Christian cultural legends- shepherds

I often hear or come across  statements by Christians that are said as though they are obvious historical facts that everyone knows. These things are repeated in articles, sermons, and some books. They usually don't reference the sources of information for the statements, it is just assumed that there is no question the statement is factual because it has been heard so often. If a source is mentioned, often there are no specific quotes or an exact location of the information within the documents mentioned. Because these statements are similar to urban legends, I will call them christian cultural legends. They usually only occur within the culture of christianity and are spread widely without much thought of their origins.

Over the years, I have heard a variety of these not quite right historical  statements, and last week I encountered another one of these cultural legends for the first time. The story of Jesus's birth was being told and particular focus was brought to bear on the shepherds who received the tidings of the birth from the angels and visited the infant.This story is only found in the book of Luke. I heard it said by someone who is in a position of authority in a church that this story was so amazing because "shepherds in the first century were the lowest of the low, despised by society, and considered unclean." This was supposed to prove that god looked only on the heart, not on one's social position or state of ritual cleanness or that Jesus's coming turned social conventions upside down. 

Right away, I questioned the authenticity of this statement and decided to look for verification using a simple google search. What I found was multiple christian sites with articles making that statement, or one similar, almost word for word. Very few referenced where that information came from, and none gave specific quotes or locations where it could be found and verified. However, one contrary article (by a christian)  came right out and called it an urban legend of christianity. I was not alone in my opinion!

My three objections were to the phrases "lowest of the low," "despised," and "unclean." I objected because the bible is full of sheep and shepherding images. Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons, Moses, and  David were shepherds. In fact there is a case to be made that most of the Israelites wandering in the desert had livestock that needed tending. What did that make them? For goodness sake, Psalm 23 calls Yahweh a shepherd. Jesus is also called "the good shepherd." He told parables about sheep.

I mentioned these objections to the person who had made the statement about shepherds in the first century. He said things had changed over the years and by the first century, shepherds were disliked immensly. I was given a couple of links to articles about this topic that agreed with this person's assessment. In my next post on this topic, I will give you the links and explain how I researched the information given. 

To be continued.