Luke 2:12 Commentary and Bible Study

The shepherds are given a sign for three reasons. First of all it is to confirm the prophecy of the angels of God, so that when they get into Bethlehem and go looking for the Saviour, they will find him in exactly the circumstances they were told. So it’s a sign to confirm what the angel has said. Then of course it’s a practical matter: they are going to have to locate the child. This is the sign like a signpost to find him. They have to be sure they have found the right infant; there may be other infants in Bethlehem. But there is another reason. ‘Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ This sign is to point to the fact that the Saviour is going to be generally rejected. Where they find the child is significant, and is a token of his being rejected even by his own people. At his birth, the infant Christ could not find a home among lowly people, but was assigned lodging with the animals. This shall be a sign unto you, this will be a great indication of his ministry and what he will do and how he will live. Christ was not ashamed to be born in such circumstances, though he was bereft of all honour among men. He embraced his God given humble beginnings as part of that emptying of himself that was part of his commission.The sign comes in two parts and each part is a lesson. He will be wrapped in swaddling clothes, the first thing about that is that it is perfectly normal. Sometimes we think that this means he was dressed in rags, indicative of his birth in poverty. But it was perfectly normal in those times. Right up to the Middle Ages and later the swaddling of a child was common. I have read an expert who said that the swaddling of Bible times was probably much looser than the rather dangerous swaddling that came later, when the bands, the strips of cloth, were bound too tightly. So the whole custom has been long rejected because of its potential danger. However the swaddling clothes tell the shepherds that this babe treasured and treated very beautifully, a perfectly ordinary sight. But also Christ, the Saviour of the world is laid in a manger, a place for animals to lie, or more specifically an animal feeding trough. He has come for humiliation. He has come to live out his life, and to be buffeted, to be tempted, to be tried, to be rejected by man. Mary who remembered Gabriel’s prophesies about the child must have wondered at such an occurrence. Should she snatch him up and search desperately for a golden crib such as princes lie in? No, this was what God had ordained according to his infinite wisdom, and she must look on with wonder. The shepherds gaze upon him. They were seeing God incarnate lying in a manger.