John Lightfoot on Luke 2:7

[There was no room for them in the inn.] From hence it appears, that neither Joseph nor his father Jacob had any house of their own here, no, nor Eli neither, wherein to entertain his daughter Mary ready to lie in. And yet we find that two years after the birth of Christ, Joseph and Mary his wife lived in a hired house till they fled into Egypt.

"A certain Arabian said to a certain Jew, 'The Redeemer of the Jews is born.' Saith the Jew to him, 'What is his name?' 'Menahem,' saith the other. 'And what the name of his father?' 'Hezekiah.' 'But where dwell they?' 'In Birath Arba in Bethlehem Judah.'" He shall deserve many thanks that will but tell us what this Birath Arba is. The Gloss tells us no other than that this "Birath Arba was a place in Bethlehem"; which any one knows from the words themselves. But what, or what kind of place was it? Birah indeed is a palace or castle: but what should Arba be? A man had better hold his tongue than conjecture vainly and to no purpose...