Christmas Stories - Part 1
December 5, 2021Today's message, given by Lavon Coles, was the first in a series called Christmas Stories. The message is here. "Do not be afraid... a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:10-14)
"Do not be afraid" or "Fear not" are the most often words spoken by God in the Old Testament, including the Torah. The first occurance is in Genesis 15:1 when God tells Abram to "fear not" (technically in a vision, not directly heard). What is God telling Abram not to fear? Two possibilities: God himself, and other people. God is not a threat to good people but rather a protector. As for the people part, it is pretty clear throughout the Torah that one should not fear other people, and as Prager puts it, the greatest antidote to fear is faith in God. For a list of all the reference to "fear not" and its equivalent phrases, click here
A related term is God-fearing. Remember when a great compliment was to be called god-fearing? This is not fear as in scared, but rather fear as in totally respected as who's in control. Follow God, not man. Following God requires standing up to man often, which requires courage. Choose to be courageous. Especially in these times, courage is a most important trait.
More on the shepherds... There was an area outside Bethlehem where the Levitical (of the house of Levi, the priesthood) shepherds tended sheep. The Levites, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, did not have their own land. Rather, the other tribes supported them in their priestly mission. One of those missions was the tending of the best, blemish-free sheep for sacrifice. These were not nomads. Interestingly, the Levites make up about 4% of today's Jewish population.
These Levitical spepherds had to have been quite trustworthy given what was entrusted to them. They were likely not awakened by the angels as they were "watching over their sheep" at the time. And they must have been very convinced by whatever happened that night to leave their prized sheep unattended.
These shepherds being key people in the life of the Israelites, it is quite likely that word spread very fast. "They made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child" (Luke 2:17-18).
Swaddling was common practice throughout human history until about the 17th Century when, for some reason, it went out of style. It made a return to popularity as a preventative for SIDS. The idea is to bundle up the infant so that it can't roll over, scratch itself, etc. so that the baby sleeps like a baby. Or, if you're a blenish-free sheep, so that your legs and hooves wouldn't hurt you while you slept.
These were probably not rags, either. These were likely special "swaddling bands" that could have begun life when a couple was engaged. The bride-to-be would begin working on these bands to wrap around their hands at the wedding. Later, the bands would be used to swaddle their baby. It was also likely that the bride-to-be would embroider the bands with symbols significant to the new family. Mary may well have embroidered symbols of the line of Judah: lion, lamb, tree. And since she was from the royal line of David, she may have used blue and white royal colors (traditional Jewish colors).
It would have been customary to also wash and salt the baby as well as swaddle it, mostly for health reasons.
Something to ponder... Swaddled babies were everywhere. Mangers were everywhere. Why did the angels use those two pieces of information to guide the shepherds to this one baby?