The angel of the Lord is directing the shepherds to the very place where they sacrificed baby lambs to see a baby boy wrapping in the lamb's swaddling clothes and being presented for inspection in the stone manger, Migdal Eder.
Forget everything you've been told about the baby Jesus lying in a manger that looks like a soft and cozy hay bale, for the manger that he was wrapped in was actually a stone feeding trough, and located in a place called Migdal Eder outside of Bethlehem. In just a minute, I will show you how the words 'migdal eder' appear in your King James Bible, and believe me when I say it's going to be quite the revelation.
"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." Micah 4:8 (KJB)
Migdal Eder first appears in Genesis 35:21 and it's a tower just north of the city of David in Bethlehem, and it is the place where Jacob buried Rachel after she gave birth to Benjamin. In its earliest days, the tower of Migdal Eder was a military structure, in later years becoming the Tower of the Flock (Strong's H4029) where the Levitical shepherds would inspect the sacrificial lambs. If you're a bible believer you already know where I'm going with this, but stay with me, it gets crazy good. Migdal Eder is the place where the lambs were wrapped in swaddling clothes to be inspected for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. Now, back to Rachel and Benjamin.
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:3-5 (KJB)
As Rachel lay dying, she desired that her son Benjamin should be called Benoni, which means 'son of my sorrow', but Jacob wanted his name to be called Benjamin, which means 'son of the right hand', sound like anything you know from scripture? Does not Isaiah 53:3 say that Jesus was a 'man of sorrows' and doesn't Ephesians 1:20 tells us that He is now seated at the 'right hand' of God? (Perhaps you should pause for a moment and pray over what you just read.) This is the foundational beginnings of Migdal Eder according to your King James Bible, and not according to myth, legend or tradition.
But it gets even better.
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." Isaiah 53:7 (KJB)
Regarding the birth of the baby Jesus, we see in Luke 2:7 that He was laid in a manger, a stone structure that Levitical shepherds would normally use to inspect the sacrificial lamb. You see, Mary and Joseph were not sent to a first century hotel, and they were not sent simply to a barn, no, the only place that had room was the place where lambs were sacrificed. Migdal Eder. And those swaddling clothes? Why, they were for the lambs to protect them from getting bruised so they could be sacrificed 'without spot' according to the Law. Just coincidentally, Jesus is the lamb 'without spot and blemish' in 1 Peter 1:19.
Now, let's visit those shepherds on the hill that night.
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29 (KJB)
The angel of the Lord could have appeared to anyone, to everyone, and yet he appeared to a group of people with a very specialized skill set, shepherds who were trained in the sacrificing of spotless lambs in the stone manger of Migdal Eder. The angel said "And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." I can hardly contain the tears while writing this it is so powerful, are you aware of what is happening here? The angel of the Lord is directing the shepherds to the very place where they sacrificed baby lambs to see a baby boy wrapping in the lamb's swaddling clothes and being presented for inspection in the stone manger, praise God! This is what your Christmas 'manger scene' should look like, according to your King James Bible.
"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10 (KJB)
The Bible tells us that the 'name of the LORD' is a 'strong tower', using the very same word 'migdal' near where the actual tower where Benjamin was born. The word 'migdal' shows up again in Nehemiah 3:1, connecting it to the 'sheep gate' where the sacrificial lambs would be led to the Temple in Jerusalem from the Tower of the Flock by the Levitical shepherds.
"And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds." Luke 2:15-18 (KJB)
Now you see, when Jesus is called a lamb in scripture, it is not poetic at all, it is literal. Jesus was born at Migdal Eder, wrapped in the very same swaddling clothes used for lambs, and placed in the stone manger to be presented for inspection by the Levitical shepherds. That's why the angel of the Lord called shepherds, to inspect the baby Jesus according to the Law of Moses. How do I know that Jesus was born at Migdal Eder? Because Micah tells us so.
As if all this wasn't enough, there is this, the verse that ties it all together. In Micah 5:2, we read this:
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
There's that funny little word 'ephratah', ever look up what it means? It means the 'place where Rachel died', which is also the place where Benjamin was born, by the tower of Migdal Eder. Micah is telling you that the Saviour, Jesus, would be born at the very place where Benjamin was born, at Migdal Eder. I thank the Lord for revealing all this to me as I studied it out this afternoon, and I dearly hope this will be a blessing to you. Everything listed here can be found, with a little 2 Timothy 2:15 study, within the pages of your King James Bible. The works of Josephus and rabbinical tradition were not required.
No comments:
Post a Comment