No one from Galilee held Nazareth in any high regard and it would definitely not be the choice for the Messiah to come from. No one paid any attention to Nazareth and the only reason people even now pay any attention to Nazareth is because Jesus grew up there. Though it may have only been symbolic, Jesus walked into the sinful places of our lives before calling us out of them and delivering us from them.įor Jesus to come from a place like Nazareth, that was about as low on the totem pole as you could get. Egypt is therefore a type of the world and sin which are places we were before Jesus freed us. The other significance is that Egypt was the place the Israelites were held captive before God freed them. Hosea 11:1 says out of Egypt I called my son. The significance of Jesus living in Egypt – even though it was for a brief time – was that it was a fulfillment of prophecy. This compares to the birth of Jesus and is a wonderful foreshadowing of what was to come in Jesus’ life. They were wrapped in cloths and eventually brought to Jerusalem to be used as Passover sacrifices in the temple. According to Jewish history, this place in Bethlehem was where unblemished lambs, who were firstborn males, were born. We learn from Genesis 35:19-21 the place where Rachel was buried was known as Migdal Eder. His childhood was probably just like every other child in Nazareth.īesides being the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem was also where Rachel was buried. “’Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at him…” ( Matthew 13:55-56).īased on these things, I believe Jesus grew up as an ordinary child in his home with his family until it was time for him to be revealed. In one instance, after his ministry began, he went to his hometown, and this is what they said about him. Based on comments that the people in his hometown made, he did not grow up telling people he was the Messiah. It is safe to say Jesus lived a very nondescript childhood. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” ( Luke 2:51-52). But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. “Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. Very similar to the conclusion of Jesus being consecrated in the temple, here is what Luke says about Jesus after his encounter in the temple. The next incident happened when Jesus was twelve years old in the temple, as also recorded in Luke’s gospel. And the child grew and became strong he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him” ( Luke 2:39-40). “When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. Here is the extent of what we know about Jesus’ childhood. We know about his birth and that he was presented in the temple as was required by the law. The Bible does not tell us much about Jesus’ childhood. Photo credit: ©Getty Images/George Muresan Nazareth was Jesus’ hometown, and this was the place from which he identified. However, when they returned, Joseph was afraid to live in Judea, because of the new ruler Archelaus, so Joseph went to the region of Galilee and settled in Nazareth, and that is where Jesus grew up. Matthew would tell us that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stayed in Egypt until Herod died, and at that point, an angel of the Lord told them it was safe to return to Israel. “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi” ( Matthew 2:16). We don’t know how old Jesus was when they left for Egypt, but it is safe to assume he was in the neighborhood of two years old, which again is based on Matthew’s gospel. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him’” ( Matthew 2:13).Īfter the wise men had departed, Joseph took Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Though Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we know that from Bethlehem, his next stop was Egypt. You will find this in Matthew and Luke’s gospel accounts of Jesus’ life. Most famously, we know Jesus was born in Bethlehem. From the Bible, we can determine the places Jesus lived and it can at least give us a framework to the question where did Jesus grow up.
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