{"id":2968,"date":"2011-12-18T17:36:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T01:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.com\/blog\/?p=2968"},"modified":"2012-02-03T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T21:28:42","slug":"luke-28-celebrating-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/luke-28-celebrating-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke 2:8 – Celebrating Whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Christmas was first announced to those who were banned.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Shepherds<\/span>” is translated from poim\u0113n<\/em>, which refers to “someone who watches over to protect and provide for a flock or herd of animals.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The word “country<\/span>” is from ch\u014dra<\/em><\/span> which is based on choros<\/em>, meaning “a place where cattle range and feed.” Ch\u014dra<\/em>, then, is used to refer to a region, a country, or a land.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Living out in<\/span>” is the translation of the Greek verb agraule\u014d<\/em>, which is made up of agros<\/em>, which refers to “the country” as opposed to “the city” and<\/span> aulidzomai<\/em>, which means “to spend the night.” Thus, these shepherds were spending the night camped out in the country.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The words “keeping watch<\/span>” are from the verb phulass\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to watch over” or “to guard.” The Greek text actually says phulassontes phulakas<\/em><\/span>, meaning “watching watches.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In Greek, word order is significant, implying importance or emphasis. In the Greek text, this verse starts out with “and shepherds …<\/span>” because this is an account of what transpired with the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth.<\/p>\n

Shepherds spent most of their time out in the fields with their flocks, especially in the spring and summer (these events probably occurred in the springtime). Because of this, they were not able to keep the religious ordinances and ceremonial responsibilities that were required by the religious leaders. As a result, these same religious leaders considered shepherds little better than the heathen Gentiles. They were even banned from entering the Temple. This is particularly ironic since these shepherds were most likely watching the very sheep which were to be used in the temple sacrifices.<\/p>\n

Based on the Prophet Micah, the Jews believed that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem:<\/p>\n

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though<\/em><\/span> you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet<\/em><\/span> out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are<\/em><\/span> from of old, From everlasting.<\/span> (Micah 5:2<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Near Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, there was a watchtower called Migdal Eder<\/em>, meaning “watchtower of the flock.” This is where shepherds watched over the animals destined for sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem. It was a commonly held belief among the Jews that their Messiah would be revealed from Migdal Eder<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These shepherds, responsible for guarding the sacrificial lambs and who were banned from the Temple itself, are likely the very ones to whom the Sacrificial Lamb of God was announced by God’s angelic messengers.<\/p>\n

Application <\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Isn’t it amazing. Even though the Jews believed that their Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and that he would be revealed at Migdal Eder, they completely missed His birth? They were probably too busy living their lives! How about you? Are you so busy “celebrating” His birth with presents that you completely miss the presence of the One for whom the celebration is intended?<\/p>\n

In God’s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Truth to Learn Christmas was first announced to those who were banned. Behind the Words “Shepherds” is translated from poim\u0113n, which refers to “someone who watches over to protect and provide for a flock or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[2259,2260,2261,2262,2263,2264,2201,2265],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","tag-agrauleo","tag-chora","tag-country","tag-keeping-watch","tag-living-out-in","tag-phulasso","tag-poimen","tag-shepherds"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-LS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3165,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions\/3165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}