The Gospels give us a bare-bones description of the birth of Jesus. Just a few short paragraphs that contain all the essential truths, but are light on the kind of contextual details we crave in a good story. This is a hinge point in human history, bested only by Easter, and we just want more.

Over the years, many embellishments and artistic liberties have been taken to enhance what things might have looked like. There is debate over certain elements based on translation issues and word choices in the original texts, along with their historical context.

This book aims to correct the record, and add some cultural context from the ancient peoples who still inhabit Israel today. The main theme, however, is that whether or not the embellishments are 100% accurate is not important: the message of the Gospel is not dependent on them.

There was plenty to enjoy in this short book, and detail that helps to better understand the time and place in which Jesus was born. The secret of the shepherds is simply that they were a tribe with the framework in place to faithfully retell the events over generations and preserve the treasures of that night for the whole world.

ISBN: 978-1644138045