Matthew 18:12
Thursday, 26 March 2026
“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? Matthew 18:12
“What, you, it seems? If it should become, to some man, a hundred sheep, and it should roam – one from them, not he left the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and having gone, he seeks the roaming?” (CG)
In the previous verse, Jesus noted that the Son of Man came to save that which was lost. He now provides a metaphorical example of this, beginning with, “What, you, it seems?”
Jesus will ponder a question based on His statement to elicit them to think through what it is like from God’s perspective. In essence, “Here is a situation. What would you do about this matter?” It should be noted that Luke’s gospel provides more surrounding detail. That is found in Luke 15:1-7. The audience is different in both, and so it is likely that this same basic parable was spoken at different times, something that would be expected in any ministry.
As for His question, He next says, “If it should become, to some man, a hundred sheep.” It is a nice round number, which reveals a man with some wealth, but understanding his abilities are best directed to this number. He is attentive to maintain the flock at this set size, maybe selling off anything that goes beyond it.
As for the number itself, it is a multiple of ten. Bullinger notes that the number signifies ordinal perfection. He says of it, “Completeness of order, marking the entire round of anything, is, therefore, the ever-present signification of the number ten. It implies that nothing is wanting; that the number and order are perfect; that the whole cycle is complete.”
As for this man with his one hundred sheep, Jesus next says, “and it should roam – one from them.”
As the man is carefully attentive to his flock, having one leave would mean there is a void in what he considers the proper amount of sheep to tend to. Remembering that they are “his sheep,” he determines to protect that which is his. Therefore, Jesus asks the disciples what they would do, but doing so already knowing what their answer will be, saying, “not he left the ninety-nine upon the mountains?”
This is the obvious thing such a meticulous shepherd would do. It should be observed that in Luke, it says he left them in the wilderness. Here, it is the mountains. In the Bible, a mountain represents a large amount of something gathered together. In typology, it is synonymous with a large but centralized group of people.
Jesus doesn’t say he left the other sheep alone. To say he did would be an argument from silence. He could have had three sons or five servants with him. As for the number ninety-nine, nine signifies the conclusion of a matter. It is the number of finality or judgment. Eleven is the number that marks “disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration.”
So there is a finality resulting in disharmony if the one isn’t found. Because of this, Jesus continues the question, “and having gone, he seeks the roaming?”
A new word is seen here, planaó, to roam or wander. It is a word cognate to the etymological root of our word planet. The reason for this is that, unlike stars, the planets appear to wander through the night sky, sometimes even going into retrograde. To the people, they were curious anomalies that demanded a different word than star to describe them.
The answer to the question would be obvious to the disciples. Here is a man with his perfectly precise flock. With one wandering off, there is disharmony. Jesus will continue His words to explain what He is referring to.
Life application: As noted, the text says nothing concerning who, if anyone, the ninety-nine were left with. And yet, it is common in teachings and sermons to have some thought not in Scripture added into the account, as if the one was more important than the ninety-nine because the others were left alone.
But that assumes too much. When David was tasked by his father to take supplies to his brothers, he left his flocks with a guarder to tend to them (1 Samuel 17:20). Nabal had many sheep, and he had men tending to them in 1 Samuel 25.
Remember that when you hear sermons, you should not make a new brain squiggle over what you hear unless you check what the pastor is referring to or think the matter through carefully. Once you hear something and assimilate it into your mind, that will normally become a settled matter in your thinking.
But settled matters that are incorrect will inevitably lead to more incorrect thinking. Step by step, your thinking will stray from what is intended. So be sure to check things out!
Lord God, how wonderful it is to search out Your word and find how much Your people really mean to You. For those who are Yours, we can see that You are willing to go to great lengths to bring us back to You. How blessed we are that because of Jesus, we are safely cared for. Thank You for Jesus, who has made this bond possible. Amen.
