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CD ROM Paradise Collection 4 1995 Nov.iso
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INTRO.DOC
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INTRODUCTION
The birth of Jesus was very unusual. His mother Mary was
found to be pregnant before she and Joseph were married. Since
the Jewish engagement was almost like marriage in that it
required a divorce to break, Joseph decided to divorce Mary
quietly to lessen her disgrace. But before Joseph could divorce
her, an angel appeared to him in a dream,
... saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall
save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21).
In obedience to the Lord, Joseph and Mary were married as
planned.
The angel Gabriel had visited Mary earlier and had explained
that the Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive Jesus. Knowing
that this would be awkward for Mary to explain to Joseph, The
Lord sent an angel to Joseph.
The Bible does not tell much about Jesus' childhood
education, but we can surmise what must have happened since we
have knowledge of Jewish customs at the time.
Jewish mothers were the primary teachers of young children.
Mary probably taught Jesus the SHEMA as soon as he could speak.
The SHEMA (Hebrew, "Hear") is found in Deuteronomy 6:4 and is
Judaism's basic confession of faith. Jesus later quoted
Deuteronomy 6: 4-5 and Leviticus 19:18 in answer to a scribe's
question:
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them
reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered
them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of
all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the
commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is
one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none
other commandment greater than these. And the scribe
said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth:
for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the
strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more
than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And
when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said
unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And
no man after that durst ask him any question. (Mark
12:28-34).
The Book of Psalms was his hymnbook. Singing the scriptures
was an excellent way to memorize them.
Joseph assumed the primary role of teacher for Jesus when he
was about six years old. This probably included teaching the
young boy the Old Testament Scriptures as well as teaching him
the carpenter trade. Edersheim thinks that Jesus' family had a
personal copy of the Old Testament. If not, the local synagogue
would have had a copy.
Since education was compulsory, Jesus must have started
synagogue school when he was eight. He would have attended
synagogue services at least once a week for twenty years. As a
reader in the synagogue, he would have learned Hebrew. As a Jew,
he spoke the common language Aramaic. He may have spoken Latin,
the language of the Roman Empire. He may have also spoken Koine
(Common) Greek, the universal language of his time. Koine Greek
was the prevailing language of the world, from 300 B.C. to A.D.
500. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. [J. Gresham
Machen, NEW TESTAMENT GREEK FOR BEGINNERS (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1957), p. 3].
Mary and Joseph were upright, faithful followers of God and
they provided good role models for the Lord Jesus.
There are eighteen silent years of Jesus--from his twelfth
birthday until his baptism by John. However, these were active
years of maturing mentally, physically, socially and spiritually:
And Jesus increased in wisdom [intellectual and moral
development] and stature [physical growth and
development of psychomotor skills], and in favour with
God [spiritual growth] and man [social development].
(Luke 2:52).
Joseph probably died during those years, because he no longer
appears in the Gospels, whereas Mary and her other children do.
Let us now turn from the background of Jesus to view him as
the perfect man--a model for all of us.