Theophilus wrote:I'll take both Matt's and Luke's accounts as accurate and that after soon after Herod's 1BCE death, the family return home to Nazareth.
Having just gotten back from Israel and visiting these sites, I'd like to step out on to a limb:
The Maji didn't only 'see a star in the East'. I think they had access to Hebrew scriptures and were able to do some KP/Yada math and calculate when Messiah would arrive. The star was just the confirmation that they were on the right track.
Their arrival in Jerusalem would have been from the north, having passed through modern Lebanon,
NOT having crossed the desert in a straight line. The trade/travel routes demand an entry from the north. I think they checked in at the capital city as a matter of course and to find out where Bethlehem was. They would have known
that Bethlehem was the prophesied town, but maybe not known
where it was.
I think the Maji showed their PowerPoint slides to Herod, explaining the prophecies and why they were there, realized what evil was going to happen, then left town.
It is only about an hour and a half walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem...
(Ed takes one more step out on the limb)
...a little over five miles. If I can, on a clear night, see someone smoking a cigarette up to eleven miles away, the three wise guys would certainly be able to see a chorus of angels at half that distance.
I think that they got into Bethlehem (it is
still a really small town), knocked on a few doors and asked: "Did anyone have a baby tonight?"
They presented the gifts (you know this part of the story).
Yeshua is taken to the temple (on the southwest corner of Jerusalem).
Seven days later, Yeshua is taken to the temple (on the southwest corner of Jerusalem).
Then the angel tell Joseph to get out of the country,
NOW!
(They left the next morning. I know I would if an angel told me to do something!)
The family went off to Egypt, then returned to Nazareth after Herod was dead.
If the Maji visited them in Nazareth, the family would not have passed through Jerusalem on their way to Egypt. The would have evac'd to the north, They would not have tried to sneak through Jerusalem and 2/3rds of the country. Remember,
even the Maji avoided Jerusalem on their way home! (Wise men, indeed.) This presupposes that the Maji would have even been able to even
find 'a boy born a year or two ago, in a town on the other side of Jerusalem..' (Contrast this with, "Did anyone have a baby tonight?")
At Nazareth Village, they have a building that represents a first century builder's home. The docent's point out that the 'manger' was not a feed trough, but a room on the front of the house that the animals could be sheltered in during the winter. If you have 'family in town' (because of the census), and one of them was about to have a baby, you would give them the small room at the front of the house, so they could have some privacy. The rest of the relatives, with their older kids, would be in the main part of the house, and the animals would be pushed outside.
In conclusion (to this really long posting): I am trying to take a really 'nuts and bolts' approach to the accounts of our Savior's arrival. The Maji knew from interpreting scripture
exactly when and more or less where He would arrive. The star they had been following since leaving Iraq was just confirmation. They left Herod's castle then went straight to Bethlehem. They warned the family, who departed to the south west, to Egypt, then crossed the Jordan and went back home. After things quieted down (especially Herod, he got real quiet!), the family returned to Nazareth.
This write up is worth exactly what you, dear reader, just paid for it:
NOTHING, but I
feel it fits in with Matthew, Luke, geography and archeology.
(Anybody wanna see my pictures from Nazareth Village?)
Edited by user Tuesday, November 18, 2008 2:19:39 AM(UTC)
| Reason: to fix some time line events (Thanks, Walt!)