We know the Christmas story. At least we think we do. Unfortunately, a lot of what we think we know isn’t actually in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t tell us, for instance, that there were three wise men. It only says there were at least three gifts. It doesn’t tell us that Mary rode on a donkey. It never mentions an innkeeper. When we think about the actual physical location of Jesus’s birth, it’s easy to picture some sort of barn-like structure behind an inn because that’s the way it’s usually portrayed on Christmas cards and in pageants and movies, but maybe our mental image needs to be tweaked.
Over the years I’ve heard various speculations about the structure that sheltered Jesus during his entry into the world. I learned that the word often translated as “inn” (“There was no room for them in the inn”) can also be translated as lodging place or guest room. One theory is that Mary and Joseph were staying in the home of extended family members, but that because the house was full, they stayed on the lower level, where animals were housed at night.
I think that’s an interesting theory, but a few years ago I stumbled on another one that I found even more interesting. It was evidently first proposed by Alfred Edersheim in a book called The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah. Edersheim says that it was settled Jewish thought that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem. I think most of us are familiar with that belief, based on Micah 5:2. What we may be less familiar with is the related belief, based on Micah 4:8, that the messiah would be revealed from a place called Migdal Eder, also known as the “tower of the flock.” Edersheim proposes that Jesus was actually born in the tower. Others believe that he was born nearby, perhaps in a cave.
So what exactly was this tower of the flock? It was an ancient structure originally built as a lookout tower to protect the city from enemies. The Old Testament has many references to similar towers. These watchtowers became known as towers of the flock because shepherds used them to spot predators. The shepherds could also bring the ewes inside the towers to give birth, or they could bring them to nearby caves prepared for the purpose.
The Migdal Eder theory really starts to get interesting when we learn that the shepherds and sheep that grazed near and used the tower in Bethlehem weren’t just any shepherds and sheep. Edersheim says this: "This Migdal Edar was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks that pastured on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but it lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem. A passage from the Mishnah (Shekelim 7:4) leads to the conclusion that the flocks which pastured there were destined for Temple sacrifices."
Sheep destined for sacrifice needed to be tended carefully, because only lambs without flaws were acceptable. Some writers have said that when lambs were born, they were wrapped, or swaddled, in order to protect them from injury. Other writers say they can’t find evidence that occurred. Whether or not lambs were commonly swaddled at birth, they were bound in strips of cloth before they were sacrificed. If Jesus was born in or near Migdal Eder, perhaps he was wrapped in the swaddling bands used for the lambs being prepared to be offered as payment for sin.
I don’t know whether Jesus was born in the tower of the flock, a nearby cave, something like a modern barn, the bottom floor of a private home, or somewhere else entirely. I do really like the Migdal Eder theory, though, for two main reasons.
The first is that it answers the question of how the shepherds knew where to find Jesus, since the angels evidently didn’t give any more information other than that he was in Bethlehem, in a manger, and swaddled. Actually, the original language may not have said “a manger” at all, but “the manger.” Some have pointed out that in the original text, the Greek word “ho” (Strong’s G3588) is used, which is the definite article and should have been translated as “the” instead of “a.” Perhaps when they heard the baby was in the manger, the shepherds knew exactly where to go.
The second reason I like the theory is simply that it makes complete logical sense for Jesus to be born where the sacrificial lambs were born. 1 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 1 Peter 1:18-19 says that “God paid a ransom to save you . . . . And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” It wasn’t an accident that Jesus was crucified at Passover. It wasn’t without significance that during his last meal, Jesus took a cup of wine and said “This is my blood . . . poured out as a sacrifice.” (Mark 14:23)
Arranging for Jesus to be born in or near the tower of the flock seems to me like something God would do. Wherever he was born, he was born for us, to pay the debt we couldn’t pay. Thank you, God, for your amazing plan. Thank you for the precious Christmas lamb.