{"id":10106,"date":"2017-01-10T07:13:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=10106"},"modified":"2017-01-10T07:13:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:13:35","slug":"no-ordinary-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"No Ordinary Sheep!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/shepherds-and-angel-silhouette-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10107\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10107\" src=\"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5104\" height=\"3072\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette.jpg 5104w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette-768x462.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette-1024x616.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette-498x300.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5104px) 100vw, 5104px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Luke 2:8, <i>Shepherds living out in the fields.<\/i><\/b> According to the <i>Mishnah <\/i>(a rabbinic Jewish legal-historical document from the end of the second century AD), these were no ordinary sheep or shepherds, but were shepherds who watched over sheep that were destined to become burnt offerings, peace offerings and the Passover offering for the temple service in Jerusalem (<i>Mishnah Sheq <\/i>7:4; <i>The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah<\/i>, by Alfred Edersheim, pp. 132\u2013133).<\/p>\n<p>Such sheep were kept in the environs of Jerusalem including Bethlehem which lies just five miles south of that city. These sheep were apparently kept outdoors all year round. Presumably they were carefully watched over to keep them safe from incurring any blemish that might render them unusable for the temple service.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine the spiritual and prophetic significance of heaven\u2019s angelic messenger revealing to these shepherds the birth in Bethlehem of the spotless and sin-free Lamb of Elohim who was destined to be sacrificed from the beginning of the world (Rev 13:8; John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5).<\/p>\n<p>The angel announced that this newborn child was YHVH the Messiah (Isa 53:1; Christ the Lord)\u2014the Savior (Luke 2:8 cp. Isa 53:6, 10\u201311). He once and for all would take away the sins of the world (Heb 10:10, 12), thus rendering their jobs as temple shepherds unnecessary.<\/p>\n<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemory\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"Evernote.doClip({title: 'No Ordinary Sheep!',url: 'https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/',contentID: 'post-10106',suggestTags: 'Bethlehem,Luke,Nativity of Yeshua,Sheep,Shepherds,Star of Bethlehem,Yeshua',providerName: 'Hoshana Rabbah Blog',styling: 'text' });return false\" class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryLink\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.evernote.com\/article-clipper.png\" \nclass=\"evernoteSiteMemoryButton\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryClear\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke 2:8, Shepherds living out in the fields. According to the Mishnah (a rabbinic Jewish legal-historical document from the end of the second century AD), these were no ordinary sheep or shepherds, but were shepherds who watched over sheep that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[1877,32,1878,1758,337,1233,25],"class_list":["post-10106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-readings","tag-bethlehem","tag-luke","tag-nativity-of-yeshua","tag-sheep","tag-shepherds","tag-star-of-bethlehem","tag-yeshua"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>No Ordinary Sheep! | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No Ordinary Sheep! | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Luke 2:8, Shepherds living out in the fields. According to the Mishnah (a rabbinic Jewish legal-historical document from the end of the second century AD), these were no ordinary sheep or shepherds, but were shepherds who watched over sheep that &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/10\/no-ordinary-sheep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-10T15:13:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Natan Lawrence\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\"},\"headline\":\"No Ordinary Sheep!\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-10T15:13:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":212,\"commentCount\":5,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Shepherds-and-angel-silhouette.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bethlehem\",\"Luke\",\"Nativity of Yeshua\",\"Sheep\",\"Shepherds\",\"Star of Bethlehem\",\"Yeshua\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Weekly Scripture Readings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/10\\\/no-ordinary-sheep\\\/\",\"name\":\"No Ordinary Sheep! 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