Advent: Jesus' Childhood

I’m finishing up this Advent series with Jesus’ childhood.

It’s not really part of Advent, which means the arrival of a notable person, but we have so little information about his growing up years, we might as well put it in here!

The Bible gives us just a few peeks into Jesus’ boyhood, though his life has been embroidered by many in the 2000 years since his birth.

We basically have information about his dedication (see my post on Anna and Simeon here), a reference to the family returning to Nazareth. 

We know about the wise men visiting him and his family in Bethlehem (see post here), the family’s flight to Egypt and return to finally settle in Nazareth for good.

So, was Jesus’ childhood spent in Nazareth or Bethlehem?

It’s tricky.

Luke 2:39-20 explains events after that temple dedication this way:

“So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

This says the family returned to Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary originally lived, after they submitted to the Roman census in their ancestral hometown of Bethlehem.

The book of Luke was written by a learned Greek doctor who traveled with the apostle Paul after Jesus’ death.

Traditionally, Luke is believed to have gotten the story of Jesus’ birth from his mother, Mary, who was still alive when Jesus was crucified.

Luke wrote an orderly account, aimed at Gentiles, and so his story focused on the basic facts.

Jesus grew up in Nazareth after being born in Bethlehem.

Except for the interlude in Egypt.

The gospel of Matthew interjects another story into Jesus’ childhood: the visit of the magi and a subsequent hurried trip to Egypt.

The text says the wise men visited the baby and his parents in a house in Bethlehem. The magi presented their expensive gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. They then departed after worshiping the new born king.

That night, according to Matthew 2: 13-15,  Joseph had another dream:

^” Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” ¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

What do you make of this?

Did Joseph and Mary take their child to Nazareth after his dedication?

Or did they stay in Bethlehem to meet the wise men?

Back to Nazareth

The most plausible explanation is after the dedication, Joseph and Mary returned to their Nazareth home. Once there, after showing the baby to the relatives and neighbors, they gathered their possessions and moved to their ancestral village of Bethlehem.

Perhaps Joseph saw better opportunities to support his family there. Maybe Mary wanted to be closer to Elizabeth. Perhaps the couple both thought the son of God should be raised in closer proximity to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

We don’t know how long they might have lived in Bethlehem, though it probably was under two years. That can be conjectured by what happened when the wise men did not return to tell Herod what they had found (we’re still in Matthew):

^“6 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” 

Herod’s ordered Slaughter of the Innocents was intended to kill the baby Jesus.

He had not anticipated God would intervene, apparently the very night the wise men left Bethlehem.

Egypt

Many believe that flight to Egypt was paid for by the gifts brought by the magi. And why not? We worship an orderly and efficient God.

It’s not clear how long the family lived in Egypt.

I’ve always liked the song “My Deliverer,”  by Rich Mullins depicting what Jesus’ time there might have been like:

Joseph took his wife and her child
And they went to Africa
To escape the rage of a deadly King
There along the banks of the Nile
Jesus listened to the song
That the captive children used to sing
They were singin’

My deliverer is comin’, my deliverer is standin’ by

Don’t you love the image of the child Jesus listening to people plead for their redemption?

Safe now?

When Herod died, circa AD 6, Joseph decided it was safe to return to Israel with his family:

¹⁹ Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” ²¹ Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. ²³ And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” might have been a lovely place to live with promise, but Joseph and Mary had learned that following God would bring blessings.

They obeyed Joseph’s dream and returned to live in Nazareth. They journeyed to Jerusalem, still down that road, every year at Passover–as befits a devout Jewish family.

Why the confusion between the two gospel accounts?

Richard Bruce  explains:

“The key point is that Luke is writing to a Roman official and Matthew is writing to Christians who were formerly Jews. In other words, Luke is writing to the oppressor and Matthew is writing to the oppressed. Luke has carefully left out those things that would upset the Roman official, Theophilus, or any other Roman official that Theophilus might show Luke’s gospel. Matthew has similarly left out those things that would upset Jewish Christians.”

The Scriptures are limited to what God wanted people to know about Jesus. The only other glimpse we have of his childhood is the story in the temple.

At the age of 12, Jesus already was concerned with “being about my father’s business.” He knew the Torah well and confounded the learned religious leaders in Jerusalem with his insight.

What else would you expect from the son of God?

Tweetables

Did Jesus grow up in Nazareth or Bethlehem? Click to Tweet

How/why do the gospel accounts conflict about Jesus’ babyhood? Click to Tweet

Jesus’ childhood in Egypt? Really? Click to Tweet