#shepherds

🐑 Shepherds in the Bible: Guardians, Guides, and Gospel Echoes From the quiet hills of Bethlehem to the prophetic visions of Ezekiel, the Bible is rich with stories of shepherds—humble caretakers whose lives echo the heart of God. These men were not only keepers of flocks but also bearers of faith, courage, and divine calling. Whether watching sheep by night or leading nations with wisdom, each…

The Shepherd's Song by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898), 1891, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Song of the Shepherds by Richard Bauckham

We were familiar with the night. We knew its favourite colours, its sullen silence and its small, disturbing sounds, its unprovoked rages, its savage dreams.

We slept by turns, attentive to the flock. We said little. Night after night, there was little to say. But sometimes one of us, skilled in that way, would pipe a tune of how things were for us.

They say that once, almost before time, the stars with shining voices serenaded the new born world. The night could not contain their boundless praise.

We thought that just a poem — until the night a song of solar glory, unutterable, unearthly, eclipsed the luminaries of the night, as though the world were exorcised of dark and, coming to itself, began again.

Qui Thinh Tran (Vietnam) :: “Back to Home”

* * * *

“Even so is the life-span, O sage. Its duration is like that of a water droplet on a leaf. The life-span is fruitful only to those who have self-knowledge. We may encompass the wind, we may break up space, we may string waves into a garland, but we cannot pin our faith on the life-span. Man vainly seeks to extend his life-span, and thereby he earns more sorrow and extends the period of suffering. Only he lives who strives to gain self-knowledge, which alone is worth gaining in this world, thereby putting an end to future births; others exist here like donkeys. To the unwise, knowledge of scriptures is a burden; to one who is full of desires, even wisdom is a burden; to one who is restless, his own mind is a burden; and to one who has no self-knowledge, the body (the life-span) is a burden. The rat of time gnaws at the life-span without respite. The termite of disease eats (destroys) the very vitals of the living being. Just as a cat intent on catching a rat looks at it with great alertness and readiness, death is ever keeping a watch over this life-span.”

To be fair, it wasn't that yesterday was uniformly terrible; the evening was quite good. However, the day was just weird and not in a great way. Dragged into something, didn't get to read as much as I wanted, and worst/most alarmingly, a coworker got laid off.

Anyhow, a Fun Fact, because I recently re-read The Wee Free Men by Sir Terry Pratchett. In the book, there's reference to a secret way of counting sheep that shepherds use, with the words 'Yan, tan, tethera'. Today You Learned: that's a real thing.

The words were traditionally used by English shepherds in Northern England. I'm not sure where it originally came from; the Annotated Pratchett File, in its notes on Carpe Jugulum, claim that they're brought over to England by Romanians? I've seen no other evidence of that, though, and while I'm not an expert (important disclaimer), Wikipedia's assertion that it might be drawn from old Celtic languages like Cumbric makes a bit more sense to me.

Because it was a seemingly 'secret language' by rural people in Yorkshire, and it had some kind of purpose people didn't understand, there were many who thought that these words were magic or a secret language or something. It's not. 'Yan, tan, tethera' literally means 'one, two, three'. It's a way of counting sheep.

Also, it was used in knitting?