The Inn and the Stable—Luk_2:6-7
When Joseph and Mary arrived at Bethlehem, they found the place so full that it was difficult for them to obtain any accommodation—especially such accommodation as it now appeared that Mary’s condition might presently require. They did not find such resources as we possess in coming to a strange town. There were no inns, in our sense of the word; no lodging-houses; nor did bills stuck up in the windows of “apartments to let,” apprise them where they might find a room during their necessary stay in the place. The idea of giving for hire the accommodation of his private house, would have been abhorrent to a Jew of that age, whose point of honor was to offer the use of his house and table freely to all who happened to be known to him, or who came with messages or recommendations from those whom he knew. In an earlier age, even perfect strangers might reckon upon being well entertained wherever they came, being usually invited to his house by some hospitable inhabitant, as soon as they showed by their manner—as by standing still or sitting down at the gate or in the street, that they had no friends in the place to whom they could go. This duty was not always readily performed, as we see in the case of the Levite at Gibeah—(Jdg_19:15)—and as the country became more thickly peopled, travelling more frequent, and the habits of social life less open and simple, the frequent presence of strangers rendered the duty of entertaining them irksome, and instead of rushing to be the first to gain the privilege of entertaining them, individual householders held back, for others to take the duty, until at last some one, out of mere shame for the credit of the place, grudgingly undertook the office of entertainer.
When this began to be felt, and it was seen by the inhabitants that the place stood in danger of getting a bad name for inhospitality—which would have been a discredit and an inconvenience to every inhabitant wherever he went—the first remedy thought of would be in that custom which still exists in the East, and in the less frequented towns of Palestine, of the inhabitants making a yearly allowance to the chief of the village or town for entertaining at his house, or in separate premises near his house, all strangers that came. Note: In some cases the chief or head-man is allowed by the general government to deduct a certain sum out of the taxes due from the place, to defray the cost of entertaining strangers.
Another resource, and the most economical in the long run, and therefore most resorted to where the place is, from its importance or situation, such as to render the visits of strangers so numerous as to be a burdensome charge under the other plan, is to build in or near the town a khan or caravanserai, which is a large structure to which the stranger may freely repair, and find lodging and water for himself and his beast without charge; Note: There is sometimes a small fee expected by the person in charge of the place when the traveller leaves. But this is something more than nominally “optional” to a native of the country. but must himself provide food for both: and to it Joseph and Mary repaired for accommodation.
Such a building the Bethlehemites had provided for the reception of strangers. That they did so, would seem to imply that they really were strangers in this the native seat of the family to which they belonged—and might suggest that they had not been born there, and had never lived there. We cannot, however, be certain of this; for as they clearly came very late, they may have found the friends they had at Bethlehem already over-burdened with guests.
Whether as strangers, or as guests too late for any other accommodation, to the khan they went. But they were too late even there; for all the lodging-chambers were already occupied, so that “there was no room for them in the inn.” What was to be done? The critical condition of Mary rendered some kind of shelter necessary, and none but that which the stable offered could be found: to the stable they therefore repaired; and it was in such a place that the Savior of the world was born, and it was thus that the manger from whence the cattle fed became a cradle for him.
It is worth while to understand everything rightly in which the Scripture is concerned; and it seems to us that some points in this matter have been egregiously misapprehended, for want of practical knowledge of the arrangements which belong to this matter in the East.
For instance—both painters and poets make much of the
&mdash—“little oxe’s stall,”
in which it is presumed that our Savior was born—the idea of such a “stall” being derived from the stables of the humble village inns of the West. But the stable in the present instance was assuredly that of the caravanserai—a large and important public building, with a spacious stable for the use of the traveler’s beasts, for which it was set apart, and where therefore oxen or any other than cattle used for travelling do not appear.
The explanation we give of this matter is founded upon actual observation, made while ourselves more than once constrained to lodge in the stable, because there was no room in the inn, and suggested, in fact, in such a place as enabled us to say—In such a stable as this was Jesus born; here might have been an excellent retreat for the Virgin; here she would be completely screened from observation at the time it was needed; and here is the very “manger,” which might have formed no unsuitable “cot” for her first-born son.
Eastern Caravanserai
Let us explain.
A caravanserai of the kind we have in view, and which we regard as most illustrative, presents an external appearance which suggests to a European traveller the idea of a fortress, being an extensive square pile of strong and lofty walls—mostly of brick upon a basement of stone, with a grand archway entrance. This leads not, as one is prepared to expect, to imposing internal buildings, but to a large open area, with a well in the middle, and surrounded on three or four sides with a kind of piazza raised upon a platform three or four feet high, in the wall behind which are small doors leading to the cells, or oblong chambers, which form the lodgings. The cell, with the space on the platform in front of it, forms the domain of each individual traveller, where he is completely secluded, as the apparent piazza is not open, but is composed of the front arches of each compartment. There is, however, in the center of one or more of the sides a large arched hall, quite open in front, which serves as the public or travellers’ room, to which those of the inmates who are socially inclined repair. The cells are completely unfurnished, and have generally no light but from the door; and the traveller is generally seen in the recess in front of his apartment, except during the heat of the day—here he even sleeps at night when the weather allows, or unless he prefers the roof of the building.
Many of these caravanserais have no stables, the cattle of the travellers being accommodated in the open area. But in the more complete establishments of the kind, there are very excellent and spacious stables formed of covered avenues extending between the back wall of the lodging apartments, and the outer wall of the whole building, the entrance being at one or more of the corners of the inner quadrangle. The stable is on the same level with the court, and thus below the level of the tenements which stand on the raised platform. Nevertheless, this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench, to which the heads of the cattle are turned, and on which they can, if they like, rest the nosebags of hair-cloth in which their food is given to them, to enable them to reach the bottom when the contents get low. It also often happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, forming a more or less narrow platform along its extent—but also recesses corresponding to these in front of the cells towards the open area, and formed in fact by the side walls of these cells being allowed to project behind to the boundary of the platform. These, though small and shallow, form convenient retreats for servants and muleteers in bad weather, but are little used in the mild season, except during the heat of the day. Such a recess we conceive that Joseph and Mary occupied, with their ass or mule—if they had one, as they perhaps had—tethered in front. The recess at the upper end would not be passed by any one; and it might be rendered quite private by a cloth being stretched across the lower part.
This is the explanation with which our own mind has been satisfied since the opportunity of actual observation in Eastern travel has been presented to us; and to us it is far preferable to any we were able to conceive of the circumstances before such opportunity occurred.
Autor: JOHN KITTO