All Things Christmas (12 page)

During the time of the Patriarchs, shepherding was a noble occupation. Shepherds are mentioned early in Genesis 4:20 where
Jabal
is called the father of those living in tents and raising livestock. In nomadic societies, everyone
—whether sheikh or slave—
was a shepherd. The wealthy sons of Isaac and Jacob tended flocks (Genesis 30:29; 37:12).
Jethro
, the priest of
Midian
, employed his daughters as shepherdesses (Exodus 2:16)
,
a
nd eventually his son-in-law, Moses
.

When the twelve tribes of Israel migrated to Egypt, they encountered a lifestyle foreign to them. The Egyptians were agriculturalists. As farmers, growers of crops, they despised shepherding because sheep
and goats grazed on the crops.

Separating the Shepherds and the Farmers

Battles between farmers and shepherds are as old as they are fierce. The first murder in history
( Cain
and Abel)
erupted over a farmer’s resentment of a shepherd (Genesis 4:1-8). Egyptians considered sheep worthless for food and sacrifice. Egyptian art forms and historical records portray shepherds in a negative light. Neighboring Arabs, the Egyptian’s enemy, were shepherds. Egyptian hatred of sheep herders climaxed when
bearded Jewish
shepherd
s gradually took over
Lower Egypt.

Pharaoh’s clean-shaven court looked down
up
on the rugged shepherd sons of Jacob. Joseph matter-of-factly informed his brothers, “Every shepherd is detestable to t
he Egyptians.” (Genesis 46:34)
Over the course of 400 years, the Egyptian prejudices rubbed off on the Israelites’ and affected their attitude toward shepherding. Unbelievably, Jacob’s descendants became accustomed to a settled lifestyle and forgot their nomadic roots.

When
the
Israel
ites
later settled in Canaan (c. 1400 BC), the few tribes that still retained a fondness for the pastoral lifestyle chose to live in the Trans-Jordan (Numbers 32:1). After
the Jews settled into their new home
, shepherding ceased to hold its prominent position. As the Israelites acquired more farmland,
s
hepherding became a menial vocation for the laboring class.

The Angels Appear to the Shepherds

Around 1000 BC, former shepherd David emerged as king and temporarily raised the shepherd’s image. The lowliness of his trade made David’s promotion
to the throne
all the more striking (2 Samuel 7:8). While poetic sections of Scripture record positive allusions to shepherding,
many
scholars believe these references reflect a literary ideal, not reality.

Prophetic Symbols

In the days of the Prophets, sheep-herders symbolized judgment and social desolation (Zephaniah 2:6). Amos contrasted his high calling as prophet with his former role as a shepherd (Amos 7:14). In general, shepherds were considered second-class citizens and unworthy of trust. Sheep herding had not just lost its appeal; it eventually forfeited its social acceptability. Some shepherds earned their poor reputations, but others became victims of a cruel stereotype. The religious leaders maligned the shepherd’s good name; rabbis banned pasturing sheep and goats in Israel, except on the desert plains.

The
Mishnah
, Judaism’s written record of the oral law, also reflects this prejudice, referring to shepherds in belittling terms. One passage describes them as incompetent; another says no one should ever feel obligated to rescue a shepherd who has fallen into a pit. Shepherds were deprived of their civil rights. They could not hold judicial offices or be admitted in court as witnesses. It was written, “To buy wool, milk or a kid from a shepherd was forbidden on the assumption that it would be stolen property.”

In Jerusalem
at
the time of Jesus, the rabbis asked with amazement how, in view of the despicable nature of shepherds,
could
one
explain why God was called
my shepherd
in Psalm 23. Smug religious leaders maintained a strict caste system at the expense of shepherds and other common folk. Shepherds were officially labeled sinners, a technical term for a class of despised people. Into this social context of religious snobbery and class prejudice, Jesus stepped forth. How surprising and significant that God handpicked lowly, unpretentious shepherds to
be the first to
hear the joyous news that the long-awaited
Mashiach
had been born.

What an affront to the religious leaders who were so conspicuously absent from the divine mailing list. Even from birth, Christ moved among the lowly. It was the sinners, not the self-righteous, that he came to save. And, interestingly enough, though Jesus spoke of many occupations in his parables, the only job title he ever claimed
for himself
was that of a shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). Christ is also the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). No other illustration so vividly portrays His tender care and guiding hand as that of the shepherd. Perhaps that is why he chose to have them and them alone as witnesses to his birth.

Chapter Fourteen

THE CHRISTMAS
MIRACLE OF 1914

You could call it a carry-over of genteel Victorianism or view it as the all-encompassing awe that accompanies the birth of the Christ Child. Attribute it to the tug of Christmas traditions on the hearts and minds of men everywhere, if you like, or simply ascribe it to being far from
home, cold, tired and lonely. Whatever its root cause, first and foremost the Christmas truce of World War I validates
the commonality of all mankind.

Keeping It
in the Family

The First World War, European in origin though it eventually encompassed everyone, had a strange and unique character to it. For instance, consider the fact that the George V of England, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany were first cousins
.
They called each other
Georgie
, Nicky and Willie. How could this happen? It was a case of one thing leading to another until the interlocking mutual defense alliances of Europe toppled like a house of cards. In retrospect, it seems to resemble a Keystone Kops script mor
e than international diplomacy.

Austria-Hungary’s heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Serbia.
Austia
-Hungary then declared war on Serbia, anticipating a limited engagement against its smaller neighbor. However, Serbia was an ally of Russia, so Russia began mobilizing in anticipation of aiding its ally. Germany, Austria-Hungary’s ally, took this as an act of aggression and declared war on Russia. France, bound by treaty to Russia, suddenly found itself at war with Germany. And Britain, an ally of France, declared war on Germany as well. All of Britain’s colonies and dominions quickly followed suit in short order. Japan, another ally of Britain, also joined the fighting. Italy managed to find a loophole in its treaty with Germany, but later entered
the war on side of the Allies.

Fighting from the Trenches

World War I was a time of trench warfare in which opposing armies both dug trenches on either side of the line of combat. The troops faced each other across this relatively narrow
no man’s land
while lobbing grenades back and forth and mounting occasional assaults on each other
’s position
. Looking back nearly a hundred years, it is easy to see that World War I had little about it to motivate the common soldier. It fit the classic definition of war being a game old men, or in this case royalty,
played with young men’s lives.

The First Christmas of the War

By December, 1914 the weather
was
cold and wet. The trenches turned to mud and muck and were sometimes knee-deep in dirty water. Meanwhile, the war itself seemed to have reached a stalemate. As Christmas drew near various groups began agitate for a truce. A group of 101 British Suffragists composed
The Open Christmas Letter
,
a public message for peace addressed “To the Women of Germany and Austria.” On December 7
th
, 1914 Pope Benedict XV issued an appeal for an official truce between the warring parties. He asked this so “that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang.” This attempt was officially rebuffed.

The men in the field felt isolated and lonely as Christmas drew closer. The soldiers could hear their counterparts singing familiar carols in the evenings. Eventually, some of the
German and British soldiers began exchanging seasonal greetings across no man’s land. Soon the tension between them ebbed and the men began crossing no man’s land to barter or exchange small gifts…tobacco, a sweet or other food items. Exchanging buttons from their field jackets became common.

One thing led to another and before long the men started holding carol sings and joint burial ceremonies. These friendships reached the point where no man’s land was converted into a playing field where men from the opposing armies staged football games. A truce of sorts had been declared not by
the
leaders, but by the combatants themselves. One can’t help but be reminded of that famous, “What if they held a war and nobody came?”

Though there was never an official truce, about 100,000 British and German troops were involved in unofficial cessations of fighting along the length of the Western Front. The first of
these truces started on Christmas Eve, 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium. The Germans placed
Christmas trees
along
the rim of
their trenches and
added candles
The British responded in kind and artillery in the region fell silent. However, the fraternization carried risks. On some occasions soldiers were shot by opposing forces. Despite these breakdowns in trust, the truce lasted through Christmas night and in some sectors even
continued until New Year's Day.

Eyewitness Accounts

Bruce
Bairnsfather
, who served in the war, described it this way, “I wouldn't have missed that unique and weird Christmas Day for anything. I spotted a German officer, some sort of lieutenant I should think, and being a bit of a collector, I intimated to him that I had taken a fancy to some of his buttons. I brought out my wire clippers and, with a few deft snips, removed a couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket. I then gave him two of mine in exchange. The last thing I saw was one of my machine gunners, who
was
a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civilian life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of a docile
Boche
, who was patiently kneeling on the ground whilst the automatic clippers crept up the back of his neck.”

An account by
Llewelyn
Wyn
Griffith, another eyewitness to
this
impromptu truce, says that after a night of exchanging carols, dawn on Christmas Day saw a “rush of men from both sides and a feverish exchange of souvenirs” before the men were called back by their officers. There were offers of a ceasefire for the day and a football match, but the brigade commander insisted they
resume firing in the afternoon.