According to Matthew's Gospel, sometime before the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. When the wise men show up, they are living in a house (Matt. 2:11). After fleeing to Egypt, they seek to return to Judea (Matt. 2:21-22). All this suggests that the family was from Bethlehem.
In Luke's Gospel, on the other hand, the family is clearly from Nazareth. They only go up to Bethlehem for the census under Quirinius, which took place in 6 AD - it was connected with the institution of direct Roman rule when Herod's son was deposed, and so clearly happened after the death of Herod the Great. From Bethlehem they go up to Jerusalem, and once they had done everything required by the Law (Leviticus 12 makes clear this took only a little more than a month) they returned to Nazareth.
Isn't it clear that these two stories cannot both be historically factual?
See http://blue.butler.edu/~jfmcgrat/jesus/quirinius.htm for more information.
2007-05-26
10:34:30
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17 answers
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asked by
jamesfrankmcgrath
4