tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post5708702168136265680..comments2024-03-01T07:35:49.740-08:00Comments on Come Reason's Apologetics Notes: How Can We be Sure Where Jesus Was Born?Lenny Espositohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04064209669748618955noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6805190.post-52853036426291362812015-12-22T09:33:55.801-08:002015-12-22T09:33:55.801-08:00The story in church tradition seems very unlikely....The story in church tradition seems very unlikely. The word translated "inn" (καταλυμα) is mostly used of a room in a house (as the upper room where they ate the last supper). The idea that Joseph should arrive with his heavily pregnant wife in his own home town ("For he was of the house and lineage of David") and should go to an inn (if any such even existed) rather than to family seems unlikely in the extreme.Justin Martyr's witness is 150 years after the event, nearly a century after the last witness would have died, which is plenty of time for myths and legends to grow.<br /><br />Given what we now know about ways of living then, the καταλυμα would most likely have been a guest chamber, which was most likely crowded, since Joseph would not be the only family member coming back to Bethlehem. So once the baby was born, he was put in a manger in the animals' area, (which was part of the house, both for the animals' security against thieves and for warmth).<br /><br />The scripture does not say that Jesus was born in a stable, only that he was put in a manger after birth. It is, frankly, inconceivable that a pregnant woman would be left in such a condition, even if she were a complete stranger! and she was a family member.Oliverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17101835535553524297noreply@blogger.com