“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them — the firstborn (prōtotokon) son communicates the legal position of the child in the Mosaic system (Exodus 13:2) and the theological significance of pre-eminence. Wrapped in cloths is the ordinary infant care of the period. The manger (phatnē, feeding trough for animals) is the detail that places the birth in a context without normal domestic provision — not a sign of poverty so much as the absence of appropriate birthing space in the overcrowded town.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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