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Bible Dictionaries
Manger
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or fatnee only in Luke 2:7; Luke 2:12; Luke 2:16, where the infant Jesus was laid, Luke 13:15 "the stall." The open courtyard attached to the inn or khan, with arcades around and terraces over them. However there are limestone caverns in the narrow long gray hill on which stands Bethlehem; and Justin Martyr, born at Sichem, only 40 miles off, A.D. 103, states that "Joseph lodged in a cave near Bethlehem." The "manger" was a crib in a stable or lower enclosure (which was possibly a cave as Justin Martyr says) attached to the inn or khan . (See INN.) The inn had apartments or cells above for travelers, and stalls for the cattle below. The upper platform, reached by steps, was probably occupied by the inn and its occupants; the lower level, from which the steps arose, was usually appropriated to cattle and goats, and on this occasion was used by Joseph and Mary on account of the crowded state of the regular inn or khan . Early Christian artists represent the scene of the nativity as an open courtyard with a crib or long trough.
These files are public domain.
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Manger'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/m/manger.html. 1949.
