Do you recall advertisements for products containing lanolin? It might have been for hand lotion or hair cream or some other product to soften and sooth the skin. It has been a long time since I have seen any mention of lanolin. There still are products available using lanolin. Lanolin is also known as “wool grease”. It is the waxy substance secreted by sheep to protect their wool. It is prone to skin irritation in some people.
Shepherds who daily handled sheep in early times noted that the wool grease soothed hands even in the harsh environment of sheep herding. Gentle hands and soft voices do not startle skittish sheep.
Perhaps, this provided part of the impetus for the Twenty-third Psalm. The image of God as the Gentle Shepherd guiding, soothing, and defending the sheep continues to inspire people in a world with little exposure to the day-by-day life of shepherds and sheep. Being compared to sheep, those wooly-headed wanderers, is hardly a compliment, but the picture of a caring shepherd still rings true even in a largely non- agricultural civilization.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” still strengthens those of us who walk through dark valleys, when we trust the Great Shepherd of the sheep.