Jesus Early Years

Jesus Early Years                                           August 5, 2017

 

What do we know about Jesus early life?  Do we understand how a Jewish family would handle their children?  This is what Jesus went through in His life.  Let’s review Jesus early life. 

Birth of Jesus Foretold, Virgin Mary is told she will give birth 

Luke 1:26-27 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, (27) to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 

The Birth of Jesus Christ, born in the town of Bethlehem 

Luke 2:4-6 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, (5) to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. (6) So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 

The Visit of the Wise Men, Infant Jesus and parents escape to Egypt 

Matthew 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, (2) saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." 

Matthew 2:11 And when they (wise men) had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." 

Herod Kills the Children 

Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 

Jesus is taken back to Israel, to the town of Nazareth 

Matthew 2:19-23 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, (20) saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead." (21) Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  

(22) But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. (23) And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene." 

Jesus Presented at the Temple 

Luke 2:22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord  

The Return to Nazareth 

Luke 2:39-40 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. (40) And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. 

This is the summary of a young Jewish boy would go through while growing up.  I have come up with, looking at many sources.  This is what Jesus would have gone through as a typical Jewish boy. 

It was the custom of the Galilean Jews for the mother to bear the responsibility for a child’s training until the fifth birthday, and then, if the child were a boy, to hold the father responsible for the lad’s education from that time on. This is when the mother would formally turned her son over to the father for further instruction.  Mary would continue the education for the girls. 

Though the father was now assuming the direct responsibility for the son training and religious education, the mother was still interested herself in his home training. She would teach him to care for vines, flowers and garden, take care of animals, to cook, to weave and mold clay on the potter’s wheel; and any other thing to help around the house and help take care of the younger children.   Learn to become self-reliance. 

This is our hope for our children. 

She would also provide on the roof of the house (the summer bedroom) shallow boxes of sand in which the children worked out maps and did much of his early practice at writing Aramaic, Greek, and later on, Hebrew, for in time the children would learned to read, write, and speak, fluently, all three languages.  Remember, readings in the synagogue were in Hebrew. 

I am sure, Joseph and Mary would discuss that it would be unwise to spread the word among their Galilean friends and relatives that Jesus was a child of promise. They agreed to refrain from all mention of these matters to anyone. And they were both very faithful in keeping this promise. 

Around age 6:   A Jewish child would have mastered the Galilean dialect of the Aramaic tongue; and now his father began teaching him Greek. The mother would speak a little Greek, but the father would be a fluent speaker of both Aramaic and Greek. The textbook for the study of the Greek language was the copy of the Hebrew Scriptures — a complete version of the law and the prophets, including the Psalms. 

Around the age of seven years old, the age when Jewish children were supposed to begin their formal education in the synagogue schools year they entered upon their school life at Nazareth.  

Already the children would be a fluent reader, writer, and speaker of two languages, Aramaic and Greek. The children were now to be required with the task of learning to read, write, and speak the Hebrew language. And they were truly eager for the new school life which was ahead of them. (this includes the disciples)  

For three years — until they was ten — they attended the elementary school of the Nazareth synagogue. For these three years they studied the Book of the Law as it was recorded in the Hebrew tongue. For the next three years they would studied in the advanced school and committed to memory, by the method of repeating aloud, the deeper teachings of the sacred law.  

Around age 10, the father would begin to instruct their son in the means of gaining a livelihood, explaining the advantages of agriculture, industry and trade. 

When the boy was around 13, he would graduate from this school of the synagogue during their thirteenth year and was turned over to his parents by the synagogue rulers as an educated “son of the commandment” — henceforth a responsible citizen of the Nation of Israel, all of which requires their attendance at the Passovers in Jerusalem; This was a great and enjoyable day in the life of any Jewish family, 

The son, having now reached the threshold of young manhood and having been formally graduated from the synagogue schools, was qualified to proceed to Jerusalem with his parents to participate with them in the celebration of his first Passover, confirming him to be an adult in Israel.   

This is where Jesus was first mention at age 12 after returning from Egypt. 

Jesus as a young child visits the Lord’s Temple 

Luke 2:41-42 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. (42) And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. 

Luke 2:45-47 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. (46) Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. (47) And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. 

Luke 2:51-52 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. (52) And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men 

At Nazareth the pupils sat on the floor in a semicircle, while their teacher, an officer of the synagogue, sat facing them. Beginning with the Book of Leviticus, they passed on to the study of the other books of the law, followed by the study of the Prophets and the Psalms. Their teacher would say a statement while the students would repeat it after him. When having access to the written books of the law, the student learned his lesson by reading aloud and by constant repetition. 

The Nazareth synagogue would possessed a complete copy of the Scriptures in Hebrew. Nothing but the Scriptures was studied prior to the twelfth year. In the summer months the hours for school were greatly shortened and took off for a month.  Look how often the disciples would quote from the Old Testament.

Nazareth was a caravan way station and crossroads of travel and largely gentile in population; at the same time it was widely known as a center of liberal interpretation of Jewish traditional law. In Galilee the Jews mingled more freely with the gentiles than was their practice in Judea. This is where Jesus received an education and training which prepared him to better understand the gentiles. 

And of all the cities of Galilee, the Jews of Nazareth were most liberal in their interpretation of the social restrictions (as I said, traditions) based on the fears of contamination as a result of contact with the gentiles. And these conditions gave rise to the common saying in Jerusalem, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” 

John 1:46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 

It was customary to ask visitors, stopping over the Sabbath in Nazareth, to address the synagogue.  As Jesus grew up, he heard many different speakers from the entire Jewish world give their views, and many also who were hardly orthodox Jews since the synagogue of Nazareth was an advanced and liberal center of Hebrew thought and culture. 

Jesus on His 15^th birthday, He could officially occupy the synagogue pulpit on the Sabbath day. Many times before, in the absence of speakers, Jesus had been asked to read the Scriptures, but now the day had come when, according to law, he could conduct the service. 

Luke 4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.      (that means He would sit to teach) 

Nazareth was one of the twenty-four priest centers of the Hebrew nation. But the Galilean priesthood was more liberal in the interpretation of the traditional laws than were the Judean scribes and rabbis. And at Nazareth they were also more liberal regarding the observance of the Sabbath.

It was therefore the custom for Jews here to go for walks on Sabbath afternoons; we see this in the Scriptures with Jesus and His disciples walking on the Sabbath.  (human traditions – how far to walk).

Some historians said Mary brothers were fishermen on the lake of Galilee and a farmer.  Jesus would learn about these trades and use in His parables and teachings.  A carpenter, did he build some of the boats. 

Joseph died, writers said by an accident, then Jesus became the man of the family.   We are told that Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  During His childhood? 

Isaiah 53:1-5 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (2) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. (3) He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (4) Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 

Mark 6:3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" So they were offended at Him. 

Son of Mary is actually an insult: in a Jewish culture you identified a man by his father. 

There is a psalm which has hints about the silent years of Christ’s childhood and young manhood, of which the Gospels tell us practically nothing.  Psalm 69 fills in some of the details of those early years. 

We have no idea of how much he suffered in his younger years!  Those early 30 years were not free of pain.  What is the most painful sin?  Gossip  

Psalms 69:4 Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. 

The enemies of the Lord hated Him without a cause; that is, there was no justification for their hatred.  (think about this for a minute) 

Psalms 69:7 I am being mocked because of you. Dishonor overwhelms me. 

Psalms 69:8 I am a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother's sons. 

My mother’s children: He became an stranger unto His mother’s children—not His father’s children because Joseph was not His father.  They were half-brothers and half-sisters. This verse tells a lot we would not know otherwise. Possibly her boys, James, Judas and Joses, said to her, “Mother, we heard somebody say that Jesus is not really our brother. They said that nobody knows who His father is.” It must have been interesting when they later discover who He really is! When did Mary explain it to them. 

We know Mary had other children, which confirms the record in the Gospels.  It may have been a very unhappy home. This verse also teaches the virgin birth of Christ.  None of the half-children became a Christian until after Jesus resurrection. 

Matthew 13:55-56 Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? (56) And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" 

Psalms 69:9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. 

Psalms 69:10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. 

When He would fast or weep, His brothers and others would ridicule Him for it. They would probably assume that He was just putting on an act. 

Psalms 69:11 I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. 

Do you know what that proverb was? The word that circulated around was that He did not have a legal father. You know what people would call Him today.  

John 8:41 You do the deeds of your father." Then they said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father--God." 

Psalms 69:12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards. 

Sit in the gate speak against me: These were the rulers and leaders of Judaism.  Those who are “sitting in the gate” are the high officials of the town, the judges.   

The drunkards at the local bar made up dirty little songs about Him and His mother.  He was born of fornication.  

The best people in Nazareth also spoke against Him. (You know how forgiving small towns are!) His life in Nazareth was not nice. 

We have no idea what He endured for 30 years.  This shows the love Jesus has for us, you and me what He went through. 

Hebrews 2:9 But we do see someone who was made a little lower than the angels. He is Jesus, who is crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might experience death for everyone. 

Hebrews 2:14 Therefore, since the children have flesh and blood, he himself also shared the same things, so that by his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the devil) (15)  and might free those who were slaves all their lives because they were terrified by death. 

Hebrews 2:16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels. No, he came to help Abraham's descendants, (17) thereby becoming like his brothers in every way, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and could atone for the people's sins. 

Hebrews 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. 

Jesus was real—He felt, He spoke, He observed, worked, ate and breathed. He was both Man and God, physical yet divine. During his 33 1/2 years of human existence, Christ experienced life as a baby, then a toddler, boy, teenager and young adult, into manhood. 

That is our Lord and Jesus, He suffered in His physical life, just like us. 

Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.