Babe In The Manger Symbol

       The baby in the manger serves to remind us of how Jesus first came to earth, fragile and small, through humble beginnings.

       Little Jesus was descended from the house of David, Malkhut Beit David (מלכות בית דוד) – "Kingdom of the House of David" Both Joseph and Mary were from this same house.

       The Holy Babe was also born of a virgin; he was conceived in the womb of his mother Mary through the Holy Spirit without the agency of a human father and born while Mary was still a virgin. The New Testament references are Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38 and Isaiah 7:14.

       He was wrapped in swaddling an age-old practice of wrapping infants in blankets or similar cloths so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted. 

       Baby Jesus was laid in a manger filled with hay, a structure used to hold food to feed animals. The word manger originally referred to a feed-trough, but it may also be used to refer to a water-trough when this is not being used. Mangers are generally found at stables and were made of either stone or wood at that time.

       His birth took place in Bethlehem, Hebrew: בֵּית לֶחֶם‎ Bet Lehem, [bet ˈleχem], "House of Bread". Biblical scholars believe Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judah, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath, which means "fertile", as there is a reference to it in the Book of Micah as Bethlehem Ephratah. The Bible also calls it Beth-Lehem Judah, and the New Testament describes it as the "City of David". It is first mentioned in the Tanakh and the Bible as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside" (Gen. 48:7). 

Scriptural Resources for The Babe In a Manger Chrismon:

• "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
• "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14 (JPS Tanakh 1917)
• ""Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek. "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity." Micah 5:1-2 (NASB)
• "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:1-7 (ESV)