Fold
(properly , gederah’, a place walled in, Num 32:16; Num 32:24; Num 32:36; , a court-yard, Joh 10:1; Joh 10:16; also , miklah’, a place shut up, Hab 3:17; Psa 50:9; Psa 78:70; whereas , dober’, Isa 5:17; Mic 2:12; and , naveh’ 2Sa 7:8; 1Ch 17:7; Isa 65:10; Jer 23:3; Eze 25:5; Eze 34:14, signify pasture, and , Joh 10:16, the flock itself) a small enclosure for flocks to rest together (Isa 13:20). It appears that, before the shearing the sheep were collected together into an uncovered enclosure (), surrounded by a wall (Joh 10:11; Joh 10:16). The object of this is that the wool may be rendered finer by the sweating and evaporation which necessarily result from the flock being thus crowded together. These are the sheepfolds mentioned in Num 30:16; 2Sa 7:8; Zep 2:6, etc. No other kind than this are used in the East (Jabs, Archaeol. 46). SEE PASTURAGE.
Such an enclosure, open above, was often made of hurdles, in which, during the summer months, the flocks are kept by night or at noon. They were usually divided into two parts for the different kinds of flocks, i.e., sheep and goats (Jdg 5:16). SEE FLOCK.
The gentlemen forming the Scotch Mission of Inquiry to the Jews in 1839, when at Eshtaol, observed, Many large flocks of sheep and goats were coming into the village, and we followed the footsteps of the flocks in order to see where they were lodged all night. We found the dwellings to be merely cottages of mud with a door, and sometimes also a window, into a court-yard. In this yard the flocks were lying down, while the villagers, were spreading their mats to rest within. Small mud walls farmed rail partitions to keep separate the larger and smaller cattle, for, oxen, horses, and camels were in some of these enclosures. In the East it is common for shepherds to make use of ruined edifices to shelter their flocks from the heat of the middle of the day and from the dangers of the night. Thus it was prophesied of the cities of Ammon, Aroer, and Judea that they should be couching-places for flocks (Eze 25:5; Isa 17:2; Isa 32:14). But Babylon was to be visited with a far greater desolation, and to become unfit even for such a purpose (Isa 13:19). The peculiar expression in Psa 68:13, Though ye have been among the pots, or, according to J.D. Michaelis, drinking- troughs or water-troughs, would be better rendered, Though ye have lien among the folds. See POT. To lie among the folds, says Gesenius, seems to be spoken proverbially of shepherds and husbandmen living in leisure and quiet. In Joh 10:16, the Jews and Gentiles are represented under the image of two different flocks enclosed in different folds. SEE SHEEP.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Fold
an enclosure for flocks to rest together (Isa. 13:20). Sheep-folds are mentioned Num. 32:16, 24, 36; 2 Sam. 7:8; Zeph. 2:6; John 10:1, etc. It was prophesied of the cities of Ammon (Ezek. 25:5), Aroer (Isa. 17:2), and Judaea, that they would be folds or couching-places for flocks. “Among the pots,” of the Authorized Version (Ps. 68:13), is rightly in the Revised Version, “among the sheepfolds.”
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Fold
FOLD.See Flock.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Fold
Fold [PASTURAGE]
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Fold
The divinely appointed system of Jewish ordinances which formed the enclosure into which the Lord entered by the door, in order to find His own sheep and lead them out. Gentile believers were added to them, and they became one flock (not ‘one fold’) with one Shepherd, the Lord Himself. Joh 10:1; Joh 10:3; Joh 10:16. There is no longer a fold on earth for those that are Christ’s. They are formed into the church, namely, the one flock.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Fold
first signifies “an open courtyard” before a house; then, “an enclosure” in the open, “a sheepfold,” Joh 10:1, Joh 10:16. In the papyri “the word is extremely common, denoting the court attached to a house” (Moulton and Milligan, Vocab.). The “sheepfold” was usually surrounded by a stone wall, Num 32:16, preferably near a well, Exo 2:16; Psa 23:2, and often protected by a tower, 2Ch 26:10; Mic 4:8. See COURT, HALL, PALACE.
Note: For the erroneous AV rendering, “fold,” of poimne, “a flock,” in Joh 10:16, see FLOCK.