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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.