OK, I'm listening to The First Noel by Celtic Woman on You Tube...to requote General James Longstreet from 'Gettysburg' ...mmmm, mmm, those girls can SING!! If you're interested, click here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bts7ndhPw4]...I've got some new Celtic Christmas songs to which to listen as I write!Didja ever wonder what happened on The Second Noel?
Well, let's see, Mary and Joseph had fled to Egypt with Baby Jesus after an angel warned them to flee Herod...the Wise Men left due to God's message to them in a dream to leave by an alternate route. (Matthew 2)
They had sufficient finances from the Noel Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to get them there and, no doubt, to keep them until Herod croaked; which appears to be 6 or 7 months after the birth of Jesus. This site [http://home.comcast.net/~murrellg/Herod.htm] puts the Birth 'close to June 2 B.C.E. and Herod's death at Jan. 26, 1B.C.E.' OK...so we've got calendar discrepancies...they didn't have a Rolex at the time (pun intended). I wonder if Egypt had pawn shops 'back in the day' so the Couple could hock the stuff?
"Through many dangers, toils, and snares, we have already come...'tis grace will lead us Home..." Yep, those Celtic Women are now singing my favorite hymn on my computer. Guess Old John Newton could have been writing about Joseph, Mary, & Jesus in the first year leading up to the Second Noel in God's Providence...that He's just getting around to having me point out to whoever's reading this!!! Oh, yeah...'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear' would have been the initial warning about Herod the Great...just sayin'...
Well, it's looks as though Jesus spent the Second Noel back in Israel...Nazareth, to be exact, according to Mt. 2:22-23, as a result of another dream God gave Joseph. According to historian, Josephus, Jews of the first century did not celebrate birthdays. [http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/advice/t-180210.html] Apparently, birthday celebrations are connected with all sorts of pagan rituals, B.C. and A.D. days, so there's an especially appropriate twist to Simeon's statement to Mary and Joseph on Circumcision Day from Luke 2:32, where he says Jesus will be, "A light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Thy people Israel."
So, there it is...we've got the Holy Family back in Nazareth, we don't hear any more about Jesus until He turns 12 (Lk. 2:42), when we also learn He "kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."
I guess learning the carpenter trade from his father would make Jesus a home schooled kid?
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