The angel said to the shepherds:

“This very day, in David’s town, a Saviour has been born for you. He is Christ, the Lord.

Let this prove it to you: you will find a baby, wrapped up and lying in a manger”

(Luke 2:11-12, PHILLIPS)

Please accompany me, in your imagination, to sit alongside the shepherds as they watched over their flocks on the night that Jesus came into the world.

For the shepherds, it was a night just like any other night. Perhaps they were taking it in turns to sleep. Or perhaps they were all awake – every eye required to protect the flock from prowling hyenas, jackals and wolves.

But then … suddenly … something astounding happened. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the night sky became ablaze with the splendour of God’s glory. Not surprisingly, they were terrified!

Then they heard the angel speaking to them. Directly to them:

“There is born to you this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

The angel then went on to talk about a sign that the shepherds would recognise:

“This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.” Another translation of the first part of this verse says: “Let this prove it to you: …”

Prove? In what way?

I must have read and heard this Scripture hundreds of times. But it had never occurred to me to ask why the angel explained to the shepherds – so specifically – that seeing a baby wrapped in strips of swaddling cloth, lying in an animal feeding trough, would be proof that they had found the Saviour!

You might already know why. But I didn’t!  I must confess that I only discovered the answer fairly recently – and was deeply moved by what I saw.

We know from a prophecy in the book of Micah that the Messiah would come forth from “Bethlehem Ephrathah” which is an agricultural area near Bethlehem.

Micah had also prophesied that the Messiah would come to a place called “migdal eder” which is located within this same agricultural area of Bethlehem Ephrathah. Translated from the Hebrew, “migdal eder” means “tower of the flock” (Micah 4:8).

So, what is a tower of the flock? And how does it relate to the birth of Jesus?

Read on! It is significant that this agricultural area was part of King David’s ancestral lands, and that it was David’s idea to dedicate the area specifically to raise lambs in preparation for Passover sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple. (David had nurtured a heartfelt vision for the temple and this vision was later fulfilled through his son, Solomon.)

This carefully-tended land of David was characterised by an unusually large number of the aforementioned “towers of the flock” – and the ruins are still there to see today.

These towers are tall stone-built watch towers where the shepherds would care for their sheep and which enabled them to watch over their flock from high vantage points.  

From the moment the lambs were born, the shepherds would examine each one to see if it was in perfect condition, otherwise it would not be acceptable for sacrifice.

According to rabbinic tradition, the lambs that were found to be perfect, and selected for sacrifice, would be watched closely until the time of the Passover. Then they would be carefully wrapped in strips of cloth to restrain them, and keep them in perfect condition, while they were being transported to Jerusalem.

Some traditions also state that – before the final selection was made – the sacrificial lambs were actually laid down inside stone feeding troughs so that the lambs could be inspected carefully and safely, off the ground.

But, whether or not this latter tradition is true, there is no doubt that the shepherds who heard the angel would immediately have associated the words feeding trough with the raising of lambs for sacrifice.

All this gives amazing insight into the angel’s extraordinary declaration that the shepherds would understand the sign. “Let this prove it to you: you will find a baby, wrapped up and lying in a feeding trough.”

For these were the very same shepherds who were raising and caring for the Passover lambs.

No wonder there seemed to be no hesitation among them. They made haste right away and found Mary and Joseph. 

It is hard to imagine, without weeping in worship, the reaction of those shepherds as they drew close to Mary and Joseph and saw an unspeakably awesome sight of overwhelming significance to them:

Lying in one of their feeding troughs, wrapped in familiar strips of cloth, was not one of their own lambs, destined for sacrifice at Passover.

Instead, bending down over the stone trough, the shepherds would have seen a tiny, vulnerable baby … all swaddled in the same strips of cloth they would routinely use for their lambs …

What!! This cannot be the expected Son of YHWH – the indescribably beautiful One who is clothed with honour and majesty!!   

But their inner eyes were opened … and they saw the Glorious Truth, even in the midst of this most dreadful scene. They could see! They knew!!

They saw that this tiny baby was indeed their Saviour – Christ the Lord – whom the angel had announced to them in the splendour of God’s glory. This was true! They were not hallucinating! How the shepherds contained themselves is incredibly hard to conceive. I can only imagine that the Holy Spirit gave them supernatural strength to go immediately to spread abroad the good news! And they did!

No wonder they returned “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them” (Luke 2:20).

Oh! Let’s join with the shepherds to glorify and praise God for all the things He has told us in His Word. 

The Baby arrived that night in the physical feeding trough as our own personal and corporate Manna – our true, beloved, imperishable spiritual food. Jesus came in order to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice, to remove all sin and every trace of separation between God and humankind. He came to unite us with Godhead and to wrap us up into His very Self.

We emerge now as totally new creations in Him, as Christ-beings, living and loving in Him from right now … into eternity. Glory!!!   

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I am delighted to include this beautiful poem by Peter Honniball. He wrote it after reading the article above and has kindly given me permission to reproduce it here:

The Shepherds Remember

By Peter Honniball

The mother did not ask our names so you will never know

Who were the men who were blessed that night when they saw the heavens glow.

Even before the Angel came, we knew we were special men

For from our flock of pure bred sheep, the Paschal lambs were taken.

We were the ones who brought those lambs from the hills by Bethlehem

All the way to be sacrificed by the priests in Jerusalem.

We could not know but now we know that the child we saw in the stall

Would be the holy Lamb of God, the lamb who saves us all.

We are not princes, kings or priests but we saw God's might arrayed

His shining Angel told us that we should not be afraid.

We may be humble but we are proud, the proudest of all men

For God chose us the first to see his son in Bethlehem.

And when we spoke to the mother, she listened and she smiled;

Somehow it seemed she already had foreknowledge of her child.

We walked back to our flocks amazed, never saw the child again

But our lives were utterly transformed the night that we glimpsed heaven.

We told our neighbours, wives and friends but very few believed.

How could it be the light of God had shone upon our fields

But we did hear the angels speak; we did hear their hymn;

Now old, we know that soon we will hear the angels sing in Heaven.

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Note: Some of the information in the above article regarding the towers of the flock and migdal eder is drawn from the writings of the well-regarded church historian Eusebius (the bishop of Caesarea in the 4^th century).

 (The illustration with shepherds is used with permission from Edge Group – Lion Hudson)

Ann Shakespeare  12 December 2023