You’ve seen those greeting cards that show Joseph along with Mary on the back of a donkey making their way to Bethlehem in the wintry snow. Have you ever wondered: could Jesus have been born during the close of the year, perhaps even with snow on the ground?
Snow is not uncommon in this part of Palestine every 3 or 4 years. At an elevation of 2,400 feet, Bethlehem is in the desert. But desert means dry, not necessarily hot. Where I live in Colorado is officially the high desert, and we frequently have snow, though we’re at an elevation of 6,500 feet. In early January 2013, there were 12 inches of snow across parts of Palestine. But the Biblical narrative doesn’t say there was snow on the ground.
It says, “…shepherds watched their flocks by night…” You may think that shepherds don’t usually have sheep on the hillsides during the Winter but rather in the Spring. And that would be correct in thinking that, usually. But there were flocks of a special kind of sheep, those designated for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. They were kept all year round near Bethlehem at Beit Sahur, the “Place of the Night Watch.” Micah 4:8 provides a more precise location: Migdal Edar, or the “Tower of the Flock.”
