Articles
“Was Jesus Born in a Barn?”
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 2:7
Picture the birth of Christ. If all we had were nativity scenes to judge by, we would imagine Mary and Joseph kneeling in a drafty stable next to the baby in a straw-filled manger with a few cows and sheep and, perhaps, a donkey, all sitting in silent adoration. All is lit by a warm glow, and all is calm… but all is not quite right. Contrary to Hallmark cards and longstanding traditions, the New Testament does not actually record that Jesus was born in “that poor and lowly stable.” Why, then, has the image of a stable prevailed?
Art — The stable comes from a “messianic” reading of Isaiah 1:3, “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib [manger], but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Luke’s mention of a “manger” (a feeding trough) led medieval artists to depict the setting of the nativity in a stable. After all, animals are kept in stables, aren’t they? Not necessarily, as we will see.
Grammar — Luke uses the Greek word kataluma in Luke 2:7 which is usually translated as “inn.” Although the Septuagint uses this term to describe a public place of hospitality (Ex. 4:24; 1 Sam. 9:22), in the New Testament, kataluma is the same word for the private “guest” or “upper” room where Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal (Mk. 14:14; Lk. 22:11). The “inn” which the Good Samaritan used (Lk. 10:34) was different. That “inn” (not kataluma but pandocheion) resembled more what we would think of as a public inn or hotel where travelers would be welcome. Therefore, the “inn” at Bethlehem in which there was no room for the family of Jesus (Lk. 2:7) was most likely the guest room of a private home.
History — The historical and social context also don’t support Jesus’ birth in an outdoor stable. In a Jewish society which took hospitality seriously, it is more likely that Joseph, returning to his ancestral home, would have been welcomed by family members. What’s more, most families in ancient Palestine lived in a single-room house with a space for guests either in the back or on the roof. The main living area typically had depressions in the ground which were filled with hay for the animals (mangers). At night, the animals would be brought in from their stable outside to sleep in the main living area with the family. Therefore, typical families lived with their animals (Lk. 13:10-17) in single-room houses (Mt. 5:15).
If this is the case, what does Luke mean when he says they “laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the kataluma” or the guest room? It means that the house in which Mary and Joseph were staying was already occupied with guests. Since the guest room was full, they had to stay with the family in the main living area. When the baby was born, the most natural place to lay him was in the soft hay where the animals fed. The idea that they were in a stable outside the house, alone and outcast with only the animals for company, is possible but not plausible. It is more likely that our Savior came into the world in a crowded, warm and noisy living room (with zero privacy) surrounded by family and animals.
Why should any of this matter? The traditional view of the nativity has prevailed and permeated Western culture for hundreds of years and colors our interpretation of Christ’s birth. Dick France explains it well in We Proclaim the Word of Life (IVP, 2013): “The problem with the stable is that it distances Jesus from the rest of us. It puts even his birth in a unique setting, in some ways as remote from life as if he had been born in Caesar’s Palace. But the message of the incarnation is that Jesus is one of us. He came to be what we are, and it fits well with that theology that his birth in fact took place in a normal, crowded, warm, welcoming Palestinian home, just like many another Jewish boy of his time.”
