Sheep only drink still waters?

[heartstrings]

Sunday school teacher at my church, tonight at VBS, asked me a couple of questions about sheep. He said he had heard they would not drink running water. I'm going to show him this.....

 

...and here's one that debunks both the "stupid" and the "running water" myths...

 

[No Nicolaitans]

That second video is a hoot! 

Yeah...that should pretty much do the debunking! 

[Ukulelemike]

Well, how many of us have heard about how stupid sheep are? That we're like sheep, stupid and would just kill ourselves if not protected by a shepherd?

I can tell you, as one who has some sheep, they are not stupid. In fact, try going hunting for wild sheep: bighorn, or the many other wild sheep, you''ll find a challenge like no other-they are absolutely canny!

The difference is, KEPT sheep, and goats, are not stupid, they are raised to be reliant upon the shepherd-my animals depend on me to feed, shelter and water and protect them.

The point of still waters is, again, protection. A sheep will drink from running water, but like goats, they HATE water, hate rain, and if a sheep is drinking from a running river and falls in, their wool will drag them under quickly. So still waters are considerably safer for them, and a wise shepherd protects them in all ways possible.

[heartstrings]

 

 

...and in this one, the sheep have plenty of wool (turn volume down unless you like Arab music)......

 

[Ukulelemike]

Well, they CAN be trained. But no, those guys don't have that much wool, as opposed to just before shearing. however, yes they can be trained to accept water, as can goats-they just don't like it by nature. I know ours run at the first drops of rain.

[heartstrings]

Most any of my farm animals, including my dogs, horses, donkey, cows and sheep, will get under a shed if one is available. But I never saw anything with such an urgent aversion to rain as the goats when I had those(I had over 50 at one time). Just a few drops coming down and my goats would dash for cover. The sheep will get under a shed if it's pouring but they don't freak out about it. Sometimes they will just stand out there in it or keep grazing, especially if it's a light rain. Rain is not that big of a deal to sheep. from my observation, compared to goats.

Most four-footed farm animals would rather not swim. except things like ducks and labrador retrievers, but all can, No sir, sheep don't seem to have an extraordinary fear of water anymore than anything else. I think the "leadeth me beside the still waters" means something we haven't quite fully understood yet.

[Guest Nathan Snyder]

I see this portion of Psalm 23, as an example of ancient cosmology. The wilderness, and sea were thought to be the realm of chaos, and death. Human life cannot thrive in either. What does thrive in these environments are usually deadly to human life.

The sea, is a place of chaotic waters, which never rest, and cannot quench thirst. It is the playground of Leviathan.

In the creation story, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the chaos waters, and started bringing forth creation, and life.

Still waters, are examples of springs, and rivers, which are life giving waters.

Psalms 1 is a good example of a river.

”Green Pastures,” are very different than most modern images in our heads.

These shepherds dealt with the wilderness, of their geographic locations in the Canaanite region. There are no lush rolling hills of green pasture there. Instead, sparse tufts of life sustaining grass, and shrubs. 
This is a perfect example of what it is to rely on God for “our daily bread.” Just as the Israelites relied on God to supply manna in the wilderness.

Not to mention the predators, such as lions, that rule over the wilderness, and desire nothing more than a delicious sheep.

On the day of Yom Kipor, the high priest would sacrifice one goat to YHWY, and send one goat into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the nation. This goat was said to be sent back to Azazel. It was symbolic of sending sin, and death back to where sin, and death came from. To the entity that brought about this destruction, and into the realm which the enemy occupies.  Which is the wilderness.

It’s no coincidence that Yeshua went straight into the wilderness, right after His Holy Spirit baptism. He went to the land of the dead, to confront the enemy, on it’s own terf.

He’d later walk upon chaotic waters.

Jesus IS the Good Shepherd!

God Bless you all

[heartstrings]

Yes, Psalm 23 is speaking of the Good Shepherd, who stated that He "giveth his life for the sheep". That is a stark contrast to earthly shepherds whose sheep give their lives for the shepherd. From some of my limited and flawed observations, I am inclined to believe that there are other "opposites" written in Psalm 23 as well. For instance; I've observed that sheep prefer to paw out the grass so that they can lie down in the dirt. When sheep rise from these little beds they have made, they relieve themselves in the beds rendering the area in and around them unfit for grazing. If a whole flock of sheep are allowed to lie down in such an area for even one night,, they ruin it because a sheep will not eat where there is urine or excrement until it has been rained on sufficiently; And if they DO have to graze there they will ingest parasites which greatly impairs their health. So putting the flock on fresh pasture(ideally every day) practically eliminates parasites because it disrupts the parasites' life cycles.

But they WILL lie down in these beds night after night; and that's OK if that is a designated bedding area. So, I'm inclined to believe that any "bronze age" middle eastern shepherd who had even an ounce of sense was not going to allow his sheep to lie down in a rare and precious "green pasture" because that pasture was scarce and it was his livelihood.  Any ancient shepherd should have taken notice of this as very unusual upon reading or hearing Psalm 23 because the Good Shepherd does make his sheep to ''lie down in green pastures". To me, that is saying that the Good Shepherd has such an abundance of "green pastures" that he doesn't have to let his "sheep" lie in a sandy area in our own filth ; Even though it's our nature to "lie in the dirt" of this world and in the filth of our own making, He makes us "lie down" to rest in a clean place.