“Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing.” Bethlehem, the City of David, is no ordinary town. Its fields were kept by no ordinary shepherds. And in it was born no ordinary baby, laid in no ordinary bed. I remember the first time I took my little ones to see Bethlehem. It was December, and we all bundled for warmth, likely a sign that this was too late in the season for shepherds to keep flocks in the fields by night. I remember the joy as my youngest gazed on the silver star which heralded the spot of Messiah’s birth. Only after did I notice the place of the manger.

NO ORDINARY SHEPHERDS

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Luke 2:8

Bethlehem’s fields are just a few miles south of Jerusalem. Tradition says that in them was a migdal eder (tower of the flock), to guard the very sheep destined for Temple sacrifice. And as Jewish historian, Alfred Edersheim, points out these were manned by no ordinary shepherds!

“That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, ‘the tower of the flock’…A Passage in the Mishnah leads to the conclusion that the flocks, which pastured there were destined for Temple sacrifices, and accordingly, that the shepherds, who watched over them, were not ordinary Shepherds.” The Life and Times of Jesus, Edersheim, 186-187

Those shepherds, trained to spot the slightest blemish, examined Heaven’s perfect lamb!

NO ORDINARY BABY

“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

Rather than December, Yeshua may have been born around the Fall month of October and the Feast of Tabernacles. If so, how appropriate that at this time the Word was made Flesh and tabernacled among us! Yeshua however was not like any other baby born. He was born of a virgin, (Luke 1:35-36) the Savior, Messiah, and Lord. No more excellent titles were ever bestowed upon man. But the manger itself revealed the purpose of His coming.

NO ORDINARY MANGER

“And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger” Luke 2:7

As I stood with my little ones in the cave, the same which Justyn Martyr had identified as early as 150 AD, I looked to the manger now covered in marble and thought, what must it have looked like originally? The first authentic manger, ebus, in Hebrew, that I saw looked nothing like the wooden feeding trough of my childhood nativity scenes. It was made from a cut block of limestone, about two feet long, a foot wide, and deep. Its inside was chiseled all the way around, resembling a large container with a flat bottom. Though it could hold grain, more often these were kept near wells to water the sheep.

WHY STONE?

What was unique about stone as opposed to wood or pottery? According to Jewish law, stone vessels do not convey ritual impurity. For this reason, stone water pots were used at the wedding at Cana, and ritual washing cups made of stone have been found throughout Israel. Perhaps for this reason, it is said that even the Ark of the Covenant was kept on an escarpment of bedrock on the Temple Mount, within the Holy of Holies. While a stone manger may seem humble to us, the shepherds and family would have likely recognized the significance. A crib of gold could not have been greater than the purity of this bed of stone.

A BED OF STONE

But there is a second significance. This manger of stone foreshadowed the Messiah’s death. Mary, who swaddled and laid Yeshua within a stone bed, later witnessed His crucifixion, and looked on as He was wrapped in linen and laid in a rock-hewn tomb!

EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT

No ordinary shepherds examined Mary’s Lamb. His humble form nestled within the manger attested to His spotless birth.

The angels’ cry is your call to “come and see.” Though you can visit the caves of His birth and death, He is no longer there. He is the risen Savior, Messiah, and Lord. This One who cannot be defiled has taken away the sin of all who trust in Him. May you know that transforming message of Messiah’s birth today!