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| The adoration of the shepherds. J-J Tissot |
The Gospel tells us that when the shepherds were surprised by the angels, they were 'abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night.'The night was always divided into three so-called watches, the shepherds changing guard every three hours during the short night of the summer, and every four hours during the longer night of the winter. In the latter case, the first watch ended at ten, and the second at two, whilst the third lasted until daybreak. The shepherds on guard gathered around a camp fire, whilst waiting their turn to rest, and it must have been to those thus waiting that the angels appeared. They would, of course, wake their comrades, to tell them the wonderful news, after which they all went to Bethlehem, where they found and worshipped the Holy Child.''
[Taken from The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J. James Tissot, Sampson, Low, Marston, London, 1897]
Saint Luke - Chapter 2
[15] Et factum est, ut discesserunt ab eis angeli in caelum : pastores loquebantur ad invicem : Transeamus usque Bethlehem, et videamus hoc verbum, quod factum est, quod Dominus ostendit nobis.
And it came to pass, after the angels departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass. This thing, a metonomy, common in Scripture, by which the word is put for the thing signified by it, as in ch. 1:37, “No word”—that is, nothing “shall be impossible with God.” And in 2 Kings 1:4, “What is the word that is come to pass?”
Which the Lord hath made known unto us. In the Greek ἐγνώρισε—revealed, made known. Yea, and has given us, rather than the scribes and all others, a sign by which we shall find the Messiah that is born. Wherefore, if we, who have been invited by Him through an angel, do not visit and adore Him who is born for us, and revealed first to us, we shall be ungrateful to God, to the angels, and to Christ, and enemies to ourselves.
[16] Et venerunt festinantes : et invenerunt Mariam, et Joseph, et infantem positum in praesepio.
And they came with haste; and they found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. With haste, from their longing and zeal to see Christ. Hence S. Ambrose remarks, “Thou seest that the shepherds make haste; for no one seeks after Christ with slothfulness.” And Bede, “The shepherds hasten, for the presence of Christ must not be sought with sluggishness; and many perchance that seek Christ do not merit to find Him, because they seek Him slothfully.”
[17] Videntes autem cognoverunt de verbo, quod dictum erat illis de puero hoc.
And seeing, they understood of the word that had been spoken to them concerning this child.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. They made known—in the Greek διεγνώρισαν—they knew distinctly and with certainty. Or it may be translated, according to Pagninus, they made known; Theophylact has, they published abroad. So, too, the Syriac version; and hence it follows:—
[18] Et omnes qui audierunt, mirati sunt : et de his quae dicta erant a pastoribus ad ipsos.
And all that heard, wondered; and at those things that were told them by the shepherds.
And all they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. The and is not found in the Greek, the Syriac, or the Arabic version, and with this omission the sense is plainer. But, according to the Roman version, the meaning is, they wondered at the birth of the Messiah, and at the other things that were said about him by the shepherds, namely, that an angel had appeared, that angels had sung “Gloria in excelsis,” and Christ was lying in a manger, &c.
So the Gloss, Francis Lucas, and others. Lyranus, however, interprets the “and” as equivalent to “that is.” Hence it appears that the shepherds told to many what they had heard and seen respecting the birth of Christ; and that therefore many went to the crib and saw Christ; but that those only believed in Him whose hearts God touched efficaciously, while others, offended at His poverty, despised Him. S. Ambrose assigns the reason for this—“The person of the shepherds was not despicable—assuredly the more precious in the eyes of faith, the more despicable it was to worldly wisdom. Not the schools crowded with their bands of wise men did the Lord seek, but a simple folk, that knew not how to deck out and colour the things they had heard. For simplicity is what is sought, ambition is not wanted.”
[19] Maria autem conservabat omnia verba haec, conferens in corde suo.
But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart—putting them together and comparing them—not as Bede would have it, the prophecies made about Christ by the prophets, but the things seen and reported by the shepherds with reference to the angels—the “Gloria in excelsis,” &c., with what she had experienced herself—the annunciation of Gabriel, the prophecy of Elizabeth and of Zacharias, and the other things which she herself had witnessed and felt in herself. And this she did, (1) first, that seeing the wondrous harmony—all things agreeing so well together—she might be the more confirmed in her faith that the only begotten Son of God was born of her. So speaks S. Ambrose. (2) Secondly, that by the sweet contemplation of these circumstances so consonant among themselves, she might feed her mind, and look with sure hope for the rest—namely, that God would bring this work to an end, and redeem mankind by Christ. (3) Thirdly, that in good time she might unfold all these things and narrate them in order to the apostles, and especially to S. Luke, who was destined to write of them. Observe here in the Virgin the rare example of maidenly silence and modesty, of heavenly prudence, and of the firmest faith and hope, as she wonders at the present and waits for the future. She was comparing the signs of deepest loneliness which she saw with what she knew of His Supreme Majesty, the stable with heaven, the swaddling-clothes with that which is spoken of in Ps. 104, “covered with light as with a garment,” the crib with the throne of God, the beasts with the seraphim.
[20] Et reversi sunt pastores glorificantes et laudantes Deum in omnibus quae audierant et viderant, sicut dictum est ad illos.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them
And the shepherds returned (to their flock, says Euthymius, for God would have the faithful, however exalted by Him, remain in the discharge of their several callings), glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Hence it is clear that the shepherds remained constant in the faith and gospel of Christ—nay, exulting and jubilant in the joy of the Holy Spirit at having seen Him.
Bethlehem, shepherds, the Flock Tower: typology
Bethlehem is linked in Bible History with Jacob, David, shepherds and sacrifices of unspotted animals to the Lord in His Temple.
[Addendum 1-11-2019: Abel was also a shepherd, the first. [1] And Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God.Adam vero cognovit uxorem suam Hevam, quae concepit et peperit Cain, dicens : Possedi hominem per Deum.[2] And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman.Rursumque peperit fratrem ejus Abel. Fuit autem Abel pastor ovium, et Cain agricola.[3] And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord.Factum est autem post multos dies ut offerret Cain de fructibus terrae munera Domino.[4] Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings.Abel quoque obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui, et de adipibus eorum : et respexit Dominus ad Abel, et ad munera ejus.[Gen 4]After the Fall of Adam and Eve, the Lord promised a Saviour would be born and He renewed this promise through covenants, for example, with Noah and Abraham. The latter's grandson was Jacob ('Israel') who was to become the father of twelve sons, through Leah, her sister Rachel (whom he loved dearly) and their handmaids. Here is the account of the birth of the twelfth son:
[16] Egressus autem inde, venit verno tempore ad terram quae ducit Ephratam : in qua cum parturiret Rachel,The Flock Tower, or Migdal Eder, as it is known, was only a 1000 paces from Bethlehem, and was a place of elevation, where Shepherds would keep watch over their sheep that grazed in the valley’s meadow below. Several generations later, it became the place where they raised the unblemished sheep used for Temple sacrifice.
And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,
[17] ob difficultatem partus periclitari coepit. Dixitque ei obstetrix : Noli timere, quia et hunc habebis filium.
By reason of her hard labour she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.
/[18] Egrediente autem anima prae dolore, et imminente jam morte, vocavit nomen filii sui Benomi, id est, Filius doloris mei : pater vero appellavit eum Benjamin, id est, Filius dextrae.
And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand.
[19] Mortua est ergo Rachel, et sepulta est in via quae ducit Ephratam, haec est Bethlehem.
So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, this is Bethlehem.
[20] Erexitque Jacob titulum super sepulchrum ejus : hic est titulus monumenti Rachel, usque in praesentem diem.
And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulchre: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day.
[21] Egressus inde, fixit tabernaculum trans Turrem gregis.Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.[Genesis 35]
Eleven generations would pass before Jacob’s descendant David was born in the little town of Bethlehem. He is quite possibly born near this very spot where Jacob pitched his tent to mourn Rachel's death. One day David would become a conquering hero and later King of Israel, but as a young man, David was a shepherd in the hills and valleys of Bethlehem. It was his duty to watch over the sacrificial sheep used in the temple worship. The daily Temple sacrifice required unblemished sheep from Bethlehem, sacrificed in the morning and in the evening as a continual sacrifice before the Lord. During Passover, the feast required thousands of sacrifices.
The typology is stunning: the little baby born at Bethlehem would receive His first public homage from shepherds, His cousin John would point Him out as the Lamb of God and He Himself would reveal that He is the Good Shepherd. He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed; mankind's King and their Saviour promised in Genesis.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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