Das key, bro’
A shepherd is often a hired hand - and not the owner of the sheep. That’s as true of the ancient Near East as it is of the Highlands of Scotland. A shepherd’s principal responsibility, therefore, is to stop sheep from wandering away, being stolen, or attacked by wild beasts. A shepherd is a guardian of the flock.
Cite your evidence. Which specific manuscripts exhibit the sort of deliberate editing you believe occurred. How were those emendations/redactions propagated through the various manuscript traditions/families and how do you explain a corruption of the complete corpus? When did such falsification of textual transmission take place, in your view?