The Gospels of both Matthew and Luke place the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The Gospel of Luke states that Mary gave birth to Jesus and placed him in a manger “because there was no place for them in the inn”.
Bethlehem lies 10 kilometres south of the city of Jerusalem, in the fertile limestone hill country of the Holy Land. Since at least the 2nd century AD people have believed that the place where the Church of the Nativity , Bethlehem, now stands is where Jesus was born.
No, probably not. We get this idea from Christmas carols, artwork, and other stories, but the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus do not indicate that He was born in a stable, a barn , or a cave. Instead, Jesus was most likely born in a house.
He was born in a stable and laid in a manger. Why did God allow His Son to have such a humble and obscure birth? Joseph had a dream calling him to take Mary as his wife, for the child in her womb was from God and he would be called Jesus – for he would save his people from their sins.
The birth of Christ may be the most famous Bible story of all, reprised annually in nativity scenes across the world each Christmas: Jesus was born in a stable , because there was no room at the inn.
The shepherds were quietly getting on with their own business when suddenly an angel appeared to them. The angel’s words to them told them of Jesus and his amazing birth and how they could recognise him in a very crowded town.
Located in the beautiful Lower Galilee region of Israel, and famed for being the city where Jesus had lived and grown up, today Nazareth is the largest Arab city in Israel, and one of the largest cities in northern Israel. The majority of the people in Nazareth are Muslim or Christian.
“My overall take on this, which would be the opinion of most other biblical scholars as well, is that there is very little in the Christmas story of the Gospels that is historically reliable,” said Brent Landau, a religious studies scholar at the University of Texas at Austin.
From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 .
The Holy Family left from Bethlehem to Egypt after an angel warned Joseph to leave with Jesus and Virgin Mary. They started their journey through northern Sinai until reaching Farama. The places they stayed in have now been transformed to churches and monasteries.
It’s the story that everyone knows: Jesus was born in a barn , surrounded by farm animals and shepherds, because there was no room at the inn. The word is used elsewhere in the bible as a word to mean “private upper room” where Jesus and his disciples ate the Last Supper in the Gospel of Mark.
Most of us have heard the story. The fabled innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph in their hour of need. The calloused man has become a staple in the Christmas story, though he’s never mentioned in the Bible . No innkeeper , only a stated fact.
Only Luke mentions a manger, shepherds and a chorus of angels. There’s no mention in either version that Mary rode into Bethlehem on a donkey . And there’s no mention of any animals in the stable — though one can assume some were present.
The birth of Jesus holds particularly special meaning for us in that because Jesus overcame, so can we. He was able to live and endure this world in human form, teach and love others, point them to the Father, then conquered death, hell, and the grave.
Some apocryphal accounts state that at the time of her betrothal to Joseph, Mary was 12–14 years old . According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at about 12. Hyppolitus of Thebes says that Mary lived for 11 years after the death of her son Jesus, dying in 41 AD.