Childhood of Jesus (Stapled Booklet). Jeffrey D. Johnson

      Childhood of Jesus

      Jeffrey D. Johnson

      Childhood of Jesus

      Copyright © 2011 Jeffrey D. Johnson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

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      ISBN 13: 978-1-61097-111-9

      EISBN 13: 978-1-4982-7394-7

      Manufactured in the U.S.A.

      All scripture quotations, unless otherwise....are taken from The Holy Bible, The New King James Version, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996; and The Holy Bible King James Version. All rights reserved worldwide.

      Dedicated to Hyman Appelman—a faithful erudite of Scripture. It was through his powerful teaching I came to faith in Jesus the Messiah, and to Zola Levitt whose influence on my life regarding the Jewish Roots of Christianity was nothing less than profound. Both men are in Heaven—I look forward to seeing Hyman once again and to meet Zola face to face for the first time on that great reunion day!

      Childhood of Jesus

      Anselm of Canterbury (ca. 1033–1109) commented regarding the virgin birth of the Messiah: “Exercise your pictorial art, then, not on an empty fiction, but upon a solid truth, and say that it is extremely fitting that, as the sin of man and the cause of our condemnation took their origin from a woman, so the cure for sin and the cause of our salvation must be born of a woman. And so that women may not despair of attaining to the lot of the blessed, because such great evil has issued from a woman, it was fitting that such a great good should issue from a woman, to revitalize their hope. Add this to your painting: If it was a virgin who was the cause of all evil to the human race, it is far more fitting that it be a virgin who will be the cause of all good. Depict this also: If the woman whom God made from a man without a woman was made from a virgin, it is also extremely fitting that the man who will originate from a woman without a man be born of a virgin. But for the present, let these examples suffice of the pictures that can be depicted on the fact that the God-man must be born of a virgin woman” (Zondervan 1996: 1176).

      Not much is recorded for us in the New Testament about the life of Jesus between his birth and the scene where he is in the Temple talking with the scholars, nor is there much written about his life between his time in the Temple and the beginning of his ministry at the age of 30. What was he doing during those “silent years?”

      As one looks at the record, according to Scripture, of the Lord’s life and teaching, you will find a Jewish cultural distinctive. You will find a deep commitment to the Jewish customs and beliefs of his day. Jesus grew up in a Jewish family setting. His parents observed Jewish Law and religious practices. Jesus would have celebrated all the Jewish holidays. He would have been faithful in observing the Sabbath, regularly attending synagogue as well as being exposed to rabbinical teaching and expectations (Matthew 1; Luke 2; Luke 4).

      Some believe that Jesus was not educated, due to a few verses such as “‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ And they were all amazed and marveled, saying, ‘ . . . Are not all these which speak Galileans?’ And the [religious] Jews marveled, saying, ‘How does this man know letters, having never studied?’” (John 1:46; Acts 2:7; John 7:15). These statements reflected a tension and intolerance between Judea and Galilee. Those in Judea saw themselves as being more sophisticated than their Galilean counterparts. They saw the Galileans as being backward and ignorant. When a Judean heard a Galilean speak, they heard a dolt’s voice.

      The truth of the matter, according to Shmuel Safrai, Hebrew University Professor of Jewish History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Periods, stated, “Not only do the number of first-century Galilean sages exceed the number of Judean sages, but the moral and ethical quality of their teaching is still considered more highly than that of their Judean counterparts” (Bivin 1993).

      Galilee would have been the conservative religious and political bastion of Israel. Anticipation for the advent of Messiah was very high in this region. Now, with this background in mind, let’s consider Luke’s account of Jesus’ childhood in Luke 2:40–52 and draw some conclusions.

      Luke 2:40–52 Family History

      The Scripture does not record for us exactly what Jesus did between the age of 12 and the beginning of his public ministry at the age of 30; however, John does tell us that “the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” about the Lord’s life (John 21:25). There are apocryphal writings, extra-biblical attempts to record so-called events in the life of Jesus. Stories include Jesus traveling to India to study yoga and Jesus, as a little boy in Egypt, making clay pigeons, touching them causing them to fly, as well as Jesus having an encounter with E. T.

      The New Testament records for us that people knew Jesus, where he lived as well as who his parents were (Mat. 13:55; Mk. 6:3). Jesus grew up in a typical Jewish home, the son of a carpenter.