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Bible Dictionaries
Manger
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or MANGER ( Luke 2:7; Luke 2:12-13; Luke 13:13 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). EV [Note: English Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of phatnç , the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] equivalent of Heb. ’çbûs , ‘a place where cattle are fattened’ ( Job 39:9 etc.). It also represents ’urwâh ( 2 Chronicles 32:28 ), and repheth ( Habakkuk 3:17 ), EV [Note: English Version.] stall. In Job 39:9 , Proverbs 14:4 ’çbûs may mean the stall or shelter; in Isaiah 1:3 it is probably the crib in which the food was placed. A like ambiguity attaches to ’urwâh or ’uryâh ( 2 Chronicles 32:28 ), lit. ‘collecting place’ or ‘collected herd.’ It probably came to mean a certain number of animals, as ‘a pair’ or ‘team’ ( 1 Kings 4:26 , 2 Chronicles 9:25 ) [Gesenius]. The Heb. repheth ( Habakkuk 3:17 ) clearly means ‘stall’; marbçq is the place where the cattle are ‘tied up’ ( 1 Samuel 28:24; ‘fatted calf’ = ‘calf of the stall,’ Jeremiah 46:21 , Amos 6:4 , Malachi 4:2 ); phatnç may therefore denote either the ‘manger’ or the ‘stall.’
If katatuma ( Luke 2:7 ) means ‘guest chamber’ (see art. Hospitality, ad fin .), Joseph and Mary may have moved into the side of the house occupied by the cattle, from which the living-room is distinguished by a higher floor, with a little hollow in the edge, out of which the cattle eat. The present writer has seen a child laid in such a ‘manger.’ Or, in the crowded khân , only the animals’ quarters may have afforded shelter. We do not now know. Ancient tradition places Jesus’ birth in a cave near Bethlehem. Caves under the houses are extensively used in Palestine as stables. The midhwad , ‘manger,’ cut in the side, is an excellent ‘crib’ for a baby.
W. Ewing.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Manger'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/m/manger.html. 1909.
