Tag: Bethlehem


Nazareth to Bethlehem

Nazareth to Bethlehem

Luke 2:4 indicates that Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in order to participate in a census. What kind of trip would that have entailed? Nazareth is located in the hills along the northern edge of the Jezreel Valley. In the days of Jesus it was a small, back-water village. Archaeologists estimate it had a population of not more than 200 people, meaning Mary would have known everyone in town. It was located near a fresh-water spring that in later days became known as the place where the annunciation was......


No Room in the Inn?

No Room in the Inn?

As the KJV renders it, Jesus was laid in a manger “because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). Was Joseph turned away by some hard-hearted inn-keeper who had run out of rooms? A closer look at the context reveals a different story. The word rendered “inn” by some versions is the Greek word kataluma (Gk. κατάλυμα). This word does not refer to an inn, hotel, or motel, i.e. sleeping quarters up for rent. There were such establishments in those days, but they were referred to by a......