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Jesus early life before his ministry began

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris
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Chris

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Hi Does anyone have any idea what Jesus did between the age of 12 and the beginning of his ministry at 33. I have never known this. What started this is an old friend of mine was trying to tell me that he went to India Which I think is a bit of a fanciful new age idea. But it got me wondering what did happen then?
 
I saw someone else ask this same question and the response was that the Bible gives no indication what he was doing, other than growing in wisdom and stature.

The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
(Luke 2:40 NASB)

And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
(Luke 2:52 NASB)
Click to expand...

But you could probably extrapolate what he was doing by researching what any young Jewish man would be doing at around that time.

His earthly Father was a carpenter, so He probably helped around the shop. If His family had a small garden, He probably helped to tend it. If they had a few animals, He no doubt helped with them. He probably had classes at the local Synagogue.
 
Flags go up when I hear anyone speculate anything that isn't included in scripture. It's one thing to surmise that he grew in wisdom, helping his father as a carpenter. It's another to say he traveled to India or performed miracles such as bringing a bird back to life as some gnostic books have said.

I've always wondered if He needed to be taught anything of scripture and faith. My assumption is that it would be given unto Him; that He would have knowledge of scripture naturally as He grew in His capacity to express it.

It would be humorous if it wasn't part of a tragic lie that the Koran says that He came out of Mary's womb speaking.
 
I wonder if it wasn't recorded because kids were not taken notice of much or were socially very low in jewish society
 
I think it's more because He just didn't do anything of note. Keep in mind that the Scriptures do record the trip to the temple when He was 12, mainly because it was an event that was relevant. There isn't anything between the time the family returned from Egypt to 12 years of age, again, because there just wasn't anything of note to relate.

In other words, He was leading just the same kind of boring life we all get, growing up, doing chores, learning a trade, etc. Not lost years, just mundane ones.
 
He was being prepared for his ministry. David was, moses was, joseph was, paul was. All of these people spent down time when they were isolated or not doing anything noteworthy for a period before being placed in ministry.

Some people in the bible were placed in the job and learned as they went, and others were set aside for a period before being put into it. I think it depends on the individual.

Although everyone can go through quiet and more active periods.
 
Why would Jesus have had a normal boring life? He had money. The Kings brought him Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. He know from them and from his mother that he was special. He was born a Virgin to be King of the Jews.

I mean really if Mary and Joseph had the riches from the Kings who God led there and all of them knew Jesus was God, and King of the Jews, would they just go back to an oh well hum drum life?
 
coffeeelover said:
Why would Jesus have had a normal boring life? He had money. The Kings brought him Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. He know from them and from his mother that he was special. He was born a Virgin to be King of the Jews.

I mean really if Mary and Joseph had the riches from the Kings who God led there and all of them knew Jesus was God, and King of the Jews, would they just go back to an oh well hum drum life?
Click to expand...

that's a good point. unless they hid Jesus from religious leaders until he was ready for ministry to keep him safe that could have funded it too.
 
coffeeelover said:
Why would Jesus have had a normal boring life? He had money. The Kings brought him Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. He know from them and from his mother that he was special. He was born a Virgin to be King of the Jews.

I mean really if Mary and Joseph had the riches from the Kings who God led there and all of them knew Jesus was God, and King of the Jews, would they just go back to an oh well hum drum life?
Click to expand...

From all we know about why God came to dwell on earth, I personally don't believe this to be true. God came to the earth in the lowliest form. From that I gather that He lived a very impoverished life, just like the other jews in His village. When He began His ministry He was dirt poor with no money, no food, and no where to lay His head. I think Jesus becoming rich off of the gifts is kind of a cop out. The Bible says that there was nothing special/attractive about the Lord what we would be drawn to Him.

However, you bring up a really good question, what did the Lord do with the riches given to Him at birth?

Maybe it's a bit of both. His family lived off of the wealth for a while until it ran out and then He lived a simple, poor life? I don't know what do you think?
 
I see how gold is good, but what is tree sap and tree resin gonna go to make you rich? You can chew the sap for a while until it is all gone and I guess the resin is good for giving wood that nice shine?

Nah, Jesus probably lived a hard life from the beginning. He probably helped Joseph make stuff and went to school for a good number of years.
 
Pard said:
I see how gold is good, but what is tree sap and tree resin gonna go to make you rich? You can chew the sap for a while until it is all gone and I guess the resin is good for giving wood that nice shine?

Nah, Jesus probably lived a hard life from the beginning. He probably helped Joseph make stuff and went to school for a good number of years.
Click to expand...


Frankincense and myrrh were highly valuable and sought after items in biblical times as were many rare spices http://www.itmonline.org/arts/myrrh.htm . They were both worth just about as much if not more than gold.

Why would a king travel a great distance only to bring God just a little wealth. That just makes no sense. They brought a multitude of wealth. Enough that Jesus had to be indeed very rich. Now what happened to the money I don't know, but I highly doubt Jesus lived anywhere near a hard or poverty stricken life.
 
If you do not believe Jesus lived a life of poverty maybe you should go dust off your Bible and read what He said... :shrug

And that was a joke, I am not about to go chew myrrh, I imagine it tastes pretty bad... I'll stick to pine.
 
Pard said:
If you do not believe Jesus lived a life of poverty maybe you should go dust off your Bible and read what He said... :shrug

And that was a joke, I am not about to go chew myrrh, I imagine it tastes pretty bad... I'll stick to pine.
Click to expand...


Well Jesus could have chosen to live any way he wanted to once he grew up, but when he was born he was very rich. Maybe he chose to leave his money to Mary and Joseph. I am just saying he was raised rich.
 
coffeeelover said:
Well Jesus could have chosen to live any way he wanted to once he grew up, but when he was born he was very rich. Maybe he chose to leave his money to Mary and Joseph. I am just saying he was raised rich.
Click to expand...

But if He wanted a comfy rich life He could of stayed in Heaven, or been born in the 1990's lol.
 
You seem to neglect the fact that Jesus is God. Even when He was a baby He was God...
 
coffeeelover said:
Well Jesus could have chosen to live any way he wanted to once he grew up, but when he was born he was very rich. Maybe he chose to leave his money to Mary and Joseph. I am just saying he was raised rich.
Click to expand...

It there ANYTHING in scripture to back up this claim? On they're journey back from Jerusalem, did they have to turn around their fleet of limos, maybe radio in their Lear Jet to get back and find him preaching in the temple? ;) From the story of the gifts given to him when he was a grown boy, you're extrapolating that he lived a charmed life in the lap of luxury? BIG-LEAP!
 
Pard said:
You seem to neglect the fact that Jesus is God. Even when He was a baby He was God...
Click to expand...


I don't know what that has to do with anything. The kings brought him vast riches. So Jesus was rich.
 
Mike said:
It there ANYTHING in scripture to back up this claim? On they're journey back from Jerusalem, did they have to turn around their fleet of limos, maybe radio in their Lear Jet to get back and find him preaching in the temple? ;) From the story of the gifts given to him when he was a grown boy, you're extrapolating that he lived a charmed life in the lap of luxury? BIG-LEAP!
Click to expand...


Kings brought him riches. So Jesus was rich. I don't extrapolate he lived a life of charmed luxury, but I am not going to pretend he toiled in poverty either.
 
I don't think we can know for certain if Jesus was improverished whilst growing up. We can know though that Jesus was a carpenter, (Mark 6:3) and therefore probably not stinking rich. If He was all that rich, why the trade?

Most likely the gold, frankincense and myrrh funded the flight and exile into Egypt. And, perhaps the rest of it used as a savings during rough times.
 
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