Chris3jam
08-22-2005, 10:23 AM
I would have NEVER believed it. I am not sure I believe it now!
"In His Land; Seeing is Believing" by Roy Gustafson. Roy Gustafson went to Israel and in 1980, completed his 91st trip to the Holy Land. He is a "contemporary Bible teacher" (um, whatever that is?)
pg. 46 --
It was on one trip down the ancient road that Abu Ali and I met a shepherd and his flock. There was nothing surprising about this. But the thing that caught our attention was this: the shepherd was carrying one of his sheep. It had a splint and a bandage on its leg, and it was quite evident the leg had been fractured. Was it struck by a stone? Did a dog bite it? Did it fall from one of those rugged rocks? How was this limb broken? The sight was nothing new to my friend, for he had lived for nearly half a century in this area. But I had never seen it before, or since. Abu Ali explained, "The shepherd broke the leg himself!" And this precipitated my question, "Why?"
The shepherd, talking in Arabic to my friend, explained how this particular sheep was always wandering off, and sometimes would lead other sheep astray in the process. There are unwritten rules to be obeyed without question when a sheep is a member of the flock. Even though the shepherd loves those animals, discipline is the only thing which will keep them together. This shepherd had broken the leg, and had hand-fed the sheep until the bones had mended. It was the lying down process which would ultimately bring the restoration of that self-willed sheep back to the flock.
Now, since he's not seen it before, or since, I expect that this was an aberration. I mean, he's been to the Holy Land 91 times, and had never seen it before. Also, the friend never did say he saw it all the time -- "The sight was nothing new to my friend, for he had lived for nearly half a century in this area" -- this was an objective phrase by the author. Also, the photograph that accompanied this story showed no evidence of a bandage or splint, just a shepherd carrying a black and white sheep. :shrug
However, to everyone I told that it wasn't true, and that a shepherd would never do that, please accept my sincere apology. I honestly didn't think it was logical, and, before this book, I had never found another source for this. I know we never did it on that ranch, and all the other sources (European, American, and Oriental (Arabic)) I had checked never did it. This is the one and only thing I've found that substantiates this claim. Oh, and btw, it was a full-grown sheep, not a lamb.
I'm so sorry. I should not have spoken so authoritatively on something I apparently didn't know enough about. :(
"In His Land; Seeing is Believing" by Roy Gustafson. Roy Gustafson went to Israel and in 1980, completed his 91st trip to the Holy Land. He is a "contemporary Bible teacher" (um, whatever that is?)
pg. 46 --
It was on one trip down the ancient road that Abu Ali and I met a shepherd and his flock. There was nothing surprising about this. But the thing that caught our attention was this: the shepherd was carrying one of his sheep. It had a splint and a bandage on its leg, and it was quite evident the leg had been fractured. Was it struck by a stone? Did a dog bite it? Did it fall from one of those rugged rocks? How was this limb broken? The sight was nothing new to my friend, for he had lived for nearly half a century in this area. But I had never seen it before, or since. Abu Ali explained, "The shepherd broke the leg himself!" And this precipitated my question, "Why?"
The shepherd, talking in Arabic to my friend, explained how this particular sheep was always wandering off, and sometimes would lead other sheep astray in the process. There are unwritten rules to be obeyed without question when a sheep is a member of the flock. Even though the shepherd loves those animals, discipline is the only thing which will keep them together. This shepherd had broken the leg, and had hand-fed the sheep until the bones had mended. It was the lying down process which would ultimately bring the restoration of that self-willed sheep back to the flock.
Now, since he's not seen it before, or since, I expect that this was an aberration. I mean, he's been to the Holy Land 91 times, and had never seen it before. Also, the friend never did say he saw it all the time -- "The sight was nothing new to my friend, for he had lived for nearly half a century in this area" -- this was an objective phrase by the author. Also, the photograph that accompanied this story showed no evidence of a bandage or splint, just a shepherd carrying a black and white sheep. :shrug
However, to everyone I told that it wasn't true, and that a shepherd would never do that, please accept my sincere apology. I honestly didn't think it was logical, and, before this book, I had never found another source for this. I know we never did it on that ranch, and all the other sources (European, American, and Oriental (Arabic)) I had checked never did it. This is the one and only thing I've found that substantiates this claim. Oh, and btw, it was a full-grown sheep, not a lamb.
I'm so sorry. I should not have spoken so authoritatively on something I apparently didn't know enough about. :(