Luke 2:1-7<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
What can I possibly say here about this most familiar of stories that hasn\u2019t been said both recently and eloquently?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not much, probably.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps a few very quick notes will need to suffice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew 1:21 \u2014 \u201cYou shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.\u201d \u00a0This statement presupposes that readers understand the meaning of that name, Jesus<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The English form of the name Jesus<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0derived from the name\u00a0I\u0113sous<\/em>\u00a0(Greek:\u00a0\u1f38\u03b7\u03c3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2<\/span>), which, in its turn, is the Greek form of the Hebrew name\u00a0Yeshua<\/em>\u00a0(Hebrew:\u00a0\u05d9\u05e9\u05d5\u05e2<\/span>\u200e). \u00a0(Compare the Old Testament name of Joshua<\/em>, the successor to Moses.)\u00a0<\/sup><\/sup> Yeshua<\/em>\u00a0is based on the\u00a0Hebrew root\u00a0y-\u0161-\u0295 <\/i>(\u05d9\u05e9\u05e2<\/span>\u200e), meaning \u201cto deliver,\u201d or \u201cto rescue.\u201d\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Both the name Yeshua<\/em>\u00a0and its longer form, Yehoshua<\/em>, had become common among\u00a0Jews\u00a0of the\u00a0Second Temple period \u2014 i.e., at the time of Jesus. \u00a0The precise meaning of the name is somewhat debated, but all of the possibilities, which center on Yah<\/em>, the first syllable of the divine name Yahweh<\/em> (that is, Jehovah<\/em>), carry closely related meanings, including \u201cYah\u00a0saves,\u201d \u201cYah is salvation,\u201d \u201cYah is a saving-cry,\u201d and so forth.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thus, the statement \u201cYou shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins\u201d makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew likes<\/em> to explain the meaning of names. \u00a0Compare his explanation of the name Emmanuel<\/em>, which, he says at 1:23, \u201cmeans \u2018God with us.'\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
He is also eager, as at verses 1:22-23, to indicate how Jesus fulfills the ancient messianic promises. \u00a0This will be a recurrent theme in his gospel; it\u2019s far less common, if it occurs at all, in the gospel of Luke.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u201cmanger\u201d (Greek phatne<\/em>) into which the infant Jesus is placed after his birth and his wrapping in swaddling clothes wasn\u2019t a cute little Austrian or Bavarian cradle but, rather, a feeding trough. \u00a0And it was almost certainly made of stone. \u00a0(The French verb manger<\/em>, from which the English word derives, means \u201cto eat.\u201d)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And what about the \u201cinn\u201d of Luke 1:7?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Greek word\u00a0kataluma<\/em>, which the King James translates as inn<\/em>, does indeed refer to a \u201clodging place.\u201d \u00a0But it might be preferable to translate it as referring to an \u201cupper room.\u201d \u00a0It can indicate the room of a house where guests visiting from out of town might be able to lodge for the night, or even simply a dining room. \u00a0According to Mark 14:14, for example, Jesus celebrated Passover \u2014 the Last Supper \u2014 with his disciples in a kataluma<\/em>, an \u201cupper room.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Luke 10:34, which is plainly talking about a public inn (effectively, a motel), Luke uses the quite different word\u00a0pandocheion<\/em>. \u00a0But Bethlehem, at the beginning of the first century, was a very tiny town, \u00a0It may have had a population of no more than two or three hundred people altogether. \u00a0There was probably no motel or inn there.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew 1:18-25 Luke 2:1-7 \u00a0 What can I possibly say here about this most familiar of stories that hasn\u2019t been said both recently and eloquently? \u00a0 Not much, probably. \u00a0 Perhaps a few very quick notes will need to suffice. \u00a0 Matthew 1:21 \u2014 \u201cYou shall call his name Jesus, for he will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2628,2980,1369,2986,2974,2983,2977,2971,2625,3007,2989],"class_list":["post-69688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas-story","tag-inn","tag-jesus","tag-kataluma","tag-luke","tag-manger","tag-matthew","tag-nativity","tag-new-testament","tag-new-testament-commentary","tag-phatne"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Botticelli](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/12\/Botticelli_Nativity.jpg\")
<\/a>