Might In A Manger
asweawaken.wordpress.com (Google Images) In their theography, Jesus , Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola make a fascinating commentary on Bethlehem, the village where Jesus was born. God chose to announce the birth of His Son to shepherds watching their sheep on the Bethlehem hillside. The shepherds were an unusual choice considering the glory of the announcement. But the sheep they watched also deserve our attention. Bethlehem lay only a short distance from Jerusalem and the Temple where hundreds and thousands of sheep were regularly sacrificed as the Old Testament prescribed. According to Sweet and Viola the sheep on that Bethlehem hillside, along with their lambs, were no ordinary sheep. They were special animals, destined for the Temple and for the ultimate sacrifice. They were carefully tended because the sacrificial animals had to be perfect without any blemishes and without any injuries. So careful were the shepherds of these special animals that particularly fractious lambs were...