3 What does it mean that baby Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. WebIt is likely that the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem were raising lambs in the very fields that King David, as a boy watched over his sheep and composed Psalms to honor his God. According to Rabbi Abraham Bloch, the main distinction between the Hag HaPesach and Hag HaMatzot lies in the historical area that each seeks to reflect. According to theMishnah(a rabbinic Jewish legal-historical document from the end of the second century AD), these were no ordinary sheep or shepherds, but were shepherds who watched over sheep that were destined to become burnt offerings, peace offerings and the Passover offering for the temple service in Jerusalem (Mishnah Sheq7:4;The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, by Alfred Edersheim, pp. The diminishing sunlight in their eyes due to the changing seasons triggers hormones that kick the ewe into heat. Rather odd since there must be livestock for the altar: daily sacrifices and unintentional sin offerings. He said to the high priest, Cast your eyes on the Passover offerings. He took a kidney from each, and 600,000 pairs of kidneys were found there, twice as many as those who departed from Egypt, excluding those who were unclean and those who were on a distant journey, and there was not a single paschal lamb for which more than ten people had not registered; and they called it: The Passover of the dense throngs.. They hired shepherds who were experts in animal husbandry. When Messiahs presence comes, everything that was before is old everything now is new. 7 Why are shepherds banned from the temple in the Bible? So the minimum age for any sacrifice is eight days. The events and Holy days of the Old Testament, were a foreshadowing of the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The appearance of Samuel in the 11th century BCE at the end of the period of the Judges brought about a religious revival. This reference to Passover stresses the classical message of the festivalthe humble origin of the Jewish people, the covenant with Abraham, Gods intervention in Egypt, the fulfillment of Gods promises, and the reaffirmation of faith. This is a big problem with God and, consequently, with man. All of this thanks to THE LAMB BORN IN BETHLEHEM! On the other hand it mentions that many were considered thieves and also that they had the potential to cause strife with their neighbor because of grazing on their field; also citing an instance (if I remember correctly) in Galilee were they had to go thru private land to get to the open fields and therefore causing strife. Where were the sheep raised for Temple sacrifices? The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". 2 This month is the beginning of months for you, it is the first month of the year for you. Their solution was to keep livestock in the wilderness, or Syria, etc. The feast of unleavened bread was an agricultural festival that celebrated the beginning of the grain harvest when an offering of the first fruits was made and unleavened bread eaten. . Isa 53:6, 1011). On this day everything begins. The Renewed Covenant is the Covenant of newness, it never gets old. It was a place fit for the Lamb of the Eternal to be born. What is significant about that place? Yeshua, who was the fulfilment of the foreshadowing of the sacrificial lambs, was also sacrificed during the Passover so it follows that he would have been born around the same season in springtime. The shekalim 7:7 of the Mishnah does not suggest that Migdal-Eder was used as a permanent location for sacrificial lambs. Luke has the most complete account of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, as recorded in Chapter 2: And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and linage of David) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. The Eternal is an Elohim of order. [Alfred Edersheim The Life and Times of Jesus Messiah (1899)], There was a place just outside of the town of Bethlehem, but still within the region commonly known as Bethlehem, where Passover lambs were kept by specially trained and purified shepherds. A little-known fact about Bethlehem is that since it was a relatively close, two-hour walk away from the Temple, it was a location where sheep were raised for the At the same time, Mish. The Season Clue: Priests and Levites slaughtered the paschal offerings for the returning Jews of the Babylonian captivity. There are several biblical references indicating that this procedure was also followed in Solomons Temple. Every important event in Yeshuas life corresponds to a Festival or day commanded by the Eternal. Probably not. It was important that the lambs that were to be sacrificed did not have any blemishes (broken legs, or injuries). But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The Hebrew Bible says that God commanded the Israelites to offer offerings and sacrifices on various altars. They were not to leave the meat over past the conclusion of the night (Exodus 12:10). During this time, Passover played little or no role in the national life of the people. It decided it would be another good day to rain and be cold, all of our wet feet did not agree. A bevy of explanations has been offered for these various biblical rites attached to the paschal lamb and its sacrifice. What they saw was not a star but a rare phenomenon that happens every 6000 years and it pointed them to Israel and to Yeshua. pinpoints the exact place where the Messiah was born. The tower of the flock was built of stones, does not exist today and archaeology has not found its ruins as of yet. Scholars interpret Micah 4:8 as a prophecy indicating that the Messiah would be revealed from the tower of the flock (Migdal Eder) which is connected with the town of Bethlehem, southeast of Jerusalem. Sheep have wool and can easily withstand cold temperatures. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Just go to the highlands of Scotland or to N. Ireland! Comprised of the Mishnah and the Gemara, it contains the opinions of thousands of rabbis from different periods in Jewish history. 960 BCE]. Many people including me have covered this topic over and over again for decades, so all the info is out there already. But how do you get a descendant of King David to be delivered among the Passover lambs of Bethlehem? This tower of the flock mentioned in Micah 4:8 is in Hebrew Migdal Edar and literally means watch tower of the flock. Consequently, the Old Testament tells us that the Messiah, Jesus, would be born at Migdal Edar, in Bethlehem. However, based on biblical record (Micah 4:8)and other evidence we must conclude that Yeshua was not born a dirty stable of an inn where donkeys and other animals were kept. It was also the place ewes were safely brought to give birth to the lambs. A public celebration of Passover with the slaughtering of paschal lambs was the climax of the festivities. The caves were specially cared for to keep them clean and prepared for the birthing process. Abrahams hand was stayed, and God provided a substitute sacrifice, just as He would provide in His Son, Jesus. King Solomons sacrifice was enormous 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. In his work, Edersheim referenced the Jewish Mishnah (The Mishnah was the first recording of the oral law and Rabbinic Judaism. When his time had come Jesus was led to Jerusalem to be sacrificed. 170-235, [This date varies from year to year as the Hebrew months are based on the moon. He changes the calendar of our lives. In it he states: That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem was a settled conviction. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother [Esau]. These sheep were apparently kept outdoors all year round. The word in Hebrew means repetition, which means that it was memorized material. It was in this special manger, Migdal Eder, that Jesus was born after Mary and Joseph could not find other lodging. The tower of the flock was built of stones, does not exist today and archaeology has not found its ruins as of yet. The lambs sacrificed daily in the Temple ceremonies as well as the lamb sacrificed annually for the nations sins at Passover in the Temple were but a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice of God. The principal feature of the feast of unleavened bread is stated in the Bible: Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. The unleavened bread commemorated the speed with which the Jews had to leave Egypt and thus became symbolic of Israelite redemption. Where were the sheep raised for Temple sacrifices? The daily Temple sacrifice required two unblemished sheep from Bethlehem. One sacrificed in the morning and one in the evening as a continual sacrifice before the Eternal. One year old lambs were also needed during Passover and other festivals. The shepherds in charge of these special lambs were from the tribe of Levi. Only the Passover made an exception and allowed the unclean to keep the holiday (Numbers 9:10-13). [6] In fact, the angelic message did not say, You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in A manger as the story is told in our English Bibles, but rather, lying in THE manger. This is like the difference between telling someone that you are visiting a white house rather than visiting the White House. To these shepherds, the manger meant a specific place. According to the He sent the Set-Apart Spirit to his disciples on, In the writings of Hippolytus, early church father (ca. In the year 720 BCE, King Hezekiah set out to restore the ancient covenant. * They were led into the city at the time of the Passover Festival to shed their blood like the ancient lambs before them. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it (Exodus12:8). The Romans would not have called for a census during winter as it would have been very hard for the people to travel long distances in the cold and rain. If theres snow on the ground, they will be in the barn not because its cold but because they cant get to the grass, and the hay is in the barn. King Josiah, in 637 BCE, next spearheaded a Jewish spiritual revival with the accidental discovery of a Torah scroll in the course of repair work to the Jerusalem Temple. Your email address will not be published. So the lambs offered for Pesach were around 9-11 months old. Once the lambs were of age, the shepherds would take them to Jerusalem for the temple sacrifices. The Magi, who were astronomers from the east saw a special star in the sky. Why is it important that he would be born at this time? The Bible teaches us that mankind has a sin problem. With the destruction of the Temple, the offering of the paschal came to an end. One one hand it says that shepherding of small cattle was a decent profession to earn a living. Lets see where key statements in the Old and New Testaments lead us in our search to confirm the actual birthplace of Jesus. He is, indeed, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.. Every firstborn male lamb from the area around Bethlehem was considered holy, set aside for sacrifice in Jerusalem. Howard Hewitt; France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament Generations of hereditary shepherds tended the sacred flocks. The priest passed the basin to his fellow priest, and he to his fellow, each receiving a full basin and giving back an empty one. The priests stood in rows, and in their hands were basins of silver and basins of gold. The shepherds in charge of these special lambs were from the tribe of Levi. The festival of the paschal lamb was ushered in on the evening of the 14th of Nisan. They were Levitical shepherds (shepherd-priests). The clues to the possible season of Yeshuas birth are based on teachings by Jonathan Cahn. An Israelite slaughtered his offering and the priests caught the blood. We do it on December 25th merely because it is a centuries old, entrenched tradition and we use this time to bring the good news and of the Nativity story in Matthew and Luke. Which is correct poinsettia or poinsettia? One would think that the New Testament would tell us precisely where the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Itdoes not. According to the Mishnah Baba Kama, they banned livestock. I want to thank Habib for helping this entire experience come to life for this group from Wabash College. When a baby was born, the umbilical cord was cut and tied; then the baby was washed and rubbed with salt and oil, and wrapped with strips of cloth. He was born in the very birthplace where tens of thousands of lambs, which had been sacrificed to prefigure Him, the Lamb of the Eternal. Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, the tower of the flock. For about three centuries after the death of Joshua, anarchical conditions loomed as a result of lack of leadership and constant harassment by hostile neighbors. An analysis of bones found in an ancient When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem they went to Herod to inquire about this King that was to be born. Unlike humans, the lambs, in Israel, are born at the same time, each and every year, and always between the end of March, and the first of April. Generations of hereditary shepherds tended the sacred flocks. They were not to eat it rare or boiled in water (Exodus 12:9). This part of the sign was not enough on its own because any new-born baby would be wrapped in swaddling cloths.