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The Shepherds – a curious choice for witnesses!
Shepherds at that time and in Jewish society were not allowed to give testimony in court or at the temple because they were considered unclean and unreliable. Because of the demands of shepherding, they were often unable to keep the ceremonial laws of purity.
It is likely that the shepherds that were “watching their flocks by night” were watching their flocks by night because it was lambing season and they were “on call 24/7” to help with troublesome births. The shepherds around Bethlehem (meaning “the House of Bread) raised most of the Passover lambs that were to be slaughtered during the Passover season at Jerusalem. Raising Passover lambs had become an agricultural specialty of sorts. These were the men who received the news of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb First!
Why these shepherds?
I believe that God was beginning to announce the fulfillment of the “type” or Representation of His Promised Son (which were the very lambs that these shepherds were helping to birth) to the Reality - the Lamb slain since the foundations of the world – that is, the actual manifestation and birth of his Son, Jesus as a baby.
The priesthood was corrupt, the office High Priest degenerated into an office of avarice and greed. The leaders were not really looking towards the Messiah, truly “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” choked the word of God’s promises and it had little effect on these people. The Kingdom of God was poorly represented by the established religious authorities.
And in the middle of all that, He came. And God revealed His promise to the Shepherds with a HUGE outbreak of Angelic praise and explosion! In essence they declared – “Come and see the REAL LAMB, Right Now, Right HERE in Bethlehem, Right where you are now!! ITS REAL, He is Real, HE’s really here, you can see him now, you can Touch the Messiah in a stable!!.... Can you imagine that! They actually heard angels and they were not crazy. They went to see and they SAW him.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Luke 2:16-20
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told. NIV
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