Believers act like sheep. In just a short time our family has seen and discerned so many similar behaviors. No wonder The Torah mentions believers as sheep as a main and recurring theme! Here then are a few of the obvious and perhaps not so obvious common traits we have observed, along with a few added insights.
-Sheep are stubborn yet capable of obedience, just like believers.
-Sheep go astray. All of them, just like believers.
-Sheep need direction and guidance, just like believers.
-Sheep like to stray and go their own way, just like believers.
-Sheep cannot survive without a shepherd, just like believers.
-Sheep hear the shepherd's voice but most often to not follow through. Note Messiah did not say My sheep always obey or follow through on the voice they hear.
-Sheep often get sick and through their shepherd's guidance they can get healed. As believers with The Tov-Good Shepherd's stripes, we also can be healed.
-Sheep eat all the time and cannot digest the food until they rest and lied own. Believers also must lie down to digest all that Messiah feeds us. He makes-forces us lie down beside still waters.
-Sheep cannot swim and can drown in moving water like rivers and streams. They must drink from still water, just like believers, as Messiah gives us still and targeted living water.
-Sheep have a herd mentality. They will follow other sheep to their own detriment, as opposed to shepherds who love them and lead them in the clear ways they should go.
-Sheep are helpless against predators. In Biblical times, predators such as lions, wolves, panthers, leopards, bears and hyenas were common in the countryside of Israel. Before he became King David, the shepherd boy David defended his sheep from lions and bears. The problem is that if some kind of predator finds a flock of sheep, the sheep don’t fight back. They don’t try to defend themselves. They don’t try to spread out or run or get away. Instead, they huddle together – giving the predator a nice big, easy target. Believers that leave the flock are in the same way in danger of and defenseless against predators without a shepherd. They huddle together as rebels in breakaway groups, usually do get devoured all together, or are scattered in different directions, still leaving them defenseless and then they get picked off one by one.
-Sheep are constantly eating and grazing in any and in differing pastures. Believers also tend to eat and graze from any and every table where the Word is taught, even if it is not from the table of the shepherd that YHUH has placed them at.
-Sheep like to resist when bathing, de-worming and trimming. Just like believers who resist YHUH's cleansing in many areas and revert to their dirty familiar ways.
-Sheep under certain circumstances can get turned over on their backs and are not able to get back up. This can actually be fatal! Many of a sheep’s vital bodily functions depend on gravity. When a sheep is turned over on its back, the blood drains out of the legs, the stomach can’t digest food and breathing is blocked. If the shepherd doesn’t act quickly, the sheep will die. As believers when life, the devil and circumstances knock us down, we better have a shepherd that can pick us up and make us stand back up firmly on our own feet.
-Sheep in a herd usually have an alpha male who can lead the flock astray just like false leaders who went but were not sent by heaven. They will sadly influence the behaviors of the other sheep in negative ways.
​-Sheep are very intelligent yet constantly are stubborn and hard headed, just like believers are stubborn and stiff necked, even when entrusted with a small measure of the Ruach-Spirit.
​-Sheep do not like a halter or a leash and do not appreciate being led, as their natural instinct is to wander off in their own direction, just like believers.
-Sheep are herd animals, meaning they do not do well alone. It requires at least 2-3 sheep for a sheep not be be depressed, confused and isolated. Believers like sheep, avoid the gathering with others of like precious faith, to their own detriment.
-Sheep need 2-3 others to thrive and not be in despair. Adon Yahusha taught that believers that gather under The Shepherd with as little as 2-3 other sheep, will have His Presence there with them.
-The sheep herd is likened unto the believing community or assembly, one flock with one Shepherd.
​-The sheep have regular appointed times for feeding and gathering under their overseer shepherd. Like sheep, believers gather together at appointed times, such as The Shabbat and the feasts of YHUH, under their pastor-teacher-shepherd.
-Sheep like to roam and mainly take shelter when it rains or storms. Believers tend to return to their shelter only when they find themselves in trouble.
-Older male sheep grow big horns. Believers that are old and set in their own ways find it impossible to obey their leaders, seeking to be isolated, kick back or disobey.
-The shofar comes with and from a ram. But the sheep do not listen to the sound of the shofar even though they have one or two. Same with Torah believers. They carry a shofar but still do not hear its full sound, requiring a full submitted obedience. They may hear His voice and His shofar but do not practice what He says.
-Older sheep find it very hard to change routines, just like believers find changes and new insights too challenging to change or humbly adjust. They stay stubborn and unteachable in most cases.
-The older a sheep is, the harder it is to train. The believer that is older and set in their own ways and waywardness, often finds it detestable to change and humbly receive instructions from the leader-shepherd of the assembly of the sheep.
-The ram has horns with which to injure, pierce and wound. Believers who also ironically have ram's horns for shofars, also injure and hurt other sheep with their horns, especially if abused in the past.
-Sheep reproduce and multiply. Mankind is to do the same spiritually. To go and produce disciples or other sheep to follow the Master Yahusha.
-Sheep can have 2-3 babies at a new birth. Believers likewise are called to multiply and the 2-3 newly born believers immediately form a new family, where Yahusha will be in their midst, as he promised because they are newborns or born again.
-Sheep have a 5 month gestation process. Believers also have 5 basic books of instruction, Torah, to raise us to maturity in our new birth.
​-Sheep provide milk for their newborns. Believers are also to seek and drink the sincere milk of The Word as baby believers and then give the milk to others.
-Sheep chew the cud constantly chewing the same food. As believers we must also constantly feed on the same faithful blessed Word of YHUH. We must never fall prey to the words and lies of false doctrines and religions.
-Sheep do well when in a single pen and have a single door and doorkeeper. Believers also do best when they stay in the same place, stable and not wandering around to different pens and doors. They do best applying The Torah of Place.
-Sheep can survive and thrive in most elements and weather conditions. Believers are the same way, as Yahusha will always make them to thrive and be abundant in and through all of life's circumstances provided they obey what they are hearing.
-Sheep run from wolves, as believers led by The Shepherd should also be doing.
-Sheep herds usually have a watchdog or guardian for their own safety. In Scripture believers are required to watch out for wolves and as watchmen are called Nazarenes-Guardian Branches, meaning the preserved watchmen of and for His flock Israel.
-Sheep are sometimes wolves in sheeps clothing. Sadly Same as many believers.
-Sheep are required to be the keeper of their own herds. Additionally Yahusha Himself is the Guardian-Metatron [Aramaic] who protects and preserves His own sheep.
-Sheep in the open need a shelter to protect them from the elements. Believers also need to dwell on The Rock and in sukkot-booths, as obedient sheep to The Messiah. Figuratively this occurs daily as well as literally 7 days a year.
-Sheep are very poor sighted almost blind compared to humans. They must rely on the shepherd to go in a straight and sturdy path. We as believers are also spiritually blind until The Shepherd finds and leads us in and through the dangerous minefield of the spirit world. He is our Shepherd with perfect vision or seven eyes as Scripture declares.
-Sheep have outstanding hearing. This is why Yahusha commands us to listen to Him and His Words very carefully and attentively and obey them. We need to have our hearing developed just like sheep. We need to use our ears to actually hear and obey. This need is perfectly stated in The Shema-Duet. 6:4.
-Sheep are herbivores, meaning they do not eat meat. Believers must also avoid unhealthy foods and a reliance on too much meat especially as young lambs.
-Sheep represent the character of their shepherd such as cleanliness and decency and order. Believers tend to do the same as followers. We cannot be something different then the one training and leading us, our Messiah Himself. 'Be you set apart for I AM set apart says YHUH.'
-Sheep need to be regularly washed, bathed and sheared. Believers must continually be washed and cleansed by Yahusha our Shepherd as He shaves away all things that displease Him.
​-The firstborn of the flock is dedicated to YHUH and must not be sheared. Some chosen believers that take a Nazarite vow must not be shaved or shorn, as kind of a firstfruit dedication to YHUH.
-Sheep at birth usually have their tails cut so as to avoid dirt, filth and sickness. Believers are the head and not the tail, so we also have to have no tails, so we can avoid uncleanliness and spiritually unsanitary practices.
-Male sheep rams are able to mate with up to 30 females at a time. Humans, like sheep, when following Torah and righteousness, can also practice Torah marriage, which sometimes means having more than one spouse-wife.
-Sheep sometimes eat dirt in the process of eating grass and get worms and parasites. Believers also have to avoid eating dirt in their attempts to graze on the good feed of YHUH's Word.
-Sheep come in all sizes and colors. Believers are all One flock regardless of race, religion, background or skin color. All must follow The Shepherd and rely on Him alone and not their individual differences by natural birth.
-Some sheep are loners and have no shepherd. Likewise some believers isolate themselves or hate the shepherd that YHUH has assigned to them. They run from both the under shepherd and the flock they were assigned to by the Spirit. Isolated sheep are prime candidates for an attack and destruction by a wolf; the same applies to believers.
-Sheep can easily be stolen, deceived, killed and destroyed by thieves and robbers. Same with believers when they are taken from the pen by our enemy, who is a thief and comes to steal, deceive, kill and destroy.
-Sheep have names as do believers. They respond to their names as do we as believers. 
-The shepherd, not the mother-ewe, names his sheep with a new name. Believers also receive new Hebrew names, as they learn Torah and a new kingdom name, written on a stone as well, in the coming kingdom.
-Sheep hear and know their shepherd's voice. Believers must do likewise. In order to know Him intimately and His sweet voice as humans, we must also know our Shepherd's True Name YHUH. "My people-sheep shall know My Name" declared the prophet.
​-Sheep run from strangers and their weird voices. Believers must also do the same but sometimes it seems that we are not able or willing to run from strangers, who do not have our best interests at heart. A times we run to a stranger for a mere handful of food-mammon pellets-promises.
-Sheep are experts at removing themselves from the shepherd's will and callíng. Believers sadly are mostly the same.
-Sheep get life from the real shepherd. Messiah gives us freely the gift of abundant and eternal life.
-Sheep respond to the voice of a loving shepherd, who loves and carries them through circumstances. They reject and rebel against any kind of abuse by the shepherd. Messiah Yahusha loves us and leads us gently, never abusing us, never beating us into submission and lays down His entire life for our eternal benefit.
​-The sheep and the shepherd become one and in one accord, as he loves and lays down his life sacrificially for their benefit and well being. As believers we become fully one-echad with our Messiah as well, as He has laid down His life for our well being and cleansing, as we become echad with His Spirit.
-Sheep are immersed in water as often as needed. Believers are also baptized as often as needed, as well and are not limited to a one time new believer's mikvah. 
-Sheep shelter in a sukkah or temporal house of mercy. Believers also take shelter in the Beth Chesed-Mercy House of the Shepherd, both in the here and now through eternity as well.
-When one sheep is missing or slaughtered, the other sheep also grieve and are saddened. They are keenly aware of someone missing. Believers are members of one another, one flock and following one Shepherd and when one is hurt, wounded or missing, the entire flock is hurting. They know someone is missing and are saddened.
-When sheep are lost the shepherd goes searching in order to return them to the fold, leaving the others safely behind. As believers, when we wander off course, our Yahusha leaves the 99 sheep, all to bring us back to our senses, as the lost sheep of the House of Israel that went wayward, astray and whoring.
-Sheep live among wolves and predators. Just like believers live in the world among wolves, predators and demons of all sorts.
-Sheep are divided from the goats by a good wise shepherd. As believers, we know that at The Master's return, He will divide the earth's pagan nations into sheep and goat nations, based on how they treated His sheepfold Israel. Goats are holy and not bad but are merely used to separate them from Israel in a single parable, which is a warning to pagans, not any kind of a knock on goats. See our deep and awesome section on goats!
-Sheep inherit their shepherds home and property as their very own. As believers, we inherit and are co heirs with our Shepherd Messiah Yahusha, as all things that are His, He has given to us as His sheep, having separated us from the nations
-Sheep become scattered when the shepherd is struck down in any way. As believers, the same occurred when Messiah died and was taken from us. His sheep were immediately scattered until such time as they were recollected by His resurrection and then assigned under shepherds. When believers viciously smite their pastors-leaders with rebellion, lies, gossip, slander, tale bearing and false accusations, they are doing the devil's work in scattering Messiah's sheep, who get confused and don't know whom to follow or trust.
-Some sheep are specifically prepared for food or slaughter. As believers and as part of Israel, we also are looked upon by the world as mere sheep for their plans of death and slaughter.
-Sheep obviously have 4 legs. As believers that represents the 4 corners of the earth, from where Messiah's sheep will be gathered at the sound of the ram's horn and the return of Lamb Sheep-Goat of YAH, as Judah's Lion.
​-Sheep only have lower teeth. Believers also are to feed on milk constantly and only occasionally chew or take up harder things. We are to constantly chew on the basics, thus no need for spiritual uppers.
-Sheep are naturally not trusting, seeing humans as predators; yet through gentle patience, care and leadership, they have their minds and thinking renewed towards the love and care of a tov shepherd. As believers, we are called to constantly not be conformed to this world but to be continually made new by the renewing of our minds thus leading to clear and healthy thinking towards other humans, as well as our pastor-teaching leaders.
-Sheep that go astray get caught in thickets on earth. The true Shepherd comes and frees us from all the thickets of this life as well.
*** If you have been given some more insights into the similarities between sheep and born again believers who follow Torah that are not listed above, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to add your insights.