Why was Jesus Laid in a Manger (And Why Are there Two Josephs)?

In this video I Iook at the the symbolism and meaning of Jesus being laid in a manger as well why there is a Joseph (Jesus' adopted father) at the beginning and and a Joseph (Joseph of Arimathea) a the end of the (some) of the Gospels.

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| Best Books on How to Learn to Read the Bible as Literary Art |
Reading Biblical Narrative: An Introductory Guide (https://amzn.to/30LzaRa)
Narrative Art in the Bible (https://amzn.to/30RVGIb)
The Art of Biblical Narrative (https://amzn.to/3aDrIfk)
Old Testament Narrative: A Guide to Interpretation (https://amzn.to/38rcE2C)
The Poetics of Biblical Narrative (https://amzn.to/2Gh4cqE)

| Transcription |
Welcome back to the Bible is Art where we explore the literary artistry of the Bible and this week we’re going to look at why Jesus was laid in a manger.

A manger is a feeding trough for animals. And in the two gospels that record Jesus’ birth, Matthew and Luke, they both include the detail that he was put into a manger.

Three times Luke will tell us that Jesus was laid in a manger (2:7, 12, 16). “Once laid there, an angel told the shepherds that they would find their newborn Messiah and Lord “lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12”

So why the triple emphasis? I think there are at least two reasons.

First, Isaiah chapter 1. In Isaiah 1, Isaiah tells Israel that ox knows who it’s owner is and the donkey knows where it’s feeding trough, manger is, same word, but Israel does not know, that is, Israel does not know where her manger, her feeding trough is. That is, even dumb animals know it’s owner and it’s food, but Israel knows neither.

Jesus is put in a feeding trough of an animal, a manger, to say that Israel is in the same state as she was back in Isaiah's day. In a beautiful combination, Jesus is both the food of Israel and her master, but Israel does not know that. If she did, Jesus would not be in an animals feeding trough.

Second, Jesus is food for the world.

Not only is Jesus put into a feeding trough, symbolically making him to be food, but at both his birth and his death Jesus’ vulnerable body is attended to by a Joseph. At his birth it was Joseph his adopted father and at his death it was Joseph of Arimathea who prepares Jesus’ body for burial.

Why two Joseph’s? And why do they both work with Jesus’s body at its most vulnerable, birth and death?

Joseph was one of the most well known characters in the OT. And one of his most well known actions was his feeding of the world. If you remember, Joseph interpreted the dream about 7 years of famine and then collected food during the time of abundance so that Egypt would be sustained through the famine.

You see, when Jesus is in the manger that is because he is the food that Joseph offers to the world, the vulnerable flesh of Jesus. Just as Joseph in the Old Testament fed the world, so Joseph in the New Testament will feed the world, putting his son in a manger, the bread of the body of Jesus. And the gospel is framed by Josephs feeding Jesus to the world as if this encompasses his whole life.

And that, my friends is why, the Bible is Art.