This subject came about due to my taking up of a book that I have used mostly for reference, but finally decided to read it through. I started two or three weeks ago, and it is one of those books that captivate 'my attention'. The book is, "The Life And Times Of Jesus The Messiah" by Alfred Edersheim, M.A. Oxon, D.D.,PH.D. Macdonald Publishing Company. It is extremely thorough, and not always easy reading. There are no pictures for those who need them. But to any Christians who enjoy good study about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, this book is good to have and to read.
I just happen to be on the chapter of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus Christ. And Edersheim provided some very good and important information that I haven't heard before. So, I thought I would present it here. These quotes are on pages (186-187). No copyright date was given for the edition of this copy. The closest I could find is in the preface dated March, 1886. But the quotes are in chapter VI. of the first volume.
The subject is the angelic revelation to the shepherds of Christ's birth. (Luke 2:8-20) He begins here speaking of the birthplace of Christ.
"But as we pass from the sacred gloom of the cave out into the night, out into the night, its sky all aglow with starry brightness, its loneliness is peopled, and its silence made vocal from heaven. There is nothing now to conceal, but much to reveal, though the manner of it would seem strangely incongruous to Jewish thinking. And yet Jewish tradition may here prove both illustrative and helpful.
"That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, 'the tower of the flock'. This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheepground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem.
"A passage in the Mishnah leads to the conclusion that the flocks, which pastured there, were destined for Temple-sacrifices, and, accordingly, that the shepherds, who watched over them, were not ordinary shepherds. The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism, on account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible...."
"Thus Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, where shepherds watched the Temple-flocks all the year round. Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak."
Jesus Christ, The Lamb of God, born into the flock destined for Temple-sacrifice.
Quantrill
I just happen to be on the chapter of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus Christ. And Edersheim provided some very good and important information that I haven't heard before. So, I thought I would present it here. These quotes are on pages (186-187). No copyright date was given for the edition of this copy. The closest I could find is in the preface dated March, 1886. But the quotes are in chapter VI. of the first volume.
The subject is the angelic revelation to the shepherds of Christ's birth. (Luke 2:8-20) He begins here speaking of the birthplace of Christ.
"But as we pass from the sacred gloom of the cave out into the night, out into the night, its sky all aglow with starry brightness, its loneliness is peopled, and its silence made vocal from heaven. There is nothing now to conceal, but much to reveal, though the manner of it would seem strangely incongruous to Jewish thinking. And yet Jewish tradition may here prove both illustrative and helpful.
"That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, 'the tower of the flock'. This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheepground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem.
"A passage in the Mishnah leads to the conclusion that the flocks, which pastured there, were destined for Temple-sacrifices, and, accordingly, that the shepherds, who watched over them, were not ordinary shepherds. The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism, on account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible...."
"Thus Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, where shepherds watched the Temple-flocks all the year round. Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak."
Jesus Christ, The Lamb of God, born into the flock destined for Temple-sacrifice.
Quantrill
