The word kataluma, translated as inn in Luke 2, is the same word used for the upper room in Luke 22, where Jesus and the disciples celebrated the Passover meal. It was a furnished guest room at a private residence. There was a lot of family in Bethlehem due to the census. Presumably, Joseph and Mary were going to stay in the kataluma (guest room) at the home of a relative, but when they got there that room was already full of other relatives. So instead of staying in the upper room, the guest room, they stayed in the downstairs part: the regular family residence. People would bring their domestic animals inside for the night, especially in the cold, hence the presence of a manger in this house. Mary would presumably have had other women (Josephs family members) there to serve as midwives to attend the birth. So Jesus birth would have been a more or less typical home birth, except it was in the home of a relative instead of in Mary and Josephs own home, and except for the fact that Jesus was laid in a manger. Cut the poor old innkeeper some slack. He didnt even exist, after all.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:36:35 +0000
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