What is the significance of the angelic visitation of the shepherds after the birth of Jesus Christ?

Upvote:1

In Psalm 23, David, the shepherd king, proclaims, "The Lord is my Shepherd." In doing so, David implicitly ascribes to God the title of "The Shepherd's Shepherd" or "The Shepherd of Shepherd's". Elsewhere, God is called the "King of Kings" and "Lord of Lords".

Thus, it was wholly fitting that when God, the Shepherd of Shepherds, became a Man and was born in the city of David, that a proclamation was made to shepherds. Who else would you tell of the birth of the Shepherd of shepherds, but shepherds?

Jesus was also called the Lamb of God by John the Baptist (John 1:29). So, it is also noteworthy that it was shepherds who received the proclamation that the Messiah, who would later be called the Lamb of God, had been born.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 ESV

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:16 ESV

Upvote:4

The following is highly speculative but (I think) not entirely unreasonable.

  • Shepherds might be considered lower class and were likely grubbier than those in other occupations, especially given that these were night-shepherds in the fields (when all the "decent" folk would be sleeping at home).
  • By announcing the message to isolated shepherds, the privilege of evangelizing was bestowed on the hearers. If the announcement had been made in a town, lots of people would have noticed. Alternatively, there might be an aspect of messianic secret (cf. Jesus's telling people not to talk about him healing them), perhaps to reduce the number of people interested because of miracles rather than the message the miracles are meant to provide a sign for. In addition, a degree of secrecy might have delayed Herod's infanticidal actions (people in authority would be unlikely to pay attention to the ravings of shepherds but if a whole town--including its respected elders--was talking about an angelic appearance, then even priests in Jerusalem might give the account some credibility).
  • Such might be an homage to David and a foreshadowing of Jesus' own identification as the good shepherd.

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