Tag: kings

The search for the Christmas story and the missing manger

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Join me as we search for the Christmas story and the missing manger in the Bible and learn a simple way to remember what you find.

This podcast episode was inspired by a two-part blog series, “The Christmas story and the missing manger.” You can read the original posts here:

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 1

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 2

Another podcast episode with a Christmas connection:

Christmas carols in the Scriptures – Angels We Have Heard on High

A bike and the Bible – 1 and 2 Kings to Nehemiah – part 9

Like the second tunnel of the bike ride, 1 and 2 Kings to Nehemiah feels like a shorter tunnel, but is still somewhat dark and unfamiliar.

Follow me as we ride past these next several books of the Bible and illuminate them just a little.

Second tunnel

After the stretch of shared road out in the open on the bike trail, the sight of another tunnel brought out all the fear and apprehension of the first one.

Here’s what the first tunnel looked like:

tunnel ahead

After the shock wore off, I started to fumble for my bike light, remembering how dark the initial tunnel had been.

Heading into 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah can feel a bit daunting, especially if you actually start to read these books. I once said the Kings saga reads like an obituary. A lot of names and how long (or short) they reigned. A first look can feel really overwhelming.

History books

Here are some thoughts to help us get our bearings as we travel the landscape of these history books.

Like 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles are parts one and two of longer books. These two sets of books have a bit of overlap to them, though they were written at different times for different purposes.

1 and 2 Kings is the log of all the kings of the Northern and Southern kingdoms.

1 and 2 Chronicles is the history of the kings of the Southern kingdom as recorded by the historian or chronicler written much later.

1 Kings

Confused yet? You don’t need to be. Something really significant happens in 1 Kings that’s helpful to keep in mind.

As a reminder, Samuel anoints David as king in 2 Samuel. David’s son Solomon becomes king in 1 Kings and is called to build the Lord’s Temple. The first eleven chapters of 1 Kings cover the life of King Solomon.

Kingdom split

Solomon’s son Rehoboam follows him as king but the leaders of the kingdom don’t all follow Rehoboam’s novice decision. His choice of direction leads to the kingdom split. The Israelites split off from Rehoboam’s leadership and he is left charge over what is called the kingdom of Judah.

You don’t have to remember these details, just keep in mind that the kingdom splits into the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah, and it originates in 1 Kings.

 2 Kings

The second half of 1 Kings can get a little confusing as it switches back and forth between the kings from both kingdoms. 2 Kings carries on the alternating narrative with some kings receiving pages of storyline while others only see dishonorable mention.

Kingdoms fall

In 2 Kings 17 the kingdom of Israel falls to Assyria.

Jerusalem falls to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzer at the conclusion of 2 Kings.

1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles rolls a bit like the book of Numbers with extensive lists of names starting with Adam, the first man. Talk about tracing your genealogy.

David as king

Chapter ten of 1 Chronicles begins a narrative of David as king that carries through the end of part one of the chronicles.

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles begins with Solomon’s reign and includes the split with Rehoboam’s rule. From there the focus is on the kings of Judah.

Whew. Did you make it?

Kingdom highlights

Here’s a quick recap of some of the kingdom highlights:

King Solomon was David’s son. Rehoaboam was Solomon’s son.

King David was a warrior.

King Solomon built the temple.

King Rehoaboam split the kingdom.

Ezra and Nehemiah

The summary of Ezra and Nehemiah goes much quicker.

Ezra begins with the return of the exiles.

Nehemiah continues the history with the rebuilding of the city wall.

What to expect

Much like the first long tunnel, after a while even in the dark I knew a bit what to expect.

As I traveled this shorter tunnel I noticed it didn’t feel slanted like the first long one. Although I fumbled for my light heading into this tunnel, the ride through it was much more manageable. Also, because it didn’t slant down toward the gutters it felt doable. And I had been riding long enough now that I had a sense of how to navigate it, even if all I knew was that it would be confusing.

I don’t know about you, but I felt a certain level of comfort knowing that.

This tunnel would be dark and confusing, but I’ve been through dark and confusing so I know a bit how to cope and navigate under such circumstances.

And hopefully now you do, too.

Trying to remember what was in 1 and 2 Samuel? Here’s a quick review:

A bike and the Bible – Joshua to 1 and 2 Samuel – part 8

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 2

In the last post we saw no sign of the manger, but we did discover the wise men and what Jesus did in ministry. Like the wise men, we are searching for the Christ Child in the manger. Let’s see what the other two Gospels contain.

The Gospel of Luke

Birth stories

Let’s look at the Gospel of Luke. The first chapter is filled with baby stories. Here we read early childhood stories of John the Baptist and Jesus, even stories from before they were born.

Mary

In Luke we hear from Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Matthew we heard about Joseph.

Joseph and Mary

Check out chapter two. Do you see Joseph and Mary arriving in Bethlehem?

We’ve found the manger!

Keep reading. Look who else is arriving.

The shepherds and the angels.

We’ve located the rest of them in Luke.

The manger

So how do we remember that the manger is in Luke’s gospel?

Well, when I was a kid, every year we would watch a Christmas Special. Near the end of the special, a boy with a blanket would walk onto the stage of a Christmas Pageant and tell the story of the birth of Jesus, the nativity story.

You might have seen it too.

The story told by Linus is in Luke.

The Gospel of John

If we’ve found the manger in Luke, do we need to keep looking?

Yes. We’ve come this far. Join me as we glance at the Gospel of John.

In the beginning was the Word

The first chapter of John starts very differently from the rest of the Gospels. When I first started reading the Bible, John’s gospel was confusing to me. I didn’t understand what he meant by the Word. I liked the words “life” and “light” but the rest didn’t make much sense to me.

John the Baptist

The first name we see is John. John the Baptist, not John, the author of the book or Gospel of John. Jesus doesn’t arrive in chapter one until John’s testimony. Or does He?

Jesus

Did you notice verse 14?

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” John 1:14a NIV

That’s Jesus. Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the light.

We may have located the manger in Luke, but here we see the gift revealed. Jesus come to earth in the flesh to dwell among us.

John’s gospel reveals the gift. John reveals Jesus.

The Christmas story and the missing manger part 1

Where’s the manger?

Ever wonder where the Christmas story manger scene is in the Bible? You know, the story with the shepherds and the angels. I heard it read so many times as a child, but when I started reading out of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, I couldn’t always find it.

When I read through the Bible with some friends and we reached the Gospels, those first four books of the New Testament, I made some observations that have helped me remember how they each start and where to find the nativity story with Jesus in the manger.

The Gospel of Matthew

Genealogy

Matthew’s gospel starts with a list of names that many people skip. Just FYI, that’s the genealogy of Jesus. Those names may mean nothing to you now, but if you stick with it, you might just be surprised at how many names you do recognize. That’s what happened for us.

Joseph

Just after the list, Joseph arrives on the scene. We hear about the coming Messiah, but we don’t find the Christmas story here. We’ll move on for now, after all, we’re in search of the nativity story. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to Matthew’s gospel in more detail in another post. Although we don’t find the manger here, we do find some treasure besides the gifts that were brought for the Christ Child.

Wise men

Speaking of searching, did you notice the wise men searching for the Christ Child? Some translations refer to them as Magi. Many of us grew up hearing about the three kings mentioned in the hymn, present in the Christmas pageant, and gathered around the nativity set. Although they show up in many places around Christmas time, they are only found in one gospel, the Gospel of Matthew.

My method to memorize utilizes Magi. Matthew’s gospel mentions the Magi.

The Gospel of Mark

Messenger

Moving on to Mark, we first hear about a messenger, John the Baptist.

Good information, but where’s the manger?

The first real mention of Jesus is of him in the middle of ministry.

Where are the wise men? Where are the shepherds? What about the angels?

Ministry

Mark’s gospel, full of many stories of Jesus, begins with a messenger, then moves quickly to Jesus in ministry. This is a wonderful gospel to learn about what Jesus did, but with no manger here, we’ll keep moving.

What to memorize? Mark’s gospel moves from messenger to ministry.

Two more Gospels to go. We’ll take a look at Luke and John in the next post.