I interviewed William J. Federer regarding his book on Santa Claus.
You should listen, there's more to the story than you may know.
How is Christmas different from fables and frauds and myths?
First off, let’s settle that The Jewish nation and people and particularly their religious text were seen as something special, and unusual and worthy of note.
the fact that they even came back from captivity in Babylon to be a nation again was and is noteworthy.
Just like their coming back from 2000 years of exile to be a nation again in 1948.
This is literally unheard of. So there is something special going on there.
And their religious text, the Old Testament, with it’s numerous prophecies, many of which were seen to be fulfilled, became almost required reading for any well-read person back in their day.
Just as the Bible is today.
Here's some stuff that their book talked about.
- The Messiah would be the seed/offspring of a woman and would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15).
- He would come from the seed/offspring of Abraham and would bless all the nations on earth (Genesis 12:3).
- He would be a “prophet like Moses” to whom God said we must listen (Deuteronomy 18:15).
- He would be born in Bethlehem of Judah (Micah 5:2).
- He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
- He would have a throne, a kingdom and a dynasty, or house, starting with King David, that will last forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
- He would be called “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace,” and would possess an everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7).
- He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, righteous and having salvation, coming with gentleness (Zechariah 9:9-10).
- He would be pierced for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).
- His crucifixion was described in Psalm 22! Almost to the smallest detail.
- He would die among the wicked ones but be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9). Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jew, gave this condemned prisoner his grave, or rather lent it to him. Because he knew Jesus would only need it for three days.
- He would be resurrected from the grave, for God would not allow His Holy One to suffer decay (Psalm 16:10).
- He would come again from the clouds of heaven as the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).
- He would be the “Sun of Righteousness” for all who revere Him and look for His coming again (Malachi 4:2).
- He is the One whom Israel will one day recognize as the One they pierced, causing bitter grief (Zechariah 12:10).
One thing that people typically miss in that list is the prophecy of Daniel:
9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
9:25 Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One,{“Anointed One” can also be translated “Messiah” (same as “Christ”).} the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.
9:26 After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
9:27 He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations [shall come] one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall [wrath] be poured out on the desolate.
What does this have to do with Christmas? This prophecy tells us when he will arrive!
And many knew it. The “Three Wise Men” knew it. They had read the prophecies of Daniel, like any other scholar would have. Then they saw this celestial apparition, this bright star that signaled something, and since it was near the appointed time, they headed for Israel, to seek a King.
Some say this star was prophesied in Numbers 17 written presumably by Moses.
“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel”
The wise men did not follow the Star to Bethlehem, they followed the Word of God.
They knew enough to head to Israel.
Then they asked Herod where they should look, and the priests pointed them to Bethlehem, where the prophet Micah said He could be found. And they found Him.
The Shepherds were presumably the Temple Shepherds whose job was to inspect the sacrificial lambs, explaining why they were out in the fields in December. If the nativity was in December. And Jesus was THE sacrificial lamb.
There may be good reason to believe that Jesus was born on Hanukkah/Festival of Lights/Feast of Dedication (of the Temple).
Fulfillment of prophecy on Jewish feast days is a regular thing.
The Angels announced his birth filling the sky with light.
He became the Living Temple of God, thus the Feast of Dedication is appropriate.
John 10:22And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
Was He there to celebrate His birthday? :)
I am sorry I have not had time to listen. I love your interviews with Bill. A great and cogent summary. I did NOT know about "temple shepherds." Some sources claim that in 1st century Israel the shepherds would have been unclean and denied entry to the temple. So God brought the object of the temple's worship to them. This makes a nice homily. But not verifiable, as it is not fully supported by scholarship. Apparently, it was true in the Babylonian talmud, but that was long before Jesus' time. Joseph lets us know that the Egyptians considered shepherds unclean, so there is a basis for this viewpoint. Hope to listen this week.
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I got the Temple Shepherds from Alfred Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. He makes a good argument.
DeleteBut as we pass from the sacred gloom of the cave out into the night, its sky all aglow with starry brightness, its loneliness is peopled, and its silence made vocal from heaven. There is nothing now to conceal, but much to reveal, though the manner of it would seem strangely incongruous to Jewish thinking. And yet Jewish tradition may here prove both illustrative and helpful. That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, [1 In the curious story of His birth, related in the Jer. Talmud (Ber. ii. 3), He is said to have been born in 'the royal castle of Bethlehem;' while in the parallel narrative in the Midr. on Lament. i. 16, ed. W. p. 64 b) the somewhat mysterious expression is used But we must keep in view the Rabbinic statement that, even if a castle falls down, it is still called a castle (Yalkut, vol. ii. p. 60 b).] was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, 'the tower of the flock.' [a Targum Pseudo-Jon. on Gen. xxxv 21.] This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheepground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem. A passage in the Mishnah [b Shek. vii. 4.] leads to the conclusion, that the flocks, which pastured there, were destined for Temple-sacrifices, [2 In fact the Mishnah (Baba K. vii. 7) expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel, except in the wilderness, and the only flocks otherwise kept, would be those for the Temple-services (Baba K. 80 a).] and, accordingly, that the shepherds, who watched over them, were not ordinary shepherds. The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism, [1 This disposes of an inapt quotation (from Delitzsch) by Dr. Geikie. No one could imagine, that the Talmudic passages in question could apply to such shepherds as these.] on account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible. The same Mishnic passage also leads us to infer, that these flocks lay out all the year round, since they are spoken of as in the fields thirty days before the Passover, that is, in the month of February, when in Palestine the average rainfall is nearly greatest. [2 The mean of 22 seasons in Jerusalem amounted to 4.718 inches in December, 5.479 in January, and 5.207 in February (see a very interesting paper by Dr. Chaplin in Quart. Stat. of Pal. Explor. Fund, January, 1883). For 1876-77 we have these startling figures: mean for December, .490; for January, 1.595; for February, 8.750, and, similarly, in other years. And so we read: 'Good the year in which Tebheth (December) is without rain' (Taan. 6 b). Those who have copied Lightfoot's quotations about the flocks not lying out during the winter months ought, at least, to have known that the reference in the Talmudic passages is expressly to the flocks which pastured in 'the wilderness'. But even so, the statement, as so many others of the kind, is not accurate. For, in the Talmud two opinions are expressed. According to one, the 'Midbariyoth,' or 'animals of the wilderness,' are those which go to the open at the Passovertime, and return at the first rains (about November); while, on the other hand, Rabbi maintains, and, as it seems, more authoritatively, that the wilderness-flocks remain in the open alike in the hottest days and in the rainy season, i.e. all the year round (Bezah 40 a). Comp. also Tosephta Bezah iv. 6. A somewhat different explanation is given in Jer. Bezah 63 b.] Thus, Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, where shepherds watched the Temple-flocks all the year round. Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak.
DeleteInteresting. Worth reading. Pregnant with meaning.
DeleteBAYSIDER
Interesting set of scriptures, and it does bring some clarity!
ReplyDeleteFinally listened. Fascinating. I did not know the actual Claus lived that long ago. And a lot of other stuff. In our bible study last week we talked about leaving memorials for future generations to remember and praise God for His deeds. I did not know there was any of this stuff in some of our Christmas traditions. And that business about Zwarte Piet is amazing. Spain controlled The Netherlands for a long time. So it fits the history narrative that intersects with Squanto being sold (and redeemed) from that great slave market in Spain.
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Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteLike the song says, “The Weather Outside Is Frightful “
ReplyDeleteA good part of the country is getting slammed with what can only call Real Crappy Weather. A Gigantic Rain Storm will hit us yesterday and is turning into real frigid and a extreme temperature change. The rain will turn to winds and will bring very dangerous driving conditions, as the cold, and rain will bring “Black Ice” meaning Icy roads that are undetectable. . Temperatures will go to 7 degrees, and below zero windchills.
The frigid temperatures will certainly heard many of ht businesses that are counting on last minute shoppers, as well as the restaurants that are counting on Christmas Eve Celebrators. .
So, I guess the opening lines of the song might be appropriate for today.
The only good thing about the cold her in New York, is that the Roaches will be head for the Bahamas for the next few months.
Christmas blessings to you and Scherie, Ed. Where would we be without Christ?
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and all your readers..
ReplyDeleteNice presentation that ties things together between the various books!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this pulling together of sources within the Bible on the birth of Christ. This goes right along with a piece that John MacArthur presented regarding how Daniel was put over the the magi and, therefore, the magi of the Persian empire were seeking the birth of the King of the Jews.
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DeleteBAYSIDER
Where doe's the bible say there were 3 wise men ... I see wise men with 3 gifts ... Patrick
ReplyDeleteI don't believe it does.
DeleteIf I or my guest said it, it was only because of the common misconception making it's way into vocabulary.