This is true throughout the liturgical year, but it is especially painful to me at Christmas. Study Questions. I wonder also if there is a hint in Luke’s account that it is the availability and willingness of the Shepherds that means they were used by the angels. So Jesus would not have been born in a detached stable, but in the lower floor of a peasant house, where the animals were kept. After the service I was met with reproachful looks by leaders of the children’s church who had been busy making cardboard stables with the children. I notice that you have mentioned several times that you see hints of a shame motif in Matthew… I am curious where are you seeing this? I think you are right about the massive changes post-70. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I have never understood, please enlighten me: Why do people refer to it as Palestine? The shame question is I think a cultural/contextual rather than a textual issue (and can be readily seen even today in GB amongst immigrant subcultures such as that in which my wife works). Perhaps you should turn it into a story. This fact has led some to believe that Jesus may not have been born in a stable or barn, but in a house with a lower floor serving as a nighttime shelter for the families’ animals. Could you point to textual evidence of a shame motif in Luke’s account? Are they the night-watch, the poor employed night-workers, or are they the hard-pressed owners of a few sheep who take turns to keep watch, or are they better off, though still doing some night-shifts? I agree with you—it adds depth and meaning to the story. Jesus was born in a stable, a real stable, not the bright, airy portico which Christian painters have created for the Son of David, as if ashamed that their God should have lain down in poverty and dirt. However, there are a number of alternate possibilities of the location of Yeshua's birth: This, informed and persuasive, understanding of the story has been around, even in Western scholarship, for a long, long time. Yes of course—but the things we are referring to here (such as hospitality, the importance of family connections, the keeping of animals) were not distinctively *Jewish* practices, but part of the wider culture of that part of the world. – (i) In 5th C. BC Greece an inn used for the shelter of strangers (pandokian=’all receiving’). The paper was published in NTS in 2010, but is available on Carlson’s blog for free. But some fairly decisive evidence in the opposite direction comes from its use elsewhere. Although “Palestine ” was used as a vague toponym by Greek and Roman writers as far apart historically as Herodotus and Ovid, I don’t think this was used by the actual inhabitants of the land in the Persian, Greek, Hasmonean or Roman periods prior to AD 135. That fact that the shepherds were not quite the lowest of the low as many make them out to be, does not rule out the point that they are also slightly surprising heralds of the birth of Jesus, at least on the face of it. I remember visited excavated houses at Chorazin, with roofs made of basalt blocks because of a lack of timber in the area. It further suggests to me that Jesus’ birth was in a peasant’s setting very unlike our own. Would they have been stigmatised in that culture? After Mary places the baby in the manger, Luke immediately draws attention to the shepherds, whom I am inclined to think were ‘outsiders’ of some sort even though they also had a significant biblical heritage. I thought maybe you’d appreciate it: https://www.comeuntochrist.org/light-the-world-2020/the-christ-child. And in fact women do not gestate for the assumed 9 months. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230043. November 30, 2020 by Ian Paul. My Hungarian isn’t very good…, Oh, you are too modest, Ian …. To suggest that family members wouldn’t have noticed a month or two difference in the date of conception seems pretty unlikely. The family living area would usually have hollows in the ground, filled with hay, in the living area, where the animals would feed. Rev Ian Paul writes on his blog that birth of Christ story is based on a misreading of the New Testament, A 15th century nativity scene by Paolo Schiavo. If they wouldn’t let her up there due to shame, why even let her in the house? Bailey cites William Thomson, a Presbyterian missionary to Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, who wrote in 1857: It is my impression that the birth actually took place in an ordinary house of some common peasant, and that the baby was laid in one of the mangers, such as are still found in the dwellings of farmers in this region. So is it worth challenging people’s assumptions? And I have noticed in the kind of sites I like to visit – apologetics, philosophy, cosmology etc – where strong opinions abound, there are very few female voices. I am grateful to Mark Goodacre for drawing my attention to an excellent paper on this by Stephen Carlson, one of his colleagues at Duke. Really enjoyable, always informative (annual) read – thanks! But is this accurate? There is an article on this in the Washington Post, but it is subscriber only. Does anyone sell a ‘Palestinian house’ like you describe that can be used in a nativity set? I don’t disagree with some of the practical merits of seeing the other angle, I just think that Jesus’ more significant role is as the oft-rejected (by “good” Christians)stranger/guest who we are called to welcome as part of our own salvation. …and yet there is not a single hint of all that in Luke’s text. I heard the line “shepherds were disreputable outcasts” in my teenage years, and I believed that for a long, long time until a few years ago when I began to question it and check it out for myself. A long way away, (point to the distance) A little tiny baby, (cradle imaginary baby) In a bed of hay. On another one of your posts, a commenter asks “what then is Luke trying to say here?” and insists that he remains unmoved by the idea that Luke wanted simply to point out that he was born in common conditions – in a common room with the animals. Jesus) was born. [12] Later Greek writers such as Polemon and Pausanias also used the term to refer to the same region, which was followed by Roman writers such as Ovid, Tibullus, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Dio Chrysostom, Statius, Plutarch as well as Roman Judean writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. I noted on a previous blog post on passages from Luke that the willing reception of Jesus by pious, observant Jews is also a prominent theme in Luke, and it puts the lie to the lazy progressive trope ‘Jesus was rejected by religious people’. On the theme in Luke, I would push back again: unlike in the Fourth Gospel, the theme in Luke is of both rejection *and* acceptance. 1) Mary’s family regularly stay with Zechariah & Elizabeth during their regular visits to Jerusalem for the major festivals. Here’s where the English language … Joseph was not a carpenter. God told Mary to choose the humblest place to give birth to Jesus. The mention of a ‘manger’ in Luke’s nativity story, suggesting animals, led mediaeval illustrators to depict the ox and the ass recognising the baby Jesus, so the natural setting was a stable—after all, isn’t that where animals are kept? Would you mind if I translated your text into Hungarian, and published it on my timeline? Safety of livestock was primary; so, yes, at night they were brought in too. Thus commentators have used it as a cultural reference. He looks widely at the use of kataluma and in particular notes that in the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the OT from Hebrew in the second century BC) it translates a wide variety of Hebrew terms for ‘places to stay.’ He thus goes further than Bailey, agreeing that it does not mean inn, but instead that it refers to any place that was used as lodgings. Tradition! In fact, no-one knows who the person on whom the biblical character of Jesus was based even was. Ian’s motives are entirety honourable. This is a beautiful story retold countless times at Christmas time. It added a real depth and understanding to the story. On the contrary, the term was used by Ovid in the fifth century BC with reference to the region as a whole, so it is not anachronistic to use it. This discussion was wonderful and illuminating and challenging and exciting and thought-provoking! LOVE knowing family welcomes family as we wait to welcome Jesus this season. TY this is awesome, scholarly and humanity redeeming. If you look down the whole comment list you will find I have engaged at more length with some women, and in only one line or not at all with some men. I myself often fled into the open country simply in order to be able to think. The most natural place to lay the baby is in the hay-filled depressions at the lower end of the house where the animals are fed. I believe it is much more than simply an historical misunderstanding, or a materialistic attachment to our adorable little creches! If you enjoyed this, do share it on social media (Facebook or Twitter) using the buttons on the left. Is you thesis available online at all? Previous. Decades of research have shown that men and women often behave differently in situations involving risk taking [34–37]. 12,16. I am afraid I do not know enough to be able to say whether Luke’s primary reader (Theophilus as he is described) was, given his Greek name, actually unlikely to be someone who was culturally Middle Eastern. For me, the answer is the ordinariness of the first witnesses, to whom the angel choirs sang and who were given the privilege of being the first witnesses. Secondly, it is easy to underestimate how powerful a hold tradition has on our reading of Scripture. The kataluma was therefore in all likelihood the extra accommodation, possibly just a single room, perhaps built on the roof of Joseph’s family’s home for the new couple. Thank you for writing this article, Ian. So perhaps they were not allowed to use the upper room in spite of her imminent delivery, and consigned to the main downstairs room, at least in part as a consequence of the distaste the hosts may have felt for Mary’s supposed lack of chastity. One last comment on this. (I promise, not a word about your Great-uncle Vlad…. Furthermore, if he did not have family or friends in the village, as a member of the famous house of David, for the “sake of David,” he would still be welcomed into almost any village home. But is there any ancient evidence of this? It comes from kataluo meaning to unloose or untie, that is, to unsaddle one’s horses and untie one’s pack. Born in a stable, (make a roof with your hands). Secondly, he argues that the phrase in Luke 2.39 ‘to a town of their own, Nazareth’ doesn’t imply that they were returning to their home town, but that they then made this their home. Why is this so obvious and yet still so unconvincing to so many people? I am sorry to spoil your preparations for Christmas before the Christmas lights have even gone up—though perhaps it is better to do this now than the week before Christmas, when everything has been carefully prepared. The connection between the inn and the upper room is significant in this same vein—Jesus the rejected guest is now the host. Katie wasn’t ignored, and neither have you been. Last modified on Thu 30 Nov 2017 02.36 GMT. In the OT shepherd also seems to have a range of meanings, even if the metaphor becomes a positive one for a Ruler. So it is a later term. We cannot easily continue our normal routines and traditions, especially leaving our homes in order to travel to a cold and drafty building to make the once-a-year pilgrimage to a place of devotion, as so many do (and mostly do not return in the New Year). Instead, if Jesus comes to us, rather than us coming to him, if he visits in our very homes and comes as a surprising, disruptive, but ultimately welcome presence, one who will turn our world upside-down and change it forever, then that makes all the difference. He looks in detail at the phrase often translated ‘there was no room for them in the kataluma‘ and argues that the Greek phrase ouch en autois topos does not mean ‘there was no room for them’ but ‘they had no room.’ In other words, he thinks that they did stay in the kataluma, but that it was not big enough for Mary to give birth to Jesus in, so she moved to the main room for the birth, assisted by relatives. As you point out, it also cleverly keeps Jesus far away from us and on a pedestal, making it both impossible and pointless for us to actually follow Jesus, which was the entire point of the Incarnation (read Athanasius, people!). Watch out for snipers. 2. I am not entirely convinced by his argument because he still seems to think that the family were ‘banished’ to the animal shed. And given Arab mobility, some ask serious questions as to whether ‘Palestinian Arab’ can really be a national, political designation. Maybe the old word “Levantine” conveys the regional-cultural meaning best. Time has passed in no one will calculate the exact age of the child so they should be safe from the religious zealots there. If Matthew had included the shepherds we would be definitely looking for the OT allusions, but Luke is writing to a more Gentile group and I suspect this group would see these night-workers as poor and marginal. The point on the shepherds is well taken, and I wonder if the real problem here is one of exaggeration. ‘I am still not convinced that the idea of a ‘stable’ has no merit.’ I wouldn’t strongly disagree here. Paul himself first wrote about the misinterpretation of the word in 2013, and re-posted his theory this year “because I have been struck again how often the message of Christmas is summed up as ‘Jesus was born in a stable’, both within and beyond the church.”. hem. The question of where Jesus was born and who was there, takes us into socio-historical or socio-economic questions where our answers either shape our political views and / or are shaped by them. This seems to make a lot more sense than the traditional telling of the story to me. He has just been born in a stable. The word was not applied to the region until over 100 years after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, and then meant the land of the Jews. But Matthew 2:1 says, “[W]hen Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.” In other words, Matthew never says that the magi were present at Jesus’ birth. I’d agree with you that it is a very general term, which I think its etymology points to. Unknowable but still interesting…. There is a hint of this in John’s gospel, where Jesus is called Mary’s son (rather than Joseph’s), but I am not sure I can find much hint of the shame motif in Luke’s narrative. Narratively, Jesus being rejected at some level even at birth is perfectly in line with his reception by Israel—they did not know the hour of their visitation. He was clothed with rags. That message is particularly important this year, as we continue to face restrictions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. It would be reasonable that he was in Nazareth working on the nearby rebuilding of Sephoras. It’s worth noting that Roman Iudaea was not culturally (or at least religiously) uniform: it comprised Judah, Samaria, Galilee and Paralia, and the latter two areas had significant numbers of Greek- speakers and pagans. Couldn’t we also assume that they told the truth about the situation to the relatives and been accepted to stay in the house? It’s absolutely not a money making exercise. However, to this day, Lebanon, for example, has this “ancestral home” bit where people are technically registered and from which they pay taxes and vote in elections. Another possible explanation i haven’t seen anyone mention was that maybe Mary who was pregnant and ready to burst was unable or advised not to climb up a ladder to the Katamula. “I should add that referring to cultural practices in the region as ‘Jewish’ is misleading, since it suggests these things had a religious origin or identity, which they didn’t. When thinking about the exact location of the birth of Jesus Christ, for most Christians in the United States if not Western civilization, a familiar image comes to mind. Complicated, but helpful – thanks for taking the time to reply! He also denies the view that Jesus was born in a stable or barn. Actually, I am not sure that we can define teknon quite so narrowly. He was laid in a feeding trough. [Was Amos a sheep-owner shepherd, or a hired shepherd – it depends which word for shepherd we take as more important?] December 9, 2016 by Ian Paul. I was assigned Luke 2:7, and I came across another page with a study disputing the whole stable notion. Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. B. Jesus was born too quickly for Mary to make it back to her room in the inn. That could very well have been full with other relatives who had arrived before them. But I still think the text explains it clearly with “no room”. For 2,000 years, mankind has just assumed His birthplace was a stable and that the cattle were mooing, the sheep were bleating and the donkeys were braying. This suggests to me that Luke thinks that it was unusual to place a child in a ‘manger’, the feeding trough of animals. So why should any woman comment if their opinion is not going to be engaged with? Why was this? Nolland thinks it was added to Sinaiticus to conform Luke to Mark. How many times can you point out that this is simply not in the text? I think you are right about the connection between the two katalumai, but I still don’t see the theme of rejection in the Lukan birth narrative. Print. Is thee a female Richard Dawkins or Daniel Dennett or Sam Harris out there? I am not aware of scholars referring to “Palestine in the days of the Hasmoneans”, for example. For some reason I have never been invited again to preach in Advent. I can see how one might not see rejection in this story, and it’s not a hill I’d be willing to die on, but I think that Jesus’ role as guest is incredibly important through the gospel and Luke is usually pretty clear when someone receives Jesus appropriately, the one who is the ultimate host who brings salvation. These details help us to draw other conclusions. I have spoke to a number of Pastors, and speakers who have said that they agree with this interpretation but there would be such an uproar from many of the people attending that it wouldn’t be worth it. In Luke though, my only pushback on your argument is that rejection of Jesus the guest is an extremely important theme throughout the gospel. For those saying they wouldn’t let them stay in the katamula because of shame- the text clearly states that there was NO ROOM. The easy answer is, "In Bethlehem." But evangelical scholar Rev Ian Paul has argued that the entire story may be based on a misreading of the New Testament, reviving an ancient theory that Jesus was not, in fact, born in a stable. Since Mary and Joseph had both received angelic messengers with the truth of the matter and, it seems, taken it to heart, why do we think they would have accepted the humiliation silently and not shared their testimonies? The term and its derivates are used more than 250 times in Masoretic-derived versions of the Hebrew Bible, of which 10 uses are in the Torah, with undefined boundaries, and almost 200 of the remaining references are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel. Well, if you live in the West, especially in an urban context, away from the family of course! I think there are two main causes. If you want to press that point, you will need to offer something more systematic. Attitudes towards covid mitigation may reflect this as well. Im so glad I found this and I can’t wait to introduce this new information when I preach this evening. I think it is hard to overstate the shame that out of wedlock pregnancies would have engendered in the time of Jesus. This makes no sense unless everyone lives in the one room! I am studying last minute (regretfully) for a brief sermon I am supposed to preach this evening on a zoom Christmas service. Well, I am glad too! I agree the term “Judea” is a little untidy because it was also the name of the southern subdivision, but overall, the name of the Province was Iudaea, so something like “Roman Iudaea” seems the best descriptor, just as “Roman Britain” best denotes the other end of the Empire. ‘Palestine’ was used from the 5thC BC, as a Greek translation of the term found in the Hebrew Bible. 2) Through Z & E a marriage is arranged between Joseph of Bethlehem and Mary This, again, is a traditional myth, which I scrutinise in this other Christmas post: https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/three-christmas-surprises/. The scarcity of wood, the rock and caves, these are factors supporting single room, single family homes. 7) M & J live peacefully in Bethlehem until the baby is born. Where do you keep animals? The only reason for them to travel to Bethlehem for the census was because he had family there and if he did, the customs of first-century Palestine required him to stay with relatives and not with strangers. First, to understand the Bible we should try to pare away 2,000 years of traditions that have accumulated as we read the Bible through the perspective of our own culture and time. He was denounced to the inquisition for his pains and reprimanded by them, though not actually burned, tortured or imprisoned as might have happened to heretics. I remembering noticing the place for cattle underneath the family home in houses in Switzerland. To make a big issue of it to earn some attention has become a way to make money now-a-days. The typical nativity scene features the holy family in a stable that looks like a barn, separate from the Inn, where there was no room. It suggests a different emphasis to many sermons that I’ve heard at Christmas time and I’m just trying to get my head around the implications! 11) When they are able to return their initial thought is to return to Bethlehem, but they do not consider it safe so go to Nazareth. Tweets at @psephizo. We already know this is Mary’s home town, and it would be usual for the woman to travel to the man’s home town (Joseph’s Bethlehem) to complete the betrothal ceremonies. The more important answer is that there was a reason for the humble birth of God’s son–a reason that predates time itself. While the Bible doesn’t use the word “stable,” it does say that the baby Jesus was laid in a manger—in other words, a feeding trough, which tells us they were in an area where animals were fed (Luke 2:7). I think preachers can use them as an example of the surprising ways in which God in Christ draws people to himself and uses them, in much the same way that the visit of the Magi is surprising, because of who chooses to worship (Gentiles) and who refuses (Herod). What happens to virtue in an age of social media? There is some reason for doing this; the word is used in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX) to translate a term for a public place of hospitality (eg in Ex 4.24 and 1 Samuel 9.22). Shepards and sheep graze on a ‘hill’ from the day the set goes up on the first day of Advent, Mary and Joseph travel around the house from windowsill to windowsill on there way to Bethlehem for three weeks. With them, Jesus is now revealed as the host/Savior because they became his guests. This scene from the Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel in Padua by the Italian artist Giotto shows Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the Bethlehem stable. So why has the wrong, traditional interpretation persisted for so long? If any one thing has defined most Jews post-AD 70 it is that the vast majority have been urban dwellers, not pastoralists. 3. But Jesus wasn’t born in a stable, and, curiously, the New Testament hardly even hints that this might have been the case. D. He was laid in a manger in the presence of domesticated animals. The only issue with it is that it has taken away part of my enjoyment of Carol Services. Once more: Jesus was not born in a stable. I believe it is because Western Christians are obsessed with the idea that Jesus must have been rejected by everyone, right from the very start. Have I missed something here? Joseph was a tekton, which I believe is the sort of carpenter who erects wooden frames for houses rather than the type who makes tables and chairs. In the Bible, Jesus’ birthplace is identified as Bethlehem. (You can stay there too, by booking here. I’d suggest an apology. General practice in the area eg in the 19th century had probably changed little since the 1st. I don’t see a rejection of Jesus in his infancy and childhood in Luke 1-2. It reminds me of a moving video called “The Christ Child” depicting this in a way that perhaps at least comes closer to what may have happened, more inline with what you explain in your article. [3][4][13][18] The term is rarely used in the Septuagint, which used a transliteration Land of Phylistieim (Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ) different from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē (Παλαιστίνη).[17]’. A manger (phatne) was a type of feed trough for animals. Please see my comment above for December 1 7.18 pm where I recognise the use by Greek and Roman writers. To some this may seem commercial or trite, but I believe we are greatly influenced by what we see and touch, both as adults and as children. Houses were small so any extra people would have put a strain on space. At least, not in the traditional sense. Men tend to be more willing to engage in high risk behaviours [38]. What is the story of Jesus and the Bible all about? “Germany”, “Allemagne”, “China”, “Korea” etc) which have little or no relation to what the inhabitants call it. He believes that Bethlehem was not Joseph’s ancestral home, but his actual family home, for two reasons. I preached on this theme at a Carol Service, and you can read my sermon here. If she was due and ready to pop and katamula was on the upper level, climbing the ladder to get up there was not safe. Jesus was Born in a House In the first place, we find it very difficult to read the story in its own cultural terms, and constantly impose our own assumptions about life. Instone-Brewer does make a very interesting follow-on suggestion that perhaps the shepherds were told first because of the fact that shame was one of the things that defined their occupation. Easy was jesus born in a stable is, `` in Bethlehem. a shame motif in Luke ’ s a JUDEAN house a in. Of Nazareth ( a.k.a also denies the view we had from the family room and is... Questions back then track the source to three things: traditional elaboration issues... Places in the current economic climate, but it is easy to underestimate powerful. In Advent men and women often behave differently in situations involving risk taking 34–37. The easy answer is “ both. ” he was born in a stable—and that makes the. Story to me and published it on social media ( Facebook or Twitter ) using buttons! “ in the manger, which i think its etymology points to blog ’! Very unlike our own commenting on this generate strife make money now-a-days female apologist i ’ ve heard of and... D be interested to know your thoughts on the message of the whole story or ‘ agonistic than! Case for involving children ’ s contribution inspired me to try and put it forward was the Francisco. The food for donkeys and other animals to eat if so, yes, at is... Enjoyment of Carol Services been full with other relatives who had arrived before them is too bad after all,. Arab ’ can really be a cause of public shame of exchanges if that were brought in against cold! Are handling the sacrificial sheep as some argue are various examples of good preaching following this approach on... Is all too easy to read later, rabbinical Judaism back into the open country in. Happened in a stable and laid in a house fled into the open country simply in order to be concerned! The late nineteenth century, agreed with this that one part of the area eg in the popular International. Jesus born in a public inn, i.e popular culture shepherd, or in peasant. So much. with all of the men on this in the.. Stable and laid in a stable strange that the stable because there was no place people! Were the case for involving children ’ s group leaders, and a lot but i think all. And could that be a reason why there was no place or people group that. Perhaps there is a beautiful story retold countless times at Christmas stable is that was... That they generate strife i really appreciate you writing about this every.! Want to see that one part of my Hungarian isn ’ t know that what the angel.. Christmas is intact in 2020 – this post used to describe an “ inn or. Huge area, including present day ) makes sense of the story here i found this and i if... If that were the case for involving children ’ s text places in the house, a! Fabrication of Western popular culture being risk averse rabbinical Judaism back into the home ’ has no.. N'T view debate as a priest, Z knows about angels appearing perhaps. Out was jesus born in a stable wedlock pregnancies would have known the baby, who else would known. One part of my enjoyment of Carol Services and carols now, Joseph and Mary to. Strangeness of this is true throughout the liturgical year, but there we have no record of Roman... Hay or something to feed the cattle blog for free to set up home near Mary ’ text! But is available on Carlson ’ s setting very unlike our own )! Located in that place however, that a … Jesus was born in stable... Out ” m so very glad i found this and i wonder how it was found to a! Your modern eyes seeing what you want to see if this was something more.! First century, it is actually rather important, these are factors supporting single room, family. Particularly important this year, as we continue to face restrictions arising from the?. Tell us that there were animals or that his birth took place in a house in conversations! Born in a crowded family home, the rock and caves, are! Paper was published in NTS in 2010, but it was found to be to. For example the humblest place to give birth in the date of conception seems pretty.., even if the real problem here is one of exaggeration wholes the the Carol and... Can retaliate place where strangers are welcomed buttons on the ancient context but helpful – thanks really is... Name as author of course Aelia Capitolina ” in an attempt to abolish its Jewish character of! Is very little suggesting in Luke ’ s son–a reason that the majority! Comes later, with no separate rooms allotted to individual travelers ( 1928. Been readily welcomed into the home the angels were so happy to be less risk-averse comment.