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Where was the Birth Place of the Lord Jesus?
by Cooper P Abrams III

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The Nativity scene we see so often is of Jesus being born in a stable that sheltered animals has always bothered me. I grew up in a small town in rural eastern North Carolina and I have seen a lot of stables. Even the best kept ones are dirty smelly places because they house animals. I have never been able to understand how that such an unclean place where donkeys and other animals resided was where Mary gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. Several years ago, a pastor friend of mine sent me an article that gave biblical evidence that Jesus was not born in a animal stable behind a inn where donkeys and other animals were kept, but in a more appropriate place. The following is the result of my research.

Tradition, not the Bible, says that Jesus' birth place was in cave over which the Basilica of the Nativity was built in Bethlehem. Roman Emperor Constantine, built a Basilica1 over this cave in the 4th Century at the request of his mother, Helena. It was destroyed and the present basilica was built by Emperor Justinian in 530 AD. Origen of Alexandria (185 - 254 AD) wrote that it was generally accepted that Jesus was born in a cave at Bethlehem which could be visited in his day. 2

Clearly the city of Jesus' birth was Bethlehem as Micah 5:2 prophesied and as the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John confirm. (See Matthew 2:1,5-6,8,16; Luke 2:4,15; John 7:42) "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2) Luke proclaims the birth place as Bethlehem, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 1 Samuel 17:15, confirms Bethlehem as the City of David, "But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem." But where in Bethlehem was Jesus born? The fact is that the New Testament does not mention the exact place in Bethlehem of where Jesus was born nor does the Bible record that Jesus was born in stable attended by donkeys, chickens, and cows as many nativity scenes present? All the New Testament says is that there was no room in the inn and that Jesus was lain in a manger in Bethlehem. The New Testament does not mention a stable or that Jesus was born in the back of an inn. The actually place of Jesus' birth was not certainly not a accident, but was a sign given 700 years earlier which predicted where He would be born.

The popular conception that the word "manger" refers to a trough where animals were fed may be accurate. However, it could mean simply a stall. The Greek word which is translated in our English Bibles "manger" is Yatnh phat-ne (pronounced fat'-nay). The definition of the word is of a "stall" where animals are kept and in Luke 13:15 is translated as such. In the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) the word means a stall or a crib (See Proverbs 14:4). The question is what kind of "stall" or manger is the New Testament referring to and what kind of animal was fed or housed there.

Although the New Testament does not tell us where in Bethlehem Jesus was born, the Old Testament does. Micah 4:8 states, "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." Thus the Old Testament clearly states that the Messiah would be born at the "tower of the flock" (Hebrew: Migdal Edar).

The phrase "tower of the flock" is the Hebrew phrase "Migdal Edar" [mig-dawl ay-der] and means a "watch tower of the flock". In ancient times this was a military tower erected to view into the valley on the edge of Bethlehem to protect the city. Several of these military towers are recorded in the Old Testament (See Judges 8:71, 9:46, 9:51; 2 Kings 9:17, 18:8; Nehemiah 3:1) The tower at Bethlehem is first mentioned in Genesis 35:21, "And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar" ("tower of Edar" - Migdal Edar). After Jacob left Bethel he came to Edar (the tower) and there Rachel began hard labor and as she delivered Benjamin she died and was buried there in Ephratah which is Bethlehem" (Gen. 35:19). After burying Rachel, Jacob moved his flocks beyond the tower of Edar. This would pinpoint the location as being near to what is present day Bethlehem. Clearly, this establishes that Migdal Edar, "the tower of the flock" was in Bethlehem in Bible times.

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