Posted on 12/25/2011 8:27:50 AM PST by Altariel
Why would Joseph, “of the lineage of David,” in the city of his family’s origin have to seek shelter in an inn and be turned out into a stable? Recently this question was put to me here in Beirut. This paper presents an answer. In this brief study I will attempt to demonstrate that Jesus was born in a private home and that the “inn” of Luke 2:7 is best understood as the guest room of the family in whose house the birth took place. Recent studies have primarily focused on Luke’s theological interests.1 The concern here is the Palestinian cultural background of verses 6–7 which we understand to be traditional material. Indeed, a more precise analysis of that background is critical for both a clearer understanding of the original tradition as well as any interpretation of its use within the Lucan framework.
(Excerpt) Read more at biblearchaeology.org ...
From the article, comment # 5
“12/6/2011 11:34 AM
Tried reading your article, which is very interesting, but I’m having trouble getting through the first couple of paragraphs due to the continued use of the terms “Palestine” & “Palestinian”
Palestine was a derogatory name given to the area by the Romans as an insult to the Jews. I would expect a “lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies” to know that.
The reason is really quite simple: a census was ordered - as descendents of David, The Holy Family HAD to travel to Bethlehem from their home in Nazareth. Arriving late in the evening, in active Labor, they simply had no choice but to seek the nearest shelter, rather than travel around town looking for a distant relative that had room to put them up in a city that had tripled in population in just a few short weeks.
The Bible says “born in a stable and laid in a manger”. All the “scholars” in the world can’t alter the simple facts.
Understandable as they are from the writer’s lead-in, I still could not get past the “Palestinian” terminology and ceased reading. If it starts off this twisted, how does the reader know when something factual is stated?
But the writer gives it away at the very beginning by noting that it is written in Beirut. So the Palestinian terminology is there to help the writer keep his or her head a bit longer. Sorry, Dhimmitude is not a reason for such writing in my opinion.
I doubt there's a single non Catholic out there who loses sight of the One who took upon himself the form of a servent by sticking with the written words of God...
Seems to be a lame attempt to denigrate the words and authority of the words of God to the faithful Catholic...
There is absolutel zero significance to a story that has Joseph and Mary going to someone's house; but their guest room was full (which isn't really a guest room after all) and had to sleep in the family room...
Why put quotes around something that's obviously not a quote? The word 'stable' never occurs, that part's only an inference made by later generations from the presence of the manger. The tale you recount is the popular version of the Christmas story, but is largely not supported by the actual text. Joseph would be a pretty lousy husband if he had really forced his wife to go on a long journey just as she was due to deliver. Nor for that matter would Rome have forced anyone to move around just to take a census. Just as with a modern day census the government cares where you live now (so they can tax you - some things never change), not where your family history is. Far more likely, the census was used as a convenient excuse to get out of Nazareth. After all, Mary was giving birth less than 9 months after the wedding, it's pretty obvious what the town gossips would conclude had happened.
Palestine is an ancient term for a geographical, as opposed to an ethnic or national area. It was in use by Greeks and others at least five centuries before Rome started using it as the name for their province.
It had no political overtones whatsoever until the last few decades. It was just a noun referencing a particular geographical area.
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