[OBW]

Interesting thought. And it might make a decent sermon to make a particular point.

But I don't think this is what was written.

While the Lord, or Jehova, was consistently God in the OT, it is important to realize that God was thought of and spoken of in that context as One. Not just as unified. But as singular. While there are hints of the truth of the Trinity, going all the way back to "let us make man in our image," God was not written of as being a shepherd to himself.

And in the NT, as the multifaceted God is better unveiled, the Lord is almost always Jesus, the Christ.

It might be interesting to think on Jesus as even more like us that we have formerly thought — even he needs a shepherd — yet the parables would suggest that this is taking it a little too far.

And I don't see shepherds as being made by being first shepherded themselves. That is a decent way to put it in terms of the gifted ones perfecting the rest of us. But it is not really a good metaphor for it because those who shepherd were not once sheep. They are of different stuff and are trained to shepherd.

I realize that there is an aspect of truth in the idea. But I would not go so far as to insist that Jesus is the one being shepherded by the Father. No. This is written by a man realizing his need for a strong but loving hand guiding him through life. From highs to lows. Providing pasture and sheltering from hard times. (Note, that is not keeping the hard times from happening — just no need to fear the times.)

Even when we realize that so much is a revelation of God, and that Christ can be taught from nearly every passage, we need some sense of restraint in turning everything into an absolute picture of simply Christ. Instead, must is revealed about the nature of Christ and of God. Here he is the good shepherd.