And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Ver. 8. Keeping watch over their flock] At the tower of Edar, say some, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, where Jacob, returning from Mesopotamia, stayed with his flock, after he had buried Rachel, Genesis 35:21; Micah 4:8 .
By night] Hence some gather that our Saviour was not born in the winter, because in winter they housed their cattle, and fed them not out doors, Proverbs 27:25 .