All my life I’ve heard that there is no mention of the drummer boy in the Bible and that we don’t know for sure that there were 3 wise men. We know there was more than one because it says men and we guess that there were 3 because there were 3 presents mentioned. But maybe 2 of them went together on a present; or maybe one man brought 2 presents. We do know that the wise men didn’t go to the manger; they went to a house. [Matt 2:11] So why are either of these included in manger scenes?
Several years ago I was given some thinking material when someone told me, “The Bible does not say that Mary rode on a donkey.” Oh man. Come on. There’s got to be something! Nope. No mention of Joseph and Mary having a donkey. I still leave the donkey in the manger scene because it says they went to a stable, and surely there was a donkey in there somewhere.
Now here’s my real question. Why don’t we include a midwife or another lady to help Mary? This was her first baby! You ladies can remember what it was like to be pregnant and go through that first labor and delivery. How many of you remember how your husband handled it? Do we assume young Mary was cool, calm, and collected to just have her baby in a strange stable far from home all by herself?
It’s just since I’ve had children that I’ve thought of Mary – young, large with child, far from home, in a stable – and thought that it would be nice for her to have a midwife or another experienced woman to help her. Maybe even her mother or mother-in-law was traveling with them to be taxed also.
I don’t mean to make light of the Bible in any way. It does tell us the most important facts and we really don’t need to know a run down of who exactly was around that special night. The most important fact is that Jesus was born so that He could die for me and for you.
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
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How funny that you should write this because I’ve been thinking the same thing. The Inn was FULL so you KNOW there were tons of people around, and men were not to be involved in this kind of thing – and women are SO going to get involved if they can. I’m thinking the innkeeper’s wife (at least) was there at least. =)
The Bible does not divulge details and where so many of these “ideas” came from is interesting – but the truth of the matter is that Jesus the Messiah WAS born and we can all sing “Glory to God in the Highest!!!”
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..New Christmas Traditions =-.
When I began to read this post, I confess I was a bit doubtful about what I might find. Surely no-one thinks the Bible mentions a drummer boy . . . isn’t it trotted out every year that we don’t know there were three kings? . . . they weren’t Kings etc. . . . What (dotty) angle were you about to put on it?
Yet this is a delightful post. It’s a ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ kind of post. You are right. While it is good to be clear what is said and what isn’t – it’s also a good idea to think about the people who didn’t get mentioned and to acknowledge them. And it’s just as much the case in our daily lives. Hurray for the ‘invisible’ people – let’s thoughtfully add some of them into our nativity scenes.
Thanks for this post.
Esther Montgomery
.-= Esther Montgomery´s last blog ..TALKING TO JANIE =-.