Click here to download this podcast

It is interesting, is it not, that God would fail to make certain there was housing for Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.

Every detail of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ was prepared with precision; from the order of the constellation to the political and military structure and perfectly matching the dates of Daniel 9:24-26, written centuries before.

How is it possible God forgot to ensure there was a hotel room for them in the town?

There have been Christmas plays portraying in the inn keeper as evil because he would not give the expecting mother a room.

Was this a major oversight by Joseph or a divine mystery?

Forced by need, Joseph found a quiet stable on the edge of town and in the fields of Migdal Eder for his wife to give birth to their son.

There were shepherds in those fields keeping night watch over their sheep.

Some have said this is a certain indicator the timing would definitely not have been December. However, a more detailed study reveals this is not so certain.

The Mystery of a Stable

The law, in the Mishnah regarding sheep being raised for Passover, requires the sheep be in the fields year round. The sheep being raised in the fields of Migdal Eder were specifically for Passover.

The celebration of Passover is an “everlasting ordinance” given by the Father celebrating the night God delivered Israel from the death angel and from Egyptian slavery.

The first born child of every Egyptian family and the first born animal of every herd were to be killed that night. However, the death angel would pass over the home and herd of every Israelite home with the door post painted with the blood of a lamb

The instructions from God regarding the lamb and the blood were very specific.

“On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire — its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the l