Joseph, Mary & Jesus; Bethlehem, etc

We find Jesus' birth and infancy firmly connected to Bethlehem in Judea

Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant (Luke 2:4-5, CSB).

Roman messages were serious, especially for subjugated peoples, or people under acceptable submissive rulers. In response to direction Joseph took his very pregnant betrothed, Mary, and made the 145 km journey to Bethlehem. Did they expect to return to Nazareth? Were the wagging tongues of Nazareth glad to see the back of her?

 

The name of Caesar Augustus, effectively Rome’s ruler 27 BCE - 14 CE, would have been invoked in the message that sent Joseph to his ancestral origins, or perhaps taxable property. Luke is clear about this requirement. The Roman Empire had no crowned king or emperor, and its "Senate and People" administration was not totally consistent everywhere in language and procedures. The fact of no known external evidence of “his” taxation census, nor even of a Quirinius as Governor that early, is discussed in detail in various places (see below).  

The fullness of time arrived one night and Mary’s boy child was delivered, apparently in temporary accommodation (the guest space was full). The swaddled baby was placed in a handy animals' feed-box.

A nearby group of unknown workers (shepherds) was given a message from highest authority. They responded with alacrity and became the first to see the baby who was in fact their Saviour, Christ the Lord.
This very day in King David’s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay” (Luke 2:11-12, CEV). Mary and Joseph, were amazed, as was the case for all who heard the shepherds' messages.

He was (is) the Saviour born for them (us). This baby was actually their rescuer, their deliverer. That accorded with the naming direction given earlier to Joseph: Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, CEV). Not that he was like the Joshua of old, who led the ancient Israelites in their ferocious conquests in Canaan. No, this Jesus will enlighten also the Gentiles. Not a general to lead them in war against Rome, then... People needed above all saving from their sins. As the announcement angels put it: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! (Luke 2:14, CSB). Those brought away by the Deliverer from under the burden and consequence of their failings can know peace within.

Somewhere in the order of events came a family visit to the Jerusalem Temple, apparently from nearby Bethlehem. This was to make the prescribed offering and was specified to happen 33 days after the boy’s birth.

 In the temple they met a man named Simeon, who gave a message to also amaze:

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

    according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation

    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

    and for glory to your people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.  (Luke 2: 29-33, ESV). They had a lot to take in!

Simeon was expecting the Christ, as perhaps were many, and as today many are. On that day his own eyes had seen God's deliverance encapsulated in this baby, a deliverance to impact all people, then and now. Jesus, Saviour for the world, came from the Jews, from Israel. No accident of birth, this was God's plan.

There was more to the message in the Temple that day: Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35, NIV). This child, as grown man, eventually did become the focus of huge division. Though there were wounds along the way, finally Mary's own being was wounded, surely to its core. (No mention of Joseph in this? He was still on the scene as Simeon spoke.)

In Bethlehem unknown visitors from the east (menacing Parthia?) delivered an unexpected message about their mission to worship “the child”. Very soon after their secretive departure from the Bethlehem house Joseph received another dream message from above, a message that would save them from Judea’s King Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother (Matthew 2: 13-14, NLT). No delay; they promptly found refuge in Egypt, though unknown others suffered Herod's power. ("The child and his mother": I wonder when and where Joseph and Mary completed their marriage formalities? Impossible to know.)

God's message reaches everywhere. Sometime after King Herod’s death (4 BCE), Joseph had another message which put them on the road again, this time back to the land of Israel: When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel (Matthew 2:19-21, NRSV). Not such an urgent one that time... or, was it? How did these refugee Jews get on in Egypt?

However, there was more, for in Judea Herod’s designated principal heir, Archelaus, soon secured his position and was just as dangerous as Herod had been. Joseph had good reason to be afraid. How close to Judea and Bethlehem were Joseph and family when the final message diverted their path to Nazareth? But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:22-23, CSB).

That is almost the last reference to Joseph himself. He is mentioned in Jesus' boyhood and his name is later mentioned in Jesus’ brief genealogy, as supposed father of Jesus.

God's plan had years to run before Christ the Lord could be made known to the listening world. God's salvation for us would be revealed to all who will hear.

BTW: I have seen where a preacher asserted that Mary later left husband (Joseph), and home, to go about with her itinerant son, Jesus! No evidence given. Fiction based on a true story. (It does recognise the later absence of Joseph from the record.)

Dating and correlating the Jesus events is a subject of discussion. An astronomer (M. Molnar, 1999) has used the Gospel accounts, ancient coinage and the contemporary astrological data to deduce and propose that Jesus was born in April of the year 6 BCE.
https://www.michaelmolnar.com/

The census: https://bible.org/article/problem-luke-22-ithis-was-first-census-taken-when-quirinius-was-governor-syriai

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