“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
There they were. Shepherds watching their flocks of sheep and protecting them from predators just like any other night of the year. Suddenly, out of nowhere, angels from heaven appeared to announce the greatest news in the history of the world.
The traditional belief is that the shepherds were poor, foul-smelling, and ragtag. But like many stories, sometimes they get spun by culture over time. Yes, they may have smelled bad and were perhaps a bit disheveled, but they were not poor, country-bumpkin farmers scratching out a living. They were much higher up the social ladder than that.
Who were these shepherds? Why did God choose them? A quick look at Jewish priestly duties and a review of Jewish literature explains the truth of that first Noel.
Poor and Dirty Shepherds
“There were shepherds in the same country living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
“Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’
“So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’
“And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told [to] them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told [to] them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
“Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told [to] them.” (Luke 2:8-20)
Historically, shepherds, especially those on the overnight watch, were socially disenfranchised outcasts considered unclean and disgraceful. The thought is that the angels appeared to them first because it was God’s design to connect to “the least of these.” By doing so, Jesus desired to reach the have-nots of society before showing Himself to any religious authorities. It was the marginalized He was most concerned with.
Well, that’s at least partly true.
Jesus has a heart for the downcast and hurting, and people generally regarded shepherds as cultural underdogs. That is true. But the shepherds described in Luke 2 were hardly outcasts of society. In fact, they were very special people with extraordinary jobs.
Mishnah Regulations
Despite Moses and David both having shepherding experience, most wealthy and influential Jewish people tended to look upon shepherds as lowly and sometimes dangerous. But the shepherds in Luke 2 were quite different. According to the Mishnah, these shepherds had the unique job of performing Temple duties.
The Mishnah is a group of recorded ancient oral traditions that governed the Jewish people following the Maccabean Revolt in 132 B.C. One of its regulations “expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel except in the wilderness—and the only flocks otherwise kept would be those for the Temple services (Bab K.7:7; 80a).
The only people allowed to keep the sheep for Temple services were priests. Further, the shepherds were in the nearby fields surrounding Bethlehem, not out in the wilderness where regular sheep were kept.
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields…” (v8)
These were not everyday shepherds, as many suppose. These were shepherd priests charged with tending sheep set aside for Temple purposes, i.e., ceremonial sacrifices to God. It was the priests’ job to make sure the lambs were without blemish and completely unharmed until the appointed time. It was not an easy job, by any means. It required special men.
Additionally, the fact they were watching sheep in a field and not in pens suggests that the season was warm, further indicating that the sheep were likely in preparation for Passover.
It is easy to assume that the shepherds were lowly and dirty outcasts. The Mishnah claims otherwise. These were unique people assigned the essential job of caring for holy lambs set apart for God likely for Passover, one of the three High Holy Days. It seems fitting to choose such people to declare the arrival of the long-awaited Lamb of God.
Watching Over Their Flock
Another statement in the Mishnah says the Messiah would be revealed from the “Migdal Eder,” which translates as “tower of the flock.” It was a lookout tower that stood just outside the city within the Temple priests’ fields.
It was a shepherd priest’s job to stay in the Migdal Eder all night. With the tower being so tall, the shepherd was literally “watching over the flock by night (Luke 2:8)” while the other shepherds were keeping watch on the ground.
The shepherd priests stayed in the fields continually, yet their service to the Temple held great cultural and social significance. But, no matter how you look at it, they were still dirty shepherds tending sheep.
And that is when the angels showed up with some very good news.
Good Tiding of Great Joy
As the shepherds tended their duties, an angel from heaven appeared, saying, “Do not be afraid.” This was a typical greeting to people who initially felt alarmed at their appearance, most recently to Zacharias (1:13) and Mary (1:30). The angel heralded the birth of the Messiah; however, he also gave an update to Moses’ Law.
In beautiful brilliance, the angel hand-delivered a message telling the shepherd priests the time for animal sacrifice was nearly over. The Savior, Christ the Lord, had come to be the ultimate and universal sacrifice for sin.
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
Note the three titles the angel uses in the announcement—Savior, Christ, and Lord. This combination of titles is found only here in Luke 2 and nowhere else in the New Testament. Together, they declare Jesus’ deity, authority, mission, and royalty. To this point, only Caesar required being hailed as the Roman Empire’s savior and lord. However, the angel declared that God is the true Savior and Lord.
The shepherd priests would have immediately understood the titles and contrast of meaning. The appearance of the God’s heavenly army singing praise would have further emphasized the enormity of the event.
The Christ, the promised Messiah the priests had heard about from the prophets, the Savior of the world, was finally born. God had come to the earth to save His people, and He would now be the perfect sacrifice to pay for man’s sin once and for all through His death and resurrection.
The Messiah had come! It is little wonder these priests ran “with haste (v16)” to see the baby the angel spoke of.
The Swaddling Cloths
When the shepherd priests found Mary and Joseph with their new baby, they likely noticed Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths just as the angel told them (v12). But these were not rags or towels Mary and Joseph brought from home or happened to find in the stable, as many suppose. These cloths were extraordinary.
The Greek translation of swaddling cloths mentioned in Luke 2:7 is sparganoo (“spar-gan-o-o”), which means infant clothes. It was not common for children of poor parents to have anything resembling a diaper or undergarments, leading some to believe that Joseph and Mary borrowed the cloths from someone wealthy, perhaps a Temple priest like Zacharias.
Although it is unknown where Mary and Joseph got the cloths, some scholars speculate that Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, gave Mary cloths from the Temple when she visited them earlier in her pregnancy (Lk 1:39-40). Priests used the cloths to keep lambs free of blemishes as they prepared animals for ceremonial sacrifice. As High Priest, Zacharias would have had access to them.
Cloths from the Temple symbolized Jesus’ holiness and God’s plan for Him to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. The shepherd priests would have quickly noticed the allegory.
After the shepherds saw the Messiah with their own eyes, the Bible says they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen (v. 20).” Author Eugene Peterson wrote in his book, The Message, that the shepherds “let loose, glorifying and praising God,” a reasonable response after having a personal encounter with the Lord, knowing He has come to save us.
How wonderful it is that Jesus the Messiah has come! The perfect Lamb of God without blemish and sin has come to cover our sins with His righteousness so that we never have to be separated from the Father again.
May we all “let loose, glorifying and praising” Him for His indescribable gift.
