PROVO — Donna B. Nielsen knows more about the Christmas story and the birth of Christ than most.
For instance, she understands that a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was probably tightly bound in a square of red cloth with embroidered bands holding the fabric in place so the baby looked like a tiny mummy. While Renaissance paintings depict the manger as a wooden trough, it was more likely the traditional stone basin. The mangers in Israel are almost without exception made of hollowed-out limestone.
Nielsen studied ancient Jewish marriage and family customs for her doctorate. She discussed her findings at Campus Education Week last summer at Brigham Young University and has written two books about Jesus' time and the society at the time: "The Beloved Bridegroom" and "The Holy Child Jesus: Notes on the Nativity."
She has just released an informational CD on the subject: "The Holy Child Jesus." "Every piece of information in the story has something to tell us," she said.
Nielsen knows just how great the scandal could have been for Mary — to be found pregnant outside of wedlock.
The penalty given in scripture for unfaithfulness during betrothal was death by stoning. Nielsen said. Mary had to trust that God would protect her as her pregnancy became evident and it was known that she did not yet live with Joseph as his wife. She had to have faith, as well, that the Lord would protect her from being ostracized from the community, which would result in her son being forever branded illegitimate. And finally she had to trust that God would help her explain to Joseph what had happened, so that she would not be divorced from the betrothal relationship.
Joseph and Jesus were indeed carpenters but regarded highly, Nielsen said. From Joseph, Jesus learned the trade of Tekton, meaning not just a joiner or carpenter but a master builder, someone who worked on the various materials needed for the construction work, including timber and iron but most frequently stone. Jesus and his foster father were able craftsmen, skilled in the uses of a variety of materials.
Carpenters were regarded as particularly learned. If a difficult problem was under discussion, the rabbis would ask: "Is there a carpenter among us, of the son of a carpenter, who can solve the problem for us?" The high esteem in which carpenters were held in Israel counters the common idyllic notion that Jesus and Joseph were simple laborers.
"God could have made it easier for Mary and Joseph," Nielsen said. "He could have smoothed the way, but he did not. For Mary and Joseph, there would be no happy wedding, bridesmaids, feasts, laughing children, gifts or good wishes."
Mary and Joseph were asked to accept the disgrace as if they had sinned. Joseph was told to name the child, an act interpreted as an admission of paternity.
In the eyes of the people, either Joseph was a weak man who could not control his passions or, worse yet, a fool duped into raising another man's son. Such matters would not be soon forgotten in a close-knit country village.
Nielsen told how Mary was expected to gather her belongings and go quietly to the house of Joseph. She would go with relief, certainly, that her beloved no longer doubted her and that he was one with her in understanding the marvelous revelation of God. But she would go under the disdainful eyes of friends and relatives, and perhaps the sorrow of her parents, which she could do nothing to alleviate. The cloud of suspicion was made worse because there could be neither repentance nor explanation, only passive endurance.
Another interesting bit of information involved the shepherds, Nielsen said. Shepherds at the time were outcasts from polite society in Israel. Theirs was a generally despised profession. Yet it was fitting that the good news about the Lamb of God should be given first to shepherds. "Shepherds were not easily fooled," Nielsen said. "They were practical men who had little to do with fantasy. If they said they saw angels and went and found the Messiah, then you could believe them."
In the history of Israel, and to the mind of the people, Bethlehem was uniquely the city of David. It was from the line of David that God was to send the great deliverer of his people. The prophet Micah foretold it. It was in Bethlehem that the Jews expected David's greater Son to be born; it was there that they expected God's Anointed One to come into the world.
The three gifts given to Jesus by the wise men are full of Old Testament symbolism. Gold is the symbol of royalty or kingship, emphasizing that Jesus is a king. Frankincense — part of the special scent burned on the altar of incense within the Holy Place as well as the smoke penetrated into God's presence in the Holy of Holies itself was a symbol of deity. Frankincense affirms Jesus as God. Myrrh was associated in the Old Testament with death and embalming.
By giving these gifts to the family of Joseph, the wise men provided the income for the family to escape to Egypt, allowing them to escape the murderous reign of Herod the Great.
"The Christmas story is a story for everyone," Nielsen said. "In the words of an angel, 'Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."'
Good tidings can be translated as "good news," meaning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, said Nielsen.
If you want to know more:
To order the CD, e-mail Deseret Book, holychildapr6@gmail.com, or the distributor, www.brighamdistributing.com
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