The Birthing Place

Here I sit, 5:39 p.m., in a lovely atrium, on comfortable furniture, listening to beautiful music, surrounded by lovely plants.  In front of me is a store, filled with precious little outfits and balloons and stuffed animals.  To my left is a mini-cafe.

I just returned from room E2, a labor and delivery room in a state-of-the-art hospital - - the Georgia hospital where more Georgia babies are born than any other.  My niece has been here for 12 hours, receiving excellent care (and a good number of pharmaceuticals), as she awaits the arrival of her baby son.  Another great-nephew, praise the Lord!

How different...how different from what Mary and Joseph faced.  I can't even imagine.

Some believe Jesus was not born in December, but during the Jewish feast of Trumpets1, which takes place in Sept-October, depending on the Jewish lunar-based calendar.  In the year 3 B.C.2 the Feast of Trumpets took place in September.
If that is truly the case, then the weather in Jerusalem/Bethlehem (they are very close together geographically) could have been uncomfortably cold, especially at night.  The climate of that area is very similar to the metro Atlanta suburban areas in which many of my blog readers live.  If that describes you, then just imagine a Friday night football type of climate.
We know Jesus was born at night, based on the stellar astronomical display witnessed by the shepherds. Chances are, it was a cold night.

Second, Mary and Joseph were forced to stay in ... a stable?  That's what we have been commonly taught, isn't it?  But, if you re-read Luke 2 (the only biblical account we have of this story), you will find no mention of a stable.  Nor will you find an innkeeper, that turns the holy family away.  We do find mention of a manger (3 mentions - - vs. 7, 12, 16) and an "inn" - - vs. 7.
It is interesting to note in vs. 6 that the couple had been in Bethlehem for some time before Mary went into labor.  "While they were there..." (vs. 6) implies that they did not just ride into Bethlehem, after which Mary proceeded to give birth to Jesus right away.  Where were they staying when they first arrived?  One could deduce they were staying with relatives.  It is a reasonable assumption put forward by many.3

One reason for the innkeeper confusion is the poor translation from Greek to English of the word, kataluma.  Jesus used this same word (in the Greek, kataluma) to refer to a "guest room", the Upper Room of The Last Supper.  These are the only two times this word is used in the New Testament.  See, there is no good translation of the Greek kataluma into English.  Literally, the word means "to loosen down".  In a slang way, you might say this area/room was a place for visitors to "hang loose" or "let their hair down".4 
So, there most certainly was no inn.  There IS a bonafide Greek word for "inn", and we see it used in the story of The Good Samaritan.  It is where the Samaritan took the man that had been beaten nearly to death.  That word is pandocheion.

Where then does the manger come from?  If the guest room was overflowing, where DID they go? Many biblical archeologists have discovered that homes of that era in the Judean hill country featured a lower level, a first floor, where the family's animals would be housed, especially in times of inclement weather.  It is entirely possible that Mary and Joseph were sent to stay in the lower level of the home of one of Joseph's relatives, where they had been staying for a few days.  Animals were indeed present in this basement, or first floor, if you will.  And, there was a feeding trough, or manger, there as well.

Here's another bit of plausibility.  According to Source 4 below, some houses' guest quarters were sort of like a campground, near a water source.  There would have certainly been a place for guests' animals to be kept, in this scenario.  Keep in mind, though, the biblical account does not mention animals specifically.  Their presence has been assumed because of the three mentions of the manger.  Of course, you know what often happens when we "assume"...

The Cave Version:  A 2nd century A.D. false gospel, not included in the New Testament canon, The Protevangelium of James, contends Jesus was born in a cave on the outskirts of Bethlehem.  This theory lacks credibility because the author committed so many egregious errors in the writing of the work.

So, the point is, no matter whether a guest room, a campground, a stable....
Jesus was born in less-than-comfortable set of circumstances, probably with Mary and Joseph dealing with the birth alone, except for the presence of God who most surely surrounded them.

Why God does AS He does is surely a mystery to me.  Aside from fulfilling scripture (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6) by having Jesus born in Bethlehem, the House of Bread, the City of David, I'd have had Jesus born in the most elegant circumstances of the day.  Wouldn't you?
Yet, He was born in a nameless place where animals were kept, with a food trough for His bassinet.  The lowliest of circumstances.  No high-profile birth, no elegant surroundings....

Perhaps God did things this way to convey an amazing message - - that the transcendent God condescended to come to us.  Instead of coming to Earth as a regent, a pampered prince, He was born in humility, as any, ordinary human baby, and in lowlier circumstances than many.  This conveys how accessible and available He is, with no high-falutin' to hinder our approach.  The Lord of Lords came to us humbly, and his first bed was a manger.


Sources:

1     http://restoringourjewishroots.blogspot.com/2009/09/yeshua-born-sept-11-3-bc.html

2     https://www.wnd.com/2013/08/was-jesus-born-sept-11-3-b-c/

3     https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/christmas/born-in-a-barn-stable/

4     https://www.beliefnet.com/love-family/holidays/christmas/was-jesus-really-born-in-a-stable.aspx?p=6

Irredeemable?

Good morning,

Do you know someone or some situation that you believe to be "irredeemable", unfixable, hopelessly broken?  As I said in the last post, "If you've lived long enough, you've experienced this."

Today we are going to examine the life of a woman whom the Jews, the "people of God" would not have given any attention (much less respect), under ordinary circumstances.  Yet, she is named in a list of people who had tremendous faith in Jehovah God.

Let's look at Hebrews 11:31.

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

Yes, Rahab was her name.  She was not only a whore; she was the owner/operator of a whorehouse, which was built into the wall of a great city, Jericho (Joshua 2:15).
The story, which took place nearly 1500 years before Jesus was born, is recorded in Joshua 2 and Joshua 6.  Here is what was happening.

The Hebrew nation, the Jews, had already begun to claim the Land promised to them by God.  They had conquered a couple of kingdoms on the east side of the Jordan River.  The city of Jericho lay on the west side of the Jordan.  Jericho was a key city in the land of Canaan.  Its location was such that, if Jericho was conquered, there would be easy access to other strategic cities in the Promised Land.

However, Jericho was a heavily fortified city.  It was surrounded by a stone wall that was very tall and very thick.  Houses were built into the inside of the wall in order to make it stronger.  Rahab's house of prostitution was one of those houses.  The outside wall of her house was the actual outside wall of the city.  Do you get the picture?

The people of Jericho were part of the Amorite kingdom, a group of very violent, evil, pagan people who had existed back to the time of Abraham, over 2000 years earlier.  These people were so bad that God had ordered them to be totally exterminated in Deuteronomy 20:17.  These folks were the reason God had given Abraham and his descendants rights to The Promised Land of Canaan in the first place.

The Hebrew commander, Joshua, sent two young men into Jericho to gather information that would be useful to the army's general and would help him plan the attack (Joshua 2:1).  Where did they choose to get lodging for the night?  At Rahab's whorehouse.  Why do you think they did that?

Well, I don't know much about whorehouses, but I do know this:  the people who operate them would have to be good at keeping secrets.  Right?  So, that was one reason, and the other was the fact that Rahab's house was in such a great location, should they need to escape quickly.

Imagine Rahab's surprise when she discovered these two men were not at her business to use her women!  That must have come as a shock!  We read in Joshua 2:11 Rahab telling the two spies that the people of Jericho were terrified of the Hebrews, because of their battle victories on the other side of the Jordan.

Soon, Rahab found herself in a terrible predicament.  The ruler of Jericho found out that the two spies were at her house.  She had two choices:  she could either turn the men over to the police; or, she could help them escape.  There was probably a huge financial reward offered to her if she turned them in.  At that moment, Rahab made a decision that would not only change her life, but would change the course of human history forever.  She decided to protect the Hebrew spies.  She hid them under "stalks of flax".  Have you ever seen flax growing?  I have not.  I imagine that these would be like cornstalks.  It has been suggested that Rahab kept these on the roof of her house for the very purpose of hiding men when jealous wives came looking for them.  And, this came in handy when she made the decision to hide the Hebrew spies.

When the police asked her where the men were, she misdirected them.  Basically, she lied.  Lying was her way of life at that time; so, she thought nothing about it.  We are not admiring Rahab's lying, but instead her faith in the Lord God Almighty.  When the police went off in the wrong direction to look for the men, Rahab tossed the two spies out the window of her house.
No, not really...what she did was to help them escape down the wall of the city (which was part of her house) through a window.  (Again, no doubt, she had had to do that in the past.)

By deciding to protect the spies, Rahab turned her back on the life she had known.  She knew that her decision could cost her everything.  This is why she asked that, in exchange for her help, her family be spared when the Hebrews attacked Jericho.  She must have learned a lot from the spies about their God, and God's Spirit must have touched her, because she decided to put her life and everything she owned into His mighty hands.

Rahab turned to Jehovah God out of fear, but that is okay.  We read in Psalm 111:10 that the reverence, respect, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Let's read Joshua 2:17-21.

17 So the men said to her: “We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. 19 So it shall be thatwhoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.”

21 Then she said, “According to your words, so be it.” And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

The Word of God is so beautiful.  God gave us this sign in the story of Rahab to remind us of the blood of the Passover lamb, painted on the doors of the Hebrews in Egypt. The red cord that Rahab hung in the window the spies escaped from also hints of what He was going to do 1500 years later when the blood of Jesus Christ was spilled to save us all from the destruction of our sin.

When the angel of death was sent to Egypt to kill all the firstborn children, it "passed over" the Hebrew homes because they had the blood of the Passover lambs painted on the doors.  The Hebrews in Joshua's day "passed over" Rahab's house, sparing her family's lives, because the red cord hung from her window (Joshua 2:22-23).  God forgives our sin when the blood of Jesus, God's own Passover Lamb, is painted on our hearts.  (Did you realize that Jesus was crucified during the Passover celebration?)

So, what happened to Rahab after she and her family were spared while the city of Jericho was destroyed all around her?  It appears from Joshua 6:25 that she lived out the rest of her life a heroine among the Hebrew people.  She is not mentioned again in the Old Testament.

But, look at this:  Rahab, that pagan whore, is mentioned on the first page of the New Testament.  Look at Matthew 1:5 (NKJV) -- -

Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse...

And, Jesse was the father of King David!

What??!!  Yes, Rahab is in the ancestral line, the "family tree" of Jesus Christ.  The author John MacArthur1 points out that there are 5 women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus.  "Three of them were Gentiles.  Three of them were disgraced because of their own sin."  All of them had experienced what it was like to be an outcast, to have some sort of notoriety attached to their reputations.
1.  Tamar (Genesis 38:13-30)
2.  Rahab (Joshua 2 and 6)
3.  Ruth (Ruth 1:3)
4.  Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)
5.  Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ (Luke 1 and 2)
They were women the world would have called "unfixable", "irredeemable", hopelessly broken.  Yet, the grace of God was poured out on each of them .  Because they trusted in Him, had faith in Him He was able to do amazing things through their lives.

So, the next time you are tempted to devalue yourself or someone else, remember this:  Jesus did not come to save "the good people".  He can only save those who realize their utter sinfulness.  In Mark 2:17, we read that Jesus Christ "did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance". The stink of Rahab's sin, and the stink of our own, merely magnifies and glorifies the divine grace of our mighty God and Savior, who transformed her by His amazing grace.

Precious Father, "not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to Your mercy You have saved us." (Titus 3:5)  None of us is every beyond the reach of your marvelous grace!  Every day we are confronted with making choices, seemingly little choices, whether to side with You or to walk our own way.  May we choose You, always, Father!  Please give us the faith to choose You, and even though they are not fun times, we will thank you for those circumstances that exercise and strengthen our faith.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

MacArthur, John. "Rahab: A Horrible Life Redeemed." Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do with You. Nashville, TN: Nelson, 2005. 51-67. Print.