Manger

We find this word no where in the Bible but when made use of in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke the evangelist tells us, that "when the days with Mary were accomplished that she should be delivered, she brought forth her first - born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn, " (Luke 2: 6, 7.) An English reader, unacquainted with the manners and customs of the East, from this relation, would be led to conclude, that from the fulness of the inn, andthe poverty of the Virgin Mary, there was no other accommodation to be obtained for her. But travellers accustomed to the journies in Palestine, explain the circumstances connected with inns different to this nation. Every traveller takes with him, of some sort or other, accommodations for the way. There are, here and there, caravansaries, or inns, built for the accommodation of travellers, to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather; but sad must be the case of all travellers who carry nothing with them for their owncomfort, when they take shelter in those hovels. It is to be hoped, that in Bethlehem, whose very name means the land of bread, there was sufficient provision of this kind for, the Lord of life and glory." But what other accommodations Mary had, we are left to conjecture. The humble circumstances in which Jesus appeared, in his first open manifestation in our nature, had a beautiful correspondence to the whole of his mission. The strongest expression we meet with in the word of God respecting the humiliation of Christ, ishis emptying himself, or, as the apostle expresses it, making himself of "no reputation." (Phil. 2: 7.) The great object for which the Son of God became man, was to restore the divine glory, which, sin had obscured; so that it was not enough for the Lord Jesus Christ to give all glory to God in a way of obedience and death, but he will give away, for a time, his own glory, to make the satisfaction to God more abundant. An inn, therefore, without accommodation, a manger, not a sopha, became exactly suited for this humbleSaviour to make his appearance in. And when we find the Son of God so debased, whose essential glory was, and is, equal to the Father, we behold an equivalent given for the debasement of God, the Father’s glory by reason of mans sin. Hence, therefore, the Lord Jesus, in his coming to redeem our nature, will, from the manger to the cross, debase, humble, and empty himself, and make himself of no reputation, yea, become "sin and a curse for us, when he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness ofGod in him." It is very blessed thus to behold Jesus when entering our world, and to discover the causes wherefore there was no room for him in the inn!

Manger. This word occurs only in Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12; Luk 2:16, in connection with the birth of Christ. It means a crib or feeding trough; but according to Schleusner, its real signification, in the New Testament, is the open court-yard attached to the inn or khan, in which the cattle would be shut at night, and where the poorer travellers might unpack their animals and take up their lodging, when they were, either by want or means, excluded from the house.

fatnee only in Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12; Luk 2:16, where the infant Jesus was laid, Luk 13:15 "the stall." The open courtyard attached to the inn or khan, with arcades around and terraces over them. However there are limestone caverns in the narrow long gray hill on which stands Bethlehem; and Justin Martyr, born at Sichem, only 40 miles off, A.D. 103, states that "Joseph lodged in a cave near Bethlehem." The "manger" was a crib in a stable or lower enclosure (which was possibly a cave as Justin Martyr says) attached to the inn or khan. (See INN.) The inn had apartments or cells above for travelers, and stalls for the cattle below. The upper platform, reached by steps, was probably occupied by the inn and its occupants; the lower level, from which the steps arose, was usually appropriated to cattle and goats, and on this occasion was used by Joseph and Mary on account of the crowded state of the regular inn or khan. Early Christian artists represent the scene of the nativity as an open courtyard with a crib or long trough.

The interest attached to this word is in connection with the birth of Christ. Luk 2:7-16. The word is φάτνη, which in classical Greek is used for a ’manger’ or ’feeding trough;’ but it has been doubted whether the modern manger was introduced into Palestine so early. Schleusner contends that the word implies in scripture "any enclosure, but especially a vestibule to the house, where the cattle were, not enclosed with walls, but wooden hurdles." With this agrees the Vulgate praesepe and the Peshito-Syriac. The word φάτνη occurs in the LXX in 2Ch 32:28; Job 6:5; Job 39:9; Pro 14:4; Isa 1:3; Joe 1:17: Hab 3:17.

MANGER.—The Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 translation of φάτνη in Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12; Luk 2:16. In Luk 13:15, the only other place where φάτνη occurs in NT, Authorized Version and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 both render it ‘stall,’ though (Revised Version margin) gives ‘manger.’ The precise meaning of φάτνη is somewhat uncertain, opinions differing as to whether it denotes a stall or a manger within a stall.

Tristram (Land of Israel, p. 73) supposes that Mary and Joseph, who could not find room in the κατάλυμα, were obliged to go to some poor house hard by, where there was ‘an upper platform’ for people and ‘a lower platform’ for cattle, and that ‘in the lower portion allotted to the cattle the Infant when born was naturally laid at once in the long earthen trough which serves for a manger, and into which the fodder is pushed from the floor.’ If the κατάλυμα was like a modern Eastern khan, and if the φάτνη belonged to it (see below), Mary and Joseph went to one of the stalls for cattle and beasts of burden within the outside wall, and there the babe was born. Meyer (on Luk 2:7) favours the view that φάτνη means a feeding-trough placed in a stable. In any case, φάτνη, as its derivation implies, designates a feeding-place for animals.

Opinions further differ as to whether the φάτνη in question was a cave or grotto in the limestone rock of the neighbourhood used as a stable, or an enclosure fenced in.

The former view, which has the weight of persistent tradition, is due to Justin Martyr, who tells us that Christ was born ‘in a certain cave near the village,’ which cave, he says, had been pointed out by Isaiah as ‘a sign.’ For this latter circumstance he founds upon Isa 33:16 LXX Septuagint , ‘He shall dwell in the lofty cave of the strong rock’ (Trypho, 70 and 78). A similar statement is made by Origen, who affirms that in his day there was shown at Bethlehem ‘the cave where Jesus was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling bands’ (c. Cels. i. 51).

There is, of course, nothing improbable in this traditional view that the place where Mary sought shelter was a cave, for throughout Palestine such caves or grottoes were and are commonly used as stables. The other view, that the φάτνη was an enclosure, is favoured by many. According to Schleusner, it was the open courtyard attached to the inn and enclosed by a rough fence, into which the cattle would be shut at night, and where poorer travellers might lodge, when from want of room in the inn, or want of means to pay for room, they could find no other place. This view is supported by the Vulgate (prœsepium) and the Peshitta. It is, moreover, significant that the earliest Christian artists represent the Nativity as in an open courtyard.

Stanley, who opposes the view that the φάτνη was a cave, does so partly on the ground of Mat 2:11 and partly on the ground of the superstitious tendency to associate sacred events with caves. He says (SP [Note: P Sinai and Palestine.] p. 440): ‘As soon as the religion of Palestine fell into the hands of Europeans, it is hardly too much to say that it became “a religion of caves.” ’ He further notes that when the Convent of the Nativity was dismantled during the invasion of Ibrahim Pasha, it was found that the traditional cave had been, in pre-Christian times, a place of sepulture, and was therefore not at all likely ever to have been used by Jews as a manger.

It has been commonly but too readily assumed that the precise meaning of φάτνη in St. Luke’s account must be determined by our interpretation of κατάλυμα. This appears to be a groundless assumption. It is not said by St. Luke that the φάτνη was connected with the inn. In Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12 the definite article is not used; for, though it appears in the Textus Receptus and a few Manuscripts of minor importance, in which it was probably inserted to designate the well-known φάτνη, preponderating evidence is altogether against it. It occurs, as the best Manuscripts show, in Luk 2:16, but there it clearly refers to the φάτνη spoken of in Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12. It is at least possible that the φάτνη did not belong to the κατάλυμα at all, and it is worth noting as subordinate evidence for this that the Protevangel of James and the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy do not connect ‘the cave’ of which they both speak with the inn.

Our conclusion, then, seems clear that, whether the φάτνη was a cave or an enclosure, it was certainly a place where cattle were housed or fed. It cannot be maintained that there is anything improbable or unreasonable in the continuous Christian tradition which goes back to the first decade of the second century. Nor is the pious sentiment groundless which has pictured the birth of the world’s Redeemer in circumstances so humble, and has lingered in loving and grateful meditation over His manger cradle. See also artt. Bethlehem and Cave.

Literature.—Schleusner, Lex. s.v. φάτνη; Meyer-Weiss on Luk 2:7; Keim, Jesus of Nazara (English translation ii. 80); Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, i. 185; Stanley, SP [Note: P Sinai and Palestine.] , and Tristram, Land of Israel, as quoted; Hepworth Dixon, Holy Land, i. ch. 13.

J. Cromarty Smith.

MANGER (Luk 2:7; Luk 2:12-13; Luk 13:13 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ).—EV [Note: English Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of phatnç, the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] equivalent of Heb. ’çbûs, ‘a place where cattle are fattened’ (Job 39:9 etc.). It also represents ’urwâh (2Ch 32:28), and repheth (Hab 3:17), EV [Note: English Version.] stall. In Job 39:9, Pro 14:4 ’çbûs may mean the stall or shelter; in Isa 1:3 it is probably the crib in which the food was placed. A like ambiguity attaches to ’urwâh or ’uryâh (2Ch 32:28), lit. ‘collecting place’ or ‘collected herd.’ It probably came to mean a certain number of animals, as ‘a pair’ or ‘team’ (1Ki 4:26, 2Ch 9:25) [Gesenius]. The Heb. repheth (Hab 3:17) clearly means ‘stall’; marbçq is the place where the cattle are ‘tied up’ (1Sa 28:24; ‘fatted calf’ = ‘calf of the stall,’ Jer 46:21, Amo 6:4, Mal 4:2); phatnç may therefore denote either the ‘manger’ or the ‘stall.’

If katatuma (Luk 2:7) means ‘guest chamber’ (see art. Hospitality, ad fin.), Joseph and Mary may have moved into the side of the house occupied by the cattle, from which the living-room is distinguished by a higher floor, with a little hollow in the edge, out of which the cattle eat. The present writer has seen a child laid in such a ‘manger.’ Or, in the crowded khân, only the animals’ quarters may have afforded shelter. We do not now know. Ancient tradition places Jesus’ birth in a cave near Bethlehem. Caves under the houses are extensively used in Palestine as stables. The midhwad, ‘manger,’ cut in the side, is an excellent ‘crib’ for a baby.

W. Ewing.

mān´jẽr (φάτνη, phátnē): Properly the place in a stall or stable where the food of cattle is placed (in the Old Testament “crib” (Job 39:9; Pro 14:4; Isa 1:3)); thus also, apparently, in the narrative of the nativity in Luk 2:7, Luk 2:12, Luk 2:16. In Septuagint, the Greek word, representing different Hebrew words, has also the extended meaning of “stall” (2Ch 32:28; Hab 3:17); thus also in Luk 13:15, where the Revised Version margin has “manger.” Old tradition says that Jesus was born in a cave in the neighborhood of Bethlehem; even so, a place for food for cattle may have been cut in the side of the rock.