Wicked Shepherds and the Hope of Bethlehem

Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:14-15). In today’s culture, it is unlikely that we know many shepherds. However, of all the professions in the Bible, one quick survey through the Scriptures reveals that God has a very special place in his heart for shepherds.

Ø  Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain, was a shepherd (Gen. 4:2).
Ø  Abraham, the father of our faith, was a shepherd (Gen 13:5).
Ø  Isaac, the son of promise, was a shepherd (Gen. 26:14).
Ø  Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, was a shepherd (Gen. 30:32).
Ø  Each of Jacob’s sons — including Joseph and Judah — worked as shepherds (Gen. 47:3).
Ø  Moses, the great deliverer and prophet of the Old Testament, worked as a shepherd (Exod. 3:1).
Ø  David, the great king of the Old Testament, was a lowly shepherd boy (1 Sam. 16:11).
Ø  Other notable shepherds include the prophet Amos (Amos 1:1), Rachel (Gen. 29:6), and the shepherds (Luke 2:15) who heralded the coming of baby Jesus.

When we consider the list of notable figures who worked as shepherds in the Old Testament, it would be easy to assume that shepherding was a very noble calling. Yet nothing could be further from the truth! By Faith, the official magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America, published an article explaining:

Next to lepers, shepherds were the biggest nobodies in Israel. Shepherds were denied basic civil rights. They were not permitted to testify in court, because it was assumed that all shepherds were dishonest. They were not allowed access to the temple.

Likewise, the authors of the New American Commentary offer this cautionary advice:

One should not romanticize the occupation of shepherds. In general shepherds were dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the law. They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came.

In studying the history of this profession, it becomes obvious that the Gentile cultures also held shepherds in low esteem. For example, according to Greek mythology, Hermes was the patron god of thieves, merchants, and shepherds. Apparently, the Greeks also found these professions to be compatible. In the thirteenth century, the Germans coined the word “crook” to denote the curved shepherd’s staff that was used to hook the back legs of stray lambs. In time, this word crook was used to identify dishonest thieves.

While many notable figures in the Bible were shepherds, the Bible invests much more ink in addressing the great wickedness of Israel’s spiritual shepherds. When Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd,” he is distinguishing himself from the typical shepherds of Israel — the bad shepherds.

The shepherds of Israel regularly used their positions to exploit the people. Read through Ezekiel 34. The shepherd’s wickedness infuriated the Lord. These so-called shepherds would “only take care of themselves” (Ezek. 34:2). In his indictment against them, God declares, “You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally” (Ezek 34:4). Isaiah condemned these leaders for leaving Israel as “sheep without a shepherd” (Is. 13:14). Jeremiah condemned them for “destroying and scattering the sheep” (Jer. 23:1). Zechariah wrote that God’s “anger is hot against the shepherds” (Zech. 10:3). Thankfully, God does not leave us to these shepherds. The Bible repeatedly refers to the Lord as our shepherd. Isaiah declared, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart” (Is. 40:11). And the Lord promised, “I will rescue my flock” (Ezek. 34:8).

When God becomes flesh and enters the world, he does so in a remarkably beautiful manner! The book of Micah contains one of the most famous messianic prophecies, regarding the birth of Jesus. God declared:

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace… (Micah 5:2-5).

This prophecy proved true. Our “good shepherd” was born into the most humble of circumstances. The lowly town of Bethlehem could not make room for its Creator. At his birth, he was not placed into a crib worthy of God, but a feedbox for animals. He was not welcomed into a palace worthy of kings, but a darkened cave used to shelter livestock. The first smells experienced by Jesus were polluted by the excrement of animals. And the first witnesses of the divine Messiah were lowly shepherds.

When God selected a worship team to honor his newborn son, he did not seek out priests or prophets, but shepherds — the outcasts of Israel. Imagine the surprise of these shepherds when the Lord honored them as the first witnesses of the Messiah! Surely these shepherds were familiar with rejection, but God chose to reveal his glory to them — assuring them that the good news of Jesus was “for all the people.” These shepherds — along with famous prophets like Moses and Ezekiel — were included among a select few in all of redemptive history who were privileged to witness the brilliant glory of God.

While this offers us a beautiful picture of God’s love for outcasts, the selection of these particular shepherds was far more profound! According to the Mishna, the sacrificial animals slaughtered in Jerusalem’s temple to atone for sin were actually raised up in the nearby pastures of Bethlehem. In his book Sketches of Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ, Alfred Adersheim explains: 

On the night in which our Savior was born, the angels’ message came to those who were “keeping watch.” For close by Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, was a tower, known as Migdal Eder, the “watchtower of the flock.” For here was the station where shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrifices in the Temple…. Those shepherds who first heard tidings of the Savior’s birth, who first listened to angels’ praises, were watching flocks destined to be offered as sacrifices in the Temple. 

These lowly shepherds were sent to Jesus — the “lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29). The Lamb of God was born in a stable reserved for animals destined to be slaughtered, and it was not blind chance that led God to choose these “watching shepherds.” Jesus referred to himself as the “bread of life” and the “good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.” It was no small coincidence that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem and placed into a feeding trough for the flocks. Israel’s Messianic King was born in the very fields where Israel’s great king David tended his flocks. The Lord, who is sovereign over all of history, was preaching a message in the nativity story.

The town of Bethlehem was the perfect intersection for Jesus birthplace. Bethlehem was known as a house of bread, and Jesus was our Bread of Life. It was a place for shepherds, and Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Its fields nourished the lambs that were to be slaughtered for sin, and Jesus came as the Lamb of God. It was the dwelling place of kinsmen redeemers (i.e., Boaz), and Jesus came to pay our debts. Lastly, Bethlehem was the birthplace of kings! And Christ is our king!