The state of Judtea, in the time of Christ and the Apostles, was, probably, in respect to means of communication, much superior to that of any Orien tal country in the present day ; and we may he disposed to conclude, that for the encouragement of intercourse between distant parts, that country was then studded with houses of public entertain ment on a scale of liberal provision at present un known in the same quarter of the world. But the warm commendations of hospitality so frequently met with in the works of contemporary classical writers, as well as the pressing exhortations of the inspired Apostle to the practice of that virtue, too plainly prove that travellers were then chiefly de pendent on the kindness of private individuals. The strong probability is, that the inns' men tioned in the N. T. find their true and correct representations in the Eastern khans and cam vanserais of the present day ; and that, although the Jews of that period could not have been acquainted with the largest and most magnificent of this class of buildings, which do not date earlier than the commencement of the Mecca caravans, and which the devotion of opulent Mussulmans then began to erect for the accommodation of the pilgrims, they had experience of nothing better than the bare walls and cell-like apartments of such edifices as we have described above. Bishop Pearce, Dr. Campbell, and others, indeed, have laboured to shew that KaTdXvp.a, the word used by Luke to denote the place whence Mary was ex cluded by the previous influx of strangers, is not synonymous with irca6oxciop, the house to which the good Samaritan brought the wounded stranger, although in both instances our translators, for want of corresponding terms in the English language, have indiscriminately rendered it by inn.' licirci Xuna signifies the guest chamber (Mark xiv. 14 ; Luke xxii. ; and it is extremely probable that, as upper rooms were always the largest in a house, and most suitable for the reception of a numerous company, every respectable householder in Jeru salem appropriated one gratuitously to his friends who flocked to Jerusalem at the annual feasts, and who from that circumstance might call it their inn.' HapSoxeiop, again, was a house set apart for the accommodation of all strangers who could pay for their lodging and entertainment ; and as the name, receiver of everything,' seems to imply, was of a mean description, having no partition wall, men and cattle being both included under the same roof, the former occupying one side, and the latter the other. Bethlehem being the chief city of the family of David, a Karci,Xwa might have been placed, by the kindness of some friend, at the service of Joseph and Mary, who were wont to resort to it as often as business or friendship called them to town. But, as the same privilege might have been offered to others, who, owing to the general census, flocked in such unwonted numbers, that the first corners completely occupied every vacant space, they were obliged to withdraw to the ravooxel'op, where, in the only retired corner, viz., at the head of the cattle, the mother of Jesus brought forth her child. [But it is to the last de gree improbable, that any one who received Joseph and Mary as ,{'-nests, would not, on such an occa sion as hers, have found some accommodation for bet in his house. The distinction between Karci Xvp.cc and iravSoxeiov, is probably simply, that the former denotes any place where strangers have free accommodation, the latter one where they had to pay.]
Many caravanserais, however, have not the accommodation of stables, the cattle being allowed to range in the open area ; and hence has arisen an opinion warmly espoused by many learned writers, and supported by a venerable tradition, that our Lord was born in an adjoining shed, or probably in a subterranean cave, like the grotto that is sometimes connected with the fountain of the place ( Justin Martyr, Dial. with Trypho, p. 303 ; Origen, Cont. Cels.) [BETHLE11E11.1.] Moreover, much learning has been expended on the word q5ciTvn, which our translators have ren dered manger ;' although it is capable of the clearest demonstration, that the ancients, equally with the modern inhabitants of the East, are stran gers to the conveniences which go under that name in European stables. The anecdote, quoted by Campbell from Herodotus, respecting 4lardonius, the Persian general, having brought with him a brazen manger for his horses, only establishes our remark, proving as it does that those ancient mangers were more like troughs than the crib out of which our horses are fed ; and, indeed, in the only other place in the N. T. where cpcirvn occurs, it is rendered stall ;' that is, not the thing out of which the cattle ate, but the place from which they ate (see Parkhurst in loco). No expla nation, however, that we have met with, appears so satisfactory, and conveys such an intelligible picture to the eye as that given by the editor of the Pictorial Bible (Luke ii. 7) ; with whose words we shall conclude this article. The most complete establishments have very excellent stables in covered avenues, which extend behind the ranges of apart ments—that is, between the back walls of these ranges of building and the external wall of the khan ; and the entrance to it is by a covered pas sage at one of the corners of the quadrangle. The stable is on a level with the court, and conse quently below the level of the buildings, by the height of the platform on which they stand. Never theless, this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, so as to form a bench, to which the horses' heads are turned, and on which they can, it they like, rest the nose-bag of haircloth from which they eat, to enable them to reach the bottom when its contents get low. It also often happens, that not only this bench exists in the stable, but also recesses, to those in front of the apartments, and formed by the side walls which divide the rooms being allowed to project behind into the stable, just as the projection of the same walls into the great area forms the recesses in front. These recesses in the stable or the bench, if there are no recesses, furnish accommodation to the ser vants and others who have charge of the beasts ; and when persons find on their arrival that the apartments usually appropriated to travellers are already occupied, they are glad to find accommo dation in the stable, particularly when the nights are cold or the season inclement. It is evident, then, from this description, that the part of the stable called the manger,' could not reasonably have been other than one of those recesses, or at least a portion of the bench which we have men tioned as affording accommodation to travellers under certain circumstances.'—R. J.