Christmas and the Exodus

This year Christmas is being celebrated by much of the Christian world while religious Jews are reading the first chapters of Exodus as the weekly Torah portion.

I suppose most don’t see a connection between the two. However, Christmas is missing its historical background without Exodus; and Exodus is missing its spiritual fulfillment without the birth of Yeshua. The common element is the birth of the savior.

Moses was born to be the savior of Israel from slavery in Egypt. He is seen as a symbolic image of the coming Messiah. Moses was born with supernatural protection (Exodus 2) and is one in a series of supernatural births of savior figures leading up to the birth of Yeshua.

The first prophecy of the birth of the savior is the “seed of the woman” in Genesis 3:15. From that point a spiritual battle begins to kill the coming seed. Abel was the first to be killed. There were different attacks against the families of the patriarchs.

When Moses was born, he was protected, but the majority of the Jewish male children at the time were killed (Exodus 1). The killing of the Israelite male children was instigated by Pharaoh’s fears and jealousy, yet it also reflects a satanic spiritual attempt to stop the coming of the Seed that will crush the serpent’s head.

At the time of Yeshua’s birth, He was also protected by angelic intervention (Matthew 2:13). At the same time, all the male children from two years old and under in Bethlehem were killed (Matthew 2:16). There is a parallel in the birth story of Moses and Yeshua, and a parallel in the murder of the children. In fact, the parallel includes the murder of the Jews throughout all history (Matthew 2:18, Jeremiah 31:15).

There are a series of supernatural births throughout the Scriptures, starting with the patriarchs. Sarah, Rivka and Rachel were all barren. Their husbands had to pray for them to give birth. Sarah’s giving birth to Isaac was particularly supernatural, as she was already past the age of childbearing.

The supernatural birth and satanic warfare over the child continue until the birth of Yeshua. The “birth and battle” is described as a universal spiritual pattern in Revelation chapter 12, where the serpent tries to kill the man-child and all the other offspring of the woman.

Yeshua was born through the virgin Miriam who was betrothed of Joseph, descendant of David. Some would mock at the idea of a virgin birth. A virgin giving birth is certainly a greater level of miraculous sign than the birth of Isaac to his aging parents.

However, let’s compare Yeshua’s birth to the creation of Adam and Eve. Yeshua’s birth as the son of God has more spiritual importance than Adam’s creation. Yet, the creation of a human being from the soil of the earth is even a more “difficult” miracle in physical terms. Adam is also referred to as the “son of God” (Luke 3:38).

The theme of the supernatural birth of the seed-savior, and the satanic attempt to kill the seed-offspring starts in the book of Genesis, continues through the patriarchs, the Exodus and the prophets. It is fulfilled in the birth of Yeshua; and is expanded to a universal spiritual pattern in both Christian and Jewish history and thought.