Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Shepards at the birth of Jesus.

Have any ideas why they were picked to be at the scene?

The Bible doesn’t give details but I’d imagine the people that were their were people that were good hearted and wise even if not one of the wisemen.

Waiting for handouts from the wise guys?

Would have had to hang around for quite awhile.

Might have had something to do with the notion of "The Good Shepard".

wabigoon;
Good evening to you my friend, I hope the weather is behaving down your way and you and your fine family are well.

If I recall correctly, at that time the shepherds and fisherman were considered the lowest class in a somewhat caste like society.

Proper accepted protocol for the announcement of the birth of a king or royalty would be to other royalty first, then descending levels of society got the news as it trickled down.

The biblical tradition of the shepherds being first to know then put the entire society upside down and lent credibility to the claim that this was truly for "all people" and not just the rich and privileged.

Something like that I'd imagine anyways sir.

All the best to you all this Christmas Season.

Dwayne

You talkin Alan Shepard or Laura Shepard Churchley?

Dwayne nailed it.

Like the last shall be first?

That is how I have heard it too, good explanation BC30……low down sheep herders!

Wabi,
I don’t have any insight to add and I think that Dwayne’s explanation is as accurate as any. The Annunciation to the shepherds is one of my favorite Biblical images. The poor shepherds huddled on a cold spring night, suddenly being summoned by an other worldly being saying, “Come, you shepherds!”. Then a host of Angels, in ranks, stretching to Heaven, singing of the glory of God!

A bit too Renaissance-ish or Currier and Ives? Yeah… But it helped me thru many nights when I was calving. I’ll never have a road to Damascus experience but I can identify with a bunch of stockmen shiverin* in the dark….and hoping

Perfectly stated, Dwayne. Tonight’s advent reading with the kids was Luke 2:9 which describes the moment the angels appeared and the shepherds’ reaction.

We turned every light out in the house except a candle and explained how the shepherds would have had a fire going and been listen to the night sounds and the sheep, when suddenly...!!!

At that moment I turned on the dining room lights and after a few minutes in the dark, the sudden light was a little harsh and I think it helped our kids (8, 6, 4, & 2) understand why the shepherds were afraid and just how important the phrase “the glory of the Lord...” is in describing the sensory overload the herders experienced.

I’m envious of many of the characters from the Bible and the things some of them were privileged to see. What a night that must have been for them.

Merry Christmas, gents.

Pretty sure they just wanted to get out of the house cause they were sick of all the relatives visiting for the holidays.

Precisely. Shepherd jokes likely haven't changed much, if at all, in 2,000+ years. In fact, when Solomon wrote in Ec 1:9, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.", it's been bantered-about by biblical neophytes that he was specifically referring to shepherd jokes. [True story].




If the very best news that could ever be imagined, was given first to the most marginalized in all of society, then geez - maybe each and every one of us truly was amazingly loved, individually fussed-over, and celebrated every moment of the day by the One who created us.





Indeed, it's the view many of us have come to.





And to you, sir.


FC

"The world upside down"?

It symbolized the importance of humility.

Here's a hint:

Yes, their story is a metaphor. The Gospels were written in a very sophisticated version of High Greek. The men who wrote them were not low class speakers of Aramaic.

More like inside out, Wabi.

My (very poor) understanding is that the coming of the Messiah had been foretold. Most didn’t believe or felt threatened.
The Shepards came because they understood the coming of Christ.
Just my understanding.

So what Christian denomination is old Steve Anderson affiliated with, happy? The church of me, myself, and I?

And how much does he pay you to spread his word?