Jesus birth and family

[jaybird]

why was Jesus born at Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth? with the background of Joseph and Mary you would think He would have been born at Jerusalem, surrounded by Nobility. when the wise men came to town they went straight to the palace and king as if they were just assuming thats where Jesus would be but thats not how it was.

 

[Jabar]

Jesus was a prophet in my belief.

He was there to preach a particular group of people.

 

[jaybird]

Jesus was a prophet in my belief.

He was there to preach a particular group of people.

i agree He was a great teacher. He was also an heir to the throne yet His family lived so far from Jerusalem.
also John the baptist was of the high priest line, descended from Zadoc. his father served in the temple but John did not follow his father, he goes off in the wilderness to the jordan river.
you would think both men of notible backgrounds would be in the capital city yet they were not. why?

 

[Jabar]

i agree He was a great teacher. He was also an heir to the throne yet His family lived so far from Jerusalem.
also John the baptist was of the high priest line, descended from Zadoc. his father served in the temple but John did not follow his father, he goes off in the wilderness to the jordan river.
you would think both men of notible backgrounds would be in the capital city yet they were not. why?

Perhaps it is a holy place of Christians.

He was brought there as a child according to the New Testament to be presented to the Temple.

 

[jaybird]

Perhaps it is a holy place of Christians.

He was brought there as a child according to the New Testament to be presented to the Temple.

i think there are many things about Isreal in the days of Jesus that people dont think about. the kingdom was occupied by rome, herod was a roman puppet and he had his own priesthood that would agree with him. so where were the rightful kings, nobility and priest? i think many of them formed groups and separated from the corruption that was in Jerusalem. i think 2 of these places may have been qumran in the south and mt carmel in the north or perhaps nazereth.

 

[First Baseman]

why was Jesus born at Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth? with the background of Joseph and Mary you would think He would have been born at Jerusalem, surrounded by Nobility. when the wise men came to town they went straight to the palace and king as if they were just assuming thats where Jesus would be but thats not how it was.

The Bible explains all of that.
Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem for the census as commanded by the Roman Emperor. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because of this.

They were warned by an angel to go to Egypt because Herod wanted to slay the child.
When they were told by an angel it was safe to go back to Israel they returned to Nazareth.

 

[Kapyong]

Gday all,

The place 'Bethlehem' appears to be based on the passage in Micah :

Mic 5:2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."
​

'Bethlehem Ephrathah' there is actually a small clan, not a place.

But it appears that authors of both the Gospel of Luke (G.Luke) and the Gospel of Matthew (G.Matthew) misunderstood this to refer to the town called Bethlehem :

Lk 2:4-6 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.​

Mt 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem​

The Gospels are works of religious literature, based largely on Jewish scriptures.
G.Mark was first (c.70 AD), and contains no birth stories about Jesus at all.

Both G.Matthew and G.Luke (80s) are based textually on G.Mark, and both added birth stories which had Jesus born in Bethlehem because of that (misunderstood) passage in Micah.

But there is another clue :

Matthew 2:23 "... and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene. "​

So the author of G.Matthew was aware of a prophecy that the Messiah would be 'called a Nazarene', but this prophecy is unknown to us.

In summary -
there were TWO beliefs floating around in late 1st century :

1. the messiah would be born in Bethlehem
2. the messiah would be called a Nazarene

The authors of G.Luke and G.Matthew made use of both in updating G.Mark.

Note that G.Matthew's 'Nazarene' is Greek Ναζωραῖος (nazoraios), he also has "from Nazareth of Galilee" ἀπὸ Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας (apo Nazaret tes Galilaias).

And Ναζωραῖος is only one letter off from "Nazirite" (Ναζιραῖος) (like Samson.)

It is not at all clear where the connection with Nazarene, Nazirite, or Nazareth - actually came from.


Kapyong

 

[Kapyong]

Gday all,

Here is handy resource -
http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Greek_Index.htm

The New Testament in English / Greek interlinear (word by word translation.)


Kapyong

 

[Shiranui117]

why was Jesus born at Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth? with the background of Joseph and Mary you would think He would have been born at Jerusalem, surrounded by Nobility. when the wise men came to town they went straight to the palace and king as if they were just assuming thats where Jesus would be but thats not how it was.

I'm descended from a Norman knight who ruled an area in England on the border of Wales in the 1200's, and he married a great-granddaughter of William the Conqueror. That doesn't mean I automatically get control of that estate. In the same way, why would Mary's or Joseph's descent from King David automatically make them nobility, especially since Judea was ruled by the Hasmoneans, and not members of David's line?

 

[jaybird]

I'm descended from a Norman knight who ruled an area in England on the border of Wales in the 1200's, and he married a great-granddaughter of William the Conqueror. That doesn't mean I automatically get control of that estate. In the same way, why would Mary's or Joseph's descent from King David automatically make them nobility, especially since Judea was ruled by the Hasmoneans, and not members of David's line?

this whole concept mostly comes from my thoughts and not so much historical fact, more like a logical conclusion.
i was basing much of this on European nobility and not so much the Jewish as i dont know as much about it. if you study this from the dark ages up to the industrial rev you see that these guys rarely married outside of nobility, they went to great lengths to keep their bloodline noble.
if Joseph and Mary were outside the circle of nobility (by culture and not blood) then how did they get there?