The Life of Christ

• Therefore, Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem in order to enroll; this trip could sometimes take up to 3 days from Nazareth.

It was a journey that required first making an approximate 2000-feet descent from Nazareth down toward the Jordan River that needed to be crossed.

• They would then travel south along the “Pilgrims’ Path” until they neared Jericho.

• They would again have to cross the Jordan and begin an uphill ascent of about 4000 feet toward Jerusalem.

• In so doing they walked the very path between Jericho and Jerusalem that Jesus would later refer to in His parable about the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:30), a path that was frequented by ruthless thieves.

• Let’s not forget the fact that Mary is riding all this way on a donkey while approaching her final days of pregnancy!

• Upon reaching Jerusalem, they then traveled south to Bethlehem, the home of their ancestral father, David.

God actually instigated this census in order to maneuver Mary into Bethlehem to deliver her baby.

• Micah 5:2 prophetically demanded that the Messiah be born in Bethlehem.

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

• According to Roman records, the next such enrolling would not occur for another ten years.

• It might seem more accurate to say, “A decree went out from God, Himself.”

Lk. 2:2-7 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

There was no room in the inn due to the abundance of pilgrims, who also had primary descendants born in Bethlehem.

• This was not an inn as we think of today.

• In those days, inns were called caravansaries and were found along major trade routes.

• They were rather large and had thick walls and gates to protect those inside from bandits and marauders who held out in the surrounding hills.

• There were three different accommodations; the upper rooms were reserved for the wealthy; the lower rooms were for the middle class; the poor remained within a large open courtyard that had to be shared with other families and even the traveling animals.

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