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Straight Answers: Who Were the Magi?
CatholicHerald.com ^ | 11/97 | Fr. William Saunders

Posted on 01/02/2011 1:56:17 PM PST by Salvation

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To: Jedidah

The Joseph family were direct descendants of royalty. They were not poor. They just did not get reservations in time.


21 posted on 01/02/2011 4:57:00 PM PST by Vermont Lt (Don't taze my junk bro.)
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To: Salvation

for later, interesting!


22 posted on 01/02/2011 5:00:27 PM PST by holly go-rightly
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To: Vermont Lt

Yes, Joseph’s family was descended from David and the kings of Judah. So was Mary’s.

For that matter, my genealogy leads back to the Kings of England, but it surely isn’t reflected in my bank account.

Luke, chapter 2, records Joseph and Mary’s visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was almost six weeks old, to consecrate their firstborn son as required by the Law of Moses “and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.’ ” (verse 24)

After the birth, Mary was required to wait for almost six weeks until her “purification” was over as described in the Law of Moses. Then she was to take to the priest “a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.” The priest was to sacrifice them “before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.” (Lev. 12:6-7)

As good Jews, Joseph and Mary did as the Law required and took their offering to the temple at the appointed time. However, they did not bring a year-old lamb.

Why?

As outlined in Leviticus 12:8, “But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

Joseph and Mary brought birds. They could not afford a lamb. They were demonstrably poor, unless you want to argue that they lied to the priest.

Our Lord, the King of Heaven and Earth, was born into modest circumstances and experienced life as an ordinary human like us. He understands our struggles. Hebrews 8.

Not my opinion, straight from scripture.

(One might argue that, if the magi brought riches, why didn’t Joseph and Mary use that to buy a lamb? The answer is that the nativity scenes we see so often at Christmas have it wrong.

The wise men didn’t show up until well after the birth. Matthew 2:11 records that they family had moved into a house by the time the magi arrived. Jesus may well have been a toddler by then. That timeline also explains Herod’s order to kill all male babies “two years and under.”

By that time, prompted by the divine dream, Joseph had enough loot to escape to Egypt.)


23 posted on 01/02/2011 5:34:57 PM PST by Jedidah
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To: Melian

...my next book, but The Dear and Glorious Physician was a re-release and the book was brand new. I have found a new favorite author:)


24 posted on 01/02/2011 7:49:09 PM PST by sipwine
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To: Melian

...my next book, but The Dear and Glorious Physician was a re-release and the book was brand new. I have found a new favorite author:)


25 posted on 01/02/2011 7:49:17 PM PST by sipwine
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To: Salvation

The three wise men were not at the stable where Jesus was born...


26 posted on 01/03/2011 8:48:16 AM PST by Iscool (I don't understand all that I know...)
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To: Iscool

You are correct. The Scripture says “house” so Mary and Joseph and the baby, Christ Jesus had moved from the stable or cave to a house.

I have no argument whatsoever with you there.

And we need to remember that they were led by a star.


27 posted on 01/03/2011 9:52:20 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Jedidah

**As good Jews, Joseph and Mary did as the Law required and took their offering to the temple at the appointed time. However, they did not bring a year-old lamb.

Why?**

Because they were poor. And the presentation in the temple was at eight days, wasn’t it? Jesus was eight days old? The normal time for circumcision?


28 posted on 01/03/2011 9:55:05 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

Yes, because they were poor — which was the point of my post.

(I was replying to an earlier poster who claimed that because the family was descended from royalty, they weren’t poor. Perhaps his comment was in jest?)

The circumcision would have been at eight days, but the appearance at the Temple for sacrifice was later. Two different events. Luke 2: 21-24 lays out the timeline:

“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’, and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.’ “


29 posted on 01/03/2011 12:00:24 PM PST by Jedidah
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To: Salvation

I still like to celebrate the Epiphany on January 6. That is the day I start to take down my Christmas tree and decorations. I pack up my dining room Nativity last.


30 posted on 01/03/2011 2:17:01 PM PST by Bigg Red (Palin/Hunter 2012 -- Bolton their Secretary of State)
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To: sipwine

And if you like to read about the old time Catholic priests, the role of the Church in England and Ireland and Wales, all told in yarns full of ghosts, visions, and mysterious strangers, you will like reading Caldwell’s “Grandmother and the Priests.”

I read it to my daughters on a long family car trip when they were teenagers and they love it to this day.

I read Dear and Glorious Physician when I was 20 and loved it... so much that I eventually named one of my daughters Taylor! The best thing about Caldwell is that she writes with faith as she teaches you history in a wonderful tale.


31 posted on 01/03/2011 9:33:55 PM PST by Melian ( See Matt 7: 21 and 1 John 2: 3-6)
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 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks Salvation.

Note: this topic is from 1/02/2011.

Blast from the Past.

Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


32 posted on 12/10/2011 3:02:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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