7 symbolic details about Jesus’ birth

3. A manger wasn't a cute prop

The manger is often romanticized in Nativity sets, but in reality, it was a stone or wooden feeding trough for animals.

Placing Jesus in a manger was far more than an incidental detail in the Nativity story (Luke 2:7, 12, 16). It highlighted His profound humility, for the King of Kings entered the world not in a cradle of gold but in a feeding trough — a place associated with poverty, simplicity and vulnerability (2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 2:6-8). It also pointed toward His mission again, for the One who would later call Himself the Bread of Life was laid in the very spot where animals came to eat (John 6:35, 51).

In this surprising setting, God was already revealing glimpses of who Jesus was and what He would do (Luke 2:11).