And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
Outside Bethlehem, men on the night shift were watching their sheep. Heaven was about to hand them the greatest news it had. Why shepherds, and not priests, kings, or scholars?
The verse names no one. Their obscurity is part of the point. They were working men near the bottom of the social scale. Even in their own trade, they held the least prized job.
The story of the shepherds has become so well known through hymns and carols that we are perhaps in danger of missing its full meaning. Shepherds as a class were not held in much esteem in those days. These were the men who took night duty. They were unskilled compared with the men who cared for the sheep by day. To these extremely humble and unknown men the angels appeared. Heaven's secret about the arrival of the Saviour was disclosed to such nobodies as these!
The choice was not random. God looks for something in people, and it is not rank.
Compare this chapter with Matthew 2. There the scene is set among the great ones in Jerusalem — Herod the king, his courtiers, chief priests and scribes. They know nothing of this marvellous event for months afterwards. God shows no partiality, but He does have regard for humility and integrity of heart before Himself. So He passed by the important people in Jerusalem and sent a delegation of angelic beings to wait on a small group of despised night watchmen, so that they might be let into the secret of heaven's ways. These shepherds were a few of the godly remnant waiting for the Messiah, as their later words and actions show us.
God's care ran in the opposite direction from the world's.
Some poor men were faithfully carrying out their hard labours, far from the restless activity of an ambitious and sinful world. They receive the first news of the Lord's presence on earth. The God of Israel did not look for the great among His people, but had regard for the poor of the flock.
Notice what they were doing when heaven broke in: their job. That fits a pattern.
The men of Beth-shemesh were busy, and worthily so, harvesting their grain when the ark appeared. In the same way, the shepherds of Bethlehem were faithfully guarding their flocks by night when the rejoicing angels told them of the birth of the infant Saviour. "The devil visits idle men with his temptations; God visits industrious men with His favours," as Matthew Henry put it. Gideon was busy threshing wheat when the angel of the Lord appeared to him.
The job itself has a history in the Bible.
From earliest times the calling of the shepherd had been linked with faith. The thought of sacrifice stands out here, along with the tender care that reminds us of the true Shepherd of His sheep. Abel, Jacob and David were all shepherds and men of faith. These nameless shepherds here clearly belong to the same company. It is to such men that heaven will make known its wonderful secret… And it is fitting that this truth should be announced in the shepherds' ears, for only by sacrifice could it be made good.
There is a quiet mirror here. These men keep watch in the dark. So does God.
The angel does not choose distinguished rulers to hear his marvellous announcement. He chooses shepherds who kept watch over their flock in the night. This beautifully shows the grace of God. For He is the Shepherd of Israel who never slumbers nor sleeps, watching alone while the world is unaware.
"By night" is more than a time stamp. Israel was at its lowest point as a nation, and everything about that night was small.
Everything here is small, and the people are hidden, but God has come in. It is all behind the passing greatness of the world, which only carries it out. The empire displays its worldwide power, and this is what brings Jesus' birth to Bethlehem. Yet all the people involved are small and insignificant — Jesus, Mary, the shepherds. But nowhere in all the history of Israel do we find God so near as in this darkest time of the people. Blessed truth! Nowhere else does He share His grace so closely. It was hidden, yet deeper and truer, with more personal heart in it.
- Low ground. God passed by the capital and its leaders. He sent angels to unskilled night watchmen. Heaven's secret went to nobodies.
- Low season. The nation's darkest moment was the moment God came closest. He came near in hiding, not in public.
- Low estate. He had regard for "the poor of the flock," not for the great — grace choosing weakness on purpose.
- Low task. The news found them at their ordinary night work. God visits people who are busy at their work.
- Low trade. Shepherds stand in a line of believing men — Abel, Jacob, David. Their work points to sacrifice, and only by sacrifice could this truth be made good.
And lo, an angel of [the] Lord was there by them, and [the] glory of [the] Lord shone around them, and they feared [with] great fear.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people;
The night sky over Bethlehem opens, and heaven's first word to working men is not a command but a comfort. Why does the news of a Saviour begin by calming fear, and how far does its joy reach?
The order of the angel's words matters. He calms dread before he gives any news. One writer sees Christ's whole coming as the answer to that dread.
Has it struck the reader that the first thing said out of heaven to men after the birth of Christ was "Fear not"? Does it not suggest that His coming as a Baby was meant to remove all fear from our hearts? It was meant to remove all suspicion from us. It was meant to help us see that His attitude towards us, after our four thousand years of sin, was still friendly, loving, gracious. It is so hard for fallen man to believe anything but the lie that deceived him at the beginning. He cannot credit the living God he has sinned against with any kindly attitude towards him.
Another writer sees the same order at work in people today.
A sense of God's presence produces the true fear of God in the soul. At that very moment the gospel comes and takes the fear away. So at once the angel says, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy." Here is the gospel preached for the first time on the plains of Bethlehem.
The glory shining around the shepherds frightened them. What happens next in the chapter shows that the fear did not return.
The shepherds are filled with fear in the presence of the glory, but the angel says to them, "Fear not." A multitude of the heavenly host then appears in their sight, but they do not fear. Instead they go into the city with joy, repeat the news, and return with praise. It is very happy for us to know that the presence of the glory need not alarm us. Nature fears, but the voice that speaks from heaven makes the soul bold. So we learn that joy and praise, not fear, suit the presence of the glory.
The choice of audience is itself part of the message. God passed over the great of His people.
Some poor men were doing their hard work faithfully, far from the restless activity of an ambitious and sinful world. They receive the first news of the Lord's presence on earth. The God of Israel did not look for the great among His people, but had regard for the poor of the flock.
Older versions translate the last phrase "to all people." Commentators read it instead as "all the people," meaning Israel, and the ESV renders it that way too.
The great joy of the message centred on this: He had come as Saviour. They had had the Lawgiver and the prophets, but now the Saviour had arrived, and He was so great a person as Christ the Lord. This good news was for "all the people" — not "all people." For the moment a wider circle than all Israel is not in view.
Another writer treats Israel as the starting point, not the limit.
In the end Luke does proclaim the saving grace that goes out to all men. But he begins within the strict limits of Israel. He shows God faithful to His people, and willing to carry out all His promises if they would receive Jesus. But they would not. So God was morally right to turn from the Jews who despised Him to the Gentiles.
The angel promised "great joy." One writer presses that word against our habit of gloom.
Are we not too much afraid of joy? There is much to sadden in life: our failures as believers, the state of the world, the confusion of the church, the small number of believers, the vast crowds who are indifferent. We should feel all this deeply. Still the angel's words stand and proclaim "great joy to all the people."
- Fear removed — Heaven's first word after Christ's birth is "Fear not." It answers the suspicion fallen people carry about God's attitude towards them.
- Fear replaced — The shepherds trembled at the glory. Then they went into the city with joy and came back praising. Joy, not terror, suits God's presence.
- Joy given — The news brings joy because it announces a Saviour. It arrives just when a soul first feels the true fear of God.
- Joy delivered low — It comes to working men in a field, not to rulers; God had regard for the poor of the flock.
- Joy extended — The news came first to "all the people" of Israel. Luke goes on to proclaim the saving grace that goes out to all men.
for to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ [the] Lord.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And this is the sign to you ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
An angel had just told the shepherds that a Saviour was born. At once a great crowd from heaven stood beside him. Who are these beings? Why did the birth of a baby stir them? And why did they praise God rather than speak to the shepherds below?
The word "suddenly" marks a reaction. Heaven heard the news given to the shepherds. It answered at once, and held nothing back.
If men had not believed the news, angels had; if earth is indifferent, heaven is not. The heavenly hosts, so to speak, break all bounds. They join this angelic messenger who announced the glad fact... They never saw Him before. The heavenly hosts came trooping down to earth with deep joy. Heaven is full of ecstasy, and why? Because the unsolved riddle of four thousand years is now made clear. How is man to be saved?
Notice who they praised. The angel spoke to the shepherds. The host that followed him did not.
A multitude of the heavenly host gathered with the angel. The angel of the Lord addressed the shepherds. The angelic choir seemed not to notice them. It was completely absorbed in praising God. They could not keep silent, for glory to God, and blessing to men, would result from that child's birth.
The words point to heaven's own inhabitants, gathered in force. Not one of them is jealous of the grace shown to men on earth.
A multitude of this heavenly host greeted the divine Saviour's birth as man with delight and no jealousy. They praised God and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men. Here we see them as the native inhabitants of heaven, gathered as if for a festival, rejoicing in the results of grace for men on earth.
Luke says the host was "praising God and saying." He does not say they sang. One writer treats that word as deliberate.
Scripture never mentions singing except in connection with redemption. It never even says that angels sing... It is only therefore redeemed ones who can sing, and we learn from this the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation — the praise and gladness that knowing redemption produces in the soul.
The angels' next words, in verse 14, turn on a short phrase about God's attitude to men, quoted here in an older wording.
It is not exactly good will toward men, which is the point here. The word expresses God's good will and complacency in men... For the Son of God became, not an angel, but really a man, according to Hebrews 2. He did not take up the cause of angels, or concern Himself with it. It was men He took up.
The host celebrates outcomes that had not yet happened — glory secured, peace on earth. They never explain how. Everything rests on the identity of the child.
The means of this are not pointed out here. They are redemption, the destruction of Satan's power, the reconciliation of man by faith, and the reconciliation of all things in heaven and earth with God. Everything depended on the Person and presence of Him who was born. All was wrapped up in Him. The state of blessing was born in the birth of that child.
- Suddenly — one angel announced the birth, and heaven could not hold back. The host broke in at once. What left earth indifferent filled heaven with joy.
- Host — these are heaven's own inhabitants, gathered as if for a festival. They delight in a grace given to men, with no trace of jealousy.
- Praising — their words go upward, not to the shepherds. Scripture says they praised and said. It never says they sang, for song belongs to the redeemed.
- In men — their joy is that God's good pleasure settled on mankind. The proof is that the Son of God became a man, not an angel.
- In Him — the host announces the results, not the method. Redemption and reconciliation still lay ahead. Every blessing already lay in the Person of the child born that night.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.
Luke moves from one angel speaking to shepherds to a whole army of heaven praising God over a baby in a feeding trough. Their song has three lines — glory above, peace below, God's pleasure in men — and each raises a question, not least why the earth is still not at peace.
One writer draws out how far "in the highest" reaches:
It would not be only "Glory to God below," but "in the highest" — through the whole universe of God, and above all in its highest places. Glory to God at last, everywhere. On earth there had been nothing but war against God, and among men confusion, misery, and rebellion. Now it is "on earth, peace." Nothing less than this would follow from the birth of the Messiah, though not all at once.
Another writer lists what Christ has done to bring God that glory:
It is important to see first of all that God is glorified. Sin has been dealt with. Sins have been dealt with. The cross has judged the prince of this world. Death itself has been conquered. These are only a few of the things Christ has done. Every promise of God is fulfilled in Him. Man has been recovered in reconciliation for God. All that God ever wanted for the delight of His heart of love is centred in the blessed Man in whose face the glory of God now shines.
The last line is where translations differ. One writer reads it not as good wishes sent toward people, but as God's delight in people — with the proof in what the Son became:
The point here is not exactly good will toward men. The word expresses God's good will and delight in men... For the Son of God became, not an angel, but truly a man, as Hebrews 2 says. He did not take up the cause of angels, or concern Himself with them. It was men He took up. But much more appears here: it is God's delight in man now that His Son has become a man.
The wording is disputed. The same writer notes the other reading, which matches the ESV's "among those with whom he is pleased":
Revisers, with the editors, adopt "peace to men of good pleasure."
Peace was announced at the manger. So why is the world still not at peace? One writer traces it to the rejection of the One who brought it:
The prophets said again and again that peace would mark the long-awaited kingdom. God presented the fulfilment of it to the nation in a Saviour, Christ the Lord, born to them in the city of David... But the One whose coming could have brought in peace was rejected. The peace He offered was taken from the earth, and can now only be celebrated as peace to be established in heaven. The fact was that He, in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell, had to lay the only possible ground for peace in such a world by the blood of His cross.
Another writer says plainly where the blame lies:
Sadly, peace on earth did not follow at once after this announcement, but man is to blame for this. God has offered peace to men from His heart, in the person of His Son. But they have refused His Son. The world cannot know peace until it receives the Prince of Peace. Such peace is certain, but it lies in the future.
The song is not left hanging for those who know the Person it celebrates:
We read in Colossians that the day is coming when God will reconcile all things to Himself, but we read further that believers are already reconciled. We have been brought into the good of this because we know the One who has brought glory to God in the highest. We know the One who will bring about peace on the earth: He is the Prince of Peace. And we know the One in whom God expresses His good pleasure toward men. Because we know this Person in our hearts, we have been brought into reconciliation.
- Person — the whole song hangs on one Man. Glory, peace and God's pleasure are all secured in Him.
- Glory — "in the highest" means everywhere, at last. God is glorified by all that Christ has done.
- Pleasure — the wording is disputed. One reading is God's delight in men, proved by the Son becoming a man and not an angel.
- Peace — offered at His birth, refused by men, and now celebrated as peace in heaven. The world will not know it until it receives the Prince of Peace.
- Possession — the earth still waits. Those who know this Person are already brought into reconciliation.