Why Shepherds?

Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. What a great Christmas carol. Every time I hear this song it makes me think of the shepherds who were the first to see Mary and Joseph’s newborn baby. Luke tells us about those shepherds. “They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child” (Luke 2:16-17).

Why shepherds? At one time shepherding was seen as a noble occupation. However, when the Hebrews migrated to Egypt, things were very different. The Egyptians were farmers. They despised shepherding because sheep and goats meant death to crops. Egyptians considered sheep worthless for food and sacrifice. In fact, when Joseph invited his family to move to Egypt, he used this understanding to his advantage. He told his brothers, “When Pharaoh calls for you and asks you about your occupation, you must tell him, ‘We, your servants, have raised livestock all our lives, as our ancestors have always done.’ When you tell him this, he will let you live here in the region of Goshen, for the Egyptians despise shepherds” (Genesis 46:33-34).

It appears that over the course of four hundred years in captivity, this Egyptian influence prejudiced the Israelites’ attitude toward shepherding as well. As a result, after the Hebrews finally settled in Palestine, shepherding ceased to hold its prominent position. The Israelites then began to acquire more and more farmland becoming agriculturalists themselves. Consequently, pasturing decreased and shepherding became a menial vocation for the laboring class. German theologian Dr. Joachim Jeremias discovered that shepherds were actually “despised in everyday life.” In general, they were considered second-class and untrustworthy. Dr. Jeremias wrote, “To buy wool, milk or a kid from a shepherd was forbidden on the assumption that it would be stolen property.” By the time of Christ’s day, shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They were uneducated. Unsophisticated. Their clothing smelled like the field. Shepherds shared the same unenviable status as tax collectors and dung sweepers. They were deprived of all civil rights and could not fulfill judicial offices or be admitted in court as witnesses. In fact, Dr. Jeremias notes, “The rabbis ask[ed] with amazement how, in view of the despicable nature of shepherds, one can explain why God was called ‘my shepherd’ in Psalm 23:1.” Self-righteous religious leaders officially labeled shepherds as “sinners” – a technical term for a class of despised people. And yet, this is whom God first tells about the birth of His Son. I think of Jesus’ later chastising of the Pharisees, “For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

Yes, He came for sinners like the shepherds and you and me. And when the shepherds met Jesus, what was their first response? To go tell everyone what had happened. I pray that is our response as well. Share the amazing thing God did in sending His one and only Son to die for our sins and offer us eternal life. Be a shepherd and go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere that Jesus Christ was born!         

-----------------------------------------------------   

Remember you can email praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. I lift them up every Wednesday at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.