Very God, very human.

CHAPTER 2. MANGER TO CARPENTER.
Matthew chapters 1 & 2. Luke chapters 1 & 2 (also Matthew 13:55 & Mark 6:3).

VITAL CLUE.
The clue to piecing together the two narratives lies, curiously, in the finances. When Mary and Joseph made their offering in the temple, forty days after the birth, they gave two young pigeons. This was the smallest offering only permitted to the very poor.

Joseph had been out of work for two months and incurred many extra expenses. But the wise men’s gift of gold - which financed the escape to Egypt - had not yet been received. It is only on Christmas cards that the wise men stand behind the shepherds in the stable. Really they came over 40 days later. With that point of reference to provide a time scale, the two narratives fit easily together.

EVENTS.
BC. 7
First sightings of planet conjunction by the scholars.

BC. 6
Planet conjunction joined by Mars. The eastern scholars may have begun their journey this year. Vision by Zechariah in temple (approximately September).

BC. 5 March
Gabriel comes to Mary. Mary goes to aunt Elizabeth in Judea

BC. 5 June
Mary returns to Nazareth. Birth of John the Baptist. Joseph finds that Mary is expecting a baby.

BC. 5 December (or thereabouts).
Joseph and Mary are legally married. Travel to Bethlehem for census. Jesus is born. Visit of Shepherds. Jesus circumcised and named on eighth day.

BC. 4 January
On 40th day Jesus is taken to the temple for the offering prescribed by Moses. Meeting with Simeon and Anna.

BC.4 February
Scholars arrive and go to Herod. Last appearance of “star” which, if it behaved the same as when Kepler saw it in 1603-4 would have been ahead of travellers from Jerusalem facing Bethlehem.

Herod kills baby boys. Joseph Mary & Jesus escape to Egypt.

BC.4 March or early April. Death of Herod.

Date uncertain. Joseph and Mary take Jesus back to Nazareth.

AD.9 Jesus taken to the Temple.

2.1 THE NATION.
A tiny nation, conquered by foreign invaders, was clinging determinedly to its own identity. It had an identity worth clinging to.

The Roman conquerors had a history seven centuries long, but the Jewish nation looked back two thousand years.

Romans could carry their gods around with them. The Jewish nation had one God, one temple, one priesthood and one city, Jerusalem, as the focal point of its worship.

The Roman occupation had lasted sixty years. The Jewish people had survived many defeats, many occupations and an exile, but had always outlived their oppressors.

Rome had a far flung empire and was feared. Jewish people were dispersed as far, not by force of arms but peacefully, and were respected.

Jews had community life and family life. These had virtually broken down in gentile countries, Roman and Greek. It was said of them that “Religion, philosophy and society had passed through every stage to that of despair” (Edersheim).

Best of all the Jewish people had a future hope. Moses himself had prophesied a coming “Great Prophet.” Hannah, the mother of Samuel, had coined the term “Messiah” or “Lord’s Anointed” and down the centuries Hebrew prophets had taken up the theme. A nation’s hopes and dreams were linked to the coming ruler; The Son of Man; the one who would “Come with the clouds” and to whom all dominion and authority would be given.

2.2 SIMEON.
(Luke 2:25-35.)
While the hope of a majestic Messiah could keep up morale, there were a few who also took notice of other prophecies which foretold a suffering servant of God - despised and rejected.

Such a man was old Simeon, a devout Jew who knew what it was to live tuned in to Heaven. For many years he had enjoyed a close relationship with God as had Abraham before him. Simeon understood the two-sided prophesy of the coming ruler who would also face bitter opposition, whose kingdom lay on the other side of suffering. As he meditated in the scriptures there came to him an inner certainty which he had learned to recognise as the voice of God. He, Simeon, had divine assurance that he would live to see the Messiah. Confident of that promise he went on growing older.


2.3 EASTERN SCHOLARS (MAGI).
(Matthew 2:1-12.)
There were others. East of Israel there were scholars who studied both the natural world and the ancient prophecies. They too were ready to listen when they heard the same quiet inner voice. They did not know God intimately as Simeon did, (sometimes they mistook the message) but their search for truth was genuine.

In the year which we know as 7 BC there was a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces. It was visible in May, October and December and presented a brilliant spectacle in the night-sky. The following year another planet, Mars, joined this conjunction, by which time astronomers and astrologers alike were fully alerted.

Chinese records further noted the appearance of an evanescent “star” or comet. When the whole series of spectacles was repeated and observed by the astronomer Kepler in AD 1603-4 this new, extraordinarily brilliant and peculiarly coloured heavenly body was visible between Jupiter and Saturn at the time of the later conjunction involving the three planets. The evidence is that this star or comet had probably showed itself in the February of BC 4.

At some point one particular group of scholars resolved to make a journey to find the new born “King of the Jews” (their term).

2.4 ZECHARIAH AND ELIZABETH.
(Luke 1:5-25.)
Not all God’s people, even the best of them, live tuned in to Heaven as old Simeon did. There was an old priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth who were described as, “righteous before God” and “living blamelessly” yet it took the visit of an angel to alert them to their part in the plan.

They had been waiting all their lives for two things: for children; and for Zechariah to be chosen to carry out the honoured task of burning incense in the Temple. Priests were chosen by lot, and Zechariah’s name had never come up.

About fifty priests were on duty each morning, beginning their work before daybreak, preparing the Temple for its many activities of the day. On the Temple’s highest pinnacle stood one priest whose duty was to watch for the dawn and give the signal. Then silver trumpets sounded a triple blast, the massive gates swung slowly open and the day had begun.

This time, Zechariah’s name did come up. He was selected by lot and given the task of going into the sanctuary to burn incense on the golden alter. He had waited all his life for this day, but when Gabriel met him at the altar and told him his other lifelong longing was also to be fulfilled, it was all too much to take in at once.

The child so promised to the old couple was to be John the Baptist, the herald of Messiah, the “Voice crying in the wilderness” the one who would prepare the people, to receive the Coming One.

2.5 NAZARETH.
Fifty four miles (87 km) north of Jerusalem, 1000 ft (300 m) above sea level, perched on a hilltop overlooking a broad, green, bowl-shaped valley of farmlands and surrounded by rocky hills, lay the small town of Nazareth. It was a quiet place but not isolated from the world because a main overland trade route passed it close.

Nazareth was in the northern area called Galilee, separated from Judea by Samaria, also by accent, occupation, culture and prejudice. The hardy, rural Galileans were looked down upon by the religious and intellectual elite of Judea, even though Judea needed the wealth brought in by Galileans on their regular pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem.

If Judea claimed to be better educated, Galileans were nevertheless skilled craftsmen and not by any means unlearned. They had good primary education and there were opportunities for those who excelled to become well instructed in the Torah (Jewish law and scriptures). Trade Greek was also known.

2.6 JOSEPH.
In such an area, a carpenter would be a respected member of the community, visiting everyone’s homes, for rich and poor alike needed their door posts fixed and their barns repaired. Carpenters were tough, combining stonemasonry with woodwork, and having no power tools. Surprisingly little is known about Joseph, except that he was a carpenter in Nazareth. There is no evidence for the legend that he was much older than Mary (though he appears to have died before Jesus was thirty). He was probably in his late twenties, having completed his apprenticeship, and ready to marry.

Joseph taught Jesus his craftsman’s skill and also the teaching method we call apprenticeship or discipleship by which the learner learns on the job. Jesus used the same method to teach his own trainees.

2.7 MARY.
Women then married young, but not so young as some legends make out. Mary was old enough to travel alone, 60 miles cross country to visit her aunt. She was engaged to Joseph - and engagements were formal and binding. The first ceremony, the betrothal, had taken place and the young couple were preparing for the final ceremony which would make them husband and wife.

Mary was a virgin. Matthew and Luke, telling the story from their different angles, both insist on this, indeed it is critical to the narrative in both cases.

Mary’s other special characteristic, essential to the role she was to play, was quietness. She was not talkative, but is twice reported to have “treasured these things in her heart.” If she had been the kind of person who talked about everything, all her neighbours would have known that her son was Messiah. Jesus could not then have had a normal childhood. Mary’s quietness was essential to God’s plan.

So were her other children. If Mary and Joseph had only had one child to bring up and known Him to be Messiah, they would have been overwhelmed by the responsibility. Having a large family of their own ensured that they were fully occupied with normal home life and that Jesus had brothers and sisters to keep His childhood and youth as normal as it could be. (See Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3).

2.8 AUGUSTUS CAESAR
The Roman Emperor never knew his own role in history. He probably thought he deserved one in his own right (he had ruled a mighty empire for over forty years). But two thousand years later he is best known for ordering a census, the most famous census of all time.

Yet it seems that this particular census was a bungled job which never gave him his figures. It was not done properly until ten years later by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius.

Luke notes that “This census was first taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria” and there have been long debates as to exactly what Luke meant, but the first thing is to see exactly what Luke said. He did not say, as many modern Bible translations have it, “This was the first census - - “ etc. The whole point of what he said is that it was not.

He said, “This census was first taken - - “ etc. That is either; this was not a proper census at all and was first done later by Quirinius; or Quirinius had done an earlier one (as is possible but not proven).

Either way we are left with a failed attempt to give Augustus his figures, a piece of clumsy bureaucracy, a massive upheaval for thousands of people and all for nothing - except to bring one family to Bethlehem - where it had been foretold by prophets that Messiah would be born.

2.9 GABRIEL
(Luke 1:26-38).
The nation had waited two thousand years for its Messiah. People like old Simeon had waited all their lives. The angel host had waited since before creation.

Human history had unfolded before them with all its cruelty, oppression and misery. Now at last, Heaven was about to re-invade Earth; to begin the long process of recovery. “A kingdom that will grow until it fills the whole world and will stand for ever” - that was what had been promised by the prophet Daniel.

A kingdom requires a king and Heaven’s messenger Gabriel brought the promise of “One who will reign for ever and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Gabriel appeared to Mary, a young woman in a small country town, fiancee of a local carpenter. Both could trace their ancestry back to King David and Mary was related on her mother’s side to Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah. Otherwise they had nothing to distinguish them.

Luke’s narrative reads as a careful factual account of events until he comes to Gabriels’s speech. Then suddenly the language seems to take off. Never say angels have no feelings, Gabriel was thrilled with what he had to say. Every word of it was burned into Mary’s memory and in her old age she told it, word for word, to Luke the physician.

2.10 ACTION BEGINS.
Every pregnancy is a secret at first. There is a month or two between the time when a woman knows she will be a mother and when she makes that knowledge public. The secret may be shared with trusted confidants and the halcyon period used for personal preparation. Mary especially needed this time of respite.

She travelled 60 miles south to the hill country of Judea and stayed three months with her relatives Elizabeth and Zechariah.

Mary was old enough and responsible enough handle such a journey. Parties of travellers walked together and simple hospitality was offered in homes as part of the culture. But a traveller still needed to be alert and as we would now say, “streetwise.” Discard the image of Mary as a sheltered and helpless teenager. She was an intelligent young woman who could look after herself and make decisions.

Mary was glad of the time with Elizabeth, a caring and understanding relative, but it had to come to an end. She returned to Nazareth pregnant, after three months absence, and had to face her fiancé. Both were quiet, introvert and self contained people; the temperament which feels pain and disappointment and humiliation most deeply; but expresses it least forcefully.

Joseph’s first reaction was to think how he could break off the engagement without causing Mary public disgrace - a caring character even when feeling deeply hurt. He may have been considering a divorce in some other town when he was given a vision of an angel, explaining the miraculous conception. Joseph was also given the name of the child - “Jesus” which means literally God-to-the-rescue - because he was told, “He shall save His people from their sins.”

So Joseph married Mary, agreeing to remain celibate until after the baby was born.

2.11 THE BIRTH.
(Luke 2:1-7.)
The census demanded that they travel south to Bethlehem where people of David’s line were to be registered. The demand was troublesome, but was also a relief. On the one hand, late pregnancy is not a good time for such a journey. On the other, it enabled them to get away from Nazareth and neighbours who might be calculating the dates and making assumptions.

Joseph probably did provide Mary with a donkey. Carpenters were middle class, not rich enough to provide a camel but not so poor as to make a woman walk three days’ journey in late pregnancy.

Near Bethlehem was Rachel’s tomb, a grim reminder that she and Jacob had been trying to reach Bethlehem (Ephrath it was called then) when she died giving birth to Benjamin. Rightly or wrongly Jacob felt that if only they had arrived at the town she might have been spared.

Mary and Joseph did arrive in time for the birth but not in time to find a place at the inn. The fact that they looked for an inn proves again they were not, at that time, desperately poor. It was six weeks later their finances reached rock bottom. Their accommodation in a stable was temporary, maybe only that night.

If the traditional site is the correct one it was a cave with a level floor, a ceiling high enough to stand upright and space enough to stable a dozen or more donkeys. The building above it was the highest in Bethlehem. The town like most in Judea and Galilee was build on top of a hill, leaving the valleys for agriculture. The shepherds had a steep climb.

2.12 SHEPHERDS.
(Luke 2:8-20.)
Once again we feel the excitement of the angels - Good News! Great Joy! All People! Saviour! Messiah! Lord! - their enthusiasm poured out and infected the shepherds who, after their hurried visit to the stable, told the story all around. Discard the tradition of many inns, all full to capacity - the text says “no room at the inn” and the size of the Bethlehem probably justified only one - and that at the top of the town, easily found by the shepherds.

The text also states that the shepherds did not keep the secret. Six weeks later the Eastern Scholars were able to find the family quite easily once they reached the locality. Local people remembered and gave directions (not to the stable but to Mary and Joseph’s present whereabouts).

The story, however, faded and did not interfere with normal family life because Joseph and Mary did not settle permanently in Bethlehem.

2.13 IN THE TEMPLE.
(Luke 2:21-38.)
Forty days after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem for the normal ceremonies. By now they were really poor - apparently Joseph had not been able to find work, and they had had many expenses. As yet they knew nothing of the approaching party of scholars or the gold they were bringing.

So they gave the minimum offering, permitted only to the very poor - two pigeons.

It was normal for old people to pray for a new baby and give their blessing. Simeon and Anna came to Mary and Joseph for this purpose and, being people who lived tuned in to Heaven, they heard God’s inner voice telling them who Jesus was. Simeon spoke as one totally at peace with himself, with God, and with the knowledge that his life must be nearing its end.

“Right Lord I’m ready now. You can let your servant die in peace. I have seen with my own eyes, just as you promised, the Rescuer you have prepared for all people. To every nation, tribe and ethnic group, He shall be light; and to your people Israel, glory.” Then he warned them. “This child will cause many people to rise, and many others to fall. He will meet strong opposition and you will feel its effects, in fact a sword will go through your own soul. The secret thoughts of many hearts will be made public.”

Simeon and Anna represent all that is best in Judaism. With a deep love of their own people, its religion and way of life, they lived in close relationship with God, as had Abraham and Moses and many others. They had lived through troublesome times including the Roman conquest of their land and the whole reign of Herod. They had seen great upheavals and watched from the beginning the building of that temple. They understood their own prophets better than many a rabbi or priest.

They saw the glory of Israel, not as freedom from Gentile rule (as did the Zealots) or as isolationist religious privilege (as did the Pharisees) but as “Light to the Gentiles” and the blessing promised to Abraham for all nations. They also had some idea of the cost in suffering, to Messiah Himself and to Mary.

2.14 THE SCHOLARS.
(Matthew 2:1-12.)
Wise men are not always wise. Asking Herod where they could find the new king was an appalling blunder. Their ignorance of Herod’s character is evidence that they came from far away.

Herod was troubled and “all Jerusalem with him.” Whenever Herod was troubled it was normal for all Jerusalem to be troubled with him. He called other scholars who knew the prophesy that Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem - it is interesting that he did not even challenge the suggestion that the new born king was indeed Messiah. It fits his known character that he was perfectly willing to kill the One who was to be the fulfilment of all Jewish hopes and dreams, the one for whose coming the nation lived in constant expectation.

He sent the foreign visitors to find the child and come back to tell him, “So that I may worship Him too.” By this time, if they were even moderately wise, they had probably begun to doubt Herod's sincerity.

Herod had enquired diligently about the appearances of the star. The conjunction of two planets had first appeared in May of 7 BC and this meeting with Herod was in February of 4 BC. On the information given Herod suspected any male child “of two years old and under” that is under three. He was assuming the birth could have been as early as that first appearance.

The last appearance of the “star” as researched by Kepler, was in February 4 BC and could have been seen directly ahead while they travelled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.

By this time the family was in a house of some kind, but money was very short and if Joseph had been called upon to flee for safety, there would have been nothing to finance the journey. Knowing nothing of the practical need for their gifts, the scholars presented gold, frankincense and myrrh. Probably the last two were samples of their countries’ produce - but they may have had an idea of their symbolic significance - gold for kings - incense for God - myrrh for suffering.

And these strangers from a far country with a limited and possibly confused idea of God and a relationship with Him far short of what Simeon and Anna experienced, nevertheless fell down and worshipped the baby Jesus.

2.15 THE MASSACRE.
(Matthew 2:13-18.)
First the party of scholars slipped away. Then Joseph, warned in a dream, woke Mary in the night (he would remember that vividly) to make their escape.

Herod’s massacre of the boys under three was completely in keeping with his known character, he had executed anyone and everyone who was in his way. The only person he had ever loved was his wife Mariamne and he had murdered her.

Even so, there seems to be more than a paranoid tyrant behind the massacre. This is not the place for theology; but forces of evil, whatever we call them, are intricately bound up in the story of Christ’s life. He was the supreme challenge to their domination. If His birth excited the Heavenly host, it also disturbed the hellish horde.
And if anyone was under the control of evil forces, Herod was. So the massacre was the frightened response of evil powers on Earth or beneath it, to a threat posed by a baby boy.

Within two months Herod was dead. Dying; he had his son executed (permission to do so having just arrived from Rome); he burned alive two respected Rabbis who had dared to oppose his idolatry, and he ordered the arrest of leading citizens, to be executed on his (Herod’s) death so that it would not be an occasion of unmixed joy in the community. (Happily, his heirs disobeyed this instruction). The dying agonies of his tormented mind announced, so it seemed, that Hell could not wait for his death but had come early to seize him.

He died in late March or early April BC 4.

2.16 “A NAZARENE.”
(Matthew 2:19-23.)
One of the terms more frequently used by Rabbis for Messiah was “The Branch.” It appeared several times in their scriptures, particularly in Jeremiah 33:15-16 a passage which also identifies the coming ruler as “The Lord Our Righteousness.”

Puns were a familiar part of Jewish humour and expression. Jesus used them. And Matthew noticed that when Joseph took his family back to Nazareth it all unwittingly fulfilled a pun in prophecy. “He shall be called a Nazarene” the word sounds like the Hebrew for Branch.

The impression given by Matthew 2:22-23 is that Joseph never really intended to go back to Nazareth, but after the brief exile in Egypt was led there by a combination of circumstances and divine guidance.

Long enough had elapsed for people to forget about comparing the dates of the marriage and the birth. Mary and Joseph were able to settle in their original home town.

2.17 EDUCATION IN NAZARETH.
Jewish children were educated, first by their mothers - it was the Greeks, not the Jews, who thought women not worth educating. Jewish women had to be literate in order to teach their children. The early years of learning were very much Mother to Child.

Fathers were expected to take over the main responsibility as the child grew older; so Joseph had to teach, not only carpentry, but the The Torah - the law as given by Moses.

There were also schools and synagogues and teaching in both. Luke records that Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature and favour with God and man.” If we take each of these to refer to something outstandingly noticeable we can conclude that He was a bright pupil (wisdom), physically strong (stature), showed evidence of His relationship with God (favour with God) and was popular in the community (favour with man).

Since overwhelming popularity was to be a feature of His public life it is hardly surprising to find it first in His home town.

His own language was Aramaic (no doubt with a Galilean accent) but he also knew the old Hebrew and trade Greek. The scriptures were available in both of these - the Hebrew scrolls kept in the synagogues, strictly and reverently guarded, but made available to students. The Greek texts were frowned on by Rabbis as being less accurate copies, but were more readily available. Jesus read and quoted both.

2.18 IN THE TEMPLE.
Trips to Jerusalem for the regular feasts were a feature of Jewish life. Young children and their mothers may have stayed at home if really necessary, but even they tried to come when they could. In particular every boy was taken for the Passover celebrations in the year immediately before his Bar Mitzvah (his religious coming-of-age at thirteen).

So when Jesus was twelve He joined the party of travellers heading south. It was a large group at Passover time and the youngsters formed groups of their own as they always have and always will. Many of the families were neighbours; so children could be watched over if necessary, not by strangers but by well known and trusted adults.

On that return journey it was not until nightfall that Mary and Joseph noticed Jesus was missing. This is further proof that Jesus had younger brothers and sisters. Parents of an only child would have missed him earlier. Preoccupied with their six, or seven or eight-year-olds they trusted their twelve-year-old to look after himself in that travelling community. He must have done the journey several times before.

When He was found to be missing, however, they hurried back to Jerusalem, probably leaving their other children with trusted friends, possibly taking an older one with them. (James or Jude may have been ten and able to help with the search - but that is speculation).

At feast times it was normal for leading teachers to be available in the Temple courtyards to give lectures and answer questions, and Jesus had stayed there talking with them. They were surprised at his insight and intelligent discussion. He was surprised that His parents could have thought Him to be anywhere else.

Afterwards Luke records that He returned with them to Nazareth and “was obedient to them.” This is one of those touches which are consistent with Mary’s being Luke’s source. Unfortunately the image of mild submissiveness was promoted by adults in a past generation to help subdue their children. This, however, was clearly not the submissiveness of a subservient child but of a highly intelligent and independent youngster. It was maturely chosen. Luke reports it as if surprised by it, having regard to the dynamic personality that was developing.

2.19 THE DEATH OF JOSEPH
We know nothing about the death of Joseph, except that it must have happened some time when Jesus was a young man. Joseph had taught Jesus carpentry - not merely the manual skill but the running of a business, handling customers and suppliers and keeping accounts. He also set the example of leading a family.

Then he died. Jesus was left with the responsibility of both business and family, caring and providing for Mary and His brothers and sisters. Jesus was over thirty when He began His public life, by which time presumably His brothers were able to manage without Him.

Thus Jesus had a full and wide experience of life, business, family, bereavement and responsibility before He began to teach others. What He did not have was an academic qualification. He was a graduate of the school of experience.

2.20 COMPARING THE NARRATIVES
There is no difficulty in fitting Matthew’s and Luke’s narratives together but we are left with two interesting questions. Why did Luke not mention the scholars? Why did Matthew say so little about the earlier events?

Take Luke first. He was a meticulous historian who researched his subject methodically. telling the story from Mary’s point of view. He wrote with sensitivity and was unwilling to hurt, embarrass or humiliate anyone.

He could have interviewed Mary during the two years that he was in Israel while Paul was on remand. Put these facts together and we have a fairly clear explanation. His account is very thorough except for the omission of the period from the visit to the temple until the later arrival at Nazareth.

We can imagine Mary confiding in him (he was a physician) and telling the whole story, but coming to a sticking point, possibly breaking down in tears, when she remembered the massacre of the baby boys. That was simply too hard to tell and Luke, sensitive and caring, preferred to leave it out altogether rather than force more questions on her.

Turning to Matthew’s account, we have here Joseph’s point of view, but Matthew could not have heard it direct from Joseph. Christ’s brothers James and Jude were leading the church in Jerusalem at the time when Matthew’s account (or its written source) was being compiled.

His brothers had not believed in Jesus at first. So if Joseph told his younger sons the story of the birth of their elder brother he told it to sceptical youngsters. Some parts he must have left out because they were not ready to receive it (parents, imagine trying to tell a child, “Your older brother is unique,”).

What he did tell were the parts which most affected him personally, including the story of the visit of the foreign strangers and their gifts. That was a good story and they listened. But the earlier parts which meant so much to Mary, Joseph held back from telling or only told a shortened version. When they in turn told Matthew it was a case of reconstructing the events from what they remembered best.

A further point is that Joseph may not have liked talking to his sons about parts of the story which embarrassed him personally. We know little of his feelings, but might a respected tradesman have felt a sense of failure at being unable to provide a better place than a stable, or a better sacrifice than two pigeons. The night of the birth may be celebrated round the world today, but for Joseph particularly it was a night to forget. Imagine him, desperate to find a warm sheltered spot, having to settle for a stuffy cave filled with the stench of donkeys. (They may even have been trespassers, it is only our assumption that provides a helpful innkeeper.) Next morning the distraught young husband would have scoured the village for better accomodation.

We are speculating, but it is reasoned speculation based on the evidence we have, and at least shows a credible explanation of why the two accounts cover different ground. And the items which both do record have redoubled force - The Virgin Birth and the angel’s instruction to give the name “Jesus” - God-to-the-rescue.

(See Appendix 1 on the date of Christ’s birth.)


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