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Ep 102: Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Part 1)
"Have you ever wondered about the nativity's historical and cultural significance? Today, we explore the geography, culture, and historical setting of Jesus' birth, enriching Luke's narrative with deeper insights into its cultural and historical context."
Discover a fresh perspective on the timeless story of Jesus' birth as we challenge the traditional narrative with insights from Kenneth E. Bailey's "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes". Uncover the cultural and historical nuances of the nativity story that often go unnoticed, such as Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, the hospitality he would have received as a descendant of King David, and the special care arranged for Mary. We invite you to explore the significance of Mary's relatives and the societal customs of ancient Palestine, painting a richer, more authentic picture of this cornerstone event in the Christian faith.
Join us as we delve into the geography and cultural practices of the Holy Land, bringing to life the realities of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. Learn about the authentic setting of Jesus' birth, where the manger was likely part of a single-room family dwelling, offering a fascinating glimpse into the everyday lives of people during that era. By connecting these insights with other biblical narratives, we deepen our understanding of the Gospel of Luke and its profound cultural alignment. Tune in to see the nativity through a lens that enriches your understanding of its historical significance and lasting impact.
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Speaker 2:It's the best. Next to the door was either a few feet lower than the rest of the floor or blocked off with heavy timbers. Each night, into that designated area, the family cow, donkey and a few sheep would be driven, and every morning these same animals would be taken out and tied up in the courtyard of the house. The animal stall would then be cleaned for the day. Such simple homes can be traced from the time of David up to the middle of the 20th century. Jesus, you're the only name. You're the only name. You're the only name. You're the only name.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God. Amen.
Speaker 2:Amen. Welcome to all you listeners to Plays on Word Radio. God bless you. Happy New Year to you. Amen 2025. Kicking it off, we're alive, amen. Yes, well, I tell you what. Yes, well, I tell you what.
Speaker 2:One of the things that we did last week, we started to get into what was it? The story of Jesus, and I referenced a book called Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes Cultural Studies in the Gospels by Kenneth E Bailey and Kenneth E Bailey he looks like he passed in 2016. He was an acclaimed author, a lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies, an ordained Presbyterian minister. He served as the canon theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh and he authored more than 150 articles in English and Arabic. His writings include Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. That's this book.
Speaker 2:The Good Shepherd, the Open Hearts in Bethlehem a Christmas drama. Bailey spent 40 years living and teaching in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, lebanon, jerusalem and Cyprus, and we did get some feedback from last week's episode. People were like, hey, you know you cut that off too soon. I want you to go farther into it. So what I was thinking, what I would do, rather than me mush it all together, I'm going to read this chapter and the story of Jesus' birth. I'm going to read the chapter from. We'll do an excerpt all right from Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes. Now, this is his opinion. I'm not saying that what he's claiming are the facts here. I do think it's worth pondering. It's interesting and compelling the case that he's making. So let me read through it and see what you think. All right, the story of Jesus' birth, luke 2, verse 1 through 20.
Speaker 2:The traditional events of the Christmas story are well known to all Christians. The birth of Jesus includes three wise men bearing gifts, shepherds in the fields in midwinter, a baby born in a stable and no room in the inn. These aspects of the account are firmly fixed in the popular mind. The question becomes is there a critical distinction to be made between the text and the traditional understanding of it? Have the centuries added meaning to our understanding of the texts that are not there? A diamond ring is admired and worn with pride, but with the passing of time it needs to be taken to a jeweler to be cleaned, to restore to its original brilliance. The more the ring is worn, the greater the need for occasional cleaning". The more familiar we are with the biblical story, the more difficult it is to view it outside of the way it has always been understood. And the longer imprecision in the tradition remains unchallenged, the deeper it becomes embedded in Christian consciousness. The birth story of Jesus is such a story.
Speaker 2:The traditional understanding of the account in Luke 2, verses 1-18, contains a number of critical flaws. These include number one Joseph was returning to the village of his origin In the Middle East. Historical memories are long and the extended family with its connection to the village of origin is important In such a world. A man like Joseph could have appeared in Bethlehem and told people I am Joseph, son of Heli, son of Matath, the son of Levi, and most homes in town would be open to him. Number two Joseph was a royal, that is, he was from the family of King David. The family of David was so famous in Bethlehem that local folk apparently called the town the City of David. As often happens, the official name of the village was Bethlehem. Everyone knew that the Hebrew scriptures referred to Jerusalem as the city of David, yet locally many apparently called Bethlehem the city of David, luke 2.4. Being of that famous family, joseph would have been welcome anywhere in town. Number three in every culture, a woman about to give birth is given special attention. Simple rural communities the world over always assist one of their own women in childbirth, regardless of the circumstances. Are we to imagine that Bethlehem was an exception? Was there no sense of honor in Bethlehem? Surely the community would have sensed its responsibility to help Joseph find adequate shelter for Mary and provide the care she needed. To turn away a descendant of David in the city of David would be an unspeakable shame on the entire village.
Speaker 2:Number four Mary had relatives in a nearby village. A few months prior to the birth of Jesus, Mary had visited her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea and was welcomed by her. Bethlehem was located in the center of Judea. By the time, therefore, that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they were but a short distance from the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. If Joseph had failed to find shelter in Bethlehem, he would naturally have turned to Zechariah and Elizabeth. But did he have time for those few extra miles? Number five Joseph had time to make adequate arrangements. Luke 2, verse 4, says that Joseph and Mary. Number five Joseph had time to make adequate arrangements. Luke 2, verse 4, says that Joseph and Mary, quote went up from Galilee to Judea, close quote. And verse 6 states. Quote while they were there comma the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Close quote.
Speaker 2:The average Christian thinks that Jesus was born the same night the Holy Family arrived. Hence Joseph's haste and willingness to accept any shelter, even the shelter of a stable. Traditional Christmas pageants reinforced this idea year after year. In the text, the time spent in Bethlehem before the birth is not specified, but it was surely long enough to find adequate shelter or to turn to Mary's family. This late-night arrival, eminent birth myth is so deeply ingrained in the popular Christian mind that it is important to inquire into its origin. Where did the idea come from, the source of this misinterpretation? Well, actually at the top there's a heading it says a Christian novel. Now I'll continue.
Speaker 2:The source of this misinterpretation stems from approximately 200 years after the birth of Jesus, when an anonymous Christian wrote an expanded account of the birth of Jesus that has survived and is called the Proto-Evangelium of James. James had nothing to do with it. The author was not a Jew and did not understand Palestinian geography or Jewish tradition. In that period, many wrote books claiming famous people as their authors. Scholars date this particular quote novel close quote to around the year AD 200, and it is full of imaginative details. Jerome, the famous Latin scholar, attacked it, as did many of the popes. It was composed in Greek, but translated into Latin, syriac, armenian, georgian, ethiopic, coptic and Old Slavonic. The author had clearly read the gospel stories, but he or she was unfamiliar with the geography of the Holy Land. In the novel, for example, the author describes the road between Jerusalem and Bethlehem as a desert. It is not a desert, but rather rich farmland In the novel, as they approach Bethlehem, mary says to Joseph take me down from the ass, for the child within me presses me to come forth.
Speaker 2:Responding to this request, joseph leaves Mary in a cave and rushes off to Bethlehem to find a midwife. After seeing fanciful visions on the way, joseph returns with the midwife the baby has already been born To be faced with a dark cloud and then bright light overshadowing the cave. A woman by the name of Salome appears out of nowhere and meets the midwife, who tells her that a virgin has given birth and is still a virgin. Salome expresses doubt at this marvel and her hand turns leprous as a result. After an examination, mary's claim is vindicated. Then an angel suddenly stands before Salome and tells her to touch the child. So she does so and the diseased hand is miraculously healed and the novel spins on from there.
Speaker 2:Authors of popular novels usually have good imaginations. An important part of this novel's storyline is that Jesus was born even before his parents arrived in Bethlehem. This novel is the earliest known reference to the notion that Jesus was born at night, or born, let me say, jesus was born the night Mary and Joseph arrived in or near Bethlehem. The average Christian who has never heard of this book is nonetheless unconsciously influenced by it. The novel is a fanciful expansion of the gospel account, not the gospel story itself.
Speaker 2:To summarize the problem in the traditional interpretation of Luke, chapter 2, verse 1 through 7, joseph was returning to his home village where he could easily find shelter Because he was a descendant of King David. Nearly all doors in the village were open to him. Mary had relatives nearby and could have turned to them, but did not. There was plenty of time to arrange suitable housing. How could a Jewish town fail to help a young Jewish mother about to give birth? In the light of these cultural and historical realities, how are we to understand the text? Two questions arise when was the manger and what was the inn? In answer to both questions.
Speaker 2:It is evident that the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke is authentic to the geography and history of the Holy Land. The text records that Mary and Joseph went up from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is built on a ridge which is considerably higher than Nazareth. Second, the title City of David was probably a local name to which Luke adds quote which is called Bethlehem close quote for the benefit of non-local readers. Third, the text informs the readers that Joseph was quote of the house and of the lineage of David, close quote. In the Middle East, the house of so-and-so means the family of so-and-so. Greek readers of this account could have visualized a building when they read quote House of David, close quote.
Speaker 2:Luke may have added the term lineage to be sure his readers understood him. He did not change the text, which was apparently already fixed in their tradition when he received it Luke 1, verse 2. But he was free to add a few explanatory notes. Fourth, luke mentions that the child was wrapped with swaddling cloths. This ancient custom is referred to in Ezekiel 16, verse 4 and is still practiced among village people in Syria and Palestine. Finally, a Davidic Christology surfaces in the account. These five points emphasize that the story was composed by a Messianic Jew at a very early stage in the life of the church.
Speaker 2:I won't throw any editorial in there. Let me continue. For the Western mind the word manger invokes the words stable or barn. But in the traditional Middle Eastern villages this is not the case. In the parable of the rich fool, luke, chapter 12, verse 13 through 21, there is mention of storehouses but not barns.
Speaker 2:People of great wealth would naturally have had separate quarters for animals, but simple village homes in Palestine often had but two rooms. One was exclusively for guests. That room would be attached to the end of each house or be a prophet's chamber on the roof, as in the story of Elijah, 1 Kings 17, verse 19. The main room was a family room where the entire family cooked, ate, slept and lived. The end of the room next to the door was either a few feet lower than the rest of the floor or blocked off with heavy timbers. Each night, into that designated area, the family cow, donkey and a few sheep would be driven. And then he gives a figure, draws it on page 29. Here the roof is flat and can have a guest room built on it, or a guest room can be attached to the end of the house. The door on the lower level serves as an entrance for the people and animals. The farmer wants the animals in the house each night because they provide heat in the winter. I told you that last week. They provide heat in the winter and are safe from theft.
Speaker 2:The house viewed from above is the illustrator. He gives an illustration what it looks like from above and it's just a family room, big family room, and then two mangers and a stable area with steps. Okay, back to our text here. And there's two elongated circles here on this diagram and it says mangers next to it. So now he's going to elaborate on that. The elongated circles represent mangers dug out of the lower end of the living room. The quote family living room close quote had a slight slope in the direction of the animal stall, which aids in sweeping and washing. Dirt and water naturally move downhill into the space for the animals and can be swept out of the floor. If the family cow is hungry during the night, she can stand up and eat from the mangers cut out of the floor of the living room. Eat from the mangers cut out of the floor of the living room. Mangers for sheep can be of wood and placed on the floor of the lower level.
Speaker 2:This style of traditional home fits naturally into the birth story of Jesus, but such homes are also implicit in Old Testament stories are also implicit in Old Testament stories In 1 Samuel 28,. Saul was a guest in the house of the medium of Endor. When the king refused to eat, the medium then took a fatted calf that was in the house verse 24, killed it and prepared a meal for the king and his servants. She did not fetch a calf from the field or the barn from within the house. The story of Jephthah in Judges 11, 29-40 assumes the same kind of one-room home. On his way to war, jephthah makes a vow that if God will grant him victory on his return home he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house. Jephthah wins the battle, but as he returns home, tragically to his horror, his daughter is the first to step out of the house. Most likely he returned early in the morning and fully expected one of the animals to be coming bounded out of the room in which they had been cramped all together all night.
Speaker 2:The text is not relating the story of a brutal butcher. The reader is obliged to assume that it never crossed his mind that a member of his family would step out first. Only with this assumption does the story make any sense. Had his home housed only human beings, he would never have made such a vow, if only people lived in the house. Who was he planning to murder and why? The story is a tragedy, but he expected an animal.
Speaker 2:These same simple homes also appear in the New Testament. In Matthew 5, verses 14-15, jesus says no one after lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. Obviously, jesus was assuming a typical village home with one room. If a single lamp sheds light on everybody in the house, that house can only have one room. Another example of the same assumption appears in Luke, chapter 13, verse 10 through 17, where on the Sabbath, jesus healed a woman who was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. Jesus called her and said Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.
Speaker 2:The head of the synagogue was angry because Jesus had worked on the Sabbath. Jesus responded you hypocrites, does not each one of you on the Sabbath, untie his fox or his ass from his manger and lead it away to water. That's verse 15. His point being today, on the Sabbath, you untied an animal, I untied a woman. How can you blame me? The text reports that all his adversaries were put to shame. That's verse 17. Clearly Jesus knew that every night his opponents had at least an ox or an ass in their house. That morning, everyone in the room had taken the animals out of the house and tied them up outside. The ruler of the synagogue did not reply. Oh, I never touched the animals on the Sabbath. It's unthinkable to leave animals in the house during the day and there were no stables.
Speaker 2:One of the earliest and most carefully translated Arabic versions of the New Testament was made probably in Palestine in the 9th century. Only eight copies have survived. This great version, translated from the Greek records this verse as quote Does not every one of you untie his ox or his donkey from the manger in the house and take it outside and water it? Close quote. No Greek manuscript has the words quote in the house, close quote in this text. But this 9th century Arabic speaking Christian translator understood the text correctly. Doesn't everybody have a manger in a house In his world? Simple Middle Eastern villagers always did.
Speaker 2:The one-room village home with mangers has been noted by modern scholars as well. William Thompson, an Arabic-speaking Presbyterian missionary scholar well, that's a mouthful of the mid-19th century observed village homes in Bethlehem and wrote, quote it is my impression that the birth actually took place in an ordinary house of some common peasant and that the baby was laid in one of the mangers such as are still found in the dwellings of farmers in this region. Close quote the Anglican scholar EFF Bishop, such as are still found in the dwellings of farmers in this region. The Anglican scholar E F F Bishop, who lived in Jerusalem from 1922 to 1950, wrote Perhaps recourse was had to one of the Bethlehem houses, with the lower section provided for the animals, with mangers hallowed in stone, the dais being reserved for the family. Such a manger being immovable, filled with crushed straw, would do duty for a cradle For more than a hundred years.
Speaker 2:Scholars resident in the Middle East have understood Luke 2, verse 7, as referring to a family room with mangers cut into the floor at one end. If this interpretation is pursued, there remains the question of the identity of the inn. What precisely was it that was full? Was it that was full If Joseph and Mary were taken into a private home and at birth, jesus was placed in a manger in that home. How is the word in in Luke 2, verse 7, to be understood? Most English translations state that after the child was born he was laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. This sounds as if they were rejected by the people of Bethlehem. Was that really the case? There is a trap in traditional language. No room in the inn has taken on the meaning of the inn had a number of rooms and all were occupied. Had a number of rooms and all were occupied. The no vacancy sign was already switched on when Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem. But the Greek word does not refer to quote a room in an inn, close quote but rather to a quote space, close quote as in. There is no space on my desk for my new computer. It is important to keep this correction in mind as we turn to the word we have been told was an in.
Speaker 2:The Greek word in Luke 2, 7 that is commonly translated in is katalima. 7 that is commonly translated in is katalima. This is not the ordinary word for a commercial. In In the parable of the Good Samaritan, luke 10, verse 25 through 37, the Samaritan takes the wounded man to an inn. The Greek word in that text is pandoshion. The first part of this word means all. The second part, as a verb, means to receive. So this word is the place that receives all, namely a commercial inn. This common Greek term for an inn was so widely known across the Middle East that over the centuries it was absorbed as a Greek loan word into Armenian, coptic, arabic and Turkish, with the same meaning a commercial inn.
Speaker 2:His readers to think Joseph was turned away from an inn. He would have used the word pandoshion, which clearly meant a commercial inn, but in Luke 2, verse 7, it's kataluma that word is crowded. What then does this word mean? Literally, kataluma is simply a place to stay, and it can refer to many types of shelters. The three that are options for this story are in the English translation house Arabic biblical tradition of more than 1,000 years and guest room Luke's choice years and guest room Luke's choice. Indeed, luke used this term on one other occasion in his gospel, where it's defined in the text itself. We talked about this last week.
Speaker 2:In Luke 22, jesus tells his disciples behold, when you have entered a city, a man carrying a jar will meet you Follow him into the house which he enters and tell the householder. The teacher says to you follow him into the house which he enters and tell the householder. The teacher says to you where is the guest room kataluma in the Greek where I'm to eat the Passover with my disciples, and he will show you a large upper room furnished there. Make ready. That's from Luke 22, verse 10 through 12. Here the keyword kataluma is defined as an upper room. That's where we get the term upper room, which is clearly a guest room in a private home. The precise meaning makes perfect sense when applied to the birth story In Luke, chapter two, verse seven. Luke tells his readers that Jesus was placed in a manger in the family room because in that home the guest room was already full. If at the end of Luke's gospel the word kataluma means a guest room attached to a private home that's from chapter 22, verse 11, why would it not have the same meaning near the beginning of his gospel? The family room with an attached guest room would have looked something like the diagram below. Then he gives a diagram like a downward view. All the way to the right is the cataluma, a guest room with a door. Then in the middle there's a bigger room. It's the family room with the mangers and the steps that go down, three steps that go down to the stable room area, and that's figure 1-3.
Speaker 2:I should put these up on the. I should put them up on the site so you can see them. Send me an email if you want to see these diagrams. I'll get them back to you. Okay, we're out of time. Oh man, you guys are going to kill me. We're out of time again. I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue this chapter next week. Okay, give me next week, we will finish this chapter up. Okay, all right. So, yeah, you'll be able to hear this whole chapter. I tell you what until next week, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
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