Tending Your Brother's Sheep

​Nathan couldn’t believe it. Once again, he found himself helping one of his brothers with his flock. It seemed to be a constant problem for him. Several years ago, his father had given him and his 8 brothers their own flocks of sheep to shepherd. Why did his brothers seemingly all struggle so desperately to keep their flock in check? Nothing frustrated Nathan more than continually having to correct his brother’s shortcomings and shepherding abilities. 
 
This particular day, Nathan’s brother Michael had killed a wolf and he’d returned to his flock without burying it. Worse yet, he had done nothing to alert the other brothers that there may be a bigger threat of wolves nearby. Here’s Nathan—digging a hole to bury this predator in an area where his own brother had been assigned to care for his sheep. As was so common, Nathan is going above and beyond the call of duty. If only his brother’s knew as well as he how a flock should be managed.
 
It seemed he hadn’t so much as put his shovel down that he noticed a sheep walking in an open pasture alone. Fortunately, his father had tagged the sheep for all the brothers years ago when he had made their assignments. The brothers had kept up the practice as the years went by making it easy to identify the flock to which a sheep might belong. Having looked at the tag, Nathan saw that this particular sheep belonged to his brother Alex. This irritated Nathan to no end because Alex constantly cared for his own flock seemingly without any concern for the rest of the flocks assigned to his brothers. It was true that Alex rarely lost a sheep and he was well-known for fighting away coyotes or wolves. But, his praise wasn’t justified. He had never once taken the time to use his abilities to help his other brother’s flocks. Though Alex’s flock may have been rather healthy, think of the benefits that all the brothers’ flocks could have enjoyed if Alex had occasionally taught the other brothers some tricks of the trade. 

Nevertheless, Nathan headed out to drop off Alex’s sheep with him after burying the wolf Michael had left dead in the field. It was a little out of the way for him—about 4 miles. But, somebody had to get this sheep back to safety. And though Alex was normally a rather good shepherd, he’d clearly dropped the ball this time. He wasn’t far from Alex’s part of the large family farm when he saw a wagon leaving the property. It wasn’t one of his father’s wagons, for sure. This one had been painted white, though the paint had faded quite a bit. It looked as though two men were sitting up front with 3 or 4 sheep in the storage area. Nathan had heard earlier in the week while in town that some sheep had been stolen from some local farms, but neither he nor his brothers had experienced it. Apparently, that had now changed. This was Jacob’s area of the family farm, though neither he nor his flock was in sight. 

Nathan hurriedly got Alex’s sheep back to him and told him about the thieves. He tried his best to urge Alex to go with him as he pursued them through the shortcut in the woods. However, Alex felt his best way to protect his own flock was to stay with them. Nathan was furious, but didn’t let on. How could he care so little for his brother’s flock? Of course, Jacob hadn’t protected the sheep—maybe Alex had a point. But, he dismissed it nearly immediately. Here he was again—the only brother that seemingly had any care for all of the flocks of his father. The other brothers seemed so focused on their own flocks that they had no concern that some thieves had stolen several sheep from Jacob’s flock—from their family’s farm. 
 
Nathan pursued until dark, but to no avail. He could have caught them if Alex could have kept up with his sheep. But in returning the sheep that had wandered from Alex’s flock, he was delayed too long to catch the thieves. They could have gone any number of ways. About 3 miles from the family property, three roads met. There was simply no way for Nathan to know which way the men went. If he only had some help from his brothers! This was important! This was crucial! And yet, there they all sat in their respective field with their own sheep—tending them—which left the care of all the flocks to him. He was convinced his brothers didn’t care nearly as much for the family business as they ought to—and certainly not as much as he did. 

By now, Nathan’s self-sacrificing love for his father’s flocks had taken him miles from his area of the farm. He couldn’t help but imagine his brothers preparing dinner for themselves and their families—or perhaps even settling down for the night. But here he was—the lone child of his father that really had the ability to shepherd—with a journey before him that may get him home before midnight. Though, this wasn’t anything new. Many times he had encouraged himself with the thought that he was truly the only one of the brothers that was cut out for shepherding sheep. Yes, that is one thing that was for sure—and this night was proof enough!

Nathan made his way back home. He passed flock after flock and brother after brother—all asleep for the night—all satisfied with their own flock—all caught up in their own little assignment. It was all he could do to keep from waking them all and screaming at them. But, he didn’t—at least not this time.  He continued across the small creek and through the ravine to the area his father had assigned him those several years ago. Another day he had wasted doing the job that others should have been doing—or at least helping him do. And now, as he neared his pasture, he knew he’d be up at the crack of dawn in just a few hours. This time, he had set his mind to tell his father how slack his brother’s had been. Without question, his father would be as furious as he was. 

As he neared his flock, he assumed they must be asleep. Why wouldn’t they be? He’d trained them as well as any domesticated animal—no help from his brothers. He cut across the field to his usual sleeping quarters—a small hut he had built for himself when he first inherited this area. He had never married. It seems all the time he’d spent working both his flock and the rest had given so little time to finding a wife. But, at least his father would be pleased with his care and concern. As he approached his hut, he noticed a sheep lying near the door. This wasn’t uncommon during the day, but at night it certainly was.  Though, he thought little of it until he got nearer.  He nudged the sheep to get him back to the flock, but there was no movement. He reached down to touch the sheep in the moonlight and was shocked to find his hand wet—but not with water or dew or anything like that.  He knew this liquid.  It was blood.  He immediately ran into the house and lit a lamp. As he rushed back outside, he saw another sheep near the oak tree that sat in the middle of the field—this one with blood all over him.  He ran down the hill to the place where the sheep often grazed during the day. There was a natural fence there between the incline and the creek. More dead sheep—more than he could imagine. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement.  Wolves!  A whole pack!  He backed away slowly—just as he’d been taught—never taking his eye off the pack. 

Nathan made his way to the oak tree and climbed it, as he had done so many times before.  How long had he been gone?  He tried to think.  Had it not been only that morning that he had buried the wolf Michael had killed?  Or was it 2 days ago?  Oh, it didn’t matter now! His entire flock of sheep was gone—either killed or scattered—and it was his brothers’ fault! Had he not been constantly doing their job for them, his own sheep would be healthy and nurtured and thriving even now. Oh how he hated them even more than he had an hour ago.