People as Sheep and Goats
If you have ever seen sheep and goats on a farm, you may have noticed some rather distinct characteristics. Goats can be herded, but it’s not the same as herding sheep.
Goats aren’t as compliant as sheep, making them harder to control as a group. Goats can meander off in all directions, making it trickier to herd them compared to sheep.
Goats usually symbolize stubbornness due to their independent nature originating from Biblical stories where goats veer away from shepherds much more than sheep do.
Over many, many years, sheep symbolism has represented abundance, innocence, peace, trust and sacrifice. In many religions, the usual traditions and myths remain true. In dreams and meditation, sheep signal virtues like purity, creativity, tranquility and belonging.
Goats, however, have long been symbols in mythology and religion. They represent fertility, abundance, and creativity. The Greek god Pan is linked to goats, for his wild and untamed nature.
In the Biblical context, goats represent all that is for sin and wickedness, unlike sheep which symbolize meekness and compassion.
In whatever spiritual state we are in, we will always have some goat in us. In reality, what is desired are the sheep’s characteristics.
The personality of the sheep (that is, the compassion) will be found with GOD and will be linked with Salvation of mankind and sacrifice to the honor of the Father. The goats (the hard-hearted) will sit on the left (and be sent to damnation). Their lack of Spirit Truth will lead them there.
The Bible verse that describes separating people into sheep and goats is Matthew 25:32-33. This is part of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats.
“…before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.”
In this parable, Jesus describes how He will separate people who chose to follow Him or chose to rebel. When he returns, the world should expect to receive what it has earned via faith, obedience or their opposite. The parable also points out that it is vital to be living a life that reflects GOD’s Love and Teachings, by faith.
"All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32). Yeshua is the Shepherd, and in this verse, He said that He will separate sheep (believers) from goats (unbelievers) when He returns."
In this passage, Jesus describes the final judgment of the world as a shepherd separating the righteous sheep from the unrighteous goats.
The way the shepherd distinguishes between the two groups is by examining the sacrificial love they have shown toward the “least of these, My brothers” -Matt. 25:40, 45
When sheep start acting like goats, they are now out of the character of the Shepherd.
Sheep do (and will) portray themselves as goats do.
We all know that sheep and goats are not the same animal, but I have heard from some buddies who raise goats for milk, clearing the land and their meat.
Goats are cute in the beginning but keep an eye on them.
Coined by our beloved chickens, the ‘pecking order’ rings true for goat herds as well. In fact, goats take their hierarchy very seriously, and any upset (change) or threat to their established rule can send an orderly herd into mass chaos.
Head-butting, pushing, rearing, and smashing are all forms of pecking order establishment. Males may also try to intimidate other bucks by staring, displaying horns, or simply rearing at nothing.
How does sheep challenge each other?
The queen of the herd is usually an older doe that has worked hard to establish her place over time. Once she is in place, very few challenges occur. Herd queens are replaced by their “daughters” once she is too weak to lead or has been removed.
Some goats are just plain old cranky. Most of the time it’s during breeding that bucks become aggressive, however, some goats just have bad attitudes in general. Yep. Sheep do some of the same stuff. Look inside some of the churches.
If you’ve got an aggressive buck, never turn your back on him. It’s always the moments when you think all’s well that you get a painful butt in the back, and the bigger your goat, the more force and pain come with an attack.
Rams can headbutt you, as well. Just as the male goats do to establish dominance, the sheep do the same thing. Most of the headbutting you’ll see is usually ram on ram, but not always. Since headbutting is the sheep way to say “I’m in charge here”, it’s not limited to ram vs ram.
Headbutting will be dangerous for GOD’s sheep. Normally you can’t even tell who was involved once they get their pecking order sorted out, but, sometimes things get out of hand with headbutting rams.
Rams (leaders) can hurt one another by headbutting them. Think about it. When someone with “power” throws it around and is seen running at another to “bump heads.” What happens next is damage to one or both. One will stop eventually. Sometimes blood will be visible!
Bleeding heads will always “look terrible.” Heads tend to bleed a lot for the size of the wound. Plus, since the sheep are fighting, their blood is really pumping so they bleed more.
Think about that for a moment.
When deviant behavior is taking precedence in a ram/sheep’s life, wandering and dominance is next and the remaining sheep are in trouble. The dangerous (unruly) sheep and goats will eventually be sold (handed over to another) or sent to slaughter.
We expect this type of behavior with goats, but sheep?