Away in a Manger

A Long time ago in a land far, far away was a virgin named Mary who was engaged to be married to a man by the name of Joseph. Joseph, being of the line of David, packed his belongings and headed to Bethlehem, (his ancestral home), in order to be counted for a census, which was decreed by the Roman government.  While they were there, it came time for Mary to give birth.... 

 Wait a minute! Is this a fairy tale?  Who ever heard of a virgin giving birth? This part is very real, 

however there are many things about the Christmas story, which are incorrect.

  For starters, no where in scripture does it say that Mary rode on a donkey.  See for yourself.  Read Mathew Chapter 1-2 & Luke chapter 2...  Sorry, no donkey.  Another incorrect thing is the three wise men.  Again, no where in scripture does it say there were only three wise men,

 but people just assume because three gifts are mention. 

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,  saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” ~ Mathew 2:1-2 

Also. the wise men were NOT there during the time of the time of the Messiah's birth: 

 Mathew 2:9-11   
 ^"When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh" 

The scripture clearly says He was a young child, and that they had come to a house, so they no longer were in the manger.  Of course the manger brings up another can of worms, since it was must likely in a cave and not in your traditional looking manger that you see out at Christmas.

  Now that I got the ball rolling, I will throw in another big tid bit... are you ready?  Jesus was not born on Christmas morning.  What?  Are you out of your mind? No,  I'm not.  Once again, if you look into scripture you can see evidence that points to this event not happening in winter.  For one thing the shepherds would not have been out in the fields living in the winter (Luke 2:8). 

Two: the census taken required everyone to go back to his own city to be registered (Luke 2:3) Not everyone was born in Bethlehem, yet it was very crowded, this indicates that the registration happened near a Jewish holiday that required every male to come to Jerusalem: Passover, Pentecost, and The Feast of Tabernacles.  Keep in mind Jerusalem is only 30 min. away, so Bethlehem would have made a nice place to stay during these holidays.  Passover takes place in early spring; Pentecost in late spring and Tabernacles takes place in the fall.  So, why do they say December 25th?  Well, that actually comes from the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.  Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev.  Ring a bell?  Kislev falls in the winter months, and although it falls on a different day each year on our solar calender, it is always the same 25th day on the Jewish lunar calendar.   The church later adopted this date as the birth of Christ to help keep people from celebrating the heathen celebration of winter solace on Dec. 21st.  thus, was born the date of His birth.

Please understand that I am not saying we shouldn't celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th.

So, why bring it up, you ask?

Because...

I think Jesus was born during the feast of Tabernacles

You see...

During the feast of Tabernacles the Jewish people would build little house made of sticks, tree limbs and leaves and hang fruit from the roof

then they would live in them for 7 days

So why is this important?

Just think about it...

  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14

The Hebrew says: and made his sukkah, his Mishkan among us 

Mishkan = flesh, sukkah = Tabernacle

In others words he became flesh 

and tabernacled with us!

To me it makes perfect sense that He would have been born during The Feast of Tabernacles.

God never picks random days; there is always significance behind everything He does!

Take a look at these verses:

 

^{Philippians 2:5-7}

 ^"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,

 and coming in the likeness of men.

 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."

To think He left the glories of heaven,

 just to tabernacle with us... 

only to die for us!

NOW that is the real Christmas story! 

So, although it may not be His actual birth date,

we can still celebrate the day with the understanding of it's real significance to all mankind.

***

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

1 Cor 9:15