Luke 2:1-20 - 2 Sets of Visitors

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Christmas

Rusty's Notes

Reading of the Christmas Story

• LJ Shrieve

THE BIRTH OF JESUS
LUKE 2
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to people he favors!
15 When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. 17 After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told. [1]

• “LJ, there is a lot going on in that story. What is the one thing in that story that is prominent for you… other than Jesus being born?”

 
2 Sets of Visitors at Christ’s Birth

• Shepherds -“8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”[2]
• You who? Yoo hoo! Who is he talking to? Shepherds.
• What is the sign to the shepherds? “This will be a sign to you shepherds.”
• Reading of the Mishnah – Brent Sutton
• Baba Kamma 7:7 They do not rear small cattle in the Land of Israel, but they do rear them in Syria and in the wastelands which are in the Land of Israel.
• They do not rear chickens in Jerusalem, on account of the Holy Things, nor do priests [rear chickens] anywhere in the Land of Israel, because of the [necessity to preserve] the cleanness [of heave offering and certain other foods which are handed over to the priests].
• They do not rear pigs anywhere.
• A person should not rear a dog, unless it is kept tied up by a chain.
• They do not set traps for pigeons, unless they are thirty ris (4 miles) from a settlement.[3]

 

• Why is that important? One regulation in the Mishnah “expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel, except in the wildernesses—and the only flocks otherwise kept, would be those for the Temple-services” (Bab K. 7:7; 80a).
• Map of Israel
• From Nazareth to Bethlehem – 90 miles
• From Jerusalem to Bethlehem – 5.5 miles
• Israel – 3 Slides
• Wilderness – 3 slides
• Modern Bethlehem
• Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and the surrounding fields were not in the wilderness where ordinary flocks of sheep were kept.
• Therefore, according to the Jewish regulations, the flocks under the care of the shepherds near Bethlehem must have been for the Temple-services.
• These shepherds watched over sheep destined as sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem.—that the shepherds that kept sheep in and around the fields of Bethlehem were not ordinary shepherds.
• They were shepherds hired by the temple in Jerusalem to prepare lambs for sacrifice in Jerusalem.
• “This will be a sign to you.” You who? “You shepherds that keep sheep destined for Passover, destined for sacrifice, you’re gonna find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.”

 

• “Wrapped in swaddling clothes,” four words, is one Greek word, “enswathed.”
• Now, why is that significant and why is that a sign?
• Traditional rituals done before burial may include:

 

• Taharah – A person who has died is ritually bathed so as to leave the world as pure as he or she arrived. Prayers and psalms are recited. The deceased is then dressed in tachrichim. To preserve modesty even in death, men perform taharah for men and women perform taharah for women.

 

• Tachrichim – A person who has died is clothed in a white cotton or linen burial garment. Today, many people are buried in their own clothes. Many men – and women, if they usually wore one – are buried wearing their tallit (prayer shawl). Many people are also buried with a small amount of earth from Israel under their heads.

 

• Sh’mirah – Traditionally, a Jew who has died is not left alone from death until burial. Sh’mirah can be translated as ‘watching’ or ‘guarding’ and a shomer – a person who guards the body – can be hired to perform this ritual.

 

• I’ve gotten this from Jewish guides and Arab guides, and when Jewish guides and Arab guides actually agree, I listen.
• I’d like to find it in literature, and I haven’t yet found it in the early literature, but the tradition that has come down through the ages is this: that it was culturally taboo for a woman to be buried in anything other than her own linens.
• And therefore, on a trip, a woman would take a strip of linen cloth with her, in case she died on the journey; she would be wrapped in her own linens for burial.
• It was culturally taboo not to be buried in your own linens. Mary is heavy with child.
• She comes from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. Having her own linen cloth in case something happened to her would be a natural.
• And when the baby is born, she wraps this baby in a cloth that would normally be used for burial, and lays it in a manger.

 

• Now, why is that significant?
• The Mishnah goes on to talk about a site in Bethlehem called Migdal Eder.
• There’s two references to Migdal Eder in the Old Testament.
• One is when Rachel dies; he buries Rachel on the way into Ephrathah or Bethlehem and at a site called Migdal Eder.
• Migdal Eder means “the tower of the shepherds, the tower of the flock.”
• The Mishnah describes that there was a well-known place that was called “the tower of the flock” or “the tower of the shepherds” where baby lambs would be birthed, and older lambs would be prepared for burial– excuse me, be prepared for sacrifice.
• So it just so happens—hint, hint—that God picks a group of shepherds, that birthed lambs and prepared lambs for sacrifice, to be the ones who would hear, “For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Messiah,” κύριος [kurios], “Christ the Lord.” “And this will be a sign unto you shepherds, you kind of shepherds, you’re gonna find the baby wrapped in a cloth lying where baby animals normally are put.”
• Because at night, in a stable– don’t get your theology from a Christmas pageant with a little wooden  crate box.
• Do you know what a sheep or a goat or a cow would do with that little box? It’d be in splinters.
• But they made mangers out of the limestone, or they etched on the back of the cave a shelf, and that’s where they would feed. But at night, they would pick up the baby animals and place them there so they wouldn’t get trampled at night.

 

• “You’re gonna find a baby wrapped in a cloth, very possibly normally used for burial, lying where a baby animal lies.”
• Other than at age 12, when Jesus is in the temple duking it out with the leaders, the next announcement that we have is John 1:29 by John the Baptist, “Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
• When you go back into Luke, it uses the word ῥῆμα [rhema] and ῥήματα [rhemata], which is a term for the spoken word, because the shepherds go back witnessing, they go back wondering, and they go back worshipping because of everything that had been told them concerning this child.
• Significant announcement, significant announcement to shepherds about redemption that God will provide.
• By the way, the second time Migdal Eder is used, it’s used in Micah chapter 4 about verse 8, which tells you that when Messiah returns to Jerusalem, Jerusalem will be called “the tower of the flock, the tower of the shepherd.” Now, why is that significant? Because Bethlehem is called the City of David; and Jerusalem, when David takes over the Jebusite city, that becomes known as the City of David: the place where he was born, and the place from which he reigned. Migdal Eder, the place from which He was born, and Migdal Eder, the place from which He will reign. Hmm.

 

• Wise men, Matthew chapter 2. The wise men see his star in the East. What would have ever connected a star in the East to a Messiah who should be worshipped?
• A star will arise that will be the symbol of a king of Israel who will be in domination over that territory, over that region.
• Now, don’t get your theology from Christmas music, either. The little song, “There’s a Star in the East”?
• They saw the star while they were in the East and came westward, okay?
• If they went east, it took them a year and a half to get around the world, okay, all the way around. But they saw the star while being in the East.
• They come west, and they come to the house, not the manger. And they don’t see an infant, βρέφος [brephos], but they see a small child.

 

• When they come, they come to Israel; they talk to the chief priest. “Where’s the Messiah to be born?” They tell him it’s in Bethlehem of Judea, and so the wise men come, and that star not only brought them to Israel, not only did it bring them to Jerusalem, but it’s a supernatural star—not a Halley’s Comet or anything like that—because it led them to the house where the baby and the parents were staying.
• Now, what do they say? “We’ve come to worship Him who’s been born King of the Jews.” What gifts do they bring? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• Gold is a gift worthy of a king.
• Frankincense is sacrificial incense. It’s incense for the altar.
• And myrrh is burial fluid, burial spice.
• Now, I don’t know about you; the last time we brought a housewarming gift to a couple when we were visiting them, it was not a bottle of embalming oil.
• We wouldn’t do that. What would that be saying?

 

• That is the Christmas story…
• Shepherds who are raising sheep for the purpose of being sacrificed.
• Mary, uses a burial linen to wrap her baby in swaddling clothes.
• The wise men bring sacrificial incense and burial spices.
• Not all the world will see this baby boy they are celebrating these next weeks, came as one one-time sacrifice for all of our sin.

 

• And that Messiah is worthy of worship. “We’ve come to worship Him who has been born King of the Jews.
• Two visitors that emphasize: one the redemption, and the other the right to be worshipped as the King of the Jews rather than crucified.[4]

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[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Lk 2:1–20.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Lk 2:8–12.
[3] Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah : A New Translation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), 519.
[4] Class Notes from Dr. Mark Bailey of Dallas Theological Seminary. “What is God Doing on Earth for Heaven’s Sake, Part 2,”, Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics.