The Tower of the Flock

Every village has a story: even an insignificant spot like Bethlehem, called "little among the thousands of Judah" in Micah 5:2.

Oh, this town certainly had its moments in Jewish history. Jacob buried his beloved Rachel here (Genesis 35). Boaz and Ruth married and lived in this area (Ruth 4). David's hometown and the place of his anointing are right here (1 Samuel 16). And even after speaking of Bethlehem's lowliness, Micah prophesies that a ruler in Israel will come out of it.

But to learn the story of Bethlehem’s most significant moment in redemptive history, we are taken away from the village, to the lush green hills and fields outside of town. Let's examine this story through the lens of Luke 2.

Siloam: Eighteen Dead Men

Sometimes the Bible introduces us to a historical event in one verse, only for all memory of that event to vanish forever by the next verse. The event in Siloam that Jesus mentions in the fourth verse of Luke 13 did happen, but any remembrance of it disappears from Scripture by verse five. We are left to contemplate the meaning without further context or explanation. This reminds us that events mentioned in the Bible are part of the daily drama of real human lives, just as our lives unfold daily.

Consider the eighteen men who lost their lives in this event. These eighteen men had an occupation that involved constructing a tower in Siloam. These eighteen men had families. These eighteen men had a place to live and friends with which to spend time. They went to bed the night before, knowing they would go to work the next day. Imagine them waking up that morning and having breakfast before heading to the job site. But they never made it back home at the end of the day. They now had grieving family and friends dealing with a sudden calamity. Things that happen in the Bible affect real human beings.

To understand what these men were building and why, let us first consider the historical importance of Siloam, the southeast corner of Jerusalem. 

Samaritans

The following article is part of the "Biblical Obscurities" blog series by Mike Velthouse, author of Journey...

The House of Annas

We must understand that Annas and Caiaphas were not simply innocent bystanders in Jesus' death, forced to be involved in the situation only because of their offices. They were willing plotters and participants. They were not awakened out of sleep during the night of Jesus' illegal trial, quickly putting on some clothes and freshening up, so they could ask Jesus a couple of questions to make everything seem legitimate. They were lying in wait for him. This was finally the moment for which they had been waiting! In cold blood, they were responsible for murdering our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gehenna

Sometimes the Bible takes us to scary places. Think of the cottage of the witch of Endor, which King Saul visited at night, hoping she would bring back the spirit of the dead Samuel (1 Samuel 28). Or remember the cemetery in the land of the Gadarenes, where a demon-possessed man lived at night among the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones, before Jesus healed him (Mark 5). We are going to visit another such scary place today...In the New Testament, Gehenna is synonymous with hell (also called Sheol). Jesus employed this word (“hell”) eleven times as the name for the place of ultimate and eternal fiery destruction and separation for those outside of the Kingdom of Christ.

Maschil

Some of the most interesting parts of the psalms are the subtitles found under specific chapter headings throughout this book of the Bible. We can learn much about a psalm from what we see in these brief statements. Sometimes they share with us the historical setting behind the writing. For example, Psalm 3 says it's "a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son." Psalm 57's subtitle tells us that it was written by David "when he fled from Saul in the cave." Other times, these subtitles let us know what kind of psalm it is. There are psalms of praise. There are psalms as prayers. There are psalms as songs. There are psalms of degrees, which show that a psalm was sung by the people as their families or groups of families walked up the elevation to the tabernacle at Mount Zion, where they gathered for worship. Significantly, thirteen psalms have a very mysterious word as their subtitle. Maschil.