Matthew 10:6

Lost sheep. In the OT Israel is often spoken of under the figure of sheep, and their leaders as shepherds (see Eze. 34:2-16; etc.). In Jer. 50:6 God speaks of His people as being “lost sheep.” Isaiah speaks of those who have wandered into sin as being “like sheep” that “have gone astray” (Isa. 53:6). Jesus represented Himself as a Shepherd, and those who hear His voice, as the sheep of His fold (see John 10:1-16).

“It was necessary that the word of God should first” be spoken to the Jews, and it was only when they rejected it that Christ and the apostles turned to the Gentiles (see Acts 13:46; 18:6; 28:28). This fundamental fact Christ brought before the Jewish leaders, during the course of His last day of teaching in the Temple, in the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (see Matt. 21:41, 43).