Devotionals

Leah's Story The Midwife at the First Christmas

by Anne Adams
06/30/26
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As a midwife in Bethlehem so many years ago most women I assisted were in their own homes or even in the inn that I operated with my husband. Most of the time an ordinary routine, but in this one case I still remember the young couple, their baby born in the stable of our inn, then the scruffy shepherds who showed up with a strange story. I also remember how it all changed my life.   

They arrived late that night, but because of the Roman census our inn full and we could only offer them lodging in the stable.  My practiced eye noticed the young woman was nearing delivery but I didn’t pay much attention because we were so busy. And they seemed satisfied at having to sleep in the stable, saying at least it was warm and the company was quiet. Then when I finally got to bed I slept well - until my husband shook me awake.

 “Wake up, Leah!” Jacob told me. “It’s that couple in the stable – the husband just showed up looking for help. Their baby’s coming.”

I had learned to keep all my equipment ready and to respond immediately so I gathered what I needed and set out. I descended the hill behind the inn to the cave that served as our stable - where we housed the cow and donkey. Once there I paused in the entrance.

 The flickering light of my lamp revealed the young woman lying on the straw, her face contorted with pain, and her husband nearby, his eyes visibly round in the dim illumination.  After explaining who I was, I set to work.

 Delivery was quick and easy. I lifted up the baby, cut the cord, and washed him. Then I began to wrap him in the swaddling bands she provided. Then as I looked for somewhere to put him I saw the furrow shaped food trough – the manger. I added straw for padding, then draped the mother’s cloak over the rough wood surface and there I lay the newly bound infant. It was a perfect impromptu cradle.

 Just then I heard the sound of footsteps outside the cave and caught the musky odor that preceded the new arrivals.  There was no mistaking who they were.

 At first the shepherds stood apologetically and hesitantly in the shadows of the entrance, as they explained their presence with a strange story. They described how just a few hours before as they camped with their flocks outside Bethlehem the skies above exploded with heavenly panoply singing and bearing a message. It was the joyous news that the Christ – the Messiah - was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger!

 Just then the young mother reached over to the manger to lift up her small son and as the shepherds saw her they dropped to their knees before him.

 A short time later they left, filing out into the night with a garble of gradually fading conversation. However, as I gathered my supplies and prepared to leave I was deep in thought.

 The Messiah? In our stable? That was certainly wonderful new! We had been waiting so long!

 But then I paused as I remembered how the shepherds described what the angels said. What was it? A baby born that night in Bethlehem wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger? But how did they know where to come? It could be someone told them about a young couple – the woman pregnant – who had lodged in our stable and since babies were usually wrapped in swaddling clothes that wasn’t distinctive. But what about the manger? I had only just placed the baby there when the shepherds arrived, but the angels had specifically identified the location hours before I did it.  How could that be?

 The baby yawned and opened his eyes. Wide. To look directly at me. And as he did I saw in his gaze something I could not explain. It was so different...  He looked right at me – and even into me. There was something indescribable …indefinable.... it was like I was looking into the eyes of … God.