Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Have you ever wondered why shepherds are involved in the story of Jesus’ birth? I’ve heard it said that shepherds were outcasts, poor or even smelly. Thus their inclusion shows God reaching out to the least and rejected in society and giving them the privilege of being the first to witness the birth of the Messiah. However though nice there has always seemed to me that there is more to it.
According to some sources these shepherds wouldn’t have been ordinary shepherds but were Levites (the priestly tribe of Israel). These shepherds looked after the flocks that would be used in the temple for sacrificial offerings. They were responsible for ensuring that the lambs were without spot and blemish before sending them on to Jerusalem.
Now it is in the book of Micah that we hear the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. However, in Micah 4:8 it is specifically to Migdal Eder (Hebrew for ‘tower of the flock’) that the Messiah will come. In short, Jesus was born in the place that sacrificial animals were born. Therefore, the shepherds were the first to be told as they were the ones responsible for the animals that would later be sacrificed in the temple. The location of Jesus’ birth and the angel’s announcement to the shepherds pointed to the reason for the incarnation. The eternal Son of God took on flesh and was born in order that one day He could die in our place as a once for all sacrifice for sin. Later at the end of Jesus’ ministry, He would die on the temple mount in the place where sacrificial animals were offered. Born where sacrificial lambs are born and dying where sacrificial lambs die, Jesus truly is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The shepherds were the ones to authenticate that Jesus truly was indeed the lamb of God.