We all know when it is Christmas season. There are definite signs everywhere! Lights strung on houses. Wreaths hung on doors. Mistletoe above doorways. Ornamented trees. Reindeer appearing in stores. And a large, red-dressed, white-bearded jolly old man making lists and checking them twice to find out whose naughty or nice. The signs are everywhere in western culture. Culturally and traditionally, we know the signs of Christmas well.
We also know culturally and traditionally, exactly where to go on Christmas day…where all the Christmas-Day activities eventually end up. Even though we know that Christmas Day is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, most families who celebrate Christmas, know that the place to gather is at the foot of the Christmas tree. We do it every Christmas Day, year after year. This tradition is handed down from generation to generation, so everyone knows exactly where to go on Christmas Day...because it is our Christmas tradition.
Cultural traditions as a 21st century westerner inform me where to go on Christmas Day.
But what about the cultural traditions of those middle eastern Jewish shepherds who "watched their sheep by night" over 2000 years ago? How did their cultural traditions inform them where to go on that first Christmas night?
When the angels told the shepherds “this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of linen cloths and lying in a feeding trough,”…how did those shepherds know the precise location where Messiah had been born?
By the reaction of the shepherds that night, it seems that the sign given to them on that first Christmas night was just as clear to them as the Christmas signs given to me each year. But what were those signs, as they seem to have been specific enough for those shepherds to precisely pinpoint the location where the Messiah had been born?
The entire account can be read in Luke 2:8-21.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a feeding trough. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Notice that just like that...the angels mentioned “the city of David," and the next thing we read is that the shepherds immediately said, “let’s go to Bethlehem.” No sooner had the angels made the announcement", “today a Savior is born in the city of David,” did the shepherds, make plans in haste and set off to go to Bethlehem. No questions asked. They simply said,
“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
They didn't ask, "In what direction should we set out? East, west, north or south? They didn't ask, "How are we going to find this babe lying in a feeding trough?" Culturally, they knew the reference to "the city of David” was as a reference to the city of Bethlehem. (Luke 2:4) So, it is easy to explain the general direction of Bethlehem in which the shepherds headed.
So, they go to Bethlehem. But from there, where do they go in Bethlehem? Although the text does not provide a timeline, it does seem to indicate that the discovery of the baby laying in a feeding trough was immediate upon their arrival, as if they knew exactly where to go to find him.
"They went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a feeding trough."
According to experts, Bethlehem was a very small and insignificant town during the period of Jesus, birth, with an estimated population of no more than 600. The small population size may suggest that the shepherds may have set out with great confidence of easily finding the baby in the feeding trough, even though the population in Bethlehem in a census year may have swelled beyond the 600 mark. The census did cause the population to swell, as the biblical text indicates that all rooms for visitors in the local inn were full to capacity (Luke 2:7), so the census does seem to add a bit more intrigue to the question, "How did the shepherds know where to go to find the baby n the feeding trough?"
In this small town of 600, one would expect the shepherds would not have a hard time locating an insignificant baby born to an insignificant family in an insignificant town at a very significant time of the year. And the biblical text seems to indicate such was the case.
However, on the surface, the text seems to present the finding of the baby in a feeding trough to be too easy as the shepherds had no hard time at all finding the baby.
In this blog, we will postulate that the "sign" the angels communicated to the shepherds was indeed a sign that provided the precise identification, maybe even the pinpoint specific marker as to the exact location of the baby Messiah; so specific that the "sign" gave such great confidence to the shepherds to search out the baby in a way that the shepherds seem to have had no confusion at all as to where to go. If, so, this "sign" would explain the precision in which the shepherds found the baby Messiah. And the angels themselves, tell the shepherds, what the sign is.
"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough.”
Even more so, the gospel writer, Luke, and the cultural history of the Jewish nation may have also left us a few clues as to what that sign was as we read Luke's account of the birth of the Messiah. Those specific clues may explain why the shepherds were so confident of finding the baby Messiah once they set out for Bethlehem.
Now, before we look at these possible clues, it must be said that what I am trying to do here is make meaningful sense of what we read in the biblical text in light of ancient Jewish culture and tradition. As such, I admit there is some conjecture in applying the “what-could-be’s” and “possible-scenarios” to the biblical text. There will be a few “what-ifs” throughout this blog, and I understand there may be some who object to such procedures. I would be the first to do so myself, and I would be the first to hesitate in wholeheartedly accepting this data as the fundamental truths of scripture, except for the fact that the data brings so much cohesion to the biblical text and Jewish cultural norms. And in doing so, the text delivers a new and exciting richness of meaning to the birth narrative, so much deeper than I have ever recognized.
In my heart of hearts, I wish the data for this blog was fully substantiated data. It is not. I have not been able to substantiate all of it. But I have attempted to take the data and apply it to the clear, hard facts of scripture and to interpret the scripture through the lens of this unsubstantiated data. In doing so, I am making no claim to its veracity, only to the possibility of its veracity. Should the veracity of the data be upheld, I am awestruck at the possibility that the truth of the first Christmas Day becomes more full and rich as I ponder the richness of God's ingenuity and creativity in communicating how the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
If true, I would agree with the apostle Paul, who, after his incredible 3-chapter-revelation of God's purposeful thesis/antithesis relationship between the Jews and Gentiles as God's eternal and intentional plan, he bursts out in awestruck adoration of the ingenious God who designed it all (Romans 11:33-36) from the beginning of time saying,
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen."
This blog is an attempt to recognize the possibilities that fill us with awe and wonder of a God who is in control of all things, who is the originator of all things, and to whom all things point as the Intelligent Designer.
With that said, let's look at what is sure; the clear and rock-solid data of the biblical text.
Let's see how Luke's biblical text interpreted through the lens of the possible data could be possible clues that bring a rich and meaningful understanding to his birth narrative.
Because Luke mentions the strips of linen cloths and a feeding trough, we may have our first and second set of clues. And because Luke mentions shepherds in the context of the feeding trough and linen cloths, we may have a third clue. Even more, because Luke refers to those shepherds being in the wilderness, we may have yet a fourth clue. And finally, because Luke also describes those shepherds as tending their flocks at night, we may have a final fifth and decisive clue that almost guarantees a very plausible reason for why those shepherds were so confident of finding the baby Messiah in the exact location of the sign the angels gave them. These clues help us understand how the shepherds knew exactly where to go on that first Christmas night to find the baby Messiah!
Prophesies
Before we look at each of these signs that Luke left us in our generation, let's first consider the signs that God left the Israelites in their generations. What did the Jewish people already know and what was already expected about the birth of the Messiah? Knowing these expectations will help us better understand how the shepherds of Luke 2 understood the sign the angels declared to them that night, and why the shepherds had no doubt about where to find the baby Messiah at his birth.
Micah 5:2
As Jewish born Israelites, these shepherds would have definitely known that Bethlehem had been prophesied 700 years earlier as the birth place of the Messiah. They would have been very familiar with the popular prophesy of Micah 5:2 which says,
"You, O Bethlehem,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days."
All eyes in Israel were on the little town of Bethlehem as the expected birth place of the Messiah as they knew that "from Bethlehem shall come forth One who is from ancient days and One who would rule Israel."
Micah 4:8
These shepherds most likely would have been familiar with a lesser known prophesy from Micah 4:8.
Micah 4:8, like Micah 5:2, is a Messianic prophecy. If Micah 5:2 prophesied the general location of Bethlehem as the region from which the Messiah would come, Micah 4:8 perhaps more precisely pinpoints the geographical coordinates from where the Messiah would possibly emerge.
Jewish scholars through the ages have interpreted Micah 4:8 as prophesying that the Messiah would be revealed from a place called Migdal Eder.
Micah 4:8 says,
"And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come,
the former dominion shall come,
the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem."
This reference in Micah 4:8 to the “tower of the flock” or “tower at Eder” is significant as there is an indication that the prophecy may specify a specific tower at a specific place called Eder as the specific place from which the dominion and sovereignty of Jerusalem will come.
So far then, we have proposed that Micah 5:2 is a prophecy of the general region of Bethlehem as the birth of the Messiah, and Micah 4:8 may possibly be a much more precise location of a specific tower at a specific place called Eder in the region of Bethlehem as the birth of the Messiah.
"How is that?" you may ask!
Well, Genesis 35:21 in addition to Micah 4:8 mention the Hebrew phrase, מגדל־עדר, (migdal-eder) or "tower of the flock." The biblical text of Genesis 35:21 refers to a מגדל־עדר, (migdal-eder) as a noun phrase and is translated, “tower of sheep”, or “sheep-tower”; each word a common noun, migdal meaning “tower,” and eder meaning “flock” or “flock of sheep.
Eder is also transliterated to mean a Proper noun as a place or location name as in Genesis 35:21, “the migdal at Eder," or "the tower at Eder." In any case, it is significant to note that the Genesis passage recognizes a tower at Eder and etymologically related to sheep as a sheep tower at Eder
There is much debate about the exact geographical location of this Migdal Eder/Sheep Tower, but there is general consensus that it is in the area of Bethlehem.
This much is clear, Genesis 35:16-21 describes the death of Rachel and the place of her burial as “on the way to Bethlehem.” It also tells us that after her burial, Isaac continued on with his journey beyond the “tower at Eder," (מגדל־עדר). So both the city of Bethlehem and the Tower of Eder or "sheep-tower" are mentioned in the same sequence of events in Genesis, indicating a close proximity to one another, if not a close relation to one another.
Since the biblical text of Genesis 35:16-21 mentions “Bethlehem” in the same context of the “tower at Eder,” we will assume we are safe in surmising that there is a close connection between the two geographical places (Bethlehem & the Sheep Tower at Eder), and also assume that the biblical text suggests a close relation between the two prophesies; i.e. that the Messiah would be born in the region of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and more precisely at Migdal-Eder or “the tower of the flock,” or “sheep-tower” known to be located at Eder, (Micah 4:8) near Bethlehem.
There does seem to be archeological evidence that validates the fact that there was a sheep-tower built at a location called Eder that stood just outside the town of Bethlehem and within the region of shepherd’s fields. According to Jerome [1], a sheep-tower was located about one mile from Bethlehem.[2]
So, is it too grand of a leap in assumption that this tower mentioned in Micah 4:8 could be the same tower that is referenced in Genesis 35:21, thus linking the Genesis 35 tower on the way to Bethlehem with the Micah 4:8 Messianic-prophecy-tower at Eder, a mile from Bethlehem? At this point, based on the text, I am willing to make that leap.
Understanding the Micah 4:8 text historically as a prophecy of the return of Jerusalem to its historic prominence of dominion, could Micah 4:8 not also indicate a Messianic prophecy about a specific location surrounding the birth of the Messiah, thus giving the reason why Jerusalem will again be a place of dominance and sovereignty: “To you, O tower of the flock” the Ancient of Days, (former dominion) shall come? Could Micah 4:8 indicate that the “sovereignty of Jerusalem” will come to “the tower of the flock?” Is Micah 4:8 a specific prophecy that the Messiah would be connected in some way to "the tower of the flock” at Eder, just outside Bethlehem, and coming with dominion and sovereignty? It is a question well worth asking and investigating?
With this sheep-tower background now in place to understand how the Jewish mind might have understood Micah 5:2 and Micah 4:8, we now turn to Luke’s possible clues in our attempt to answer the question, “How did the shepherds know exactly where to go in order to find the newborn baby Messiah?”
The Wilderness
Jewish history tells us that according to Jewish culture, the “wilderness” was considered the place where flocks of sheep were raised and from which sacrificial lambs were then selected by the temple priests for sacrificing at the annual Passover Feasts.
Jewish historian, Alfred Edersheim specifically speaks to the shepherds in the wilderness of Bethlehem. Edersheim was Jewish by birth, educated in Israel, and later in life, became a follower of Jesus. His most famous and most significant work is "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah." In that publication, writing about these wilderness shepherds, Edersheim referenced the Jewish Mishnah, a collection of Rabbinic oral traditions that governed the lives of Jewish people during the second temple period.
Edersheim writes, “One regulation in the Mishnah[3] expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel, except in the wildernesses—and there is specific mention in the Mishnah that says wilderness flocks were designated for the Temple-service-sacrifices especially for the Passover lamb.” (Shekalim 7:4), (Bab K. 7:7.)[4]
So, it can be firmly established by this early Jewish historical documentation that the annual selection of temple-service-sacrificial lambs originated from these wilderness flocks in the wilderness.
We also know from Levitical law that temple-service-sacrificial lambs were required to to be “spotless and without blemish” (Leviticus 1:3, Exodus 12:5). According to these traditions of the time, the sacrificial sheep used for sacrificial offerings not only had to be “spotless and without blemish,” they also had to be a one-year-old male sheep, which required the sheep to live outside, exposed to the elements for an entire year.
What this means is that because Luke designates “the wilderness” in his narrative, the reader is to assume that the sheep or flocks of sheep that these shepherds were tending were animals specifically dedicated for the sacrifices needed for the annual Passover Feast, the spotless and unblemished paschal lamb. This is important for us to keep in mind as we move forward.
Sheep-towers in the Wilderness
The work of the shepherds was to ensure the sheep remained unblemished from the day of their birth to their one-year mark before they were selected for sacrifice. That means extreme care, special scrutiny and zealous attending was needed in order to keep them “spotless and without blemish." Being outside and exposed to the elements, these temple-service-sacrificial lambs required special treatment and care in raising them to perfection in the "wilderness." ”Strategic to their success in the "wilderness", these shepherds would build multi-use sheep-towers, such as the one at Eber, near Bethlehem to ensure the sacrificial lambs remained unblemished.
These sheep-towers were used as lookout towers to protect their sheep from thieves and prey. they would also be used as shelters for both sheep and shepherds, and even more so to our point, they were used as birthing areas for sheep. They were also designed with feeding stalls equipped with feeding troughs. Sheep-towers provided a means of shelter and care for the shepherds in their attempt to keep their sheep “spotless and without blemish" and ready for the annual sacrificial feast.
If we take a conservative estimate of 100,000 residents in Jerusalem after the First Jewish-Roman War (66-70) as noted by Josephus, (Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Book VI Ch 9 Sec 3), and divide that number by 4 people per family, that would leave 25,000 sacrificial lambs needed each year to celebrate the Passover Feast for each Jewish family. Now take into account that this was at Passover, so the population of Jerusalem at least conservatively speaking doubles at that point, so the number of lambs needed increases to 50,000. Now consider this is a census year and we can at least safely double the population once again and the number of “spotless sacrificial lambs, without blemish, needed for slaughter would be 100,000. That is a lot of sheep to care for, and sheep-towers, by which to keep them safe and free from any defect, became the established method for doing so.
So, needless to say, shepherds had a daunting task of keeping that many newborn sheep “spotless and without blemish” for their first year of life until they were sold into the sacrificial system. When they were ready, they were inspected, approved and taken to Jerusalem to be sacrificed on the Sabbath in the Temple.
So since, every religious-minded Jewish family in Israel would need a one-year old male unblemished lamb to be sacrificed for the Feast, the wilderness became the breeding ground for these lambs, and the specific place where lambs were especially attended to was the sheep-tower in the wilderness.
Tending Flocks at Night
Up to this point, we've suggested that Luke has given us two valuable clues in understanding his birth narrative. We've suggested that his use of the word wilderness, clues us into the fact that wilderness sheep were being tended as dedicated paschal lambs. And we've suggested that in the wilderness one would find the sheep-tower as the primary strategy by which shepherds succeeded in keeping their flock “spotless and without blemish.”
Luke's third clue is that the sheep were being “tended at night." Sheep-tending at night indicates a very special time of the year; lambing season. During non-lambing season, shepherds were not as concerned about tending their flocks "at night," only by day. But in lambing season, because of the possibility of imminent births at any time, shepherds tended their flock by day and "by night" to ensure immediate care for the newborn lambs, should one be born in the middle of the night. Shepherds did not want a newborn lamb preyed upon by by a hungry wolf, nor did they want the newborn to wander into a ditch or thorn bush and blemish their newborn skin. This constant a day and night vigil would help ensure keeping each lamb “spotless and without blemish.”
So, the fact that Luke lets us know that the shepherds are out "tending their flocks at night", may be an indication that it is lambing season with the shepherds on high alert. If true, then it was the shepherd’s job to anticipate and watch for these lambs being born in the fields of the wilderness at night and care for the newborn lambs in the sheep-towers.
It follows then, that these shepherds who are "tending their flocks" at night were considered to be shepherds whose one and only job at the moment was to raise and protect Passover Lambs (paschal lambs), and the one and only job on the minds of these shepherds during that eventful night was to…await the birth of a sacrificial lamb.
Linen Cloths and a Feeding-Trough
Perhaps, as it has been proposed, but not documented to my understanding, when a ewe was ready to give birth, shepherds would bring the pregnant ewe into the sheep-tower and place it in one of the sheep-tower’s feeding stalls, to prepare the ewe to give birth.
According to tradition, when a newborn sheep was born, the shepherd would immediately cradle it from the ewe and then take strips of "linen cloths" and wrap the babe in those linen cloths and then lay it in one of the sheep-tower’s many feeding-troughs, located in the feeding stalls using the trough as a cradle. Placing the newborn babe in this feeding-trough prevented it from being exposed to the elements, and wrapping it in linen cloths protected its flesh, preventing it from injuring its flesh against the rugged sides of the feeding-trough which was either a splintery wooden feeding box or a jaggedly carved stone trough. So goes the tradition and strategy for keeping the newborn lambs “spotless and without blemish.”
Any blemish from a scrape or injury from the feeding-trough would require the lamb to be rejected and sent out with the other lambs and sheep who were just ordinary stock. So, the feeding-trough and the linen cloths were used by the shepherds to protect the babe from injuring itself as it flailed about writhing its head around, and thrashing its legs. They were preventative measures to avoid the lamb blemishing itself and thus nullifying its value as a sacrificial lamb. This shepherding procedure was supposedly well known to every wilderness shepherd. The shepherds tending their flock by night would be all too familiar with a paschal lamb wrapped in linen and laying in a feeding trough during lambing season, but a human baby?
So, regarding the shepherds who were tending their flocks at night, because they knew time of year was lambing season, and because they knew they were tending sheep about to give birth to potential sacrificial lambs, and because they knew that the success of their job entailed wrapping them in linen cloths and placing them in a feeding-trough in the sheep tower, there was only one conclusion they could draw from the announcement given to them by the angels...
“this will be a sign for you: you will find a (human) baby (not an animal) wrapped in strips of linen cloths and lying in a feeding-trough (in a sheep tower).”
They concluded that the baby Messiah would be located in the sheep-tower for caring for the sheep flock in the wilderness in or near the City of David, Bethlehem. They knew where that was.
Perhaps it was the very same sheep-tower in the wilderness fields they used that night to tend their own flocks. Perhaps it was the very same linen cloths and feeding trough in which they had laid many newborn paschal lambs for decades, or even earlier in that evening.
So, for those 1st century shepherds and for the those 1 century Jewish readers of Luke 2, who are reading about the wilderness shepherds tending their flocks by night and looking for a baby wrapped in linen cloths and laying in a feeding-trough, Luke indicates that these shepherds were on high alert that night specifically because it was lambing season, and specifically because they were in the wilderness tending sheep that would be giving birth to potential sacrificial paschal lambs, and specifically using very familiar linen cloths and feeding-troughs in a near-by sheep tower.
Would it not be easy for those for those 1st century shepherds and the 1st century Jewish readers to deduce that those shepherds knew exactly where to go? Wouldn’t the readers also know culturally just as the shepherds knew where the baby was to be located...in the migdal-eder, 'the tower of the flock" the "towe at Eder" where the "strips of linen" and "the feeding-trough" are to be found?
If this is all possible, then it is quite possible that the very “tower of the flock” on the way to Bethlehem from the Genesis 35 account is the very same sheep-tower that Micah 4:8 prophesies about in the very same Bethlehem region that Micah 5:2 prophesies about.
So, when the angels told the shepherds that the sign for them would be a baby wrapped in linen cloth and laying in a feeding trough, they knew exactly where to go to find the babe laying in the feeding trough. And the 1st century readers knew instinctively as well how the shepherds knew where to go.
You, O Bethlehem,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days. (Micah 5:2)
And you, O tower of the flock,
hill of daughter Zion, to you it shall come, the former dominion shall come,
the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8)
"These prophesies, which were written 700 years before Jesus was born, seem to be an amazingly precise prediction of the very exact location of where the Messiah was to be born.
If true, then this prophesy eliminates all other cities and towns throughout the world as a possible place in which the Messiah could be born. In terms of modern technology, if God used a GPS system, he could have used the exact longitude and latitude coordinates for that very feeding-trough, in that very sheep-tower, in that very wilderness region of Bethlehem, in the land of Israel. That's precision!
Micah 4:8 absolutely eliminates all other possibilities and precisely pinpoints one tiny village, in the region of Bethlehem in the land Israel, in a specific sheep-tower near Bethlehem.
Throughout the centuries, “since the time of the prophet Micah, Bethlehem has been recognized as the birthplace for the only person who is widely accepted as being the Messiah, by people throughout the world, and that person is Jesus Christ.”[5]
"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.’ This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheep-ground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close [to the town of Bethlehem], on the road to Jerusalem.” - Edersheim
It is important for the modern day reader to understand this information in order to understand the context of the entire angelic message given to the shepherds that first Christmas night. The Jewish shepherds had no need to be instructed on these matters. As shepherds themselves, they knew the wilderness was the designated location for tending sacrificial (paschal) lambs. They would have been familiar with the sheep-towers and their usage. They would have been familiar what ending their sheep by night meant. They would have recognized the spotless-and-without-blemish-symbolism of the linen cloth and feeding trough meant. They would have recognized the symbolic implications of the entire narrative story that evening; the true, living spotless and unblemished Paschal Lamb, the Messiah, was born that evening in the town of Bethlehem and they would find in wrapped in linen cloth and laying in a manger.
The Significance of Jesus’ Birth at Migdal-Eder
Up to this point in this blog, we have purposely avoided using Jesus' name in relation to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies regarding the Messiah. There is no indication at all in scripture that people were awaiting the birth of Jesus.
They were awaiting, however, the birth of the Messiah. This is a small but significant distinction to understand. The baby Jesus is not the focus of the birth narratives. The baby born that night was not given a name until eight days later, so Jesus is not in focus. The birth of the Messiah is the focus.
Even so, it is most probable that the shepherds were not fully aware of the magnitude of the cosmic implications of what was happening that night. They most likely did not grasp the grand significance of the moment, but it is most likely that they knew where to find a baby wrapped in linen cloth and laying in a feeding-trough in the migdal-eder, “the tower of the flock," in the wilderness region in Bethlehem.
So off they went to the sheep-tower of Bethlehem.
And when the shepherds came to the sheep-tower of Bethlehem, they normally expected to find a paschal lamb wrapped in linen cloth and laying in a feeding-trough in a sheep-tower. For those shepherds that first Christmas evening, to find a human being wrapped in linen cloths and laying in a feeding trough must have been a definite sign that the Word had become flesh and that the Paschal Lamb had been born!
There the shepherds found the human baby, who eight days later was named Jesus, wrapped in linen cloths and laying in a feeding-trough, their long awaited Messiah!
Jesus came into the world, just as a spotless, unblemished Jewish sacrificial lamb destined for the Passover Feast sacrifice. Jesus came into the world...wrapped in linen cloth and laying in a feeding-trough. John fittingly describes Jesus as the "lamb of God" (John 1:29) during the very week of the Passover Feast, on the very day Jewish families would choose their Passover lamb to be sacrificed. What led John to identify Jesus as the Lamb of God? Of all the descriptions in the world that John could have used, what led to him to choose "lamb of God?"
It is interesting to note that John, himself, as an Israelite, would have been well aware of the nativity story surrounding the birth of Jesus, especially so, since they were cousins. The family stories of the "virgin birth," “no place in the inn,” the angelic birth-announcement of the Messiah," and the possibility that Jesus was birthed in a "sheep-tower," "wrapped in linen cloths" and then "layed in a feeding-trough" as a "paschal lamb" would have been layed, the talk of every family get-together.
Remember, John's own birth story was surrounded by supernatural stories (an angel appearing to Zechariah predicting John's birth, Elizabeth conceiving in her old age, Zechariah becoming speechless), and those stories were "spread throughout the hill country of Judea" (Luke 1:65). How much more so would the stories of a virgin birth announced by angels, a birth in an animal feeding-trough, and the prediction of the exact birth location be spread everywhere as well?
It is also interesting to note that John was the son of a temple-priest (his father was Zechariah, a Levitical priest who faithfully served in the Temple twice a year). As such, it is easy to imagine that John would have constantly heard all the inside information his father would have known about the birthing traditions of sacrificial lambs at Migdal-eder, just outside Bethlehem. John, with all this inside information easily put 2 + 2 together and made the logical conclusion that Jesus was the paschal, Messianic "lamb of God."
What's more, it is also interesting to note that since John himself grew up in the "wilderness" (Luke 1:80), he must have seen, visited, and it’s not too far-fetched to even suggest that he may even have lived with wilderness shepherds, and may have seen first-hand the paschal lamb birthing process. John would have known about the association of the wrapping in linen cloths and the laying of the paschal lamb in a feeding-trough. He would have known the grandeur significance of the implications of the sign given to the shepherds that night. He would have known the extreme importance of the announcement of a Savior being born in the city of David,
If true, he would have surely known the significance of Jesus being born in a sheep-tower and being wrapped in linen cloths and layed in a feeding-trough by shepherds tending their sheep at night in the wilderness during birthing season awaiting the birth of sacrificial paschal lambs.
Knowing then, the significance of the surrounding events of Jesus’s birth, it is no surprise that on the brink of Jesus’ ministry, John bursts out in a reminiscent yet prophetic public declaration of the magnitude of that ministry, “Behold, the Lamb of God."
”As Jesus symbolically came into the world as the paschal lamb, he died in the same way. 30 years after his birth, on the very day that the sacrificial paschal lambs were offered up in sacrifice during the Passover Feast, Jesus offered up himself on the cross and became the sacrificial lamb chosen by God for all mankind.
The sacrificial lamb that was layed in the splintery wooden feeding-trough was the very same sacrificial lamb layed upon a splintery wooden cross and crucified for the sins of mankind.
“For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
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[1] For a very interesting dialogue between an inquirer and an informed Israeli resident regarding this site, see https://thechristianweb.org/q/bible/migdal-eder/ [2] https://biblia.com/factbook/Tower-of-Eder [3] The Mishnah is a record of Pharisaic oral traditions that strictly governed the lives of Jewish people during the second temple period. As such, an understanding of the Mishnah gives us insight into how Jewish people lived during the time of Jesus. [4]Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, [2] (1883). [5] 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies, Chapter 3