11 December 2021 – The basket and the manger

My daughter mentioned to me that the Holy Spirit alerted her attention to the basket of baby Moses and the manger of baby Jesus. We prayed and asked the Holy Spirit for guidance to explain the significance.

The Birth of Moses – Basket

Exodus 2: Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

Purpose of the basket was to save Moses from Pharaoh’s order to throw every new-born Hebrew boy into the Nile River. It held the law.

The Birth of Jesus – Manger

Luke 2:7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

Purpose of the manger was to hold the Saviour of the world.

Significance:

The basket and the manger are vessels that are humble in presentation but held the Law and the Saviour of the world. Note that these vessels were sturdy and dependable enough to hold the Law and the Saviour of the world. Despite the vessel being shaped (torn, hammered, woven, stretched, chopped, sawed, nailed, glued, chipped ...) from the world, it carried its important occupant, did not fall apart and supported the purpose of the occupant. The occupant trusted with confidence for the vessel to do its job despite being ordinary and scarred from its production. Today we are the vessel and the temple of God. We are scarred by life’s trials and tribulations. The process shapes, moulds and refines us so that we are purified for God’s purpose. We are humbled when we embrace the Lord and His goodness. We need to hold and embrace the goodness of God in us so that the light of God shines through this humble vessel.