John 10
John 10:1
Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
John 10:2
But one who enters in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep.
John 10:3
The Gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
John 10:4
Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
John 10:5
They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.
John 10:6
Yeshua spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
John 10:7
Yeshua therefore said to them again, Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.
John 10:8
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.
John 10:9
I am the Door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
“And moreover, those who dominate in this world do so through him, METATRON. And those who are prevented from ruling fall through him. They all are dependent on this ladder, METATRON. Yud Hei Vav Hei dominates them all. As it is written, “And, behold, Hashem stood above it.” When he awoke, it is written, “this is no other than the house of Elohim, and this is the gate of heaven.” Assuredly, METATRON is the House of Elohim, the gate through which one passes to come within, as it is written, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go in to them, and I will praise Yah (Yud-Hei)” (Tehilim 118:19). And “this is the gate to Hashem (Yud Hei Vav Hei)” (Tehilim 118:20) is the gate of heaven. And all is one, which means that the gates of righteousness the gate of Hashem and the gate of heaven are one, and that one is Metatron. End of Sitrei Torah (Secrets of the Torah).”
Zohar, Vayetze, Zohar.com
John 10:10
The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
John 10:11
I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10:12
He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.
“Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”
Zechariah 11:17
John 10:13
The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.
John 10:14
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own, and I am known by my own;
“A Psalm by David. HaShem is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.”
Psalms 23:1
John 10:15
even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:16
I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
John 10:17
Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
John 10:18
No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.
John 10:19
Therefore a division arose again among the Judeans because of these words.
John 10:20
Many of them said, He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?
John 10:21
Others said, These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?
John 10:22
It was the Feast of Hanukkah at Jerusalem.
John 10:23
It was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
John 10:24
The Judeans therefore came around him and said to him, How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.
John 10:25
Yeshua answered them, I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Fathers name, these testify about me.
John 10:26
But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.
John 10:27
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:28
I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
John 10:29
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Fathers hand.
John 10:30
I and the Father are one.
In the Torah, Parashat Vayeshev opens with a paradox:
“This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph . . .”
Genesis 37:2
We are told “this is the toldot (history) of Yaakov,” and then the Torah proceeds to tell us the story of Yosef. The commentators explain that Yaakov and Yosef are one. To understand this idea, we must explore the father-son relationship in Jewish thought. The Talmud teaches that the son is a limb of his father. Yitzhak Kasdan elucidates the passage,
“Indeed, this is the underpinning of the concept in the g’marah (Sanhedrin 104a) that “b’ra m’zakeh aba” – a son brings merit to his father through good deeds, learning Torah, etc. He does so because “b’ra kareih d’avuah” (cf. Eruvin70b), a son is considered an extension – literally the leg – of his father, either because the son and father are part and parcel of each other (i.e., are joined together) or because the father is considered the gorem, the cause, of his son’s actions (i.e., since the son emulates him by following in his footsteps). In other words, the son’s actions and accomplishments are considered as the father’s and are credited to the father.”
Yitzhak Kasdan, Understanding The Mitzvah of Hesped [2]
This subject is spoken by the Alter Rebbe, R’ Schneur Zalman of Liadi, (1745 CE – 1812 CE) in his epic work, the Tanya. Yanki Tauber of Chabad.org elucidates,
“Rabbi Schneur Zalman delves further into the metaphor, examining the biological and psychological dynamics of the father-child model and employing them to better understand our relationship to each other and to our Father in Heaven. A microscopic bit of matter, originating in the father’s body, triggers the generation of a life. In the mother’s womb, a single cell develops into a brain, heart, eyes, ears, arms, legs, toenails; soon it emerges into the world to function as a thinking, feeling, and achieving human being. Physically, what has originated in the father’s body and psyche is now a separate, distinct, and (eventually) independent individual. On a deeper level, however, the child remains inseparable from his begetter. In the words of the Talmud, “A son is a limb of his father.” At the very heart of the child’s consciousness lies an inescapable truth: he is his father’s child, an extension of his being, a projection of his personality. In body, they have become two distinct entities; in essence, they are one.”
Yanki Tauber, The Head, Chabad.org [3]
Rebbe Nachman illustrates the unity of father and son,
“This is (Genesis 49:24) “…from there the Shepherd, the evan (the Rock) of Israel.” Onkelos translates [“EVaN” as a composite of] AV and VeN (father and son). This is the complete-statement: father and son as one. For a half-statement corresponds to the son alone, but the complete-statement is father and son as one. Everything is encompassed there, and through this one can come to the concept of shepherds, as above. Hence this is the meaning of, “from there the Shepherd, the EVaN of Israel.”
R’ Nachman of Breslov, Likutey Moharan I, 22:10, Volume 3, published by the Breslov Research Institute, pg 381
John 10:31
Therefore the Judeans took up stones again to stone him.
Moshe Rabbeinu was nearly stoned,
“Moses cried to HaShem, saying, What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
Exodus 17:4
As was David HaMelech,
“David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in HaShem his God.”
1 Samuel 30:6
There is a tradition in a text called Nistarot ben Shimon bar Yochai (The Secrets of R’ Shimon bar Yochai), that Mashiach will be concealed and rejected, citing Isaiah 53,
“The Messiah of the lineage of Ephraim shall die there, and Israel shall mourn for him. After this the Holy One blessed be He will reveal to them the Messiah of the lineage of David, but Israel will wish to stone him, and they will say to him: ‘You speak a lie, for the Messiah has already been slain, and there is no other Messiah destined to arise.’ They will scorn him, as Scripture says: ‘despised and abandoned (by) men’ (Isa 53:3). He shall withdraw and be hidden from them, as Scripture continues: ‘like one hiding faces from us’ (ibid.). But in Israel’s great distress, they will turn and cry out from (their) hunger and thirst, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will be revealed to them in His glory, as Scripture promises: ‘together all flesh will see’ (Isa 40:5). And the King Messiah will sprout up there, as Scripture says: ‘and behold with the clouds of heaven etc.’ (Dan 7:13), and it is written after it ‘and authority was given to him’ (Dan 7:14). He shall blow (his breath) at that wicked Armilos and kill him, as Scripture forecasts: ‘he will slay the wicked one with the breath of his lips’ (Isa 11:4).”
Nistarot ben Shimon bar Yochai, translated by John C. Reeves
John 10:32
Yeshua answered them, I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?
John 10:33
The Judeans answered him, We dont stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.
John 10:34
Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods?”
“I said, You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.”
Psalms 82:6
