(3) Letter from Hebron.       Continuing our imagination of how God’s preparation for the coming of His Messiah might have been experienced at the time, we imagine another letter sent in the Fall of perhaps 5 BC....       Dear Friend, good to hear from you! Yes, indeed, I got word of the census also. Enrollment for a loyalty pledge to Rome. What next?! I was hoping that Herod’s moratorium on Caesar’s enrollment would be extended longer – two years was hardly enough! Herod’s paranoia hasn’t cooled. First he executes his wife, and two years ago their two sons. Good grief! Who will be the next victims of his paranoia?!       So now Rome appoints Varus as governor, but he can’t arrive for some time, and we have this temporary guy, Quirinius. Do you know anything about him? I guess he’s doing Rome’s bidding. Herod’s bound to be doubly paranoid now. Plus with the massive movements of people returning to their ances...

  (2) Rumors from Hebron. Late June, perhaps 5 BC.       Dear Friend, in our last conversation I told you the strange story of the priest serving in the Temple in Jerusalem last Fall. He was from my home town, Ain Karim in Hebron. His name was Zechariah, and while offering the incense in the Temple, suddenly he was struck mute! Coming out, he couldn’t speak a word! ( Luke 1:5-25 .) Do you remember my telling you?       Well, guess what! The old gossip who started the rumor that the priest’s wife – Elizabeth is her name – was pregnant – was right! Another Hannah bearing a child in her old age! ( 1 Sam 1 .)       It was my wife who noticed first. She was out in the garden last Spring planting the vegetable and flower seeds and happened to notice Elizabeth out in front of her house,  looking for someone on the road. Soon a young girl, maybe about 15,  and bit older man, maybe in his 30's – later we le...

(1) Rumors from Jerusalem. This Advent, as we prepare to once again welcome the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, perhaps we might consider God’s immediate preparation for His Messiah and how it may have been understood by an ordinary person at the time. Imagine .... I am a faithful believer in God. My home is in Judea, in Hebron. Seems it’s about 6 BC, and that rotten imposter of a Jewish King, Herod, is on the throne. Ah! He’s just a puppet of Rome! Oh, where is the Messiah to set things right? When will the Kingdom be restored to Israel? (Cf., Ac 1:6 .)            It has been 600 or 700 years since Isaiah had prophesied. He said that a Voice would cry out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord” ( Is 40:3 ). Where’s that Voice? I’ve visited with the Essenes, with their group that left Jerusalem decades ago, no maybe a couple hundred years ago. They are faithful believers, even if they have some strict rules. They went “out in the wil...