Verse 8
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
ANNUNCIATION TO THE SHEPHERDS
And there were shepherds ... Their names are unknown, but they were appropriate representatives of Adam's race; and, as these words stand, they have a far more significant meaning than if personal names of these laborers had been supplied.
Abiding in the field ... The fact of the shepherd being outdoors suggests the temporal and transitory nature of the human family's status on earth. In the larger context of man's earthly tenure, the shepherds were better representatives of mankind than dwellers in strong houses might have been. In a sense, all men are "in the field," subject to all limitations of earth life, and remaining but a brief span of time.
By night ... Appropriately, Jesus was born at night; for there was a darker night symbolized by that event. The scepter had about departed from Judah; the savage Idumean was on the throne of David; pagan darkness engulfed the world; and the lord of the whole world was the first of the Caesars, Augustus, whose successors would drown the world in blood, debauch the government, and usher in the age of darkness. Beyond the confines of the ancient empire, the long and shameful gloom had settled over all the world; all nations sat in darkness.
O what a night was that which wrapped The heathen world in gloom! O what a Sun which rose this day Triumphant from the tomb.[17]
O what a night it was for all When Mary found no room To wrap her Babe but in a stall Encircled by the gloom.
- (second stanza by James Burton Coffman)
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