In John 10:10 Jesus said, , “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

Many people including myself believe Jesus is only metaphorically referring to the devil and yes, this passage of text can be used in this context. However, Jesus is using thief and bandit as metaphors for the leaders of Israel in the Old Testament (Isa 1:23, Jer 2:26, 7:11, 23:30). In fact, Jesus was intentionally reusing an existing shepherd parable from Ezekiel 34. In Ezekiel 34, God condemns the failed leaders of Israel, who have stolen from the sheep, killed them and caused them to become scattered. God says that He will remove these hired shepherds and replace them with himself and David as shepherds. Jesus is doing the same thing in John 10. He condemns the leaders of Israel as thieves and points to himself as the only true shepherd.