In return, the sheep and goats fertilized the fields for the next planting season. In first century Judea, being a shepherd was considered a lowly profession. These were the social outcasts. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
But when the winter rains fall, the hills become clothed with grass, and the shepherds, knowing this, take their sheep further a field. Then, because it would make the sheep walk too far to reach the folds every evening, expending energy needlessly, they simply watch their flocks in the fields all night. This seems to be precisely what the evangelist Luke describes:. The shepherds were not in the town; the flock was not in a fold in or near the town. The sheep were taken there only in the winter, when the winter rains brought forth grass on the hills.
Once again, the claim that it was too cold for shepherds to be abiding in the fields in December is shown have no basis. In fact the historical record shows exactly the opposite: the shepherds would have been abiding in the fields in December with their flocks. Hey, this is quite revealing how the agricultural pattern in the East helps to shed light, first on the culture of the people and the possible date of the birth of Jesus than has been traditionally accepted.
The exactness of the date is not much of interest to me as the cultural significance of the shepherds and their work. Your email address will not be published. Exact matches only. Search in title. Search in content. Search in excerpt. We don't know the names of the angels or how many there were of them, but in the Bible it says that there are millions of angels - so it would have been an amazing experience!
If you'd like to know more about angels, go to whychristmas? There's a theory that Jesus might have been born a couple of miles outside of Bethlehem - and was actually born in the company of the shepherds! A couple of miles outside Bethlehem there was a special watch tower called the Migdal Eder, which means 'The Tower of the Flock'.
It's thought that sheep born there were used as sacrifice animals in the Jewish Temple in near-by Jerusalem. So they were very special and the shepherds were thought of more highly than normal shepherds. According to some sources, the lambs at Migdal Eder had their health checked by resting them in a 'manger' or dip in a rock to stop them escaping and were even wrapped in swaddling clothes to show they were special! You can read more about this theory on the pathos blog.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 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 , good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
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