1 Peter 2:25

For ye were as sheep going astray The sequence of thought is suggested by the "all we like sheep have gone astray" of Isaiah 53:6, but the imagery could scarcely fail to recall to the mind of the Apostle the state of Israel "as sheep that had no shepherd" (Matthew 9:36), and the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-13; Luke 15:4). The image had been a familiar one almost from the earliest times to describe the state of a people plunged into anarchy and confusion by the loss of their true leader (Numbers 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17).

but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls We can scarcely fail to connect the words with those which St Peter had once heard as to the "other sheep" who were not of the "fold" of Galilee and Jerusalem (John 10:16). In the "strangers of the dispersion" he might well recognise some, at least, of those other sheep. In the thought of Christ as the "Shepherd" we have primarily the echo of the teaching of our Lord just referred to, but the name at least suggests a possible reference to the older utterances of prophecy and devotion in Psalms 23:1; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 37:24. In the word for "Bishop" (Episcopos) (better perhaps, looking to the later associations that have gathered round the English term) guardian or protector, we may, possibly, find a reference to the use of the cognate verb in the LXX. of Ezekiel 34:11. It deserves to be noted, however, that the Greek noun is often used in the New Testament in special association with the thought of the Shepherd's work. Comp. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:4. So in like manner, "Pastors" or "Shepherds" find their place in the classification of Christian Ministers in Ephesians 4:11. There is, perhaps, a special stress laid on Christ being the Shepherd of their souls. Their bodies might be subject to the power and caprices of their masters, but their higher nature, that which was their true self, was subject only to the loving care of the Great Shepherd.