The Lamb

The Lamb

Nancy Cupp

11 x 14 inches

acrylic painting on canvas board

©Nancy Cupp. All rights reserved.

 

I painted this precious little lamb as an example to show my students in a painting class I was teaching.  We all used the same photo reference from a website that gives free permission to use their photos. I kept the subject matter and background simple for my beginning students.

 

I taught the month long class in October, so it was perfect timing to use it as a Christmas card the following month. I added a story on the back of the card about the significance of the Tower of the Flock, which many people do not know about.

 

The land between Bethlehem and Jerusalem was set apart and considered holy for raising sacrificial animals for the Temple sacrifices. The first to visit the baby Jesus were shepherds from the pastures near Bethlehem. Many believe these shepherds were rabbinically trained to breed the special sheep used in the Temple sacrifices. 

 

When it was time for a sheep to give birth, they took the expectant ewe to a birthing center on the lower floor of a watch tower just outside Bethlehem called the Tower of the Flock or Migdal Eder, first mentioned in Genesis 35:21 and then in Micah 4:8.

 

When each lamb was born, the shepherds inspected it and wrapped it in strips of cloth to protect it from getting hurt or dirty and laid it in a manger. If it was a perfect lamb, it was destined for the temple sacrifices.

 

When the angel announced Christ's birth to the shepherds, they knew exactly where to go, the Tower of the Flock where the swaddling cloths and manger were. What a fitting place for the Lamb of God to be born.

 

Matthew 1:11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 

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