From:    heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date:    Wed, 31 Dec 1997 01:49:21 +0000
Subject: The Birthplace of the Messiah

From:          Henry Hodgens
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       The Birthplace of the Messiah

Eddie,

A further refinement to Luana's note about Yeshua's birth in a Sukkah. 
In Micah 4: 8, we read --

"And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto
thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the
daughter of Jerusalem."

The phrase "tower of the flock", according to the Strong's, is a particular
location  called Migdal Eder, just outside of Beit Lechem (Bethlehem).  It 
seems the Levitical priests were require to raise the animals for Temple 
sacrifices within a prescribed radius of Jerusalem.  Those "suburbs" of 
Jerusalem that fell within that radius were called Bat Zion, daughters of 
Zion or Jerusalem.

The shepherds were not ignorant country bumpkins, but Levites who erected
towers (migdal) from which they watched over the sacrificial flocks.  Yeshua's
birth, then, probably occurred in a "temporary dwelling" adjacent to Migdal
Eder, a Levitical watch tower just outside Beit Lechem.  The Levitical
sheppards would recognize the Messiah wrapped in swaddling clothes, the
priestly undergarments.  Some of our Congregation have been to this site and
have reported that Beit Lechem can be seen in the distance.
Migdal can also be understood to be a stronghold.  What better place for THE
Tower of the Flock to be born!

Henry Hodgens

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