Advent: December 13th
From someone who has carried and birthed babies a handful of times, I can say, without a doubt, that it may have been the very physicality of the trip that threw Mary into labor. And it may very well have been that there was an urgent need in finding shelter- fast.
Luke writes,” And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7)
Inn here is the Greek word 'kataluma' which means guest room. With the decree of Augustus, going to all of Israel that every family should register in their hometown there would have been an influx of visitors. Bethlehem was not so large a large city to have need of many buildings that would qualify for our understanding of what an inn or motel would be like today. Culturally, even, it was not typically the practice since hospitality was an important part of Jewish culture. It was important to the Jews to receive sojourners and aliens well. (Leviticus 19:33-34, Exodus 22:21, Zechariah 7:10)
It is more likely that Joseph and Mary would rely on relatives that lived in the area to host them. If they were planning on staying with family the fact that the guest room was already taken could still apply. Perhaps there were too many other distant family members, visitors, and guests there due to the decree and its time constraints. Another consideration that may initially seem obvious, lies in the fact that Mary is pregnant.
If other distant relatives were staying together in one room and Mary were to have her baby in the guest room with them, they all would have been considered ritually unclean for many days as the purification laws were observed. That would inconvenience everyone.
It was also fairly common practice at this time for women to have their babies, not in a guest room, but in the stable area of the house precisely for this reason. It was a holding area of sorts, a place where a mess could be made, and the rest of the house wouldn’t have to go on lock-down.
Perhaps you have heard that Jesus was born in a cave or grotto? This may, or may not, have been true. Houses in Bethlehem had a stable-type commons area on the first floor where you would bring your animals(often a donkey or an ox) in at night to protect them from theft. Families slept in rooms that were typically located on the second floor. The topography of Bethlehem, however, has many small caves around its border, which were often used as stables or incorporated into houses. So, it is possible that, while it may completely ruin your view of the nativity scene, Jesus could have been born in one of these natural structures. We can not know for sure since it is not directly stated in scripture.
Whatever the reason is for Mary birthing Jesus in the stables, it is still a huge surprise that the King of the World would arrive in such a humble way.
After the birth of Jesus, the umbilical cord would have been cut. The child would’ve been washed, rubbed down with salt, and wrapped in swaddling clothes.
It may be surprising, but outside sources(The Book of Wisdom-which is NOT in the Bible) quotes King Solomon as saying, “And when I was born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the Earth, which is of like nature, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do. I was nursed in swaddling clothes and that with cares. There is no king that had any other beginning of birth. “
Swaddling clothes were used across the social classes, even often for kings in a show of humility. Swaddling clothes are long, narrow strips of cloth that would’ve been used to wrap newborns in to keep them warm and restrain their movements. We still swaddle our babies today in blankets. These cloths could also have been used to tie up a sprained limb on an animal or as a makeshift Band-Aid, so it is likely that the stables in which they stayed already had an abundance of them.
Have you ever seen a manger scene that was located in a cave? Where do our modern images of this scene come from? There was no medical staff at this birth. Mary was not in a comfortable, ornate birthing room. The surroundings were crude and dirty. It is hard sometimes to imagine just how humble the birth of Christ was particularly when we realize WHO HE TRULY IS!
