The Deeper Significance of the Unique Bethlehem Shepherds
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night." (Luke 2:8)
Shepherds are correctly included in every Nativity scene and church Christmas pageant … usually attired in bathrobes. But, as we dig into the Christmas story, the role of shepherds beckons to a deeper spiritual significance and symbolism of the shepherds.
This question begs asking: Why was the sign of Christ’s birth of a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manager given to the shepherds? It is curious that of all the professions God could have first announced the birth of His Son he chose shepherds. Much has been made that shepherds were the lowest on the social rungs of society at that time and that they were seen as spiritually unclean. And how this pictures for us how God reaches down to us. But, there is even more about the shepherds from Bethlehem that God has for us to see.
The passage of Luke 2 gives a phrase that tells us that Christ’s birth was NOT on December 25. The Bible makes the distinction that on the night of Christ’s birth the shepherds were “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Luke 2:8). Instead of having their sheep in a fold (John 10:1), they were out in the fields. When and why were they there?
Some have proposed that the shepherds were in the fields because it was time of the Feast of Tabernacles, which would have at the time of late September to late October, and so naturally they would be camping out in the pastures at that time. This is a reasonable possibility which cannot be discounted. But, there is an even more reasonable functional explanation for why the shepherds were in the field with their flocks that night that Christ was born.
The Shepherds and the Lamb
Shepherds would often be out in the fields when the weather was suitable such as from spring until fall, i.e. April to November. (1) Therefore, Jesus’ birth would NOT have been in December or on December 25th. We will later explore the sinister implication of that particular date.
The reason the shepherds would have been in the fields at that time was for “lambing season,” the time of year when lambs were being born. These shepherds would have been in the fields assisting with the delivery of the lambs and protecting them from adversaries such as wolves and thieves. (2)
However, these were not just your ordinary shepherds common throughout Palestine; these shepherds from Bethlehem had some very special qualities.
First, these shepherds made a sacrifice that night Jesus was born. These shepherds were supposed to be taking of their own flocks that night near Bethlehem, but they left behind their own sheep and lambs being born on that night to instead attend the birth of “The Lamb of God”!
John the Baptist twice referred to Jesus proclaiming, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29, 36). Jesus is the Lamb of God because He is our Passover Lamb; “for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (I Corinthians 5:7). Peter referred to “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1: 19). Throughout the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is entitled as “the Lamb.”
The Messiah passage of Isaiah 53 prophesied that “he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (verse 7; emphasis added). This was the exact passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading (Acts 8:32) which prompted him to receive the salvation of Jesus Christ – the first individual report in the New Testament of an Gentile being saved and becoming a Christian! It must have an evangelistic influence upon him.
So, although there is nothing in the Luke 2 passage to directly indicate that the shepherds knew that the baby that they were looking was indeed the Lamb of God, this is indeed the symbolic picture for us.
They made a great exchange which is an example to us. They left their work of caring for their own possessions, taking the risk that those things may not be there when they returned, and it exchanged it for a higher purpose and calling. They left their livelihood to find the giver and source of true Life.
What are you willing to leave behind in exchange for God’s higher calling and purpose for you? These verses are examples of the exchanged life in Christ:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
“ To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)
Were the shepherds misdirected?
When the angels proclaimed Christ’s birth to the shepherds, they did not sing “Oh, little town of Bethlehem.” In fact, they gave a mysterious message which would seem like a misdirection or misnomer. It could have easily confused the hearer to go to the wrong city, but the shepherds did not do so. Instead, they had sufficient knowledge of God’s Word to not be misled.
Have you noticed in all the times you have had heard the Christmas story that the angels told the shepherds to go find the Christ child in “city of David”: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:12).
But, in common vernacular of that day, “the city of David” would not have referred to Bethlehem but to Jerusalem! There are 44 references in the Old Testament to Jerusalem as “the city of David.” Jerusalem was given the moniker “the city of David” when David captured the city from the Jebusites (II Samuel 5:7; I Chronicles 11:7).
So, if the angels told the shepherds to look in “the city of David,” from the perspective at that time period they would seem to be referring Jerusalem just five miles away, not Bethlehem. If the shepherds were to go to “the city of David”, by the common understanding of that time they should have gone over to Jerusalem. But, they didn’t!
That the shepherds did not go to Jerusalem as would have been commonly expected shows they knew their Bible. In I Samuel 20:6, David referred to Bethlehem as “his city.” It was also known that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah as foretold in Micah 5:2, as the chief priests and scribes were able to tell King Herod (Matthew 2:4-6):
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; who going forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)
When the shepherds heard the angels proclaim for them to go to the “city of David”, they did not go to Jerusalem as might have been expected by the common understanding, but correctly went to nearby Bethlehem.
Herein is a lesson for us that the Bible will always guide and direct us where to go, for “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), not in the common thinking or language of the world.
The Bethlehem Lambs
There is another particular, special quality about these Bethlehem shepherds.
These fields “in same country” that these shepherds were in around Bethlehem were unique. These would likely have been the very fields where the shepherd boy David shepherded his father’s flocks and fought the lion and bear to protect them. (3)
There is also something very unique about these particular shepherds. The shepherds near Bethlehem were also known to take care of the “Temple flocks”! (4) What is so significant about this?
Their sheep would be the ones sacrificed at the Temple just five miles away in Jerusalem. (5) The lambs being born that night in the fields around Bethlehem would die in Jerusalem, as sacrifices at Passover (6) , as the Passover lambs had to be less than one year old (Exodus 12:5). The purpose of their birth was for them to die as a sacrifice.
So, like the lambs born to shepherds, Jesus, the Lamb of God was born at the same place in Bethlehem would where the lambs for the Temple flocks were born. He would die at the same place where they would die in Jerusalem. He would die at the same time of year they would die at Passover. He was born for the same purpose they were born which was to die as a sacrifice.
The temple lambs and the Lamb of God were born at the same place, same time of year, and for the same purpose and were to die at the same place, same time of year, and the same occasion. These parallels are just too dramatic to be a coincidence, but another hidden meaning God has implanted in the Christmas story. It also reinforces that the purpose of Jesus coming was NOT so we could celebrate his birth at Christmas, but to look ahead to his sacrificial death on the cross for our sins and his resurrection that followed.
Birth of the Good Shepherd
While there were shepherds of Bethlehem who attended the birth of The Lamb of God, these shepherds also attended the birth of “the Good Shepherd.” Jesus referred to himself by this title in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” and in John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” Peter called him “the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (I Peter 2:25) and “the chief Shepherd” (I Peter 5:4). The Lord Jesus is also called “that great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20). And of course, most people are familiar with the 23rd Psalm which proclaims, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….”
But, how is the Lord Jesus Christ a shepherd? There is a story in the New Testament which shows how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the prophecy of this psalm of being a shepherd.
In Mark 6: 30-44 is the story of one of the two occasions when Jesus fed the multitudes. First, it shows he had the perception and role of a shepherd. It says, “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6: 34). Jesus saw the people as being like sheep. Therefore, this would place Jesus in the role or position of being a shepherd like that in Psalm 23.
But, what is so amazing about this passage how this passage in Mark 6 connects back with Psalm 23:2 which said, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…” Mark 6:39 says, “And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.” He made them sit down in the green pasture, just David wrote that the Good Shepherd made him lie down in green pasture. These two different writers, the shepherd David and John Mark, thousands of years apart impart the same congruent truth because the both passages were penned by the same Author, the Holy Spirit.
Being the good Shepherd, Jesus amply supplied the people’s needs of both their physical and spiritual hunger. He fed them spiritually as “he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34b), and he fed them physically multiplying the five loaves and two fishes, “And they did all eat, and were filled.” (Mark 6:42).
So, the physical shepherds of Bethlehem attended the birth of the Good, Great, and Chief spiritual Shepherd who tends to and feeds His sheep. It reminds of a song I learned in Sunday school years ago and that I taught our daughters:
In God’s green pastures feeding,
By his cool waters lie,
Soft in the evening
Walk my Lord and I.
Oh, the sheep of his pasture
Are so wonderfully fine.
His sheep am I.
Jesus truly is our Good Shepherd who provides our needs for food, water, rest, healing care, and protection. How are you trusting Him today to provide for your needs? “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19)
Shepherds at the Burial
Just as there were shepherds who attended the birth of the Lamb and the Good Shepherd, there were “shepherds” who attended His death and burial. In the Bible, physical places, persons, things, and activities can be pictures of the spiritual. Just as there were physical shepherds, there were also spiritual shepherds.
Israel had a time of spiritual apostasy when its spiritual leaders or “shepherds” were not feeding the flock of God but fleecing it. Nor were they tending to it, but destroying it.
"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." (Jeremiah 23:1-5; KJV)
Jeremiah was not the only writer to use this spiritual metaphor or picture of shepherds. Ezekiel also did and rendered this warning to them as well.
"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" (Ezekiel 34:2)
"Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them." (Ezekiel 34:7-10)
These “shepherds” of Israel were the spiritual and religious leaders of the nation of Israel. During Jesus’ day, these religious leaders or “shepherds” would have been the Pharisees and Sadducees. In these prophetic passages in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, God was angry with the “shepherds” of Israel. Likewise, Jesus Christ the Son of God was angry with the “shepherds” of Israel, the Pharisees and Sadducees. This was a fulfillment of the admonitions in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. You cannot read Matthew 25 without appreciating how livid Jesus was with the Pharisees…yet he was angry and did not sin.
A final reflection on the shepherds at the manger: just as there were literal physical shepherds at the birth of Christ, there were spiritual “shepherds” at the burial of Christ.
We have seen that the religious leaders of Israel, such as the Pharisees, were the spiritual shepherds of Israel (Ezekiel 34:2). It was from this group of Pharisees, the “shepherds” of Israel, that two of them stepped forward to care for the body of Jesus at his burial.
"And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury." (John 19:38-40)
This is a curious completion of the Christmas picture with Joseph of Arimethaea and Nicodemas. Just as shepherds attended the birth of Jesus and witnessed the sign of the swaddling cloths and the manger, these “shepherds” at his death and burial wrapped the body of the Messiah in cloths like a mummy resembling the swaddling clothes at his birth. They then laid his body on a rocky shelf in a cave tomb which resembled the stony manger carved out of the rocky side of a cave back just five miles away and 33½ years before in Bethlehem.
What a remarkable, marvelous completion of the parallels between the scene of His birth and the scene of His burial? The circle of birth and burial continues.
So, we see another contrast between the myths and mysteries of how we portray Christmas and the Nativity scene.
Myth: The shepherds were just some ignorant smelly guys who did not have anything else to do that night.
Mystery: These men left their lambs being born that night to attend the birth of The Lamb of God that night. They knew which “city of David” to go to that night. Their lambs and The Lamb would both be sacrificed in Jerusalem at Passover as sacrifices. There were also “shepherds” who attended The Good Shepherd’s burial.
What will you do with the birth of the Lamb of God who is also the Good Shepherd? Will you today receive his sacrifice for you? Will you receive his provision and guidance for your life?
(1) NIV Study Bible, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1984), Luke 2:8, 893.
(2) Life Application Bible notes, Luke 2:8.
(3) Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament. (San Jose: Ephiphany Software, 1996), Bible Explorer version 2.0. Originally published (Nashville, Tennessee: Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1930), Luke 2:8.
(4) Life Application Bible notes, Luke 2:8.
(5) Life Application Bible notes, Luke 2:8.
(6) Life Application Bible Notes, Luke 2:8; Robertson’s Word Pictures, Luke 2:8.
