The Tower of the Flock

​The town we know as Bethlehem, where Jesus the Messiah was born, was originally called Bethlehem Ephrath. The meaning of this name is significant with Bethlehem meaning "House of Bread," and Ephrath meaning "Fruitfulness." Many years before Joseph and Mary were sent to this town, God instructed Jacob to move his family from Bethel to the region of Bethlehem. Before sending Jacob to this new location, he changed Jacob's name to Israel and affirmed His intentions with a declaration for the future: "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you." (Genesis 35:11,12) Indeed, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel, was pregnant and gave birth to her second son while on the journey to Bethlehem. Because she died in childbirth, Jacob set up camp near Migdal Eder, in the region of Bethlehem, where he mourned the death of Rachel and set up a pillar over her burial place. Genesis 21:35 tells us, "Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder." (Tower of the Flock)
 
In the prophetic book of Micah there is a reference to the Christ child being born in Bethlehem near Migdal Eder. "As for you, O Watchtower of the flock (Migdal Eder), O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem." (Micah 4:8) Part of the journey that Jacob/Israel and Rachel took as they moved toward Bethlehem was traced by Joseph and Mary some 1800 years later. They took a 90-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem to take part in the census decreed by Caesar Augustus. It is fascinating to note that Mary would give birth in Bethlehem near Migdal Eder to Jesus, a descendant of Jacob and called our "Messiah."
 
We must not miss the significance of the location for the birth of Jesus. Joseph and Mary would have walked by the Tower of the Flock where shepherds, called Levitical Shepherd Priests by the Sadducees, were helping in the birth of lambs destined for Temple sacrifices. Just as the Lord told Moses on the night of the Passover, "The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect..." (Exodus 12:5), the lambs brought to the Temple for sacrifice had to be perfect. The Bethlehem shepherds were experts in animal husbandry and brought the ewes from the field into the Tower when they were ready to give birth. This was done to protect the lambs from being scarred by any defects. Upon their birth, the lambs were wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in stone mangers lined with hay.
 
What a rich context we have for the birth of Jesus who would become the Sacrificial Lamb of God thirty-three years later! Jesus stepped out of eternity as prophesied by Micah. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be Ruler of Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) Micah continues: "He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will live securely, for then His greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And He will be their peace." (Micah 5:4, 5)
 
God made a choice to become a humble servant that would redeem the world if the people of the nations chose to believe in His redemption. When we look at the details of His plan, how could we not embrace His love?