The passage talking about no place in Bethlehem for the King to be born and ending up in a manger was foretold in Micah 4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Migdal Edar (tower of the flock) was the clue the wise men needed to know where to find the King of Kings.
These watchtowers of the flock (Migdal Eder) were agricultural “forts” where the shepherds would watch over their flock from the second story and where they birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the towers in the fields of Bethlehem. The migdal offers its inhabitants a place of refuge, splendor, and vantage.
Early Christian testimony refers to this area below Bethlehem as “the shepherds’ place” or the place of the “sheepfold.” This outlying area of Bethlehem is where the ‘angelic announcement’ took place. There are to this day numerous documented shepherds’ towers in the hills around Bethlehem.
The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling ‘cloths’ to protect the body of the lambs which would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just five miles away in Jerusalem. Wrapped in swaddling cloths to keep the new lambs without spot or blemish, they would be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.
The passage talking about no place in Bethlehem for the King to be born and ending up in a manger was foretold in Micah 4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Migdal Edar (tower of the flock) was the clue the wise men needed to know where to find the King of Kings.
These watchtowers of the flock (Migdal Eder) were agricultural “forts” where the shepherds would watch over their flock from the second story and where they birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the towers in the fields of Bethlehem. The migdal offers its inhabitants a place of refuge, splendor, and vantage.
Early Christian testimony refers to this area below Bethlehem as “the shepherds’ place” or the place of the “sheepfold.” This outlying area of Bethlehem is where the ‘angelic announcement’ took place. There are to this day numerous documented shepherds’ towers in the hills around Bethlehem.
The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling ‘cloths’ to protect the body of the lambs which would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just five miles away in Jerusalem. Wrapped in swaddling cloths to keep the new lambs without spot or blemish, they would be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.
All glory to God!