Luke 2:15-20

3. The visit of the shepherds: Luke 2:15-20.

The angel had notified a sign to the shepherds, and invited them to ascertain its reality. This injunction they obey.

Vers. 15-20. The T. R. exhibits in Luke 2:15 a singular expression: “And it came to pass, when the angels were gone away,... the men, the shepherds, said...” The impression of the shepherds when, the angels having disappeared, they found themselves alone among men, could not be better expressed. The omission of the words καὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι in the Alex. is owing to the strangeness of this form, the meaning of which they did not understand. The καὶ before οἱ ἄνθρωποι is doubtless the sign of the apodosis, like the Hebrew א; but at the same time it brings out the close connection between the disappearance of the angels and the act of the shepherds, as they addressed themselves to the duty of obeying them. The aorist εἶπον of the T. R. is certainly preferable to the imperf. ἐλάλουν of the Alex., since it refers to an act immediately followed by a result: “ They said (not they were saying) one to another, Let us go therefore.”

The term ῥῆμα denotes, as דָּבָר, H1821 so often does, a word in so far as accomplished (γεγονός). We see how the original Aramaean form is carefully preserved even to the minutest details. ᾿Ανά in ἀνεῦρον expresses the discovery in succession of the objects enumerated. ᾿Εγνώρισαν or διεγνώρισαν (Alex.), Luke 2:17, may signify to verify; in the fifteenth verse, however, ἐγνώρισαν signifies to make known, and in Luke 2:17 it is the most natural meaning. There is a gradation here: heaven had revealed; and now, by the care of men, publicity goes on increasing. This sense also puts the seventeenth verse in more direct connection with what follows. The compound διαγνωρίζειν, to divulge, appears to us for this reason to be preferred to the simple form (in the Alex.).

Vers. 18-20 describe the various impressions produced by what had taken place. In the eighteenth verse, a vague surprise in the greater part (all those who heard). On the other hand (δέ), Luke 2:19, a profound impression and exercise of mind in Mary. First of all, she is careful to store up all the facts in her mind with a view to preserve them (συντηρεῖν); but this first and indispensable effort is closely connected with the further and subordinate aim of comparing and combining these facts, in order to discover the divine idea which explains and connects them. What a difference between this thoughtfulness and the superficial astonishment of the people around her! There is more in the joyful feelings and adoration of the shepherds (Luke 2:20) than in the impressions of those who simply heard their story, but less than in Mary. Δοξάζειν, to glorify, expresses the feeling of the greatness of the work; αἰνεῖν, to praise, refers to the goodness displayed in it.

Closely connected as they are, the two participles heard and seen can only refer to what took place in the presence of the shepherds after they reached the stable. They were told the remarkable occurrences that had preceded the birth of Jesus; it is to this that the word heard refers. And they beheld the manger and the infant; this is what is expressed by the word seen. And the whole was a confirmation of the angel's message to them. They were convinced that they had not been the victims of an hallucination.

The reading ὑπέστρεψαν (they returned thence) is evidently to be preferred to the ill-supported reading of the T. R., ἐπέστρεψαν (they returned to their flocks).

Whence were these interesting details of the impression made on the shepherds and those who listened to their story, and of the feelings of Mary, obtained? How can any one regard them as a mere embellishment of the author's imagination, or as the offspring of legend? The Aramaean colouring of the narrative indicates an ancient source. The oftener we read the nineteenth verse, the more assured we feel that Mary was the first and real author of this whole narrative. This pure, simple, and private history was composed by her, and preserved for a certain time in an oral form, until some one committed it to writing, whose work fell into the hands of Luke, and was reproduced by him in Greek.