In a previous lengthy-(my apologies) blog (Jesus, the Predicted Passover Lamb), I proposed possibilities for how the shepherds "watching their sheep by night" knew exactly where to go to find the baby Messiah that first Christmas night.
If you remember...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,” did they mean that the sign would indicate where the Messiah was located or that once they've found a baby wrapped in strips of linen cloths and lying in a feeding trough, then they would've found the Messiah? Or does the sign refer to something else?
In this short blog, I propose an answer to the question.... Who or what exactly is the sign?
Was the sign the baby wrapped in linen cloths and laying in a manger or the baby wrapped in linen cloths and laying in a manger, or was it something or someone else entirely?
If we read Luke's account of the nighttime shepherds, notice who Luke mentions as being found first as a result of the shepherds search.
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/Messiah 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.
One would expect the focus of this search would be squarely on the baby Messiah, but instead, notice that Luke seems to focus on Mary first, then Joseph, not the baby Messiah. Luke mentions Mary and Joseph as being the first who were found (2:16). Is this significant?
Perhaps very much so.
Grammatically speaking, in the Koine Greek language, since the syntax of a sentence is generally fluid with no specific word order to follow, the location of a verb or noun, or any other grammatical feature in a sentence or phrase, in relation to the rest of the components of a sentence, is as important as location is in real estate. Location! Location! Location!
Identifying grammatical location in Koine Greek is an extremely important exegetical principal in understanding an author's emphasis in a text. Any grammatical construct that is fronted in a Koine Greek sentence becomes prominent in the authors mind.
In this case, Mary is mentioned before Joseph, and Mary and Joseph are mentioned before the baby. What does this tell us? Grammatically, it indicates that Luke intentionally highlights these names for some reason. In Koine Greek, importance is given to the the first in a series, so in this case, Luke highlights Mary over Joseph, giving significance to Mary. By that same grammatical principle, Luke also highlights the couple, Mary and Joseph, over the baby, giving significance to the couple, Mary and Joseph, over the baby. So, in either case, the focus is on Mary and Joseph and not the baby.
So how does this help us understand who or what is the sign?
Notice another grammatical feature of this text. Grammatically, the word "sign" in the text is accompanied by the definite article "the," and should be translated "the sign."
The verse should read as...
"And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough.”
Most translations however forego the definite article and translate it using the indefinite article "a." In this case it is translated as...
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough.”
Translating the definite article as an indefinite article neither does justice to the grammatical text, nor does it do justice to anyone attempting to understand the text.
Is the use of the definite article significant here? Perhaps very much so.
Most of the time whenever a definite article is used in Koine Greek, it is intended to refer to a previous reference. In this case, the question must be asked "What sign has been previously referenced that would be helpful in understanding this text?"
One would think that the sign to which Luke is referring is a baby wrapped in linen cloths. That is possible, but how is that much of a sign, since most newborn babies were wrapped in line cloth? And there is no previous reference to this being a sign, which is the purpose of the definite article being present in the sentence.
And/or perhaps the sign is a baby laying in a feeding trough. That is perhaps closer to a sign and perhaps more significant. But, still there is no previous reference to this feeding trough being a sign, and therefore does not explain the presence of the definite article in the sentence.
What then could explain the use of the definite article? Since the definite article indicates a previous reference, is it plausible that the reference points back to the well-known Messianic prophesy of Isaiah 7:14...
"The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
Here in Isaiah, the sign is used without the definite article, as it is the first reference to the sign. No other sign is being referenced by Isaiah. The prophesy is establish by Isaiah as the fantastical sign of the Messiah; a virgin birth.
God clearly lays out a Messianic sign in Isaiah 7:14 for the entire nation of Israel, "a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son." Now that is a sign. Not many virgins in history have given birth to a child, more specifically to a son.
Could the angels' reference to "the sign" in Luke 2 be referring to that fantastical Messianic sign which God Himself gave to the nation of Israel through Isaiah?
It seems plausible since both Luke's and Isaiah's Messianic story is about a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a son.
It seems plausible since both Luke's and Isaiah's Messianic story is about the birth of the Messiah.
It seems plausible since Mary who is mentioned to be a virgin Luke's Messianic story is fronted grammatically as being the most significant person in the story and would therefore raise the question, "why?" to get the readers thinking.
It seems plausible since Luke's Messianic story is about Mary and Joseph grammatically indicated as being more significant in the story than the baby.
It seems plausible since any reading Jewish person would know the fantastical Isaiah 7:14 reference and would most likely connect the current "sign" of Luke's Messianic story with the previously mentioned Messianic "sign" of Isaiah 7.
So, when the shepherds hurried away from their wilderness surroundings and made their way into Bethlehem, they most likely used the indicators of a "baby wrapped in linen and laying in a feeding trough" as mentioned in my previous blog. But their search ended not when they went in haste and found the found the baby, but when they went in haste and...
"found Mary"...the virgin alongside Joseph, the one who did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born..." (Matthew 1:25)
The fulfillment of God's prophetic Word was the sign. And the shepherd's mission was complete when they recognized the fulfillment of the prophesy in the virgin who had born a son, the Messiah.
The shepherds found the virgin who conceived and bore the newborn Messiah and wrapped him in linen cloths and layed him in a feeding trough.
Perhaps the Immaculate Conception and virgin birth of the Messiah as prophesied by Isaiah is the sign to which the angels referred when they said...
"this will be the sign for you...”