-Caveat Lector-
Ynr Chyldz Wyld wrote:
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> From: "Tenorlove" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > I'm not knowledgeable about the Jewish calendar (yet), but based upon
> > evidence in the New Testament Nativity stories, mainly the behavior of
> > the shepherds in Luke, Jesus would have been born sometime between
> > midsummer and mid-autumn. It couldn't have been March, that would have
> > been in the middle of lambing time, and the shepherds would not be out
> > in the fields until the lambs were big enough to keep up with the
> > flock. They wintered in town, so December is out. Luke 2:8 specifically
> > says the shepherds were "abiding in the field...."
It only takes a few days for lambs to become strong enough to pasture. As
for wintering in town... you are thinking like a Northerner. Winters in that
part of the world are warm and wet. Almost identical to the climate in Los
Angeles. No problem for pasturing and plenty of water to boot.
> And it would be unlikely they would be in the fields in summer, especially
> midsummer, as the fields (in the lowlands) are hot and dry at that time...
> affording little grazing and even less water to the flocks. Shepherds
> usually brought the flocks up into the hills and mountains in the summer,
> where it was cooler and had better grazing and abundunt water. They only
> brought them back down into the fields after the height of summer...
This entirely wrong. There is little difference between the lowlands and the
highlands. THIS IS NOT EUROPE! They are equally hot and dry. Furthermore the
sheep don't stop
eating when it's hot and dry. They do the best they can and survive the
summers by living off the stored fat in their tails. Similar to a camel.
> Not only is March lambing time, but is usually cold and rainy, and if they
> tried to take the flocks out to the fields at that time, they'd be spending
> their time in a cold sea of mud...not only uncomfortable, but something that
> would lead to the deaths of the flocks, especially the newborn lambs...they
> wouldn't have brought the flocks out from the city until after the spring
> rains had abated, usually not until May, when the lambs would have been
> mature enough to keep up with the rest of the flock...
>
> They would have spent only a short time in the fields at that time, as only
> young shoots of grass would be growing at that time...enough to feed a flock
> in transit, but not enough to feed a flock (which included lactating ewes)
> permanently pastured there...the fields in late spring were only used as a
> transit route, on way to the permanent summer pastures in the hills and
> mountains...
>
> June ;-)
June,
You are NOT describing the the Middle east. Scotland maybe, but not Israel.
One glorious thing about the internet is that offers each of us access to a
wide variety of people with a wide variety of experiences. Having said that,
let me preface the following by saying that I was a shepherd in Israel for
about three years. Based on that experience, I make the following statement
unequivocally... IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE FLOCK THE SHEPHERDS WERE DOING,
BECAUSE THE STORY IS PURE FICTION. ( See ' Gospel Fictions ' by R. Helms )
You are discussing the equivalent of how many angels dance on the head of a
pin.
Joshua2
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