Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 10:8

"All that came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." — John 10:8 (ASV)

The “thieves and robbers” refer to the false messiahs and supposed deliverers of the people who had appeared in the period following the restoration from the Exile and especially in the century before Jesus’ advent, or possibly to the religious leaders of the Jews. After the death of Herod the Great in 4 B. C., many factions were contending for the leadership of the nation and attempting by violence to throw off the Roman yoke. But Jesus’ purpose was not political, as the emphasis of the discourse shows.