Hebraic Thought in Christmas, Part 1: Endangered Babies

When we read the Bible, we have a tendency to disconnect the New Testament from the Old Testament—perhaps it’s because there’s a blank page in the middle, perhaps it’s because we think that the New has superseded the Old. The the narrative of Jesus’ birth is one such example. Often, we fixate on the Christmas story without recognizing the very necessary undertones that derive from the Hebrew Bible: endangered babies, murderous kings, shepherds, and moms singing songs.

In this episode, the CHT team shows how the Christmas motif of babies changing the flow of cosmic events goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. The nativity isn’t an isolated story, but it pulls together all of God’s political ambitions for the world, to run it with righteousness, justice, and peace. We see this from Genesis 3, to the story of Moses, to themes present in the Gospel of Luke. Along the way, we discuss the archetype of a child hidden away in the wilderness, kings who murder babies, and how that even shows up in Star Wars and Harry Potter.