In ancient Bible times a small two story rock structure stood near the main road leading to the town of Bethlehem, which is now a Palestinian city located in Israel’s West Bank about 5 miles south of Jerusalem.
There were many rock towers spread over the countryside. These watch towers provided shelter for the shepherds when they needed to bring wounded sheep in for healing, and the shepherds used the upper level to give them a good vantage point from which to view the sheep in their care as they fed in the pastures.rabbi
The Old Testament Prophet Micah referred to the roadside tower as Migdal-Eder which means “tower of the flock”. It was significant in that it was used as a birthing place for the special lambs which were raised to be used as temple sacrifices for the Jews at Passover. In order to qualify as a temple sacrifice, the lambs had to be perfect in every way - no blemishes, no crooked or missing limbs, no signs of sickness.
And the shepherds who took care of these sheep were temple shepherds, highly revered for their excellence in the care of sheep and for their knowledge of Jewish law and their ability to teach the Jewish scriptures just as a rabbi would. It was the holy calling of these shepherds to “certify” the Passover Lambs at birth.
When the time came for a ewe to lamb, she was brought into Migdal-Eder and given special care. After the lamb was born and inspected and found to be perfect in every way, it was tightly wrapped in clean “swaddling” cloths to support its legs and head during the first few hours. It had a special place to eat and sleep inside the tower, bedded down on soft dry hay. In fact, the place where the lambs were kept had to be ceremonially clean according to Jewish laws.
How did the shepherds know where to find the Baby Jesus?
Micah had prophesied the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. These shepherds would have known that. But there is more. Micah said the Messiah would be “revealed” at Migdal-Eder. And the word translated “manger” in the Gospels has also been translated as “stall” or any holding area for animals.
So when the angels appeared to these temple shepherds, they knew they had to go and certify the new Lamb. The angels told them they would find the Babe lying in a manger, which is what they called the Migdal-Eder tower, and wrapped in swaddling cloths, which would be readily available in the tower.
It makes me feel so much better to know that yes the Baby Jesus was indeed born in a manger and possibly surrounded by sheep, but it was not a filthy smelly barnyard we often hear about. It was a ceremonially clean birthing area for lambs. How fitting it was that Jesus was referred to as the Lamb of God by John the Baptist, and the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world by Peter and John the Revelator.
I know this may bother some of you because you are used to seeing the Wise Men come to the manger to present their gifts the same night the shepherds came. The Bible clearly states that by the time the Wise Men found Mary and Joseph they were living in a house with the “child”, not in a stable with the infant, and Herod was in the process of having all males in that area under the age of two murdered so it could have been up to two years later.
I was too sick to do an explanation on this when I posted it but I first posted it about 5 years ago. This year I have seen other postings similar to mine. I put a copyright on mine but only because I do all my writing this way since I was writing for the newspaper some, or actually publishing it on the web and people are always asking if they can pass it on, and of course I want them to do so.
I can’t take credit for the original research. My daughter was helping her dad prepare a Sunday School lesson and she ran across a scripture lead and followed it up and Milan and I were just blown away that we had never seen this before.
© Joan Rowden Hart
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