For many Christians, the birth of Jesus is familiar territory. A manger, a stable, shepherds under a star-filled sky. But Messianic Rabbi Jason Sobel says when the story is viewed through its original Jewish context, it becomes far more intentional, prophetic and breathtaking than most realize.
Appearing on The 700 Club, Sobel explained that Jesus was not born in a wooden barn at all. “He wasn’t born in a barn,” Sobel said. “He was actually born in a cave.”
That single detail, he explained, changes everything.
According to Sobel, the location of Jesus’ birth was no accident, nor was the identity of the shepherds who first received the angelic announcement. “These weren’t ordinary shepherds,” he said. “They were priestly shepherds. They were raising the Passover lambs for the Temple in Jerusalem.”
Those lambs, Sobel noted, were born and cared for in caves surrounding Bethlehem. “Those lambs were brought into the caves around Bethlehem when they were born,” he said. “So they see Him born in the same place that the Passover lambs were born.”
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Even the sign given to the shepherds carried a meaning they would instantly recognize. “Behold, you’ll see a baby lying in swaddling cloth, lying in a manger,” Sobel quoted, asking why such a specific sign mattered. “Why were those signs of any signs that could have been given?” he said.
Sobel believes the answer lies in priestly practice. “I believe He was swaddled in not ordinary garments but in priestly garments,” he said, noting that sacrificial lambs were wrapped carefully at birth to prevent blemish.
What makes the account even more striking, Sobel said, is how Jesus’ birth quietly points forward to His death. “His birth in a stone cave and put in a stone manger points to His burial in a cave,” he said. “And His being wrapped in swaddling cloth at His birth points to the linen cloth that He’s buried in as well.”
To Sobel, the parallel is impossible to dismiss. “So His birth and His burial are connected,” he said. “He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.”
Sobel, author of Transformed by the Messiah and a consultant for The Chosen, said this kind of detail reveals a depth to Scripture that feels anything but random. “The beginning and the end are all connected,” he said, a reminder that the Christmas story, when fully understood, carries far more weight than sentiment alone.
Far from diminishing the wonder of Jesus’ birth, Sobel said these connections make it even more astonishing. A Messiah born not just humbly, but prophetically. His mission was woven into stone, cloth and location from the very first moment.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
