In Jesus’ day, shepherds either wandered from place to place and lived in tents, or lived in villages. Peasant shepherds who lived in a village had the right to let their flocks feed in the pastures near the village. When food supplies got scarce, they would move their herds to higher pastures in the hot summer or to warmer valleys in the winter.

Life was often difficult for shepherds. They spent most of their time outside watching over the herd and often slept near their flock to protect it from robbers and wild animals. At night, they gathered their flocks into places called sheepfolds. These could be stone walls made by the shepherds or natural enclosures like a cave. Shepherds counted their flocks when they came into the fold at night by separating the sheep from the goats with a walking stick. They counted them again in the morning when they left for the pastures.

A flock often included both sheep and goats. Sheep are timid animals that need constant protection. Goats are harder to handle than sheep, because they like to climb up the rocky hillsides. Sheep produce wool for clothing and meat for special meals. Many sheep were also used for sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. It is likely that some of the sheep in the fields near Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth were intended to be offered as temple sacrifices on one of the important Jewish festivals..

Jesus identified with shepherds, even though many in society looked down on them. Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep (John 10:11-16). The writers of the Psalms (Ps 23; 100:3) and the prophet Ezekiel pictured God as a shepherd who would save his flock, the Israelite people (Ezek 34:11-16).