12 Days of Christmas - Day 1: The Prophets

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the festive days beginning Christmas Day (25 December). This period is also known as Christmastide and Twelvetide. The Twelfth Night of Christmas is always on the evening of 5 January, but the Twelfth Day can either precede or follow the Twelfth Night according to which Christian tradition is followed. Twelfth Night is followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. [Wikipedia]

Among most Utah Mormons, the Twelve Days of Christmas are from the 12 days before Christmas, beginning on the 12th or 13th of December and going until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Often small gifts are secretly given to a lucky recipient on each of the days.

I am posting these 12 Days early enough that you could follow either tradition, or make up one of your own.

Karen here: A few years ago, Mom (Rebecca) put together a set of readings and activities for the 12 days before Christmas. I think it must have been for Mike and Doug on their missions, because I remember reading these by candle light with my college roommate Jenny in about 1996 or 1997. Mom spent all day today scanning and typing, so she asked me to post what she did here on the blog. In hard copy, there are a few separate pages each day, without much introduction or explanation. I'll try to add a little context (in italics), and possibly a few more pictures for sparse days, but otherwise, it'll just be as she presented it. I started to link all the scriptures to LDS.org, but then it got too late, so I quit (sorry).

Rebecca here: when I first put this together, I was inspired by a pamphlet I picked up in an airport chapel. Each day of December focused a devotional on some one person or group of people from the Christmas story. I have used some paragraphs from that pamphlet, but have lost the original so I cannot credit it properly. I apologize for that.




Day one is about Prophets. [Karen speaking:]If you've spent any time around Mom, you'll know that a major focus of her study and teaching is finding Christ in the Old Testament.



[This coloring page is pg 211 of the Primary OT manual, with a few alterations to make it Old Testament specific]

Isaiah 11:1 - A governing Rod would arise from Jesse, the father of King David and
ancestor of Jesus

Jeremiah 23:15 - from David would come a righteous Branch, a King who would reign and prosper.

Isaiah 7:14,9:6 - A virgin shall conceive and the Child will be called the Prince of Peace

Micah 5:2 - out of little Bethlehem would come forth one who would be ruler In Israel.

Numbers 24:17 - a Star would arise in Jacob.

Hosea 11:1 (see also Exodus 4:22-3) - God's Son would come out of Egypt [Matt. 2:15]

Genesis 49:10 - Jacob prophesied that Shilo, the lawgiver bearing the scepter (sign of kingship) would be a descendant of Judah.

Job 38:7 - Job prophesied that all the morning stars would sing and all the sons of God would shout for Joy at the 'laying of the Cornerstone' and at the birth of the earth