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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Luke 2:7 - 2:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Her first-born son
The Greek reads literally, her son, the first-born.
Wrapped in swaddling-clothes (ἐσπαργάνωσεν)
Only here and Luk 2:12. Naturally found often in medical writings. Swaddle is swathed, from the verb to swathe.
In a manger (ἐν φάτνῃ)
Used by Luke only, here and Luk 13:15. Wyc. has a cracche, spelt also cratch. Compare French crèche, a manger. Quite possibly a rock-cave. Dr. Thomson says: “I have seen many such, consisting of one or more rooms, in front of and including a cavern where the cattle were kept” (“Land and Book”).
In the inn (ἐν τῷ καταλύματι)
Only here, Luk 23:11; Mar 14:14, on which see note. In both these passages it is rendered guest-chamber, which can hardly be the meaning here, as some have maintained. (See Geikie, “Life and Words of Christ,” i., 121.) In that case the expression would be, they found no κατάλυμα, guest-chamber. The word refers to the ordinary khan, or caravanserai. Tynd., hostrey. “A Syrian khan is a fort and a mart; a refuge from thieves; a shelter from the heat and dust; a place where a man and his beast may lodge; where a trader may sell his wares, and a pilgrim may slake his thirst....Where built by a great sheikh, it would have a high wall, an inner court, a range of arches or lewans, an open gallery round the four sides, and, in many cases, a tower from which the watcher might descry the approach of marauding bands. On one side of the square, but outside the wall, there is often a huddle of sheds, set apart from the main edifice, as stables for the asses and camels, the buffaloes and goats. In the centre of the khan springs a fountain of water, the first necessity of an Arab's life; and around the jets and troughs in which the limpid element streams, lies the gay and picturesque litter of the East. Camels wait to be unloaded; dogs quarrel for a bone; Bedaween from the desert, their red zannars choked with pistols, are at prayer. In the archways squat the merchants with their bales of goods....Half-naked men are cleansing their hands ere sitting down to eat. Here a barber is at work upon a shaven crown; there a fellah lies asleep in the shade....Each man has to carry his dinner and his bed; to litter his horse or camel; to dress his food; to draw his water; to light his fire, and to boil his mess of herbs” (Hepworth Dixon, “The Holy Land”).