Shepherd and sheep

How low shepherds stood. On Luke 2:8, Keener says many religious people despised shepherds, whose work kept them from the community's religious life. He also writes that the Pharisees counted herding an unclean trade. Bailey calls shepherds close to the bottom of the social scale. The CSB Study Bible calls their position lowly but notes that the Bible often views the role positively. It also says the temple's sacrificial sheep were kept in the fields outside Bethlehem, which Keener reports only as a suggestion of some scholars. Levine rejects the whole picture of despised shepherds. The usual proofs, Philo, the Mishnah (Qiddushin 4.14) and a late midrash on the Psalms, do not show what is claimed, and Jewish tradition used the shepherd as a positive image. The newer sources split the same way. The cultural backgrounds article Caesar and Christ calls shepherds lowly and often despised. Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary, agrees they were lower class. But he notes that the picture of dishonest shepherds comes from later rabbinic writings, and that the Bible's portrait is almost always positive.

• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-9-35-10-15\/","n":"Matthew 9:35-10:15, The Twelve sent with nothing","s":"Seeing the crowds as sheep without a shepherd, Jesus sends twelve apostles to the lost sheep of Israel, with no money, bag or staff, to stay with whoever will have them.","r":"Matthew 9:35-10:15"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-14-13-36\/","n":"Matthew 14:13-36, Bread in a deserted place, a walk on the sea","s":"Jesus feeds five thousand men, besides women and children, in a deserted place, then comes to the disciples walking on the lake, and Peter tries to walk to him.","r":"Matthew 14:13-36"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-18-1-14\/","n":"Matthew 18:1-14, Little ones, a millstone and their angels","s":"Asked who is greatest in the kingdom, Jesus stands a child among the disciples. He warns against causing little ones to stumble, speaks of their angels, and tells of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep.","r":"Matthew 18:1-14"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/matthew-25-31-46\/","n":"Matthew 25:31-46, Sheep, goats and the least of these","s":"The Son of Man comes in glory with his angels, gathers the nations, and separates them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, judging them by how they treated the least of his brothers and sisters.","r":"Matthew 25:31-46"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-6-30-52\/","n":"Mark 6:30-52, Bread in a deserted place, a walk on the sea","s":"Jesus feeds five thousand men from five loaves and two fish, then comes to his disciples walking on the lake at night.","r":"Mark 6:30-52"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/mark-14-12-31\/","n":"Mark 14:12-31, The Passover meal","s":"Jesus eats the Passover with the Twelve, names a betrayer at the table, gives the bread and the cup new meaning, and warns that all will scatter.","r":"Mark 14:12-31"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-2-8-20\/","n":"Luke 2:8-20, Shepherds hear of a savior","s":"Angels announce to shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem the birth of a savior who is Christ the Lord, and the shepherds find the child lying in a manger as they were told.","r":"Luke 2:8-20"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/luke-15-1-10\/","n":"Luke 15:1-10, A lost sheep and a lost coin","s":"Pharisees and teachers grumble that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. He answers with a shepherd who searches for one lost sheep and a woman who sweeps the house for one lost coin.","r":"Luke 15:1-10"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-10-1-21\/","n":"John 10:1-21, The good shepherd and the hired hand","s":"Jesus contrasts the shepherd who enters by the gate, calls his sheep by name and lays down his life for them with thieves who climb in another way and a hired hand who runs from the wolf.","r":"John 10:1-21"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-16-16-33\/","n":"John 16:16-33, A woman in labor","s":"Jesus tells the puzzled disciples that in a little while they will not see him and then will see him again, and that their grief will turn to joy like a mother's after childbirth. He warns that they will be scattered.","r":"John 16:16-33"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-21-15-25\/","n":"John 21:15-25, Feed my sheep, and stretch out your hands","s":"Three times Jesus asks Peter whether he loves him and three times tells him to tend his sheep. He foretells Peter's death and answers his question about the beloved disciple, whose testimony closes the book.","r":"John 21:15-25"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-20-17-38\/","n":"Acts 20:17-38, Farewell to the Ephesian elders","s":"Hurrying to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, Paul calls the elders of Ephesus to Miletus. He reminds them how he lived among them, warns of wolves who will attack the flock, charges them as overseers to shepherd God's church, and leaves them in tears.","r":"Acts 20:17-38"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/ephesians-4-1-16\/","n":"Ephesians 4:1-16, The conqueror goes up and gives gifts","s":"Paul urges unity, one body and one Spirit, then reads Psalm 68 as Christ ascending in victory and handing out gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to equip the church to grow up into him.","r":"Ephesians 4:1-16"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-13-18-25\/","n":"Hebrews 13:18-25, Timothy released, greetings from Italy","s":"The writer asks for prayer so that he may be restored to his readers soon, blesses them in the name of the God of peace who brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, calls the letter a brief word of exhortation, and reports that Timothy has been released. Those from Italy send greetings.","r":"Hebrews 13:18-25"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-2-18-25\/","n":"1 Peter 2:18-25, Household slaves and a harsh master","s":"Peter tells household slaves to submit to their masters, the harsh as well as the kind, because suffering unjustly while doing good is commendable before God. Christ suffered for them, leaving an example: insulted, he did not insult in return, and by his wounds they have been healed.","r":"1 Peter 2:18-25"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-5-1-14\/","n":"1 Peter 5:1-14, Elders, the roaring lion, and greetings from Babylon","s":"As a fellow elder Peter urges the elders to shepherd God's flock willingly, not for gain, until the Chief Shepherd gives them an unfading crown. All must be humble, for their adversary the devil prowls like a roaring lion. Peter writes through Silvanus and sends greetings from she who is in Babylon and from his son Mark.","r":"1 Peter 5:1-14"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-7-1-17\/","n":"Revelation 7:1-17, the sealing of the 144,000 and the crowd in white","s":"Four angels hold back the winds until God's servants are sealed on their foreheads, 144,000 from the tribes of Israel. Then John sees a crowd no one can count, from every nation, in white robes with palm branches, who have come out of the great tribulation and whom the Lamb will shepherd.","r":"Revelation 7:1-17"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-14-1-5\/","n":"Revelation 14:1-5, the Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion","s":"The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with 144,000 who bear his name and his Father's on their foreheads, singing a new song only they can learn. They have kept themselves pure, follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and are offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.","r":"Revelation 14:1-5"}