Announcement to the shepherds

Tyler had a friend who was literally giving away all his books . . . boxes and boxes of books. We made a trip one day to his house to see what he had and came home with quite a few. I found this little treasure that I've been enjoying this Christmas season.
One of the articles I've read so far had a few paragraphs about something I've always misread. I actually had to pull my scriptures out to make sure it did indeed say flock and not flocks. I even put my kids to the test one morning during scripture study; I had them listen for a word that is constantly read wrong and then had one of the read the scripture (Luke 2:8). They failed so I had to finally show them the word flock.

The following is an excerpt from what I've been reading.

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord, And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. (Luke 2:8-12)

One of these verse is frequently misquoted: "Keeping watch over their flocks by night." But the verse does not say flocks, pural, but flock, singular. One scholar explained the significance: "There was near Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, a tower known as Migdal Eder, or the watchtower of the flock. Here was the station where shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrifice in the temple. . . . It was a settled conviction among the Jews that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, and equally that he was to be revealed from Migdal Eder. The beautiful significance of the the revelation of the infant Christ to shepherds watching the flocks destined for sacrifice needs no comment." The flock mention in the scripture, then, apparently was the one used for temple sacrifices, and the shepherds thus had responsibility for the most important flock in the region.

--Gerald N. Lund, "The Birth of Jesus Christ Was on This Wise," Christmas Classics, A Treasury for Latter-day Saints