Ancient Jewish culture and Christmas: A hidden story lost in time?

Attending a sing-along of Handel’s magnificent Messiah is one of my favorite traditions during Christmas. Singing carols in our church choir is also a fresh reminder of the past and a hope for the future. Our decorated tree and our simple, gently used manger scene are displayed. On Christmas Eve we will open my 80-year-old family Bible and read about Messiah’s birth in Luke, Chapter 2.

I choose to keep those traditions. However, exploring Genesis 35:21 and Micah 4:8—and doing research about the Tower of the Flock and the professional role of Bethlehem shepherds—add the richness of the Jewish context.

Recognizing the Jewishness of the Bible is more necessary than ever due to Israel’s defense of its ancestral homeland and the resulting tsunami of accusations against it. Christmas 2024 is an excellent opportunity to quietly emphasize Messiah’s birthplace in Bethlehem, Israel, and His Jewish background through Mary. God chose the young Jewish virgin, the only woman in history to receive this singular miracle. Emphasize the fact that our Christian faith was birthed in Israel, and we honor God for enlisting His Jewish scribes to preserve His words in our Bibles.

Neither war nor antisemitism can erase Messiah’s birthplace. Yet, hating Israel is by association a hatred for our Messiah (Y’shua). God in human form chose to come to a little land in a humble act of world-changing redemption as noted in the Bible, which is distinguished by Guinness World Records as the best-selling nonfiction book of all time. In research by the British and Foreign Bible Society, their best estimate is that between 5 and 7 billion copies have been printed since the printing press was invented in the mid-1400s. 

In a recent column, I mentioned research suggesting that King David and Jesus were born in or near Migdal Eder (Micah 5:2), where Levitical shepherds raised and oversaw the births of Passover lambs. Today I’d like to more deeply explore. In ancient times, Migdal Eder (the Tower of the Flock) stood on the road between Bethlehem Ephrath (Bethlehem’s ancient name) and Jerusalem. Migdal Eder no longer stands, but it was known long before Messiah was born.

Genesis 35:19-21 informs us that Jacob (renamed Israel) cast his tent at Migdal Eder, where he buried Rachel, the love of his life. “So, Rachel died and was buried on the way to Bethlehem Ephrathah. Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb and Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.” Today it still marks Rachel’s tomb.

Micah 4:8, a prophecy written around 700 years before Jesus’ birth, reveals, “As for you, watchtower of the flock, stronghold of Daughter Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.” God offered His planned intervention into humankind for Messiah’s coming birth at Migdal into the established Jewish ancestry.

Fast forward to Caesar Augustus’ imperial census decree that set the stage for Joseph to lead Mary, sitting astride a donkey, on the 90-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Caesar ordered all Jews to their ancestral home for a census. Bethlehem was the couple’s destination, as Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father, was in King David’s lineage.

It was part of God’s plan that Mary would give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem—within or near the Tower of the Flock. Micah 5:2 reiterates, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel, Whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The Tower of the Flock, where sacrificial Temple lambs were born, seems the perfect place for The Perfect Lamb’s birth, which signified His sacrifice for us 33 years later.

Jewish sages writing in the Mishnah (Jewish oral tradition) and the church historian Eusebius (deemed the Father of Church history) confirm the existence of the Tower of the Flock. Eusebius lived from about 260–339 A.D. The tower’s existence was also reinforced by shepherds retelling stories around campfires for hundreds of years before a Byzantine monastery was built over Migdal Eder in the fourth century.

For millennia, shepherds were familiar with the Tower of the Flock. The tower and the Bethlehem fields were their workplace. The Sadducees, in charge of Temple sacrifices, chose the Bethlehem shepherds, who were experts in animal husbandry. Sadducees viewed them as Levitical Shepherd Priests—because the lambs they helped birth and tended among the hay-filled stone mangers were lambs destined for Temple sacrifices.

Migdal Eder was a two-level stone structure, allowing the Chief Shepherd to look out over the flock for predators. At birthing time, shepherds led the ewes from the fields to the tower. The ancient veterinarians reached into the ewe’s womb to pull out the newborns, then snugly wrapped the lambs in strips of swaddling cloths. If the lambs harmed or scarred their limbs, Sadducees rejected them at Passover as Temple sacrifices. Exodus 12:5 instructs, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.”

After the Levitical shepherds herded the lambs into Jerusalem, the Sadducees examined them at the Lamb’s Gate on Palm Sunday (called the Day of Lambs in ancient times). Perfection was the rule in the Temple hierarchy.

When the angel and heavenly host appeared to shepherds in the Bethlehem fields, although stunned the shepherds immediately understood the lyrical directions in the angelic birth announcement. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Shepherds knew that Bethlehem Ephrath meant the fields and “town of David.”

As a shepherd boy, David was surely familiar with Migdal Eder, too. We do not know how far the shepherds ran to see the promised Messiah, but no GPS was needed. The Tower of the Flock was their ancient veterinary office.

These glistening threads of ancient Jewish history connect Jesus’ birthplace with the Tower of the Flock where the Temple lambs were born. It is a richer context for Messiah’s destiny as the Sacrificial Lamb. Imagine the glorious songs the Levitical shepherds heard in the night skies, then running toward Migdal Eder to see baby Jesus all in one night! Is it possible that 33 years later, they marveled again while herding that year’s scampering lambs for Messiah’s final Passover as He rode among them?

May this ancient insight into Messiah’s birth shine far brighter in 2024, dispelling darkness now and always! The Lord is our Perfect Lamb and Shepherd!

This article originally appeared here and is reposted with permission.