Bob Josey: The Jewishness of Christmas Dec 22, 2019

Post date: Dec 23, 2019 10:59:17 AM

The Christmas Story Seen Through Jewish Eyes

Introduction

Approximately 2000 years ago in a small city called Bethlehem in a nation called Israel in the middle east, a baby was born that would change the world. He mother, Miriam, and His father, Yoseph, were from the tribe of Judah. This was the tribe from which all kings of Israel came. This baby would one day be the King of Israel. It’s very strange that even though He would one day be king, His father was not a king, and He was not born in the King’s palace. As we shall see, He was born in very humble situation and lived a very middle-class family life. His father was a very righteous man was a craftsman. It’s a strange story, because His mother was a virgin when He was conceived and born. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had something to do with that.

You see, God wanted to experience for Himself what the humans He created experienced in daily life. Therefore, God came to this earth and indwelt a human body. Strange indeed! This is the human body that Mariam gave birth to 2000 years ago. It is really difficult to understand all of this. He grew up in this middle-class family in a city in Israel called Nazareth. His father trained Him a craftsman, but when He was thirty years old, He became a religious leader called a rabbi which means teacher. He wanted Israel to accept Him as the King of Israel and the One who would save Israel from their sins. After all, He was God in a human body who never broke a religious or civil law of Israel. Therefore, He was sinless, but Israel rejected Him and had Him put to death. However, three days later He was resurrected and eventually returned to heaven. Again, it’s hard to understand, but because He was God who indwelt a human body and was sinless, when He died and was resurrected, He became a sin substitute. This meant that anyone who believed in Him as this sin sacrifice, would have their sins forgiven and would be able to spend an eternity with God after they died.

While He was a rabbi, He trained twelve men to spread that good news about His death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins to the known world at that time. They did just that and today the good news has been spread over much of the earth. Just like when He lived, some accepted this good news and many have not. One day He is going to return and rule the earth as the King of kings and the Lord of Lords just as he promised before He returned to heaven. At that time, He will reward those who trusted in Him, but will punish those who did not by consigning then to a place called GeHenna which we call Hell. Oh, by the way, His name is Yeshua which means in Hebrew the Lord saves. Today we are going to discuss the circumstances around the birth of Yeshua.

The Betrothal and Marriage of Jesus’ Mother and Father

Jewish marriage was a practical legal matter, established by contract and carried through by fascinating and complicated traditions. There was no dating or courtship as we now think of these things. It’s not much different in the Orthodox Jewish community today.

Many times a marriage contract was made between two families either before the birth of children or after they were born. This is called the betrothal. The marriage covenant is a true legal agreement that gives the terms by which he will propose marriage. When the betrothal was agreed upon, the brides-price was paid to the father, and then the couple were considered to be married. This was not a religious law found in the Torah, but a tradition.

When the couple became the age for the marriage to be consummated, there was a yearlong waiting period to demonstrate the faithfulness of the pledge of purity given concerning the bride. If she was found to be with child in this period, she obviously was not pure, but had been involved in an unfaithful sexual relationship. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I don’t think anything was written in the contract about the unfaithfulness of the man. If not, this would certainly be a double standard. Therefore, if the woman was found unfaithful, the marriage could be annulled. If, however, the one-year waiting period demonstrated the purity of the bride, the husband would then go to the house of the bride's parents and in a grand processional march lead his bride back to his home. The wedding ceremony was something that added years later after later after Israel became a nation. There they would begin to live together as husband and wife and consummate their marriage physically.

Nothing is said in Scripture about Joseph’s or Mary’s parents or a bridal-price. Nothing is said about the betrothal except for the fact that they were betrothed. Mary and Joseph were in the one-year waiting period when Mary was found to be pregnant. She was probably 12 or 13 years old. Joseph chose not to create a public scandal by exposing her condition to the judges at the city gate. Such an act could have resulted in Mary's death by stoning (Deut. 22:23-24). Instead he decided to divorce her quietly. Joseph did not follow through with the divorce because the angel appeared to him and told him she was pregnant by means of the Holy Spirit. Remember that an angel appeared to Abraham to stop him from sacrificing Isaac.

So, Joseph and Mary had to go to both families and explain what was really going on. I’m sure that did not go over well, but maybe the Holy Spirit gave them a heads-up as well. The people in Nazareth were another matter. I’m sure that there were people who made crude and disparaging remarks to them and some may have even wanted to stone her to death for what they saw as breaking the Mosaic Law. It certainly was not an easy time for either one of them or their families.

The Place and Time of Jesus’ Birth

Where was Jesus born? Bethlehem called the city of David. (Luke 2:4) Bethlehem means house of bread. Did you know that there are nine cities in the United States called Rome? They are in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, and Georgia. Could it be that at the time of Jesus birth that there were more than one Bethlehem? Yes, there was one in the northern Galilee as well as in Judea. (Joshua 19:15) The prophet Micha prophesied and was very specific that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. (Micha 5:2) Ephrathah was an older name for Bethlehem or the name of the area around Bethlehem. Bethlehem of Judea is about 6 miles from Jerusalem.

Remember Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshua – Yahweh saves. Mary’s Hebrew name was Miriam, and Joseph’s Hebrew name was Yoseph. The letter J does not exist in Hebrew.

Jesus was not born on December 25. The first Christmas feast held on December 25 was in Rome in 336 A.D., after Christianity had become the Emperor Constantine’s official religion. Perhaps the date was chosen as in some way to connect it to the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year. December 25 was also a winter pagan holiday so most likely that date was chosen by the Roman Catholic Church to appease some pagans so they would join the church.

Luke 2:8 says that some shepherds were staying out in the fields at night to keep watch over their flock. They did not do this in the dead of winter. Most likely Jesus was born in the fall during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles.

Concerning the year of Jesus’ birth, most conservative scholars agree that after the calendar was correctly adjusted, that the year was probably around 4 BC.

Was Jesus born in a stable, a cave, or the lower portion of a house where the animals were kept? It was probably a cave or a stable next to a lodging place where animals were kept. The use of caves for stables was common, particularly in the winter. A basilica was erected over a cave in Bethlehem in the time of Constantine during the fourth century where many of you have been. The only thing for sure concerning the site where Jesus was really born is that only God knows.

Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth which is in lower Galilee. Jesus lived there for thirty years apparently with his family before He began His full-time ministry. He had to learn the craftsman trade from Joseph. The Greek word translated carpenter means a craftsman in general. Jesus may have been a craftsman in wood, stone, and/or metal and not just a carpenter. Have you ever thought of the fact that Jesus was sinless but not perfect? While He was learning and even after that, He did not do everything perfect as a craftsman. He grew physically and spiritually. (Luke 2: 52) Wisdom has to do with the insight that Jesus gained in the spiritual realm. Growing in statue has to do with His physical growth. The Father also allowed Jesus favorability to grow among not only the Father but also man.

Think about this scenario. Jesus and His half-brothers and sisters are sitting around the supper table. Mary says to His brothers and sisters, “Each of you need to be more like Jesus.” It would be interesting to know what His brothers and sisters reacted to Him and what they really thought about Him. John 7:5 says that Jesus’ bothers did not brothers did not believe in Him, i.e. that He was the Messiah. After the resurrection, His ‘brothers did come to the realization that Jesus was the Messiah because they became believes (Acts 1:14). Jesus appeared to James after the resurrection 1 Corinthians 15:7) James became the pastor of the Jerusalem church and wrote the Book of James. Nothing is said about the relationship His’ sisters had with Him,

The Magi

The shepherds who were in the fields tending their sheep near Bethlehem were the only ones who were recorded as having visited Jesus after His birth. Matthew2:11 tells us that the Magi went into a house probably in Nazareth. Jesus may have been about two years old because Herod had all the children two years old and younger murdered.

Who were the Magi? The were not wisemen nor were they kings. The song “We three kings of orient are” is not factual. The Magi were astronomers probably from perhaps Parthia, northeast of Babylon. Their profession was to study the stars to try to ascertain the signs of the times. We also are not told their names even though in a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cologne, France there are three relics representing them whose names are Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior. Even though most people think there were three of them, Scripture does not tell us how many there were. The number three come from the fact that three gifts were given to Jesus.

Regardless of the number of Magi there were, three gifts were given to Jesus – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gold may represent His royalty as King of the Jews. The frankincense may have represented His deity, and the myrrh may have represented His humility because of His suffering spiritually and physically on the cross. (Isaiah 60:3-6) Why is myrrh not mentioned in this list? Probably because His death is in the past. Joseph and Mary may have used these gifts to fund their trip to Egypt.

How did the Magi know about the Messiah being born in Israel? Since they were astronomers, maybe they were given a special revelation by God of the birth of the King of the Jews. This special revelation may simply have been in the sky since they referred to a star which they saw. There are several other theories about what the star was. Some think it was Haley’s’ comet. Others think that it was three stars aligning at the same time. The view that I like is that it was the Shekinah Glory leading them as the fire and cloud did in the wilderness after the Exodus. Or this revelation could have come through some contact with Jewish scholars who had migrated to the East with copies of Old Testament manuscripts. Many feel the Magi's comments reflected a knowledge of Balaam's prophecy concerning the "star" that would "come out of Jacob" (Num. 24:17).