Luke 2:8-9 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.… Moses received his credentials as the legate of the Almighty and the lawgiver of a new nation while keeping the flocks of Jethro. Gideon threshed wheat by the wine-press when the angel brought him his commission, and the enemies of Israel fled before "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Saul going to seek his father's asses found a kingdom for himself; and Samuel waited to anoint David while they fetched him. from "those few sheep in the wilderness." Elisha was ploughing when "Elijah passed by" and cast the mantle of prophecy upon him, and Amos among the herdmen of Tekoa saw God's judgments upon Philistia and Tyre. It was while Zacharias "executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course" that the angel Gabriel brought him "joy and gladness," and all mankind the earnest of a new and glorious dispensation — and the first mortals that ever heard "the sons of God shouting for joy" were a band of shepherds watching their flocks on the Judean hills. (Amelia S. Barr.) Parallel Verses KJV: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. |
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