Between 2 B.C. and 29 A.D. The birth and childhood of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ

Mind: the great theme of the following nine chapters of this website is Biblical History. Within this context the following pages almost exclusively deal with the life and the acts of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

In chapters following the coming nine chapters their central role in God’s great plan of salvation for the earth and for mankind will be dealt with separately and extensively.

In the year 3 B.C. a priest was connected with the temple in Jerusalem whose name was Zechariah. The name of his wife was Elizabeth. When Zechariah was working in the temple one day he was approached by an angel. The angel told the frightened Zechariah that the continuous prayers of his wife and him for a son would be answered: his wife would get pregnant and they should call their son John. This John would play a major part in the service of JHWH. He would convert many Jews to a pure and dedicated worship of their God. John would also prepare the way for something much greater that JHWH intended to do.

About half a year later the same angel, Gabriel, visited a girl in Nazareth whose name was Mary. She was still a virgin. She was engaged to a boy from the village: Joseph. Gabriel told Mary that she had been selected by JHWH to do something absolutely unique for him: she would get pregnant in a very special way and give birth to a completely unique baby. She would not get pregnant in the usual human way, but through a special operation of the holy spirit. The son whom she would give birth to would be the Son of JHWH Himself. This son would receive the throne of David from the hands of His Father. He would rule over the house of Jacob for ever and His kingdom would never come to an end.

Gabriel also told Mary that her relative (probably her cousin) Elizabeth, though advanced in age, had been pregnant for six months.

Shortly afterwards Mary visited her relative Elizabeth. When Mary entered the house the child in Elizabeth’s belly (John the Baptist) jumped up from pure happiness. Elizabeth also had a vision of the future regarding the child that Mary was pregnant of and called Mary the mother of her Lord. During this visit Elizabeth and Mary were deeply aware of the great things which were happening with them and they were very happy. The two women realized that after so many centuries JHWH had come to the rescue of His people and that the time had come when JHWH would fulfill the promises He had made to Abraham and his descendents. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned to Nazareth.

Shortly after Mary had left, in the spring of the year 2 B.C., John the Baptist was born. From the beginning it was clear throughout Judea that this was a very special child. Particularly Zechariah realized that his son was destined for a special task: the task of liberating and saving his people. A task that had to do with the promise that JHWH had made to Abraham that by means of his descendents all people would be blessed. Zechariah knew that his son was destined to do the preparatory work for the fulfillment of the promise mentioned. Already at the birth of his son Zechariah realized that his son would offer the Jews the possibility to be saved through the forgiveness of their sons.

In the autumn of the year 2 B.C, Jesus was born. Not in Nazareth, but in Bethlehem. A village, about 8 kilometers south of Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph had gone there because the Roman emperor of those days, August, had ordered all the Jews to travel to the village or the town where their ancestral family originally came from and to have themselves registered there. Both Mary and Joseph were descendents of King David and, about 1000 years before the events we are talking about now, King David had lived in Bethlehem. Obedient to the Roman emperor they made the long journey from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, though Mary was already far advanced in pregnancy.

Jesus was born from very simple parents in a very simple environment: in a stable where Joseph and Mary spent the night because they could not find themselves a place in any inn.

Shortly after the birth of Jesus an angel appeared to shepherds who were tending their flocks in the neighborhood of the stable where Jesus was born. The angel told them that very nearby something great had happened: a Savior for the Jewish people had been born, the long expected Messiah (Messiah means anointed one), their future Lord and King. At once the shepherds started looking for the newly born child. They found the baby with his father and mother and told them what they had heard from the angel and, in particular, the news that the child would save the nation and be their future lord and king.

When Jesus was eight days old he was circumcised in accordance with Jewish law.

When Jesus was 40 days old His parents fulfilled another Jewish duty: they took Him to the temple in Jerusalem to present Him to God there. This procedure was obligatory for all male children who “opened their mother’s womb”. On this occasion an old man, Simeon, prophesied that the child would turn out to be the expected Messiah who would save His nation. He told Mary that as a result of the life that her Son would lead, she would experience a lot of grief.

A few months later astrologers from a territory east of Israel (perhaps the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris where astrology was popular) traveled to Jerusalem. They had seen a very remarkable star which let them know that in Israel a great, very important new king had been born. The king seemed so important in their eyes that they wanted to greet him right away, even though they realized that the future king was still a child.

When King Herod and the chief priests and scribes heard this news from the astrologers, they got very upset. They understood right away that the newly born child could be the promised Messiah or Christ. They knew the Bible passage which says that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem and consequently they could show the astrologers the way to this village.

Herod realized that the newly born future king could mean a threat to himself and to the family dynasty and decided to kill the child. He saw to it that the astrologers told him the exact date of the appearance of the star and asked them to do their best to find the child. He asked them to pass by his house on their way home after finding the child to tell him where the future king was to be found: then he would also visit the future king and bring him a little present.

When the astrologers left Herod the same star they had seen in their country appeared again and led them to the house of Mary and Joseph, who still lived in Bethlehem. They paid homage to the future king and offered Him presents.

That night the astrologers had a dream which told them not to go back to Herod and consequently they went home without paying him another visit. Later on Joseph also had a dream. In that dream an angel told Joseph that Herod intended to kill the future king. The angel advised Joseph to fly to Egypt with Mary and Joseph. They did this right away the following morning.

The family stayed in Egypt until the death of King Herod.

When Herod understood that the astrologers had refused to go back to him to tell him where he could find the future great king, he got terribly angry. Then he had all little boys who lived in Bethlehem and surroundings and were younger than two years old killed, thinking that in this way he could also kill the future king.

When Herod had died an angel told this to Joseph in Egypt and ordered the family to return to Israel. There they settled again in Nazareth in Galilee.

Nothing is known about the childhood years of John the Baptist and Jesus. They probably led ordinary lives. It is clear that Jesus had little brothers and sisters. The number of His brothers is mentioned in the Bible. It also clear that John the Baptist and Jesus learned how to read and write, just like all the other Jewish children in those days, and that on the Saturdays they received an excellent education regarding the holy Hebrew Scriptures.

The Bible only mentions one event that took place during Jesus’ childhood years. In accordance with Jewish law Joseph and Mary traveled to Jerusalem every year, together with their children, to celebrate the Passover festival there. When Jesus was twelve years old He remained behind in the temple after the festivities for a couple of days to discuss passages from the holy Scriptures with the scribes. Joseph and Mary did not miss Him yet on the first day of their journey home to Nazareth. They thought that their Son had joined another group of people from their village or was traveling with relatives or friends. When, after their arrival in the place where they would stay for the night, they started to look for Jesus and could not find Him anywhere, they got terribly worried and the following day they walked back to Jerusalem. There they had to look for Him for days before they finally found Him in the temple, busy with heated debates with the scribes who were astounded by His knowledge and insight concerning the Holy Scriptures.

For days Mary and Joseph had lived in mortal fear. As a result they were very angry with Jesus and asked Him why He had done this to them. He answered that they should understand that the temple was the house of His Father and consequently of greater importance than His parental home. The Bible says that Joseph and Mary did not understand this answer from their eldest son.