Matthew 2:1 indicates that the wise men came sometime after the birth of Jesus. It was not during His birth, as is customary to the nativity scenes that we are familar with. The event of the wise men more than likely took place after Jesus was dedicated to God in the temple. I’d say Jesus was about 2 years old when the wise men presented Him with gifts. In that case, Jesus was a todler not an infant. What is your view?
Note also that Matthew states the Magi visited them in "a house", not in a stable. It does seem to indicate that following their trip from Nazareth for their taxation, that they remained in Bethlehem. That was Joseph’s home town and his family was there. as Nazareth was a tiny place with only a couple hundred homes where their major industry was funerals (most of the "town" was graveyards), Joseph probably felt he had a better chance finding work and supporting his family in Bethlehem.
The idea of "2 years" came from Herod’s order to kill all male children up to that age. There is evidence to show the Quirinius was governor over Syria for his first term between 6 and 5 BC, and that Herod died in 4 BC. So Jesus could have been born as early as 6BC, lived in Bethlehem for a time, and the gone to Egypt until 4BC. How long he was in Egypt is also not given.
It appears the oldest that Jesus could have been when the Magi visited was 2. Born in 6 BC and fled in 4 BC to only be in Egypt for a few weeks before Herod died. For the trip to be worthwhile, he probably went to Egypt before he was 2. But he did not flee to Egypt the night of his birth.
If nothing else, he remained in the Jerusalem area for eight days so he could be circumcised at the temple, according to Luke 2.
Following their time in Egypt, Joseph was afraid to return to Bethlehem, so he and Mary returned to her home town of Nazareth instead. It was a obscure, out of the way place where they felt they could raise Jesus without anyone seeing them. Nobody went to Nazareth. It was in the middle of nowhere.
July 29th, 2010 at 4:19 am
You’re about right. Religious historians place their visit from Jesus being 1 to 2 years old. So, what’s you point?
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July 29th, 2010 at 5:06 am
That sounds right. They visited him in a house as well
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July 29th, 2010 at 5:46 am
"I like to picture Jesus as a figure skater. He wears like a white outfit, and He does interpretive ice dances of my life’s journey. "
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July 29th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Jesus was just a character in mans old old fictional novel
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July 29th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Well the wise men visited Jesus in a house and not the stable as in the "traditional" nativity scene as well
(Matthew 2:11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.)
In verse 8 Herod tells the wise men to go search for the young child…the greek word for young child used here is "paidion" which can be used for infants or young children…its not age specific so we don’t know how old Jesus was when the wise men visited Him
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July 29th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Note also that Matthew states the Magi visited them in "a house", not in a stable. It does seem to indicate that following their trip from Nazareth for their taxation, that they remained in Bethlehem. That was Joseph’s home town and his family was there. as Nazareth was a tiny place with only a couple hundred homes where their major industry was funerals (most of the "town" was graveyards), Joseph probably felt he had a better chance finding work and supporting his family in Bethlehem.
The idea of "2 years" came from Herod’s order to kill all male children up to that age. There is evidence to show the Quirinius was governor over Syria for his first term between 6 and 5 BC, and that Herod died in 4 BC. So Jesus could have been born as early as 6BC, lived in Bethlehem for a time, and the gone to Egypt until 4BC. How long he was in Egypt is also not given.
It appears the oldest that Jesus could have been when the Magi visited was 2. Born in 6 BC and fled in 4 BC to only be in Egypt for a few weeks before Herod died. For the trip to be worthwhile, he probably went to Egypt before he was 2. But he did not flee to Egypt the night of his birth.
If nothing else, he remained in the Jerusalem area for eight days so he could be circumcised at the temple, according to Luke 2.
Following their time in Egypt, Joseph was afraid to return to Bethlehem, so he and Mary returned to her home town of Nazareth instead. It was a obscure, out of the way place where they felt they could raise Jesus without anyone seeing them. Nobody went to Nazareth. It was in the middle of nowhere.
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July 29th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Well - you are partially correct.
I think that nativity scenes were designed intentionally from the beginning to incorporate ALL of the events regarding Jesus’ early identification as Messiah. There is no effort to be chronologically accurate. Shepherds (who were not claimed to be at the scene of the nativity in the Bible) angels who announced to the shepherds (also not at the nativity), whole farmhouses-full of animals, and magi are all packed together into the average nativity scene - even occasionally a little drummer boy or some other modern addition.
SO - leaving the intentionally chronologically inaccurate portrayal found in the average nativity scene, what do I think about your analysis of the chronology?
Herod orders all children up to the age of two to be executed. This suggests that Herod believed that it would be *impossible* for the prophesied child to **appear** to be older than two years of age. Many myths of the Old World recount tales of heroes who grow at twice the normal rate - so we can be pretty sure that Jesus was not already two years old. Herod wouldn’t need to kill any of the infants, for one: and Herod would not want to risk missing the two-year-old in case he looked - say, 3 instead of 2.
I’d guess that Jesus was still an infant, and no more than one year old. Herod probably didn’t know exactly how old he was (having from the magi only an approximate time, as astrology likely would not have specified the exact time or date of the person’s birth), but he probably *did* have the idea that the king of prophesy might mature at a supernatural rate. My guess (and it IS only a guess) is that Herod could have "caught" Jesus by instructing everyone up to the age of one to be executed, but that he wanted to make certain. Again: I think the best reasoning in support of this is that if Herod thought Jesus was 2, there would be absolutely no need for him to order the death of the very young - bound to be an unpopular decision, and one which he would not command lightly.
We can guess that the magi were traveling several weeks - even though the Parthian border was very close to Judaea. They *probably* would have needed time to identify the astrological "conjunction", to interpret it, to arrange for a caravan and then to travel, and probably they were not traveling from anyplace in Parthia that closely bordered the Roman Empire. Of course, they *could* have prepared in advance. It would have been easy for Parthian astrologers to predict the future conjunction weeks ahead of its actual occurrence and to arrange to arrive in Judaea at the appropriate time (the beginning of the conjunction). However, that does seem much less likely.
Conclusion: in fact, it is possible that the Magi arrived only days after Jesus was born (after Joseph and Mary had acquired a house in place of the stable). It is more reasonable to conclude, from Herod’s rather inclusive execution order, that Jesus was at least a few months old, though I think 1 year old would reasonably be his maximum age.
Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/
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