Why a Manger?

I don’t know about you, but it always bothered me that Jesus was born in a stable among a bunch of smelly animals. No comfy crib for the Son of God – He slept in a stone feed trough. Can’t you just picture a sheep sticking his head in the manger looking for a snack only to end up nibbling on Jesus’s hair?

Why was Jesus born where farm animals live?

The usual explanation made sense. The Father chose a humble place for the birth of the Savior to show how He can sympathize with the poor and downtrodden. But that’s not a very satisfying answer. I thought Mary had a legitimate bone to pick with the travel planner.

Jesus needed to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy. We hear this familiar verse every Advent season:

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His times of coming forth are from long ago,

From the days of eternity. – Micah 5:2

But couldn’t the Creator of the Universe have provided his Son with nicer accommodations?  For poor Mary’s sake, if nothing else. Had God Most High forgotten to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn? Or, surely, Joseph’s Great Uncle Simon could have squeezed them in somewhere. Imminent childbirth has to fall pretty close to the top of the pecking order for accommodating out of town relatives, right?

Maybe there’s more to the story.

So I stuffed those scandalous thoughts and never admitted them to anyone, especially myself, till a dear friend  shared the significance of an often overlooked prophecy.

As for you, Tower of the Flock,

Hill of the Daughter of Zion,

To you it will come-

Even the former dominion will come,

The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. – Micah 4:8

 

Tower of the Flock, migdal eder  in Hebrew. What’s that? It’s first mentioned in Genesis 35:21 as the place where Jacob set up his tents outside Bethlehem.

What’s the significance of the tower?

Shepherds would climb the watchtower to watch over the sheep, looking for predators or other threats. Typically, the towers had stalls in the base to care for any sick or injured animals. The stable provided a clean, protected space for sheep to give birth, as well.

The sheep pastured on Bethlehem’s hills were no ordinary sheep. Every year, Israel’s High Priest came to this flock, descendants of the sheep King David tended centuries before, to find the perfect Passover lamb whose blood would be shed on behalf of the people.

The Lamb of God, the perfect Passover lamb, entered the world where all the Passover lambs were born.

When Joseph brought Mary to Bethlehem, the Jews had been waiting for their Messiah for centuries. But their wait was over! Micah tells us not only that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but that God’s kingdom would be revealed at Migdal-Eder, the tower of the the flock, on the hill of the Daughter of Zion in Bethlehem.

But I don’t think anyone expected the Messiah to be revealed as a baby instead of a conquering king. You can’t blame them. Dominion? Kingdom?  I suspect they thought Messiah would use the tower as a fortified stronghold as He triumphed over His enemies. Who would have dreamed the tower would be his nursery? Then again, considering the multitude of the heavenly army that attended His birth, I suppose it was a well-defended stronghold.

Joseph must not have seen this twist coming. If he had understood how the Son of God being born in this stable fulfilled Micah’s prophecy, I think he would have headed straight for the tower when it came time for Mary to deliver.  There was no room for Jesus anywhere else in town because he had to be born in Migdal-Eder. That was the Father’s plan all along.

This was such a sweet, unexpected answer to a question I wouldn’t even admit I had.