RUSSELL SANDERS
12-26-2025
THE CHRISTMAS SERIES – PART 6
THE MIGDAL EDER AND THE SHEPHERDS

The birth of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, revealed in the New Testament, is most appreciated, understood, and validated as truth when you see and understand the prophecies of Him in the Old Testament that were given hundreds of years earlier. Isaiah, among others, prophesied His birth, His death, and His rulership in the future kingdom. Micah 5:2 even gave Bethlehem as His birthplace.

There were also things in the New Testament era that were prophetic about Jesus’ birth and death. Aa good example of this has to do with one of the most remarkable stories of Jesus birth relating to the shepherds and their sheep, an untold story never shared in church.

The only story we ever hear is the one in Luke 2:8-20 about the angel’s announcement, their trip to the manger, and how they told it to everyone all around, but that is the extent of the story told to us. However, there is so much more that is prophetic in the story which we never hear about.

There were shepherds and flocks all over Israel, but these were not just any shepherds and not just any sheep. These were very special. A passage written in the Jewish Mishnah (Shekalim 7:4) leads to the conclusion that these were the sheep from which came the lambs used for the sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem. As the lambs were born, these were the shepherds specifically assigned to handle the birthing and care of these lambs. These were birthed, kept, and raised at a very special sheepfold in Bethlehem called “the tower of the flock”, or in Hebrew, the “Migdal Eder.” This “tower of the flock” is spoken of in Micah 4:8, “and thou, Oh Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shalt come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” The first dominion (rulership), the kingdom come, it all speaks of the coming of a ruler who proceeds out of the “tower of the flock,” where Jesus, our sacrificial lamb was born. He is the “stronghold.”

When the angel announced the birth and referred to the manger, the shepherds knew exactly where to go. The manger, a food trough for the sacrificial lambs, had been vacated (emptied) because all the sheep were being kept in the field day and night. They promptly headed to the Migdal Eder where they found the infant Messiah. He was born there because it was the only space available that would give them the needed privacy for a birthing event.

Just as the sacrificial lambs for the Temple in Jerusalem were born in the Tower of The Flock in Bethlehem, so also was the sacrificial Lamb of God born in the Tower of the Flock in Bethlehem to be sacrificed in Jerusalem.

This was all set up prophetically in scripture centuries ahead of time. The story in Luke fulfills the prophetic words and the typology found in the Old Testament right down to the smallest detail.

It was no accident that there was “no room in the Inn.” It was no accident that Jesus was birthed at the Migdal Eder where the sacrificial lambs were kept. He would grow up to become the sacrificial lamb of God for the remission of our sins in the New Testament. The Migdal Eder was the sheepfold for fulfilling God’s plan of redemption. That is why out of the thousands of shepherds throughout Israel, only these particular ones were given the announcements.

These shepherds came to the manger at the sheepfold, the Migdal Eder, and beheld the newborn who was to be our Good Shepherd. They glorified, praised God, and spread the word to everyone.