What does it mean to know the condition of your flock (Proverbs 27:23)?

"Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds."

Because mere man's work is vanity is no reason to be slothful in the Lord's work. Faith in the Living God and diligence go together, for in this there is no vanity: "your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Pastoral, shepherd care is implied in our verse, of course, and however feeble the day in which we live, the need of souls should draw out the unflagging labor and concern of our own hearts.

"For riches are not forever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?"

Care for souls, young and tender as they may be, will work for our own benefit, as the wool of the lambs is clothing for the shepherd, and as the price of goats sufficient to buy property. There is of course here the reminder of sacrifice, the lamb a type of the Lord Jesus in His quiet submission in death for us, the real means of clothing us in the eyes of God. The goat speaks of Him in substitution for us, a propitiation "for the whole world," that is, "the field," which has been purchased by His death. Compare Matthew 13:44; 1 John 2:2. Not that the world is redeemed, but redemption is available for it, and all who receive the Lord Jesus receive the eternal benefits of this great work.

"He that ruleth, with diligence." Those who are called to exercise the gift of ruler or leader in the assembly of God, are required to do so with the closest attention and zeal. Much sorrow, alienation of feeling, coldness irregularity in attendance, might be prevented by the watchful and faithful discharge of the ruler's duties. Prevention is better than cure; and in nothing more so than in a community of free, intelligent, but sensitive minds and encompassed with many infirmities. He needs a skilful eye to watch the countenance, to mark the movements, and to notice the first change in conduct. One may be observed hurrying off rather quickly at the close of a meeting, so as to avoid speaking or being spoken to. Why is this? It was not so lately. On inquiry, it is found that offence has been taken from supposed neglect, or the heart has been wounded by the apparent partiality of the ruler himself. Misunderstanding prevails.

The plain, foundational facts he has told them form a solid basis for his earnest exhortations, which begin with his urging them to pay close attention to their own spiritual condition, then to that also of all the flock, for it was the Spirit of God who had given them the responsibility of overseership. They are told to "shepherd" the church of God, which involves both providing food, care and guidance. The sheep had been "purchased with the blood of His own," that is, God's own Shepherd (Cf.Zech.13:7), and therefore of priceless value to Him. This fact should move our hearts in diligent, tenderest care for all the flock of God. We have seen Paul in many characters in this address, and added to these is that of pastor in this verse.

The public teacher cannot do this. No doubt, if, as we have said, he has something of the pastoral element in him, he can anticipate in his public address a great deal of the soul's private exercises, sorrows, and difficulties. But he cannot fully meet the soul's individual need. This is the pastor's holy work. It seems to us that a pastor is to the soul what a doctor is to the body. He must understand disease and medicine. He must be able to tell what is the matter. He must be able to discern the spiritual condition to apply the true remedy. Ah, how few are these pastors! It is one thing to take the title and another thing to do the work.

Christian reader, we earnestly entreat you to join us in fervent believing prayer to God to raise up true pastors amongst us. We are in sad need of them. The sheep of Christ are not fed and cared for. We are occupied so much with our own affairs, that we have not time to look after the beloved flock of Christ. And even on these occasions, when the Lord's people assemble in public, how little there is for their precious souls! What long barren pauses and silence of poverty! What aimless hymns and prayers we hear! How little leading of the flock through the green pastures of Holy Scripture, and by the still waters of divine love! And then, all through the week, few loving pastoral calls, few tender solicitous inquiries after soul or body. There seems to be no time. Every moment is swallowed up in the business of providing for ourselves and our families. It is, alas! the old sad story; "All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's."

(1 Peter 5:3,) "Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." Our translators have spoiled the verse by putting in "God's." It is your if there be any word at all, "lord's over possessions" literally. The' Spirit of God foresaw the condition of Christendom in this day, when the ministry of the Word of God has become a trade, and the Church of God is broken up into so many men's flocks. As a consequence, the deepest jealousy arises when the sheep find their right place in God's flock, for some one has lost some of his sheep. Scripture says, "Not as lording it over your possessions." Shepherding the sheep is more than feeding, it is going after the sheep when they have got away under the hedge, when perhaps they are torn with the brambles, comforting them, helping to care for as well as to feed, to nurse, and to tend them in every way.

The church is indeed plunged in corruption and weakness; but this is the very thing that would make one cling to the saints, and the more anxiously maintain the individual responsibility of those who have any gift for pastoral care. There is nothing I pray for more, than the dispensation of pastors. What I mean by a pastor is a person who can bear the whole sorrow, care, misery, and sin of another on his own soul, and go to God about it, and bring from God what will meet it, before he goes to the other.

The elders are exhorted to shepherd the flock of God. Shepherding is more than feeding; it implies guidance, and every form of care that is needed by the sheep. It is evidently the Lord's mind that His people should be visited and cared for. When on earth He was moved with compassion as He beheld the sorrowful condition of His earthly people, “scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Alas! It is still evidence of the low and weak condition among the people of God that there is so little of this shepherd care.

There have always been in the Christian community the feeble, the faint-hearted, the dissatisfied, the murmuring, the disappointed, the carnal, and the contentious. The sick, the lame, the languid, the ill-nourished, the dyspeptic, have always been found there. Those with weak constitutions, those with little or no desire for the Word, those who are always weary of the way, those who are on the continual look out for a smooth path for their tender feet, those who are always looking back at the Egypt they have professedly left, and longing for a little of its carnal dainties, because they have not learned the satisfying joys and the infinite delights that are to be found in Him in whom is centred the good pleasure of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And these have to be very tenderly cared for, and helped by suitable ministry, meat in due season, the pure mental milk of the Word, by example, by precept, by warning, by rebuke, by encouraging words, and by sympathetic support, for His sake to whom by redemption they belong.

Second. The shepherds are charged with having utterly neglected the flock. There were weak sheep, but they had not strengthened them; there were sick sheep, but they had not healed them; there were wounded sheep, but they had not bound up their wounds; there were sheep driven away from the flock, but they made no effort to recover them; and there were wandering sheep, but they had not gone after the lost (ver. 4). Occupied with themselves they had entirely neglected the good of the sheep.