Lucas 2

At night, in Bethlehem, the Savior is born

4 So Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of Natsareth town, into Judea to the city of David, that is called Bethlehem, because he was of David’s ‘house’, that is, line of descent, 5 to enroll himself with Mary, the woman who had been betrothed to him,*That is what the Text says. We know from Matthew 1:24-25 that Joseph had already received her as his wife, but still had not had sexual relations with her—obviously an atypical situation. He had taken responsibility for her as his wife, but as far as sex was concerned she was still ‘pledged’—thus Luke’s unusual turn of phrase. who was pregnant. 6 So it happened that when they got there the days for her to give birth were completed; 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn*Luke’s use of the term ‘firstborn’, writing after Mary had passed the age that she could bear children, clearly implies that she had other children after the first; otherwise Luke would have used ‘only’ rather than ‘first’. Son, wrapped Him in pieces of cloth and laid Him in the manger,*Some 95% of the Greek manuscripts have the definite article with ‘manger’, so there was only one in the place, which implies that it was a stable. Since Bethlehem stands on a limestone ridge, there were probably natural caves that would make excellent stables. Actually, mother and baby were probably better off there than in the crowded lodging. because there was no room for them in the lodging place.