Troublesome Topic: What Was that Place We Usually Call an “Inn”?

Luke 2:7

Translation

And she brought forth her son, the firstborn,

and wrapped him in strips of cloth,

and laid Him in a manger because there was room for them in the guest room.

Paraphrase

And she gave birth to her son, the one with all the privileges and the most responsibility, and she wrapped him in long rags, and laid him in a feeding trough. She did this because there was no room for them in the guest room.

The Greek word used here is not the word for “house,” but neither is it the typical word for a public inn, or a “caravansary,” the stopping place of caravans and other travelers. The word used here means “to break up,” as in a place to stop for the night and break up a journey. It was employed so as to indicate a “guest room” in the private home of a relative, friend or stranger. Luke used this word three other times in his Gospel, and the NET Bible translates it as follows: once for “lodging” in general (Lk 9:12), once for the person who was “a guest” (Lk 19:7), and once for the “guest room, or upper room” where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples for the last time (Lk 22:11). We may conclude then, that, although the word meant “to break up,” its usage indicates that such a stop was made in the home of some hospitable person rather than a public inn. The long-standing tradition was that of hospitality to all without price. The expectation was that the guest of a hospitable family would leave them a small token of appreciation (which could be anything useful) as a way of saying “thank you.” But such a payment was not required and it was given according to the financial capabilities of the guest. We look at that and think that a family that lived beside a busy road would often be taken advantage of, but that was seldom the case and there were benefits as well. Such a family would see traveling merchants from faraway places and hear the news from distant lands before others did. They became the hub for information and news. They would get first chance at buying things like spices or garments or other merchandise brought from afar. While some could give them very little, others rewarded them with more than just the gift they offered, so things probably balanced out in the end.

On the other hand there were indeed inns that were money-making establishments at the time of Jesus. This was a business opportunity that had opened up and become common in the time of the Roman Empire. However, the innkeepers of the money-making establishments were universally known as a dishonest and ill-tempered lot, a fact that is attested to in numerous ways in ancient literature, including Roman law. Because of the abuses of public innkeepers, the ancient custom among the Israelites (and probably other people too) of being hospitable to all who came along increased in popularity during the Roman occupation of Israel. Thus the Jews stayed away from the public inns and preferred to seek lodging with any fellow-countryman who would give them shelter.

The next lesson is: What about the Tower of the Flock?

Footnotes

1: “the firstborn”

The author did not have to tell the reader that Jesus was her firstborn child; that is obvious from the fact that she was a virgin. However, it is mentioned to indicate he would have responsibilities and privileges that were not held by all sons. There were societal expectations that he would be a leader, at least in his own family, and possibly beyond that.

2: “strips of cloth”

We are familiar with the term “swaddling clothes,” but what does that mean? It means nothing more than strips of cloth that have been torn from old, unusable garments. It comes from a Greek word that means, among other things, “to tear.” They did not let anything go to waste, so they kept old clothes and reused them as rags in general or for more specific purposes. Mary was prepared; she brought with her what she would need to wrap the baby up after he was born. From what I see in the commentaries, wrapping a newborn baby in strips of cloth was the norm. However, even though it was normal, it had profound significance in the case of Jesus. The use of such strips of cloth was seldom mentioned precisely because it was common. The fact that it was mentioned here called attention to it in a way that tells us there are lessons to be learned from it. 1) The King of the Universe was “clothed” for a time in leftover garments that had been torn into rags. 2) The same type of rags, when they had served their usefulness as rags, were used for one last thing—what the Bible calls “menstrual rags,” fulfilling the role filled in our culture by tampons and feminine pads. 3) What did they do to prepare a dead body for burial? They wrapped it in strips of cloth. Therefore, the statement that he was wrapped in strips of cloth is yet another way the story highlights the realities that the coming of Jesus was characterized by humility, was surrounded by filth and nastiness, and had one purpose—He was born so He could die. Some of these things are characteristic of all human life, but we usually don’t say those things about God. These are additional ways that prove that God fully became human in every way except for one, He did not sin.