What We Know Of The Early Life Of Jesus
Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The story of Jesus birth is described quite well in the gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke. And this is the extent of information concerning that event, although it is prophesied in numerous places of the Old Testament. The other two writers of the gospels Mark and John begin their narratives of Him after he became an adult. After His miraculous birth of the virgin Mary we are told that she and her husband Joseph took the child and moved to Egypt to avoid Herod's edict to have all the male children under two years old killed. And then, after that Herod had died, God directed them to return to Nazareth. This is where Jesus was raised and is presumed to have learned carpentry under the instruction of Joseph who was a carpenter.
Thereafter, there is no mention of Jesus until He was about 30 years old when He came to John to be baptized. His public ministry started at the time of His baptism, and subsequent temptation period of 40 days, and lasted only 2 years until His crucifixion. We can know that because there are three annual Passover celebrations recorded during His public tenure. The first, very shortly after His baptism and the third which coincided with His arrest and crucifixion. (John2:3, 6:4, 11:55
With that said, we will leave the accounts which we know we can rely upon and we will present some writings, none of which are known to be factual. I will give references and links where possible so the reader can follow up to try and determine whether or not the sources may have merit.
The Urantia Book: The Urantia Book, or sometimes called The Urantia Papers, is a massive compilation of writings. Wikipedia states that the author(s) are unknown but that it appeared on the scene about 1955. There exists a Urantia Book Fellowship, where the book is available and also online. Here is the opening paragraph to their Welcome page:
The Urantia Book presents a comprehensive world view composed from the concepts and ideas of more than 2,000 individuals who have contributed to the fields of science, philosophy, religion, history, sociology and theology during the last 2,000 years, integrated with an illumination of some of the most ancient stories, legends, and texts known to humanity - a comprehensive perspective of human origins and history, as well as an exciting preview of human destiny and the nature of eternal life.
There is an enormous amount of information in this book, well written and readable. However, their information, though written with a matter-of-fact approach, as far as I have read is almost entirely unsubstantiated. They give an extensively detailed version of Jesus' life during the period from His birth to His death with no hesitation during the periods not covered by the Holy Bible. I find this difficult to endorse. Here are some of the things they tell:
They say that it was customary for the Jews in those days to depend upon the mother to handle and teach a child up through age five and therefore this is how Jesus was raised. Then, from age five, on to adulthood, the father would take over a male child to teach and train him, especially in his own trade or any other trade of which he might be knowledgeable. Therefore it is accepted that Jesus would have learned the trade of a carpenter. Joseph, they say, was fluent in Aramaic, their native tongue, and also in Greek, and that he taught Jesus, Greek which he was able to master and become very fluent in it by the time He was 7 years old. And at that time He was placed in school in Nazareth where He would be taught mathematics and other subjects including the Hebrew language.
To give details of his growth and activities, school, etc., would consume entirely too much space here. I rather, encourage those of you who have an interest in it to please refer to the source: http://urantiabook.org/newbook/ub/ppr123_1.html
There are numerous sections before and after this page, however, this is about as good a place to begin as you can find.
A different source, entitled "The Lost Years Of Jesus", gives a considerably different story to that of the Urantia Papers. Even though these writings do give origins for their claims, they are, in some areas, so desperately astray from the known activities and teachings of Jesus that there is little doubt that they are fraudulent. Here again, I paste their opening paragraph for your consideration:
Ancient scrolls reveal that Jesus spent seventeen years in India and Tibet From age thirteen to age twenty-nine, he was both a student and teacher of Buddhist and Hindu holy men The story of his journey from Jerusalem to Benares was recorded by Brahman historians Today they still know him and love him as St. Issa. Their 'buddha'.
Even the opening paragraph contains a message that is contrary to the purpose of His coming and those whom he would be associated with. He did not live in Jerusalem as a child and therefore would have traveled from Nazareth to Benares. His full purpose for coming was to prepare His people, the Jews, for the coming of His kingdom (church). He would then leave His apostles (especially Paul) to spread the word to the Gentile world. The "Lost Years of Jesus" can be accessed at this URL:
http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm
There are several other writings called the New Testament apocrypha, some of which do mention Jesus but these writings have been studied by ancient as well as contemporary students and have been declared uninspired and of doubtful origin. A list of them with links at: http://www.interfaith.org/christianity/apocrypha/
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Great article, Joel. But I, like you, am a bit of a skeptic when it comes to thoses particular years of Jesus' life--those not mentioned in the Bible. I tend to go along with the belief that he was raised much as other children of is time and location. His ministry was a God-given talent. I guess I will just leave it at what the Bible has to tell us.Thanks for sharing.SandraYes, I agree with you one hundred percent. He would not have had to go to school. When the Holy Spirit came down to Him at His baptism, he knew everything he would need to know.Thanks for commenting.
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