Looking Deeper

The Christmas story is one that most of us know so well. We know about Mary becoming pregnant while still a virgin because the Holy Spirit had created a miracle. We know about the journey to Bethlehem, the lack of accommodation, the birth of Jesus, Him being laid in a manger, and the visit of the shepherds. But it’s worth looking deeper into this story because it contains some amazing truths.

Firstly, we know Bethlehem was the place prophesied in Micah 5:2. But what do we know about Bethlehem? It was just six miles south of Jerusalem and strongly connected to the Temple as a place where lambs were reared for sacrifice at the Feast of Passover. The surrounding fields were ideal for raising high quality sheep, and the relative nearness to Jerusalem made it a significant primary source for these sacrificial lambs.

Secondly, we know that the shepherds there were not all just ordinary farm workers. In Bethlehem many were trained especially to care for these sacrificial lambs. They closely monitored their birth to ensure they were ideal for Temple use. The mother was often separated from the ordinary flocks, and the resulting lambs were kept apart from the other lambs. The chief requirements were that they were without any defects or blemishes, and so they would wrap them up and protect them.

Thirdly, we might have in our mind a nice wooden manger that the baby Jesus was placed in. However, wood was scarce and expensive, and Bethlehem sat in a limestone rich region. Therefore, feeding troughs at the time of Jesus tended to be made of stone carved directly from limestone rocks, and were heavy and long lasting. Additionally, stone doesn’t splinter or absorb things as easily as wood, so it was easier to clean, and the lambs were protected from any splinters or contamination.

So, what does all this show us? It shows us that the Son of God, the Lamb without spot or blemish, was born in a town intrinsically linked with the birth of sacrificial lambs used at Passover. The Feast of Passover was to be the time when Jesus would be crucified.

It shows us that the shepherds who cared for these lambs were the first to hear of the final sacrifice born in Bethlehem; the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

It shows us that when Mary wrapped Jesus in cloths and placed him in a stone manger it was prophetically looking ahead to the dead body of Jesus being wrapped in cloths and then laid in a stone tomb.

The more we study God’s word, the more we see layer upon layer of incredible detail.