Once they would know to purchase the libation and meal offering, this would be out of pocket expense, they would then abandon the animal. With the destruction of the Temple, the offering of the paschal came to an end. In fact the shepherds may have been on the same land that Boaz redeemed for Naomi and passed on to his son Jesse, Davids father. Nearby suggests that the shepherds were in Bethlehems economic zone, the area that stretched mainly eastward into the Beit Sahour basin, a region dotted with grain Where were the sheep raised for Temple sacrifices? When was Yeshua really born? On the ground floor, a room was designated for the delivery and protection of these special lambs. All Rights Reserved. Every firstborn male lamb from the area around Bethlehem was considered holy, set aside for sacrifice in Jerusalem. According to the Pronounced: nee-SAHN, Origin: Hebrew, Jewish month, usually coinciding with March-April. I grew up on a farm and we raised sheep. Where was the tower of the flock located? Which is correct poinsettia or poinsettia? Where did the sacrificial lamb come from? But he did understand that God was all-powerful and that He was good, holy, and righteous. The symbolism of the eating of the paschal lamb with the matzah and bitter herbs was a reminder to the Israelites of an enslaved past. This was an exception to the general rule that all festival offerings are to be sacrificed on the day of the festival. I want to thank Habib for helping this entire experience come to life for this group from Wabash College. I am taking for granted that Edersheim, who was a rabbinic Jew and expert scholar turned Christian scholar, knew what he was talking about when I quoted him for my article. Fortunately, God had His plan of redemption through Jesus, which He had establishedfrom the very foundations of the world (Romans 5:1221; 1 Peter 1:1820; Revelation 13:8; John 1:29). The cave provided protection from the natural predators ready to snatch the newborns away. Rachel and Jacob would one dayweep no more, as both would share eternal life in the presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lets look at two passages in Genesis (Genesis 35:521 and Genesis 48:7): And they journeyed: and the terror of the God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. Migdal Eder was a tower used from ancient times by the Levitical shepherds to protect their sheep and lambs from enemies and from wild beasts. Both are component parts of the same festival, the festival of Passover. The hills around Bethlehem were home to the hundreds of lambs used in ritual worship at the Temple. I am currently researching the shepherds from Luke and shepherds/shepherding throughout the Bible. The hills around Bethlehem were home to the hundreds of lambs used in ritual worship at the Temple. 1 Where were the sheep raised for Temple sacrifices? I think shepherds could have been out in December with their flocks as far as that aspect of the nativity story. He was born in Bethlehem, at the birthing place of the sacrificial lambs that were offered in the Temple in Jerusalem which Micah 4:8 calls the tower of the flock., In his classic book, The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah (1883; Latest Edition, 1993), Alfred Edersheim (1825 1889), a Messianic Jew, had great insights regarding the birth of Jesus from a Hebrew-Christian perspective.