2:8 A: Shepherds were nearby.
Shepherds were despised. Others suspected that they did not hold fast
to the principle of what is mine and what is yours. Therefore, they were
excluded from giving testimony in court.
Midrash Psalms 23 § 2 (99B): R. Yose b. Hanina (ca. 270) said, “You
will find that there is no more contemptible occupation in the world than that
of the shepherd הרועה,
for throughout his life he walks with his staff and his bag. And yet, David
calls God a shepherd (Ps 23:1).” ‖ Tosefta Sanhedrin 5.5 (423): They added to
the list in m. Sanh. 3.3 of those unsuitable for the office of judge and the
role of witness: robbers, shepherds, violent people, and (entirely) everyone
who is suspected of loving money. Their testimony is always invalid. A parallel
passage can be found in b. Sanh. 3.3: They added to them (those named in m.
Sanh. 3.3): shepherds, the tax collectors, and publicans. It was initially
thought that the shepherds did it accidentally (feeding their flocks on other
people’s land), but when they believed it to be on purpose making them guilty
of robbery, the rabbis determined (that they were not to be permitted to
testify). ‖ Mishnah Baba Qamma 10.9: One was not allowed to buy wool, milk, (or
goats) from shepherds (because you never know if it is stolen).—A less
stringent judgment is found in t. B. Qam. 11.9 (370). There, the rule is set
out as follows: Everything that a shepherd can steal without the owner noticing
may not be purchased from him. But what he cannot steal without the owner
noticing may be purchased from him. ‖ Mishnah Qiddušin 4.14: Abba Gurion of
Sidon (ca. 180?) said in the name of Abba Saul (ca. 150), “A man should not
train his son to be a donkey driver, a camel driver, a barber, a skipper, a
shepherd, or a grocer. For their trade is the trade of robbers.”—It is
similarly said in a baraita in y. Qidd. 4.66B.26. ‖ Exodus Rabbah 2 (68B):
“Moses was a shepherd of small livestock for his father-in-law” (Exod 3:1). In
Prov 30:5, this means, “Every word of God is refining” (according to the
Midrash). God does not give greatness to a man until he has tested him in a
minor matter. Then he leads him up to greatness. Behold, you have two great men
in the world, whom God has tested in a little matter, and since they were
faithful, he led them up to greatness. He tested David with small livestock,
and he drove them into the wilderness to keep them away from robbers. For Eliab
said to David in 1 Sam 17:28, “For whom have you left those few sheep in the
desert?” This teaches that David adhered to the judgment in the Mishnah, “You
are not permitted to raise small livestock in the land of Israel” (m. B. Qam.
7.7). God said to him, “You were found to be faithful with the small livestock,
come and feed my sheep” (Ps 78:71). And likewise, Moses says, “He drove the
small livestock in the west side of the wilderness” (Exod 3:1) to keep them
from the robbers. Then God took him to feed Israel; as it says, “You led your
people like sheep by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Ps 77:20). (Hermann
L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the
Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and
Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:131-32)
