details of the events of Jesus' birth
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summary:
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Census called - Joseph and Mary leave Nazareth
They go to Bethlehem - 164 km (101 miles) - register
No room at Inn, stay downstairs - Jesus born - manger used (feeding trough for animals)
Shepherds visit Jesus BEFORE He's 8 days old.
Circumcision - 8th day - according to the Torah.
Purification of Mary - 33 days - according to the Torah.
Dedication at the Temple in Jerusalem - day 40. (14km, about 8 miles from Bethlehem) - according to the Torah.
Return to NAZARETH - attend Passover in Jerusalem EVERY year - no wise men yet...
Wise men follow star to Jerusalem - ask Herod
Herod checks, tells them Bethlehem
Wise men leave Herod, see star again (no mention where it's pointing)
Remember... Mary and Joseph left Jerusalem on day 40 for Nazareth... 100 miles to the north...
Wise men visit Jesus as a YOUNG child in a HOUSE.
The wise men do NOT return to Herod
Herod realizes they didn't come back
Herod orders all kids 2 and younger in Bethlehem killed.
Joseph is warned, heads to Egypt with Mary and Jesus.
Herod dies - 4BC
Joseph, Mary and Jesus return to Nazareth
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Note:
Jesus was not born in a stable, but laid in a feeding trough on the first floor of building.
The shepherds saw him before he was circumcised.
Shepherds would not be in the fields with their flock in December, birth was likely in late summer.
Bethlehem is about 8 miles from Jerusalem.
After the 40 days of purification Jesus was dedicated at the Temple in Jerusalem
Joseph, Jesus and Mary returned to Nazareth after the 40th day. Not back to Bethlehem
The wise men came two years later... and visited them in a house in Nazareth.
Herod ordered the death of infants two years and younger in Bethlehem.
Joseph was warned, took Jesus and Mary to Egypt, but this was for less than a year.
They made it to Jerusalem every year for the Passover.
Herod died in 4BC.
Joseph, Jesus and Mary returned to Nazareth.
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1) Caesar Augustus calls for census. Quirinuius was governing Syria. Luke 2:1,2
2) Joseph and Mary registered in the city of David - Luke 2:3-5 - Birth in Bethlehem - Luke 2:6
Micah 5:2 - But you, Bethelehem Ephrartha, Though you are little among the thousands of Juda, 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."
3) Geneology of Joseph - Matthew 1 - a son of David through Solomon - but Jesus was NOT the seed of Joseph...
AND Joseph and Mary did not have relations until after the birth of Jesus:
(Matthew 1:25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.)
AND the line through Joseph was CURSED by God because of Jehoiakim and not to sit on the throne.
Jeremiah 36:30 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He shall have
no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day
and the frost of the night. 31 I will also punish him and his descendants and his servants for their
iniquity, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the
calamity that I have declared to them—but they did not listen.”’”
4) Geneology of Mary - Luke 3 - a descendent of David through Nathan - Jesus has right to the throne through Mary,
the line goes all the way back to Adam... fulfills the promise of the seed of woman, Genesis 3:14,15,
and the virgin birth predicted in Isaiah 7:14
NOTE something special about the geneology of Mary: see Zechariah 12:12
Zechariah 12:12 The land will mourn, every family by itself;
the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;
5) no room at the inn - Luke 2:7, Shepherds worshiped infant in manager (feeding trough) Luke 2:8-20
(the manger was on the ground floor, it is an animal feeding trough, inside the house. sleeping quarters were upstairs)
6) 8 days after birth, circumcision - Luke 2:21
7) 33 days of Mary's purification - Luke 2:22 (see Leviticus 12:2-6)
33 days + 7 = 40 days.
Leviticus 12:4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and
thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of
her purifying be fulfilled."
8) Joseph and Mary returned to Galilee, NAZARETH from Jerusalem after the dedication - Luke 2:39
note: not Egypt, not Bethelem... but Nazarath - 40 days AFTER birth.
9) Take note: Parents went to Jerusalem EVERY year at the Feasts of the Passover - Luke 2:41 - according to the Torah.
10) Wise men followed star - went to Jerusalem, talked to Herod - Matthew 2:5 - TWO years after the birth!
11) Herod checked the prophecies (Micah 5:2) and sent the wisemen to Bethelehem Matthem 2:7
12) Wisemen left, and saw the star again, but went to Nazareth instead - Matthew 2:9, 10
13) Wisemen came into the HOUSE, they saw the YOUNG Child - Matthew 2:11. - NOTE: not a baby in the manger
14) When the Magi didn't return, Herod ordered all male children TWO years and under murdered in Bethlehem Matt 2:16
Jeremiah 31:15 - 15 Thus says the Lord, “A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”
15) Wisemen left, Joseph warned in a dream of Herod's action - went to Egypt - Matthew 2:13, 15
NOTE: Joseph left Nazareth to go to Egypt, but Luke 2:41 says they made it to the Passover EVERY year.
So there time in Egypt had to be less than a year.
Matthew 2:15 - Isaiah 11:1, 40:3, Jer 31:15 ; see Hosea 11:1
16) Herod died - Matt 2:19 - estimated to be 4 BC, some say 5 BC - but it was BEFORE the Passover,
so Joseph, Mary and Jesus were in Egypt for less than a year as they made it to Jerusalem every year for the Passover.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great
Josephus tells us that Herod died after a lunar eclipse.[46] He gives an account of events between this eclipse
and his death, and between his death and Passover. A partial eclipse[47] took place on March 13, 4 BCE,[13]
about 29 days before Passover, and this eclipse is usually taken to be the one referred to by Josephus.[37]
Archelaus - over Judea - turned aside into the region of Galilee... Nazareth. Matt 2:23
(see also Luke 24:44-46 - all things must be fulfilled)
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1) Mary is visited by an angel, learns she'll be fulfilling Isaiah 7:14
2) Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream - does not put Mary away quietly.
(note: the betrothal period is considered part of the marriage - one year, shows
that the couple has not behaved improperly... the reason for the dream, and also
why Mary would have gone with Joseph to Bethlehem... scripture says that Joseph
kept her a virgin until after Jesus was born)
3) Elizabeth is also with child, John the Baptist - recognizes Jesus in Mary's womb.
4) a Census is called - all must return to their "home of record".
5) Joseph is of the House of David - returns to Bethlehem.
6) They arrive, city full, no place to stay - use a manger, this is like a parking
stall under a house where one would keep their mule... it is likely that there were
not a bunch of barnyard animals in this place with Mary and Joseph.
7) angels tell shepherds in the field that the King of Israel has been born and where to find him....
they visit that night. I believe that's when the star of Bethlehem is first visible.
8) the Star stays lit... from the text it appears that's what brought the magi from the east,
and would lead them to Israel.
9) After 8 days Jesus is circumcised, then the purification period and off to Jerusalem.
10) after the dedication in JERUSALEM, up to NAZARETH.
11) a couple years later... the Wise Men show up in Jerusalem and ask about the
new King... Herod is unhappy... orders kids 2 and under murdered in Bethlehem.
12) the wise men are redirected from Bethlehem to Nazareth, see the young child.
13) Joseph is warned in a Dream to take the child to Egypt. This fulfills a prophecy.
14) Herod dies, Jesus leaves Egypt, returns to Nazareth. - I believe within one year as Luke
records that Joseph made it to Jerusalem EVERY year for the Passover.
15) Jesus grows up in Nazareth. Begins His ministry around 30AD.
Additional Details with the TIMELINE the birth of the Jewish Messiah, sequence of events:
1) Birth of Christ - circa 6 BC. (two years before Herod's death of 4BC)
2) Shepherd's visit - after birth - before circumcision - at the inn, in a manger.
3) Circumcision - 8th day
Leviticus 12:2-3
12:2
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived
seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days;
according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be
unclean.
12:3
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4) Purification time - Leviticus 12:4
Leviticus 12:4
And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and
thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the
sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled."
7 days + 33 days = 40 days
5) Temple Dedication - around the 40th day - in Jerusalem
Luke 2:20-32
2:20
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the
things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
2:21
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child,
his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was
conceived in the womb.
2:22
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;
2:23
(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the
womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
2:24
And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of
the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
2:25
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the
same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and
the Holy Ghost was upon him.
2:26
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see
death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
2:27
And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought
in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
2:28
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
2:29
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word:
2:30
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
2:31
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
2:32
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
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