What Did Jesus Manger Look Like

The first Christmas involved baby Jesus placed in a manger on the ground floor of David's ancestral home in Bethlehem because the upstairs "guest room" was full. As recorded in Scripture, the first time the word manger is referenced to Christ is in Luke 2:7, which reads, "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." So, yes, Mary placed her newborn son, Jesus, in a feeding trough. Bethlehem - the Manger and the Inn People have asked me where I think Jesus was born.

I reply that Scripture and archaeology show that the place was not a randomly chosen cave in Bethlehem, but a location that was prepared centuries earlier for this purpose. The Popular Assumption: In a Barn If you look at any manger scene or contemporary nativity sets, this is the popular image presented. Understandably, the reasoning goes like this: Jesus was placed in a manger, which was a feeding trough for livestock, so he must've been born in the barn with the animals.

The scene has been depicted persistently over the generations, from Great Masters to coloring books. But what did the manger really look look like? The magnificent Church of the Nativity, built and rebuilt over the generations, gives us no hint; an elaborate altar stands at the traditional site of the birth today. The manger represents Christ's humility in being born in a lowly place among animals, rather than in a palace, symbolizing how he came to identify with the poor and marginalized.

The manger fulfills Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, connecting Jesus to the Davidic line and God's promises to his people. The manger points to the mystery of the Incarnation. What did the people of Egypt look like before Jesus? What are the release dates for Go Look in the Manger and The Candy Maker's Christmas - 2001? What did Syria look like in Jesus' time?

Subscribe to biblical objects and places brought to life!In the Bible, Mary laid Jesus in a manger because there was no room at the inn (Luke 2:7). Early Christian writers like Justin Martyr and Origen said Jesus was born in a cave. The cave has long been revered as the manger where Mary laid the infant Jesus after his birth.

Since the English word "manger" derives from (and is the same as) the French word that means "to eat", I think of the manger in which Christ was placed as a carved open stone receptacle or trough in which hay or other grains could be placed for animals to come and feed on, in order to sustain their lives.