Young Shepherds

This is the season to reminded of all the meanings of Christmas and the stories that go with these meanings.

Essentially everyone knows about the story of the birth of Jesus, how He was born in a manger because His parents had to travel to Bethlehem to be counted in a census and there was no room in any normal sleeping area for them. Including in the activities of the night Jesus was born was an angel appearing to shepherds who were tending their sheep during the night.

Ever consider who those shepherds were? In most pictures we see men as the shepherds, just like many pictures of Jesus showing Him as a white person (He was born into a middle eastern family, who have brown skin and usually do not have blue eyes.). The meaning is too often the pictures that have been drawn from these times of history are not completely accurate.

If tradition was followed as far as shepherds, chances are the shepherds were most likely the young (maybe teens), the elderly and women. In other words, the weakest were in charge of the sheep. If you recall when we meet David, he is out tending the sheep. The prophet Samuel was told by God that one of the sons of Jesse will be the next king. After God rejected the first seven sons of Jesse, Samuel asked if there is any son left.

There was one, the youngest but he was tending the sheep, his familys livelihood. The Hebrew word for youngest implies insignificant and unimportant. In the Bible the youn ...