Musing – A closer look at Luke’s classic Christmas gospel!

Hebraic Musing – A closer look at Luke’s classic Christmas gospel!

The classic Gospel message describing the forthcoming birth of Jesus is in Luke 2:8-18:
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, ….  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, …, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in (swaddling) cloths and lying in a manger." …  When the angels had left them and … the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,  and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  NIV (excerpted here for brevity)

Here are the words or phrases that jumped off the page at me:

“shepherds living out in the fields” – Christmas as we know it is celebrated in the Winter, however in December in Israel the shepherds have already taken their flocks into shelter.  So the timing of the birth of Yeshua is more likely to have been during the Feast of Sukkot, a.k.a. Tabernacles or Booths. Two reasons – (1) The taxing by the Romans would have been scheduled for a time when the Israelites had to be gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate one of the three required pilgrimage feasts, see Dt.16:16, and (2) The Feast of Tabernacles is a foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah, Our Savior, coming to tabernacle or dwell with us.

“all the people” -  The angels did say His coming is for “all”, meaning Jew and Gentile.

“town of David” Even the Shepherds knew that meant “Bethlehem”.  Reference to David’s city is implying the Messianic King would come from David’s lineage, thus Bethlehem.  And did you know that the Hebrew for Bethlehem is Bet Lechem?  Bet, the second letter in the Hebrew Aleph-Bet symbolizes a house or tent; and Lechem is Hebrew for Bread.  Yeshua later called himself the “Bread of Life” and His birthplace was “the house of bread”, Bet Lechem.

“Wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger”  To be told that Jesus will be found wrapped in swaddling cloths is a unique sign.  There are many interpretations of  the significance of “swaddling cloths” but all signify specialness.  On the other hand, He is found in a manger, animal’s feeding trough!

“they spread the word” – Sounds to me that the lowly shepherds were the first evangelists!  They understood the significance of the moment and the angelic announcement, so they wanted to spread the Word, the “good news”, or Gospel.

Points to Ponder

Let’s follow the example of the shepherds!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer
is to sing LOUD so all can hear.

We wish y’all a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, 
      & L’Shanah Tovah (Happy New Year)

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                                 December 23, 2014