Daniel felt the coarse, white wool of the bleating lamb in his arms. He gazed into the heavens. Stars sparkled in the sky. He imagined, like it said in the Scriptures, that each star was an angel. He wondered what they looked like. A deep, booming voice spoke from behind them. It belonged to a silver-haired, wrinkled man.
"Daniel," he said. "It's time to take the sheep back to the cave. Tomorrow is the day."
Daniel sighed heavily. He held the lamb closer.
"Oh, Micah! Do we have to take them tomorrow?" He whispered.
Micah stood next to Daniel. He, too, gazed at the stars.
"I'm sorry, Daniel," he said. "You're young. It will be hard for a while. Once you get to be an old man like me, you get used to it. As Migdal Deer, we are Levitical priests. It's our job."
A gust of wind nipped at their faces. Micah placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder.
"Come," he said. "The cave will be warm and safe. We can get some rest as well."
"Do we have swaddling clothes there?" Daniel asked. "My father said we wrap them for sacrifice."
The cave offered shelter from the sudden gusts of wind. A small stone structure occupied the center of the cave. Cloth strips had already been laid on the stone.
"Put Asher on the manger," Micah instructed. "I'll show you how to wrap the lambs for sacrifice. I hope that one day the man the Tanakh promised to sacrifice himself for our sins will come. We won't do this any longer."
"Oh, yes! Isaiah!" Daniel exclaimed. ""He was oppressed, afflicted, but remained silent. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep is silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth."
They knelt at the stone manger. Daniel ran his hand along a crack down the middle.
"It needs to be fixed," he said.
"We'll go and get Yosef the carpenter from Nazareth," Micah said. "He'll build us a new one."