Luke tells us that Mary gave birth to her first born child in the town of Bethlehem of Judea, as opposed to the Bethlehem which was about two miles from Nazareth in Galilee, and that eight days after the child was born, it was circumcised and named Jesus.
Then thirty three days later, and before the wise men from the east had come and lavished their gifts of Gold, Frank-incense and mire, he was taken to the temple in Jerusalem by his not so financial parents, where his mother performed the purification ceremony according to the law handed down through Moses. And after they had completed everything according to the Law, they returned to Nazareth.
How do we know, even though it is not mentioned in Luke, that it was thirty three days after the circumcision that the ceremony of purification was perform? Because Luke says, “And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.
To find out when the days of her purification according to the Law of Moses were accomplished, do we need to go to some school of Biblical learning? No! We simply turn to Leviticus 12: 14, and let the Bible reveal itself to us.
How do we know that the parents of Jesus were not flushed financially? Again, we must let the Bible reveal that to us, Leviticus 12: 8, “If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two doves or pigeons etc,” the fact that the birds were offered, shows that they were unable to afford a lamb, and had not yet received the gifts of Gold, etc.
The fact that it was not from the town of Bethlehem of Judea, from which the family fled to Egypt for protection, is borne out by the Luke account, which states that before the visit of the wise men, the family had returned to Nazareth of Galilee which is but a few miles from Bethlehem of Galilee which can be seen from the wonderful Hellenistic city of Sepphoris, in which so many families lost their lives in 4 B.C. about two years after the birth of Jesus around the time of the conjunctions of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, in 7 and 6 B.C. when the wise men first sighted the star that had heralded the birth of the promised King, which star (Comet) appeared to be coming out of Jupiter and would not be visible to the casual observer for another two years.
The wise men, in 5 B.C., had told Herod in a secret meeting that they had first sighted the star, (which by then was hidden behind the sun) almost two years previously, for according to Matthew, Herod chose the age of the children in the district around the northern town of Bethlehem who were to be slaughtered as two years and below, according to the information that he had received from the wise men, about the time that they had first sighted the star.
On leaving the palace of Herod, who had told them that they might find the child in Bethlehem of Judea, the Star that they had first seen while in the east appeared once again and O, what joy was theirs. And the comet in its return to the orbit of Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces, led the wise men, not to the southern Bethlehem of Judea, but to the northern town in Galilee, to where, according to Luke, the family had returned almost two years previously, where the star ‘Stood Over” the house where the child was, the term Stood Over in ancient literature, refers to comets and comets only.
Around 4 B.C., about the time of Herod’s death, there are uprisings by the peasants around that district in Galilee – Sepphoris is the centre. Judas, son of Hezekias, attacks Herod’s arsenal so he may arm himself. The Romans, under Quintillius Varus of Syria, attack and burn the city.
In the spring of 3 B.C., after the death of Herod his father in April of 4 B.C., following a failed suicide attempt, when Antipas returns from Rome where his father’s will was ratified by Augustus, he chose this site for his capital city for ruling over Galilee. Sepphoris, which is described by Josephus as the largest and most beautiful city in this region, was just 4 miles north of Nazareth, and even closer to the town of Bethlehem, which today is called Beitlahm, in which surrounding district all the male children two years of age and below were slaughtered,