Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

To: arthurus
...probably refers to space in private houses.

In this case, the private house probably belonged to a distant cousin of Joseph. They were not the only family of the house of David to be traveling to Bethlehem at that time, and families tended to congregate together.

8 posted on 12/23/2015 5:04:50 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies ]


To: ShadowAce

When there is not even any space on the floor you can put the cousins in a tent in the back yard.


9 posted on 12/23/2015 5:16:50 AM PST by arthurus (Het is waar. Tutti i liberali sono feccia.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

To: ShadowAce
In this case, the private house probably belonged to a distant cousin of Joseph. They were not the only family of the house of David to be traveling to Bethlehem at that time, and families tended to congregate together.

Yes, or perhaps even Joseph's immediate family. While Scripture seems clear that Mary was from Nazareth, the notion that Joseph wasn't himself from Bethlehem would appear to be more of an inference than anything else. Luke writes: "And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city." Luke 2:3 (KJV). While it has been supposed that Bethlehem was Joseph's "ancestral" home, as it were, a straightforward reading of the text suggests, alternatively, that Bethlehem was in fact his home town.

Note, too, in this regard, that Matthew's Nativity narrative has Mary and Jesus living in a house, in Bethlehem, at the time of the adoration of the magi, which likely occurred many, many months after Jesus's birth. Matthew 2:11. In other words, by that time, Joseph and Mary had wed and were permanently residing in Bethlehem.

Thereafter, after the flight into Egypt, Joseph's original intention was to return to Judea, but "being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into parts of Galilee." Matthew 2:22 (KJV).

12 posted on 12/23/2015 6:37:23 AM PST by DSH
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson