The first occurrence.
And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Gen 4:2
The primitive root.
Strong’s H7462 רעה ra’ah, a primitive root meaning, “to shepherd, to pasture.” The ancient pictographs are resh + ayin + hey.
resh ר = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
ayin ע = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
hey ה = man with upraised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath
The story: The man (resh) watching over (ayin) with sighing in his chest/ heart (hey), i.e. invested by love and duty to succeed in his commission, for tending God’s creation was his original commission from his Creator (Gen 1:26).
A keeper of sheep is a shepherd. This is not the only place in Scripture where the verb “to shepherd” is translated as a noun. Also:
YHVH is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Psa 23:1
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Isa 40:11
That is to say, YHVH shepherds me: He watches over me invested by love and duty.
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