Ancient Birth Customs - Nativity Story

Interview with Rebecca Holt Stay, Instructor of Biblical Studies - BYU Continuing Education

There's not a lot of description in antiquity of the details of something as mundane as birth. And so when it gets mentioned, it's usually done in some kind of symbolic context or in telling a story. And probably the most powerful place where a story of birth is told is in Ezekiel 16, which describes the birth of the nation of Israel. It has been born out of the waters of the Red Sea as a young girl. This girl will grow up to be the bride of God that He will marry at Sinai. And at this point, the description is given of that birth of that little girl. "As for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast that washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee" (Ezekiel 16:4-5). So by saying those things didn't happen, the text is saying that's the norm. This is what normally happens. You normally would have a midwife there who is going to show compassion on this child and help the mother.

Each of those steps is important. First, the umbilical cord would be cut, probably tied off. Then the child would be washed in order to get the blood off, and the next step is the salting of the child. Now there are a lot of symbols of what salt means in scripture. In terms of hygiene the reason for the salting is that the salt is an antibiotic, and it's going to kill germs that might be present on the skin of the child. Perhaps a disease it might have contacted from its mother at birth, or to kill anything that has gotten on its skin. So it has a very real healthy meaning, that's why it would be salted. Some of the symbols, some will say that because salt is given with the sacrifices at the temple, that this might be preparing a child as an offering. (see for example Leviticus 2:13). Salt is also a preservative, so it may be done to preserve the life of the child. Of course, that's also the hygienic purpose, is preserving the life of the child.

Then it mentions, you are "not swaddled at all." Now there's only two mentions of swaddling in the Old Testament and this is one of them. And a child being swaddled means wrapped in rags or clothes prepared for the purpose of providing a diaper and a covering for the child. Every child normally would be swaddled. The fact that she isn't swaddled is really unusual. Now because that's such a normal thing to do, it made me wonder, why would swaddling bands be a sign in the book of Luke? Because that's what it says, as the shepherds are being told to go and see the child, they are told: "You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). Every child is wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger is unusual. I really love the fact that the King James translators kept that french word, because 'mange' means to eat. And this is the bread of life who has been born (see John 6:51). Christ is the 'bread of life,' and we will ceremonially eat his body, and so that's suggested by that use of 'manger.'

So I decided I would look back into the Old Testament and see how swaddling bands could be a sign of anything? So the only other place that you find it, other than in this description in Ezekiel of swaddling every newborn child, is when you're in the book of Job. And God is responding to Job's questions about why do bad things happen to good people. And he essentially says, "What do you know Job? Where you there when I created the world? Where you there at the foundation of the world when I built the world?" And then he uses this beautiful metaphor for the creation of the world. He describes it as "who do you think shut up the sea with doors, when it then broke forth, as if it [the earth, newborn earth] had issued out of the womb? When I made the clouds the garments thereof, and thick dark clouds a swaddling band for [the earth]" (Job 38:9).

So here you have a newborn planet that has just been created. And it is wrapped in these clouds that are the swaddling bands. I love that, because the cloud is a symbol of someone in the Old Testament. That does relate to one person, and the cloud is the symbol of the presence of Jehovah. There is a pillar of cloud by day over His tabernacle. His chariot is a cloud. And so when he is born into mortality, He is wrapped in His symbol. In clouds, "trailing clouds of glory" does He come, from His Father who is His home, from the Wordsworth poem. [1]

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[1] Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth

Who were the Wise men? - Nativity Story

Interview with Rebecca Holt Stay, Instructor of Biblical Studies - BYU Continuing Education

"When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying 'where is he that is born King of the Jews, for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him'" (Matthew 2:1-2). No mention of them being kings. No mention of how many. No mention of how they traveled. But there's a lot of clues there about them. The fact that they were in the east when they saw the star, that's how I choose to read it, rather than that wherever they are, they saw the star in the east. But rather that they were in the east when they saw the star, and east of Jerusalem is where the vast majority of Jews were actually living at the time of Christ.

The Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon 600 years before the birth of Christ, and they never came home. Only a small contingent returned to Jerusalem. So the center of learning for the Jews was Babylon. And that's where the wise men would be. Wise men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And so they will continue to be advisers to the court and will be literate, scientific men who in Babylon would be studying astronomy for the signs of the sky, and to determine when to have the holy days that are spoken of in scripture. So if you're coming to worship the King of the Jews, odds are you're Jewish. And you're reading about Him in a Jewish book, which would be the Old Testament.

And Isaiah in particular, has a lot to say about those who come to worship the King of the Jews. And I think that Christians asked a lot of questions as this story in Matthew was told and written down. They wanted more information. Where did they come from? What were their names? How did they get there? And so they turned back to their scriptures to find those answers. And so it's in chapter 60 of Isaiah, we get a lot of indication of where those answers came from.

It begins: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Isaiah 60:1). So the light has arisen, the star is there. And in verse 3: "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." So immediately we say "Aah! There gentile Kings!" And then it says: "a multitude of camels will cover thee, the dromedaries" (Isaiah 60:6) and so we have camels as the way they're coming, and in particular, dromedary camels. Coming from Midian, and Ephah, and Sheba. Well there you have the three countries, so there are three of them. And in particular, Ephah and Midian are middle eastern countries. Sheba is Ethiopia, and so one of these kings must be black. They'll end up with names from the early Christians being named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior. Those are just honestly made up names, but they're great names! And then it describes what these gentile kings will bring: "they will bring gold and incense; and shew forth the praises of the Lord" (Isaiah 60:6). So in my mind I think, OK, we have Jewish men who are educated, and literate, and they read in the scriptures that there will be a star (that's from the book of Numbers) that will arise at his birth, in the prophecies of Balaam. So looking for that star, they search the heavens, and finding a star that they believe to be that star, they say "When that star arises, we got to get camels, and go. And what we need to bring is gold and incense." And so they will bring gold, which is a kingly gift. They'll bring incense, probably two different kinds, frankincense and myrrh. Frankincense was offered at the temple with every offering, both on the altar of prayer and the altar of sacrifice. Myrrh was melted down and mixed in a special recipe into the anointing oil of the temple, and was also used for anointing the bodies of the dead. So there's some great symbolism there.

And then goes on and talks about some other great pieces. "Doves in the window," and so we'll see doves in every manger scene (Isaiah 60:8). It has the "glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box to beautify the place of my sanctuary" (Isaiah 60:13). And so most of our sanctuaries, our churches, are decorated with the evergreen trees and branches, because Isaiah said so.

And I love the idea that these men read the scriptures and said "somebody's got to do it, why not us! We will be the ones who will fulfill the prophecies of the Lord and we will get to meet the Messiah!" And so it's really cool to think of those years (that at least two years that they traveled), and talked about what this is going to be like. And then to fall on their knees as they meet the Christ child and His parents. What an amazing moment that must have been to pay them back for their efforts.

The Heavenly Host - Nativity Story

Interview with Rebecca Holt Stay, Instructor of Biblical Studies - BYU Continuing Education

There appeared to the shepherds an angel of the Lord. "And the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were soar afraid. And the angel said, 'Fear not, I bring you good tidings of great joy!'" (Luke 2:10). Now of course, good tidings is the term that means 'gospel.' So "Good tidings of great joy." And 'joy' in the Old Testament is always associated with two things: one, with having children, and second, with receiving a forgiveness of sins. This combines both of those themes. And that is to be given to all people, "'For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.' And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God" (Luke 2:11-14).

Now when you speak of 'host' as a biblical term, 'host' or 'tsabaot' in Hebrew means army. Jehovah is called 'Yahweh tsabaot,' or Jehovah, the leader of the army. So what we're getting here is not a choir of putee little cherubs with pink cheeks and floaty wings, but rather it is much more like Gabriel coming. Gabriel's name means 'mighty warrior of God.' So when you see Gabriel, you should see an individual who has come in full armor as one of Jehovah's (Jesus') handpicked soldiers, and so that's who this is, is a military choir that has come to witness, and let people know, that the Commander and Chief of the heavenly host, the heavenly army, has been born. And that the battle is now going to ensue. And they know through their faith that their Commander and Chief is going to win this battle. And he will take back the keys of death and hell and open the prison doors and let us all go free. And thus "Tidings of great joy which shall be to all people!"

The Temple Shepherds - Nativity Story

Interview with Rebecca Holt Stay, Instructor of Biblical Studies - BYU Continuing Education

"There were in the same country as Joseph and Mary, shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night" (see Luke 2:8). We understand those to be the temple flocks, which were kept in the Bethlehem area just south of Jerusalem. And when you think of a field, it's not a field, its a hill. It's a very hilly rocky place. When my husband and I were there in the shepherd's fields of Bethlehem, a flock of sheep and goats went by. So it was a lovely experience.

But shepherd has a really deep meaning in the Old Testament. Shepherd in Hebrew is 'reu.' Now the feminine form of that is Ruth, but we'll see it in the man's name Reuel, which means shepherd of God, which is Jethro. And Moses is sent to Jethro to be taught how to shepherd God's people. But maybe more importantly, 'reu' has a second meaning and that is 'friend' because shepherds eat with the flock and therefore they are their friends. That's the connotation. So the shepherds are the friends of the sheep.

And these shepherds, and every shepherd would be out in the fields at lambing season because when the mother sheep drop the lambs there can generally be two born at the same birth. They need to there to witness which of the two lambs is the first born, because only one of those lambs will be acceptable at the temple as an offering for sin, as a first born, male, perfect lamb. And so they would have some red thread or string with them to tie loosely around the neck of the first born lamb in order to mark it as a first born. And thus it would be essential at the birth of the Lamb of God that shepherds are there to witness His birth as Mary's first born. And then just as the shepherds in the temple flock would indicate which are the first born and tell their leaders, and tell the priests at the temple which are the first born lambs, they would go out and say, "ah, the first born Lamb has been born." And bare testimony to the coming of that first born Lamb.