Jesus born in a cave & other interesting related facts surrounding His birth

[Vine Abider]

1 minute ago, Sower said:

Another historical discovery. (latest fad)  We will need to create some new Christmas songs to fit.

You are not the first one on this forum to suggest Jesus was a stone mason. Eventually the next generation will believe He wasn't a carpenter at all working with unavailable wood nor born in a wooden structure, but a hollowed out stone feed trough in a hallowed out mountain cave. Cool..

I did research in the past and found out for that area of the birth,  there actually many species of soft and hard woods, cypress and pine(SPF-spruce pine fir, one of the most used building material world wide) trees, to say nothing of Olive wood (Great for carving and beautiful.

Other wood (trees) in the scriptures. (They also had donkeys/camels to haul their building materials from distance if necessary)

"The beams of our house are cedar, our rafters are pine" 

"I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:"

When he heweth him down cedars, he taketh also a holm-oak and a terebinth he chooseth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth a pine, and the rain maketh it grow.

"The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious"

"They constructed all your planking with pine trees from Senir. They took a cedar from Lebanonto make a mast for you"

The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it;the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,nor could the plane trees match its boughs.No tree in the garden of God could compare with it in beauty.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/words/Pine

I think reading the above scriptures, you can get a feel how God must have enjoyed the beautiful wood he created for his use.
(My personal thoughts)

As a carpenter myself, having build wood Nativity scenes, I do not look forward to building/carving a Nativity scene made out of stone when the grand kids grow up and want grand pa to build one for them........        Jesus was a carpenter.
He owns my our shop and tools. He knows/teaches me carpentry!!!...

Could be.  Just pointing out that the Greek word "tekton" may have a meaning to it other than a wood worker. And while Jesus died on a tree, it says He IS the Chief Cornerstone and we are all living stones.  Wood, hay and stubble is burned up by the judging fire in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15.

But maybe He was a carpenter working mainly with wood . . . one day He'll show us all these matters in an instant. 

[Roymond]

On 12/23/2022 at 4:52 PM, Vine Abider said:

What I'm reading now talks about how Mary was enrolled in a girls' school that taught the scriptures.  I'm getting the picture that she was more than what I often think - basically an uneducated peasant girl of sorts.  The written word appears to have been all around her as she grew up in this city of 30,000, steeped in God's word and Jewish religious knowledge. 

That would be awfully rare!

Scholars have learned that the view of rural Jewish folks being illiterate is 'way off, but that concerns the men, who were expected to be able to pick up a scroll in the synagogue and read from it, and also with the various Roman construction projects in the region many craftsmen would have learned Greek in order to communicate with the Romans and thus get steady work.  I've never even heard of a school for girls, let alone one that taught the scriptures! -- in fact in recall reading stuff from rabbis back then asserting it was 'criminal' to even teach a woman to read, often because they said that it would allow women to read the sacred scrolls, which was only allowed for men.

[Roymond]

On 12/24/2022 at 6:29 AM, Alive said:

Perhaps because he is unimportant in the Salvation story.

He was important, but not for anything he might have said.  He was Jesus' 'adopted' father, and just by being that he portrayed salvation because we are all, like Jesus, adopted sons (and daughters).

[Roymond]

On 12/24/2022 at 6:40 AM, Vine Abider said:

Perhaps.  But both he and Mary were in the kingly line of David.  But it is interesting that he's not quoted.

Perhaps this book will have some light to shed on him through other historical writers . . .

Where did the information about Mary come from?

[Roymond]

On 12/24/2022 at 7:28 AM, Vine Abider said:

Here's some interesting things about Joseph.  It is said that he was a carpenter, but the Greek word for that is "tekton." Tekton means a builder or artisan, not just a carpenter (and is where we get the word "technology").  And in that area there was supposedly not a lot of wood to work with.  Therefore, tekton could have also meant an artisan or builder in stone.  In fact, tekton is used in many ancient writings as someone who was a master stonemason or architect. 

Joseph taught Jesus the trade. The in Mark 6:3 it is said of Jesus that He was "the carpenter."  The definite article "the" appears here, meaning that Jesus was THE builder in that area.  It also probably means that Joseph was not around and perhaps died by then.

So the picture is that maybe Joseph and Jesus weren't exactly the poor carpenters they are usually made out to be.

Perhaps the best translation for τέκτων, "TEK-tone", these days would be "contractor".  Given that, Joseph likely got work on the various Roman construction projects in the area, which meant there's a good chance he learned basic Greek, and thus Jesus would likely have learned it as well.

And a τέκτων was usually fairly well-to-do, often having workers under him.

[Roymond]

4 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

Could be.  Just pointing out that the Greek word "tekton" may have a meaning to it other than a wood worker. And while Jesus died on a tree, it says He IS the Chief Cornerstone and we are all living stones.  Wood, hay and stubble is burned up by the judging fire in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15.

But maybe He was a carpenter working mainly with wood . . . one day He'll show us all these matters in an instant. 

If Joseph did in fact work for the Romans, he would have had to be able to use wood and stone together; wood was used to frame doors and support roofs or second floors.

If Jesus did any of that with Joseph, it makes for an interesting link:  the standard Roman punishment for sedition/rebellion, if the prisoner was a property owner, was to acquire the cross-piece for the crucifixion by pulling out the main cross-beam in the front of his house (or possibly business), thereby collapsing the front of the building, especially the door.  It was both symbol and punishment.

If Jesus ever installed one of those main support beams, would He have paused to think ahead to when they'd have to use their own beam since He wouldn't be a property owner?

[Vine Abider]

34 minutes ago, Roymond said:

Where did the information about Mary come from?

Here's the bibliography for chapters 1 & part of 2, where Mary's background was discussed.

[Vine Abider]

Another interesting thing: Lambs for temple sacrifice were raised in the area around Bethlehem and they frequently wrapped their legs in swaddling cloth to prevent blemishes from occurring.

Sound familiar?