We have a pastor friend who regularly reminds us there is no Biblical basis for believing Marry rode a donkey. In all probability, she walked.
I suspect she walked as well.
People were in better condition in those days since it was the primary means of getting around.
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I have always wondered about that. Do you think the idea of Mary riding a donkey is an artifact of all the movies that depict her doing that.
What do movies hype? DRAMA!
So, in one documentary, we see Joseph and Mary, who is riding a donkey, arrive in Bethlehem, AFTER DARK, in POURING RAIN, and minutes later, Jesus is BORN. DRAMA upon DRAMA. So this image has seeped into our picture of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem and has taken on the characteristic of fact.
We have to read this into Luke’s story — it isn’t in his story. The idea that Mary was having labor pains the last few furlongs isn’t in scripture. The phrase, “in those days” permits the birth of the Lord to be a day, a week, maybe close to a month after arrival without doing violence to the passage.
Have you thought about travel in that day? Almost everyone walked. The travelers had to eat, sleep, rest, make pit-stops... Some teachers have said that travelers could make about 30 miles a day. A 3 mph pace is a fast pace; for 10 hours per day is hard to imagine.