Luke 2:1-20 The Birth of Jesus
2 1-5 About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So, Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.
6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
8-12 There were shepherds camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises: Glory to God in the heavenly heights, peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed.
19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The shepherds returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
One pastor friend has an extensive collection of Nativity sets form at least 50 different countries, and I have always enjoyed looking at them. But are they accurate? Forget the nativity sets showing the Holy Family in an open wooden structure with a thatched roof. That stable in Bethlehem was a cave, one of many in the area. Caves are climate-controlled, so the body heat from the animals would naturally keep it comfortable. The manger was not a wooden crate but a stone feed trough. But what about those shepherds? Weren’t they simply dirty and uneducated? Not really.
https://steppesoffaith.substack.com/p/the-real-truth-about-the-shepherds gives fascinating details about those shepherds, the angelic message, and the swaddling cloths:
Most wealthy and influential Jewish people tended to look upon shepherds as lowly and sometimes dangerous. But the shepherds in Luke 2 were quite different. According to the Mishnah, these shepherds had the unique job of performing Temple duties.
The Mishnah is a group of recorded ancient oral traditions that governed the Jewish people following the Maccabean Revolt in 132 B.C. One of its regulations “expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel except in the wilderness—and the only flocks otherwise kept would be those for the Temple services” (Bab K.7:7; 80a).
Only priests were allowed to keep the sheep for Temple services. Further, the shepherds were in the nearby fields surrounding Bethlehem, not out in the wilderness where regular sheep were legally kept.
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields…” (v8)
These were not every-day shepherds, as many suppose. These were shepherd-priests charged with tending sheep set aside for Temple use, i.e., ceremonial sacrifices to God. It was the priests’ job to make sure the lambs were without blemish and completely unharmed until the appointed time. It was not an easy job, by any means. It required special men.
Additionally, the fact that they were watching sheep in a field and not in pens suggests that the season was warm, further indicating that the sheep were likely in preparation for Passover.
It is easy to assume that the shepherds were lowly and dirty outcasts. The Mishnah claims otherwise. These were unique people assigned the essential job of caring for holy lambs set apart for God. It seems fitting to choose such people to declare the arrival of the long-awaited Lamb of God.
Watching Over Their Flock
Another statement in the Mishnah says the Messiah would be revealed from the “Migdal Eder,” which translates as “tower of the flock.” It was a lookout tower that stood just outside the city within the Temple priests’ fields.
It was a shepherd-priest’s job to stay in the Migdal Eder all night. With the tower being so tall, the shepherd was literally “watching over the flock by night” (Luke 2:8) while the other shepherds were keeping watch on the ground.
The shepherd-priests stayed in the fields continually, yet their service to the Temple held great cultural and social significance. Even so, due to the nature of their duties, they were still dirty shepherds tending sheep.
And that is when the angels showed up with some very good news.Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Good Tidings of Great Joy
As the shepherds tended their duties, an angel from heaven appeared, saying, “Do not be afraid.” This was a typical greeting to people who initially felt alarmed at their appearance, most recently to Zacharias (1:13) and Mary (1:30). The angel heralded the birth of the Messiah; however, he also gave an update to Moses’ Law.
In beautiful brilliance, the angel hand-delivered a message, telling the shepherd-priests the time for animal sacrifice was nearly over. The Savior, Christ the Lord, had come to be the ultimate and universal sacrifice for sin.
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
Note the three titles the angel uses in the announcement—Savior, Christ, and Lord. This combination of titles is found only here in Luke 2 and nowhere else in the New Testament. Together, they declare Jesus’ deity, authority, mission, and royalty. To this point, only Caesar required being hailed as the Roman Empire’s savior and lord. However, the angel declared that Jesus is the true Savior and Lord.
The shepherd priests would have immediately understood the titles and their contrasting meanings. The appearance of God’s heavenly army singing praise would have further emphasized the enormity of the event.
The Christ, the promised Messiah, the one the priests had heard about from the prophets, the Savior of the world, was finally born. God had come to the earth to save His people, and He would now be the perfect sacrifice to pay for man’s sin once and for all through His death and resurrection.
The Messiah had come! It is little wonder these priests ran “with haste (v16)” to see the baby the angel spoke of.
The Swaddling Cloths
When the shepherd priests found Mary and Joseph with their new baby, they likely noticed Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths just as the angel told them (v12). But these were not rags or towels Mary and Joseph brought from home or happened to find in the stable, as many suppose. These cloths were extraordinary.
The Greek word for swaddling cloths in Luke 2:7 is sparganoo (“spar-gan-o-o”), meaning “infant clothes.” It was not common for children of poor parents to have anything resembling a diaper or undergarments, leading some to believe that Joseph and Mary borrowed the cloths from someone wealthy, perhaps a Temple priest like Zacharias.
Although it is unknown where Mary and Joseph got the cloths, some scholars speculate that Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, gave Mary cloths from the Temple when she visited them earlier in her pregnancy (Lk 1:39-40). Priests used the cloths to keep lambs free of blemishes as they prepared them for ceremonial sacrifice. As High Priest, Zacharias would have had access to them.
Cloths from the Temple symbolized Jesus’ holiness and God’s plan for Him to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. The shepherd-priests would have quickly noticed the allegory.
After the shepherds saw the Messiah with their own eyes, the Bible says they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen (v. 20).” Author Eugene Peterson wrote in his book, The Message, that the shepherds “let loose, glorifying and praising God,” a reasonable response after having a personal encounter with the Lord, knowing He has come to save us.
How wonderful it is that Jesus the Messiah has come! The perfect Lamb of God without blemish and sin has come to cover our sins with His righteousness so that we never have to be separated from the Father again.
May we all “let loose, glorifying and praising” Him for His indescribable gift.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we praise You for working out all the details to keep Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus safe and to bring special shepherds to share their joy. Help us to rejoice in the salvation Jesus has given to us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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