It is sometimes thought (and said, by preachers) that shepherds were a despised class in Israel at this time.

This opinion has been voiced by scholars both old and new.  For example, Butler (2000) wrote, ‘Shepherding had changed from a family business as in David’s time to a despised occupation.’  Stein (1992), wrote: ‘In general, shepherds were dishonest and unclean according to the standards of the law. They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came.’

Ian Paul quotes Randy Alcorn:

In Christ’s day, shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They shared the same unenviable status as tax collectors and dung sweepers.

The external evidence for this, however, is rather thin.

It is true that Aristotle said that of all people, ‘the laziest are shepherds, who lead an idle life.’  But Aristotle was Greek, and not Jewish, and he was writing 300 years before New Testament times.

The Mishnah – a collection of sayings of the Jewish rabbis dating from just before the time of Christ to about 200 AD – contains one statement indicating that shepherds were despised.  The Babylonian Talmud – dating from around 500 AD – records more rabbinic statements of this nature, but is too late to be a reliable guide to attitudes in New Testament times.

The internal evidence, on the other hand, rather indicates that shepherds were not a despised class, even though they would have been regarded as rather lowly and ‘ordinary’.

According to Luke 2:18, people were ‘astonished’ when the shepherds related to them what they had been told about the new-born baby.  But there is no hint here of surprise that the message had been entrusted to members of some underclass.

Overall, the biblical portrayal of shepherds is positive.  Abraham, Moses and David were all associated with shepherding.  God himself is represented as a shepherd in Gen 49:24; Psa 23; 80:1; Eze 34:12 and elsewhere.  In the New Testament, Jesus is described as a shepherd in Mt 2:6; 26:31, and describes himself as such in Jn 10:11.  Then again, Heb. 13:20 and 1 Pet 2:25; 5:4 refer to Jesus as a shepherd.  Finally, church leaders are called to shepherd God’s flock, Acts 20:28; 1 Pet 5:2.

In his commentary on Luke, Joel Green comments that the shepherds, although they were peasants, could hardly have been despised by those who relied on them for the sacrificial system.

Mainly based on: Urban Legends of the New Testament: 40 Common Misconceptions (B&H Academic), David Croteau.