These were not the ordinary shepherds —brutish, ignorant, unbathed and smelly thugs, “the lowest of the low,” the guest speaker told The Rotary Club of McMinnville Thursday.
Quite the opposite, Dr Harold Hunter, former pastor of Northside Baptist Church in McMinnville, insisted when he addressed the century-old civic club in the fellowship hall of First Presbyterian Church.
The widely traveled evangelist, scholar and author cited biblical and archaeological evidence supporting his argument that the shepherds of the Nativity (Luke 2:8-18) were especially appointed to care for sheep possibly destined to be sacrificed in Jewish religious rites.
“These shepherds understood it,” Hunter said of their intellectual preparation to select animals “without spot or blemish” that would be acceptable for the blood sacrifices mandated in Mosaic law. Those rare specimens had to be separated from the rest of the flock to protect them from injury or damage of any kind.
In fact, the newborn candidates for sacrifice were wrapped in priestly garments and gently carried into cave or grotto in Bethlehem per the prescriptions of Hebrew prophecy, he explained. It was that same hollowed-out area of rock that became the actual birthplace of Jesus, he continued.
Western artistic conventions from the 17th century imagined the Christ child sheltered in a crude, wooden shed. Based on available evidence, the Messiah’s birthplace was more likely in the bosom of the Earth -- a cave or opening in a rock bluff. After His crucifixion, His body was placed in a carved-out rock.
“There was ‘no room in the inn,’ in Bethlehem but why was there room in that cave?” the Rotary presenter asked. “It was set aside for sheep that were potential sacrifices.”
Among other notables who figured in the Advent story were “wise men from the East,” said Hunter, who was pastor of McMinnville’s Northside Baptist Church from 1969 to 1979. During that decade, the local congregation grew from some 65 members to more than 900 and exerted a major force in Christian evangelism and service in the area.
“The ‘star’ referred to in the Bible was not a star in the usual, astronomical meaning. The word in the original Hebrew described a bright, shiny, heavenly object.”
In fact, we don’t know if there were three wise men, also known as magi. The conjecture of a trio of worshipful visitors comes from the three gifts (“treasures”) enumerated in Matthew 2:11. In any event, these men were among the best-informed people in ancient Babylonia and were seriously trained in astronomy.
The sudden appearance of that brilliant, novel light signaled an extremely important event, the magi concluded.
It was enough for them to embark on a difficult, two-year journey to a village near the place of Christ’s birth, Hunter told the Rotary audience.
So they weren’t there on the night of Jesus’ birth? Not a problem, Hunter offered, observing that the celebrity visitors found the Child and His other “in the house” (Luke 2:10), not a rock shelter in a sheep pasture.
The virgin mother Mary, and Joesph her future husband by contract, had “their world turned upside down” when Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus ordered a worldwide census to establish the basis for taxation of the provincials (Luke 2:1-5), Hunter recalled. “Mary was nine months pregnant and she had to ride a donkey on this two-day trip over rough, rocky paths to Bethlehem.”
People still have their lives turned upside down, sometimes by their own errant and unwise behavior but often by circumstances beyond their control such as disease or accident, the Rotary speaker said. That’s when Jesus steps in and offers His peace, the widely acclaimed evangelist commented.
Invited as McMinnville Rotary speaker to address the Advent of the “Prince of Peace" in a time of horrific violence and warfare in the historic Holy Land, Hunter concluded his remarks, “I give you a good word: Jesus is coming, bringing peace. The Babe in Bethlehem will become the conquering hero.”
Hunter reflects on the real-life, present-day lessons from the Nativity of Christ when he appears this week on McMinnville Public Radio 9.13-WCPI. His WCPI FOCUS interview will be on the air Tuesday at 5 pm with a repeat Thursday at 1 pm.