By CHARLES QUARLES, Chair of Christian Studies, Louisiana College
The wise men who visited the infant Christ in Bethlehem seem to have captured the attention of Gospel readers.
Church tradition has gone so far as to name their different countries of origin and even assign them names: Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar. By contrast, most seem content to leave the shepherds of Bethlehem in relative obscurity. This is a huge mistake.
[img_assist|nid=6909|title=Charles Quarles, Chair of Christian Studies, Louisiana College|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=67|height=100]The shepherds of Bethlehem were no ordinary men and their presence in the manger scene sheds enormous light on the significance of Christmas.
Although our familiarity with manger scenes tends to make the presence of the shepherds of Bethlehem at Jesus’ birth seem natural, from a first-century perspective their presence there is quite unexpected.
With all the kings, priests, and celebrities in the world, why would God summon this humble group of men to adore the infant Messiah and to announce his birth to others? Although we may never unravel the mysteries of divine grace, two explanations may be given.
First, these men were summoned to the birth scene of Christ because of an important Old Testament prophecy. Micah 4:8 says, “As for you, O Migdal Eder, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”
[img_assist|nid=6922|title=The Birth of the Lamb of God|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=71]The prophecy anticipates the restoration of the kingdom of David (the former dominion) through the rule of the Messiah. Interestingly, the prophecy was addressed to Migdal Eder. The word Hebrew word migdal means “tower.” Consequently, ancient Jewish interpreters like the author of the Targum of Jonathan referred to Migdal Eder as “the tower of Eder from which King Messiah will be revealed at the end of days.”
The Hebrew word eder, meant “flock” so the phrase Migdal Eder meant “tower of the flock.” This was a watchtower from which shepherds guarded their flocks of sheep. From the vantage point of the watchtower, shepherds could see predators or rustlers approach from a great distance away, and take steps to protect their sheep.
Interestingly, Luke 2 tells us that when the angel appeared to them, the shepherds were “abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.” The phrase “keeping watch” may well mean “to guard from a watchtower.”
What is more, according to Genesis 35:19-21, Migdal Eder was located in the vicinity of a tiny Judean village named Bethlehem! Thus the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the Bethlehemite shepherds specifically fulfilled a prophecy about the Messiah’s coming given to Micah some seven hundred years before Jesus’ birth. The ancient prophecy demonstrates that the shepherds were part of a plan conceived by God in eternity past. This only heightens the question, “What is so significant about these men?”
An obscure passage in the Mishnah gives us a telling clue. The Mishnah is a collection of rabbinic teaching that reflects early Jewish traditions, which, in some cases at least, date to the time of Jesus.
The tractate on the Shekel offering states that all cattle (including sheep) raised between Jerusalem and Migdal Eder were dedicated to one exclusive purpose: temple sacrifice. Although other shepherds in other parts of Judea raised their sheep for their mutton and for their wool, the shepherds of Migdal Eder only raised sheep to be sacrificed on the holy altar of the temple in Jerusalem, in a plea for forgiveness from God.
According to Leviticus 4:27-35, when a common Israelite violated one of the Lord’s commands, he was to take an unblemished lamb to the priest. The sinner placed his hands on the head of the lamb, symbolically transferring his own sin guilt to the animal. Then he cut its throat.
The animal suffered death, the penalty of sin, in the sinner’s place. Then, the law added, “The priest will burn the lamb on the altar along with the fire offerings to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.”
But these yearly rituals could not provide full and final forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 10:4 says, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The Old Testament prophets recognized that this sacrificial system pictured a future efficacious sacrifice. Isaiah 53 foretold of the coming of the Servant of the Lord who would be a human sacrificial lamb:
But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him,and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.
Jesus’ birth was announced to the shepherds of sacrifice because he was the prophesied sacrificial lamb who would provide true atonement for sin. In his death on the cross, he took the punishment for our sins in our place to provide true forgiveness.
He bore our guilt and suffered the wrath of God in our stead so we could be reconciled to God. Thus the presence of the shepherds of sacrifice at Jesus’ birth silently shouts the words that John the Baptist later exclaimed when he saw Jesus, as recorded in John 1:29: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Jesus was born to die.
The little child who was laid in a rough-hewn feed trough was destined to be nailed to a rough-hewn cross. The little child who was wrapped in strips of swaddling cloth at his birth was ordained to be wrapped in strips of burial cloth after his crucifixion.
The summons of the shepherds of sacrifice to Jesus’ birth reminds us that Jesus was born for the knife and the altar, the nails and the cross, and that only by His shed blood can sinners have peace with the Holy God.
The angel gave the shepherds a sign to help them identify and understand the significance of the baby born in Bethlehem.
The newborn would be placed in a manger, a feed trough for animals in a stable. A stable was an unusual birth ward for the King of the Jews, but many a little lamb had been birthed there.
A manger was an unthinkable cradle for the long-awaited Messiah, but it was just the sort of place that shepherds might place a new born lamb.
Thus the circumstances of Jesus’ birth likely confirmed to the shepherds of sacrifice that the promise of Isaiah 53 was being fulfilled and that the Servant of the Lord, the human sacrificial lamb, had at last come to save us.
Everytime we see the shepherds in a manger scene we should reflect on the purpose for which Jesus came into the world. We should join in the chorus of the countless thousands in Revelation 5 who sing: “The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!
“Blessing and honor and glory and dominion to the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
Quarles is holder of the William Peterson Carter, Jr. Professorship, Senior Research Professor of New Testament and Greek.