“The Bible” Review, Part 4

Jared C. Wellman

Part Three of The Bible covers six-hundred years of history in two hours. The stories were fairly well done, but it is not unreasonable at this point to suggest that the producers are more interested in recreating the cinematics from the movie 300 than they are with biblical accuracy.There are essentially three story lines detailed in Part Three. These include Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon (Zedekiah and Jeremiah), Israel’s life while in captivity to Babylon (Daniel), and the introduction to the life of Jesus. While I could spend time talking about each story, I want to focus on the birth of Jesus because tradition has warped many of the biblical details about this event. The tradition was manifested in many ways in Part Three of The Bible.TRADITION ONE: MARY ENTERED BETHLEHEM IN LABORThis tradition is portrayed vividly in Part Three of The Bible, but it is easily debunked in the actual Bible. Luke 2:4 records Joseph bringing his family into Bethlehem for the census and Luke 2:6 reveals that they were actually there for a while before Mary gave birth.

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.

This may seem trivial, but the Christmas tradition of Mary going into labor immediately upon entering Bethlehem causes a domino effect of other traditions such as an angry inn-keeper, a wooden crib, and a dusty old barn, things that simply are not found in the Bible. Ultimately, these traditions distract from the true story taking place, which is that Jesus’death, burial, resurrection, and second coming were all prophesied at his birth.TRADITION TWO: JESUS WAS BORN IN A BARN, AND PLACED IN A MANGERThe following is taken from a December article entitled, The Real Story of Christmas: Jesus’ Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Second Coming Prophesied at His BirthThe final part of Luke 2:7 says that Jesus was placed in a “manger” because there was no room for him in the “inn.”The word “inn” is more accurately a “guest room.” In the parable of the Good Samaritan the injured man is taken to an inn, the kind of inn that is usually associated in the Christmas story. In Greek, this word is pandocheion, which indicates a commercial-style inn. In Luke 2:7, however, Luke uses the Greek word katalyma, which indicates the “spare” or “guest room” of a house.In ancient Bethlehem, houses were built with a “stable” inside the house. The area is likened to the modern day garage. A garage is a separate area of the house reserved for parking cars, not necessarily for living. Ancient Israelites would bring in their animals at night to house them from predators and inclement weather. Like garages, this was not necessarily a living area, but still considered part of the house. The “manger” was a hewn rock in which animal feed or water could be poured for the animals. It was a natural part of the stable, much like a water heater closet might be a natural part of the garage. Therefore, a Jewish reader, upon reading the word “manger,” would understand that this was an inside feeding trough for a family’s precious animals.Reading the passage in this context provides insight into why Luke wrote the verse in the way he did. A modernized way of translating this verse could be: “and they placed the baby in the water heater closet, because there was no room for him in the guest room of the house.” This of course is not the ideal place for a baby, but if there is no room in the house it is the better than putting him on the dirty floor; especially if that floor is usually reserved for animals.Jesus’ family wasn’t cast into a barn because there was no room in any local hotels (or because of an angry hotel manager), but into an inside garage because there was no more room left in the guest room of the house. This also fits with the Jewish tradition of being open to inviting others into one’s house.The manger symbolizes the notion Jesus gave at the Lord’s Supper in saying, “Take, eat; This [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=“yes” overflow=“visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=“1_1” background_position=“left top” background_color=“” border_size=“” border_color=“” border_style=“solid” spacing=“yes” background_image=“” background_repeat=“no-repeat” padding=“” margin_top=“0px” margin_bottom=“0px” class=“” id=“” animation_type=“” animation_speed=“0.3” animation_direction=“left” hide_on_mobile=“no” center_content=“no” min_height=“none”][bread] is my body” (Matt 26:26) and the statement he made to the woman at the well, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14). At his birth, Jesus was placed in a feeding trough, symbolizing that Christians will need to “eat” of his body and “drink” from his well.TRADITION THREE: THE MAGI WERE PRESENT AT JESUS’ BIRTHOne of the most long-standing traditions of Jesus’ birth is that there were three magi who arrived on the night of his birth to worship him. However, the number three is not included in the scriptures. There are multiple gifts given by multiple magi, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that there are three magi with three gifts. It could have been any number of magi who brought the “gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matt 2:11).Moreover, Matthew 2:1 is clear that the magi were not present at Jesus’ birth:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem … magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.

In case you missed it, they arrived in “Jerusalem,” not “Bethlehem.” And this was “after” Jesus was born.The magi approached Herod and asked him where the King of the Jews was. Herod told them to go find this child and to report back to him. An argument can be made that Jesus was anywhere from one to two years old before the magi met him because after the magi refused to return to Herod, he had every male child from two years and under killed (Matt 2:16-18).Unfortunately the shepherds who “watched their flocks at night” received little-to-no attention in The Bible. It truly is a remarkable story that of all the people in the world to share the good news with, God chose to share it with lowly shepherds. Some scholars believe that these shepherds watched over the sacrificial sheep for the temple. If this is true, then an incredible message can be extracted from the story that at Jesus’ birth stood those who watched over the sacrificial lambs for God, standing over the sacrificial Lamb of God.I have yet to ever see a cinematic portrayal of Jesus’ birth that captures the story accurately. Unfortunately most on-screen portrayals are colored more by tradition than the Bible, and The Bible is not exempt.Before it was over, Part Three of The Bible continued the cinematic trend included in PartsOne and Two, creating a Jedi vs Sith moment when Jesus and Satan square-off in the wilderness. With Satan dressed in dark-side garb (who looked a lot like Barack Obama) and Jesus in light-side (typical Fabio look-alike), I thought for a moment that I had accidentally changed the channel to The Phantom Menace, catching the scene where Darth Maul faces Qui-Gon Jin in Tatooine.When the lightsabers didn’t come out, however, I realized that no, I was still watching The Bible, but that George Lucas had some serious explaining to do.Originally Posted at JaredWellman.com[/fusion_builder_column][/fu