ye were as sheep going astray

1Pe 2:25 ...ye were as sheep going astray;
Before we delve into the pictures Peter uses, notice his phrase,
…ye were as sheep…we were before Christ found us wandering, lost sheep…
Adam Clarke: Formerly ye were not in a better moral condition than your oppressors; ye were like stray sheep, in the wilderness of ignorance and sin, till Christ, the true and merciful Shepherd, called you back from your wanderings, by sending you the Gospel of his grace.

Peter gleans this picture from his knowledge of the OT, and this is one of several quotations from Isaiah 53 on which he draws rich insight: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Sheep! God chose, of all the animals in creation, to call human beings ‘sheep’. He could’ve compared us to cattle or horses or pigs or rhinoceroses, or kittens; be he preferred to call us sheep. Sheep have a strong and consistent tendency to stray off and become lost; a remarkable capacity for going wrong. They are very dumb animals. They are completely defenseless. They are unable to care for themselves. They have to be cared for and led.

One man writes, I heard of an incident where there was a huge flock of sheep walking along a trail. One of the sheep jumped over an imaginary obstacle. All the sheep following did the same.