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Since prophecy of Malachi, four hundred years
of silence from the God Israel had known
had lingered over ravaged fields of war.
His presence gone, they struggled on alone.
The royal line of kings and glorious days
of Solomon were past, the temple gone,
the Maccabees’ brief victory overthrown.
Midst threatening foes, they made a pact with Rome.
Soon Esau’s line, in Herod, seized the throne;
Aaronic priesthood scattered, Pharisees
came forth with zeal, invented stricter laws
to guard the nation’s pride — but brought unease
to lives of a distraught people, saddled
with cruelty of rulers they despised.
Their only hope the promise of Messiah,
they looked with longing to the brooding skies.
And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah,
art in no wise least among the princes of Judah:
for out of thee shall come forth a governor,
who shall be shepherd of my people Israel.
God, though silent, loved his people still,
heard their prayers ascending from the earth.
The universe stood poised now to fulfill
that prophecy of old: the Royal birth.
Suddenly the silence of the heavens
was shattered by the angels’ sharp intrusion!
To Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary
came news to bring the ages to conclusion:
And when the fullness of the time had come
God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, that he might redeem them
that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And so, in trappings of our lowly dust,
the Son of God, in chill night air, takes His first breath
upon the earth — and in that breath
all Adam’s race who trust in Him shall find their rest.
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