THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
The answer
Neither Gospel mentions a stable. Luke says the newborn was laid in a manger because there was no room in the kataluma — a word Luke elsewhere uses for a guest room. The manger implies animals fed there; the building around it, the text never describes.
Why it’s interesting
Village homes of the period often sheltered animals indoors at night, with mangers at the edge of the family room — which is how a manger can sit inside a house. An early tradition placed the birth in a cave; the wooden stable came later still.
Scholarly consensus
You can know the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.