Birth
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 cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6–7
And so, the Lord became a child. A typical crying child born of a woman, like any other child born on any other day, in any other place, in the history of the world. There are some curious notes in the birth and early childhood of Jesus.
No Room at the Inn?
…and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn…
In our world there are hotels, motels, and inns, where you can stay for some short period of time while you are traveling. There was probably no “inn” of this kind in Bethlehem, however. This “inn” is probably a small room on the top of a house, as described in second Kings:
And she said to her husband, “Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.
2 Kings 4:9-10
Why would there be no such rooms available?
Was Bethlehem crowded because of the census? Bethlehem was a small town, and people didn’t move far from home very often in their culture, so there probably not a huge rush on the city filling up all the guest rooms.
If it was not because of crowds, then why else? Weren’t they among family? That they were among family was precisely the problem.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Matthew 1:19
In such an honor-bound culture, a young lady being pregnant before marriage was scandalous. Such a young couple would not be welcome in anyone’s home—at least until the child was born and the couple were married. Until this time, they would need to be somewhat hidden from polite society.
A manger would not have been a small wooden hut, a wooden feeding trough, and a pile of hay. Instead, it would have been a cave with a feeding trough carved out of stone.
This birth of Jesus was met with great joy among the shepherds:
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
Luke 2:8–9
The First Temple Trip
Forty days after the birth, Joseph and Mary took Jesus up to the Temple in Jerusalem—one always goes up to Jerusalem—a short journey of around six miles, to make an offering to the Lord. This offering served two purposes.
The first was Mary’s purification.
If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed …
Leviticus 12:2–4
The second was to redeem Jesus, as he was the firstborn.
And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ Exodus 13:14-5
God passed through Egypt destroying every firstborn, from animals in the field to the firstborn son of Pharaoh himself. God passed over the firstborn of Israel because they had wiped their door posts with the blood of a lamb. This passover—or rather Passover—was the final plague, releasing Israel from bondage.
When they visited the Temple, they traded their Roman coins for Temple coins—Roman coins bore human images, and were not allowed in the Temple—at the money changers, and then purchased the correct animals from merchants in the women’s court. The animals there would have already been checked by priests to make certain they were fit for the prescribed sacrifices.
Joseph took the birds through the women’s courtyard, while Mary waited, through the men’s courtyard, and then to a gate where a priest waited. He waited while the priest performed the sacrifice, making certain all was done as required.
Jesus took the path through the men’s courtyard, handing off a sacrificial animal to the priest who met him at the gate, and waiting for the result many times in his life. Once Joseph passes out of the scene, the eldest son would be responsible for carrying the Passover lamb on his shoulders and bringing the cooked meat back to his family to complete the Passover meal. These visits, unmentioned in the Scriptures, all appear to have been quiet affairs.
Every encounter between Jesus and the Temple in the Scriptures, however, produces fireworks.
On this, the first trip, Joseph and Mary encountered two prophets on their short trip to the Temple: Simeon and Anna. There is little in the Biblical record about these two people other than the prophecies they spoke over the child.
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
Luke 2:33