from the
corruption and sins of the society. Although he has a lot of time, he needs to
be there with the flocks to take care of it. This can preserve his heart from
sins. The shepherd also can spend more time to do ibadah and pray to Allah.
For the society, a shepherd gives a lot
of benefits. He can provide sheep base products such as wool, milk, cheese and
meat to the society. This will generate the economy. By offering wool, other
product for knitwear clothing such as socks and jumper can be produce. It also
used in furniture for making chair covers and for upholstery. Meat of sheep is
very nutritious. It supplies us with many of the vital vitamins and proteins we
need for healthy living. There are two types of sheep meat, lamb and mutton.
Lamb is the meat (flesh) from a sheep that is less than one year old. Mutton is
the meat from a sheep that is over one year of age. Exporting these products
also can widen the economy and advertise Halal’s product to world. [3]
Shepherd also can benefit the society by
providing job opportunity. As the flock grow bigger, the amount of people to
look after it also needs to increase. He should hire other workers to clean the
barn, feed the sheep and guard it from predators or other threads. If the shepherd
wants to monopoly the market of meat, he should hire a butcher to sell the lamb
and mutton to the society. So that, many other people, especially the poor can
also get some job to effort their life. [4]
Sheep nowadays eats bran instead of
grass. It is because they live in the barn and just once in a while given to
roam the grass field. Shepherd will buy the bran from the local bran supplier
so this will generate the local bran market. However, sheep also need to be
feed with grass too. So, using the grass which was cut can do the trick. It can
lower the cost of feeding the sheep and decrease the amount of disposal. So
that, the total amount of disposal discarded by the society is decreased.
If there is no shepherd in the society,
many problems will occur. One of them is no supplies of sheep products such as
wool, milk, cheese and meat. It will cause the production of clothing for
knitwear to decrease. The meat market will not having the supplier of lamb and
mutton. This will stunt the local economy.
In order to have those products, the
society needs to import it from foreign countries. By importing those raw
products from other countries, producer can continue producing other products.
However, this will increase society’s balance of trade. It is bad if the
balance of trade become negative and unfavourable because it will cause trade
deficit.
How becoming a shepherd can help the
poor? By becoming a shepherd, the poor can control the market of wool, milk, cheese
and meat. Controlling these markets is very essential for a shepherd because
they provide the product to the market. Although they provide the raw material,
they need to control the market so that they will not be oppressed and can
control the price of their product.
To be a shepherd is not difficult. The
poor does not need have a high level of education to be a shepherd. Because the
poor have low income, the money is more needed for living than education. So
they can use the money for living and get more money by being a shepherd. It is
also easy to start up. It does not involve high expenses to start up being a
shepherd. Sheep are also easy to breed. It can grow into large flock in a few
years. The poor can gain stable profits in a few years.
Shepherding is a symbol of
responsibilities. Islam has placed a burden of responsibility on the shoulders
of all people, from which none may be excused. Muslims need to have this
characteristic so that other people will respect Muslims.
"Each
of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock. The leader
is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock; and man is the shepherd of his
family and is responsible for his flock; a woman is the shepherd in the house
of her husband and is responsible for her flock; the servant is the shepherd of
his master's wealth and is responsible for it. Each of you is a shepherd and is
responsible for his flock." (Bukhari and Muslim).[5]
In this hadith, Prophet Muhammad SAW uses
the occupation of shepherd, not seller or army which also shows
responsibilities. It is because taking care of sheep is hard. Sheep does not
understand human who taking care of them. They did not understand why the
shepherd is moving them from pasture to pasture. They did not understand why the
shepherd cast them into the slather if it is raining. Same as the people who
under someone’s responsibilities. They are like the sheep. They want to do
things on their own yet they do not know that will cause harm to him. But the
one responsible know better.
Shepherding
is also a tranquil job. From Hadits
Muslim 75
حَدَّثَنَا
يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى قَالَ قَرَأْتُ عَلَى مَالِكٍ عَنْ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ عَنْ
الْأَعْرَجِ عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ رَأْسُ الْكُفْرِ نَحْوَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْفَخْرُ وَالْخُيَلَاءُ
فِي أَهْلِ الْخَيْلِ وَالْإِبِلِ الْفَدَّادِينَ أَهْلِ الْوَبَرِ وَالسَّكِينَةُ
فِي أَهْلِ الْغَنَمِ
Abu
Hurairah also narrated that the Prophet "Basic disbelief is in the
direction of the rising sun, proud and arrogant are from the owners of horses
and camels, their high-pitched voice (noise) is the custodian of furry animals
(rabbits, cats) and there was peace in the shepherd." (This Hadith was
also asserted by al-Imam Malik in his al-Muwatta ').[6]
It proves that being a shepherd can have
tranquillity. They have plenty of time to think of the creation of Allah. They
can do ibadah longer.
Metaphorically, the term
"shepherd" is used for God, especially in the Judeo-Christian
tradition (e.g. Psalm 23), and in Christianity especially for Jesus, who called
himself the Good Shepherd.[8] The Ancient Israelites were a pastoral people and
there were many shepherds among them. It may also be worth noting that many
Biblical heroes were shepherds, among them the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob,
the twelve tribes, the prophet Moses, and King David; and the Old Testament
prophet Amos, who was a shepherd in the rugged area around Tekoa. In the New
Testament, angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds.
The same metaphor is also applied to
priests, with Roman Catholic, Church of Sweden, and Anglican bishops having the
shepherd's crook among their insignia (see also Lycidas). In both cases, the
implication is that the faithful are the "flock" who have to be
tended. This is in part inspired by Jesus's injunctions to Peter, "Feed my
sheep", which is the source of the pastoral image in Lycidas. The term
"Pastor", originally the Latin word for "shepherd", is now
used solely to denote the clergy of most Christian denominations.
The Good Shepherd is one of the thrusts
of Biblical scripture. This illustration encompasses many ideas, including
God's care for his people and his discipline to correct the wandering sheep.
The tendency of humans to put themselves into danger's way and their inability
to guide and take care of themselves apart from the direct power and leading of
God is also reinforced with the metaphor of sheep in need of a shepherd.
The image of the Good Shepherd is the
most common of the symbolic representations of Christ found in Early Christian
art in the Catacombs of Rome, before Christian imagery could be made explicit.
The form of the image showing a young man carrying a lamb round his neck was
directly borrowed from the much older pagan kriophoros (see below) and in the
case of portable statuettes like the most famous one now in the Pio Cristiano
Museum, Vatican City (right), it is impossible to say whether the image was
originally created with the intention of having a Christian significance.
From
John 10:11-18, 11 I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a
shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep
and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the
sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I
know my own and my own know me, 15
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for
the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep
that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my
voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life
that I may take it up again. 18 No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to
lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have
received from my Father.”[7]
As conclusion, shepherd is a very
important job for the society. They give a lot of benefits and can cause
trouble if there is no shepherd in the society. They generate economy and
provide job opportunities. More importantly it can help the poor effort their
life and gain tranquillity. They also have more time to do ibadah. It is proved
in hadith that being a shepherd can train one to be responsible. Prophet
Muhammad SAW also a shepherd when he is a young boy. Other prophets such as
Musa, Isa and Daud are also a shepherd once. Shepherd is a holy job.
[2] Sheep Herding -Keeping Instinct Alive
[7] The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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