Later text
Acts 20:28BSB
Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
Intertextuality Pair
Acts 20:28 → Psalms 74:1-2
Allusion
Earlier text
A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion where You dwell.
+ 3 more earlier texts
Earlier text
Isaiah 40:11BSB
He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
Earlier text
Isaiah 43:21BSB
The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.
Earlier text
But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
Significance
Paul charges the elders to "be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28), drawing on the OT's picture of God's people as his purchased flock. Asaph pleads for "the sheep of Your pasture" and for "Your congregation, which You purchased long ago" (Psalm 74:1-2), and the prophets portray God tending his flock like a shepherd (Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34). What was God's own flock is now entrusted to under-shepherds, but the astonishing escalation lies in the price: the flock was purchased not merely of old from Egypt but "with His own blood" — the blood of God's Son. The elders shepherd a flock that cost God himself, and they do so under the Chief Shepherd, Christ, who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11) and will appear to give the unfading crown (1 Peter 5:4).
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme