BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Jesus Was a Refugee

Jesus the refugee child in the Gospel of Matthew

“Jesus Was a Refugee” was originally published on The Jesus Blog. It is republished here with permission.—Ed.


The unstoppable force of refugees fleeing to Europe has in various places hit the immovable object of an attitude that there is no room at the inn. Spaces are filled. Migrants should be kept out, in order to preserve jobs, health and welfare services. In an environment of austerity, where economic cuts have hit people hard, this cold-heartedness in part derives from a deep sense of insecurity.

At this time it is worth remembering that Jesus of Nazareth is in the Bible presented exactly as one that would be rejected by such European countries: a refugee child.

carolsfeld-bibel-in-bildern

Woodcut from Die Bibel in Bildern (1860) by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ (adoptive) father, Joseph, and mother, Mary, live in Bethlehem, a town in Judaea near Jerusalem. It is assumed to be their home village. Certain magoi (“wise men”/astrologers) come from “the East” to Herod, the Roman client king of Judaea, looking to honor a new ruler they have determined by a “star,” and Jesus is identified as the one. All this is bad news to Herod, and Herod acts in a pre-emptive strike against the people of Bethlehem and its environs. He kills all boys under two years of age in an atrocity that is traditionally known as “the massacre of the innocents” (Matthew 2.16–18).

But Joseph has been warned beforehand in a dream of Herod’s intentions to kill little Jesus, and the family flees to Egypt. It is not until Herod is dead that Joseph and Mary dare return, and then they avoid Judaea: Joseph “was afraid to go there” (Matthew 2.22) because Herod’s son is in charge. Instead they find a new place of refuge, in Nazareth of Galilee, far from Bethlehem.

Jesus’ earliest years were then, according to the Gospel of Matthew, spent as a refugee in a foreign land, and then as a displaced person in a village a long way from his family’s original home.

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Scholars of the historical Jesus can be suspicious of this account, as also with the other nativity account in the Gospel of Luke 1–2. It is clearly constructed with allusions to Jesus as a kind of Moses figure: just as Moses was under threat from an evil Pharaoh who killed children (Exodus 1–2), so was Jesus. But while resonances with the scriptural precedent are intended, there is no real need for the author to invent the idea of Jesus being a refugee child somewhere in Egypt to have him being Moses-like. There is a quote, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11.1), in Matthew 2.15, but the “son” concerned is historical Israel, not Moses and not the Messiah, and it sits uncomfortably with the story. The author of Matthew did not need to build a myth out of such a text.

herodium

King Herod the Great began construction at Herodium in 28–27 B.C.E. Photo: Duby Tal.

It seems not then unlikely to me that Jesus’ family, with a lineage traced to the great king David (Matthew 1; Luke 3.23–38; Romans 1.3; 15.12), opted to flee from Bethlehem, long-standing residence of the kingly line and their original home. In many traditional societies, such locations of clans are maintained, even with social disruptions. Archaeology has shown how Herod built a palace complex at Herodium, including his future mausoleum, nicely overlooking the town of Bethlehem. It was as if Herod was breathing down Bethlehem’s neck.

The first-century Jewish historian Josephus portrays Herod as paranoid about any possible threat to his rule. He killed his own sons and had few qualms about killing anyone else’s. As Augustus quipped, “I would rather be Herod’s pig than his son” (Macrobius, Saturnalia 2:4; since pigs are not butchered by Jews).

We know also that Jews fled from troubles in Judaea of many kinds in the third–first centuries B.C.E., and that Egypt was one of the places they went to as refugees. Josephus comments on the problematic revolutionaries (and their children) that fled there after the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 C.E.; Jewish War 7: 407–419), but they were following a well-worn path.

Many epitaphs and inscriptions, as well as historical sources, testify to a thriving Jewish expatriate community in Egypt made up of earlier refugees that could be joined by others. However, just like today, new refugees were not welcome. A letter of the emperor Claudius, written in 41 C.E., states that Jews in Alexandria lived in “a city not their own” in which they were “not to bring in or invite Jews who sail down to Alexandria from Syria[-Palaestina]” (P. London 1912; CPJ I:151).


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A remembrance of Jesus’ family in Egypt is preserved in Matariya, in the suburbs of Cairo at Heliopolis, a spot understood to be a stopping place on the holy family’s flight, and it is probably the most important site in the world for anyone wishing to contemplate Joseph, Mary and Jesus as refugees.

For new refugees, as anywhere, life would have been very hard. The first-century Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria tells us of the consequences of poverty, which could result in enslavement (Special Laws 2.82). Presumably, Jewish charity and voluntary giving through the synagogue would have helped a struggling refugee family, but they would also have been reliant on the kindness of strangers.

The legacy of being a refugee and a newcomer to a place far from home is something that I think informed Jesus’ teaching. When he set off on his mission, he took up the life of a displaced person with “nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8.20; Luke 9.58). He asked those who acted for him to go out without a bag or a change of clothing, essentially to walk along the road like destitute refugees who had suddenly fled, relying on the generosity and hospitality of ordinary people whose villages they entered (Mark 6.8–11; Matthew 10.9–11; Luke 9.3). It was the villagers’ welcome or not to such poor wanderers that showed what side they were on: “And if any place will not receive you and refuse to hear you, shake off the dust on your feet when you leave, for a testimony to them” (Mark 6.11).

***
 


“Jesus Was a Refugee” by Joan E. Taylor was first republished in Bible History Daily on May 12, 2016.


joan-taylorJoan E. Taylor is Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King’s College London. Her research interests include the New Testament and other early Christian texts; the historical figures of Jesus of Nazareth, John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene and other New Testament persons; Second Temple Judaism; and women and gender within early Judaism and Christianity. Dr. Taylor has received various awards and fellowships, including the Irene Levi-Sala Award in Israel’s archaeology for her book Christians and the Holy Places (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993, rev. 2003).


Related reading in Bible History Daily:

Did Jesus Exist? Searching for Evidence Beyond the Bible

How December 25 Became Christmas

Witnessing the Divine

Christmas Stories in Christian Apocrypha

Herod’s Death, Jesus’ Birth and a Lunar Eclipse

Has the Childhood Home of Jesus Been Found?

Judean Refugees in Galilee?


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76 Responses

  1. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    Yes and No. Remember that both Judea and Egypt were provinces (states) of the Roman Empire. Joseph, Mary, and baby Joshua (in Greek: Jesus) were POLITICAL refugees fleeing the government of the Province of Judea to the Province of Aegyptus. This is no different than those leaving California for Arizona. However, they were not ECONOMIC refugees coming from OUTSIDE the Roman Empire like those coming from Mexico and the rest of Central America to these United States.

  2. Rj says:

    What side would jesus be on ..is the side of those who have no place ..

  3. Rj says:

    What side would jesus be on ..is the side of those who have no place ..

  4. Rj says:

    You may hate it but …you will never take the bleeding heart from jesus . Jesus was not accepted by his own he was rejected by the church and today he would still be rejected by his own

  5. Rj says:

    You may hate it but …you will never take the bleeding heart from jesus . Jesus was not accepted by his own he was rejected by the church and today he would still be rejected by his own

  6. Prodigal48 says:

    The family was told by God in a dream to go to Egypt temporarily for safety. They were not planning on living there permanently, nor did God want them to.

    They were not refuges, and attempting to use the story of the Savior as an example as to why we should allow everybody who wants to come to our country for any reason, is disingenuous.

    Christians fleeing persecution should be allowed in. Extreme vetting on every person wanting to come here is an absolute must. But welcoming everybody that shows up at the door without a good reason to come here, and without vetting, and without the desire to truly make this their home and make it better by their presence, and putting them on the public dole for the rest of their lives.. is insanity.

  7. Prodigal48 says:

    The family was told by God in a dream to go to Egypt temporarily for safety. They were not planning on living there permanently, nor did God want them to.
    They were not refuges, and attempting to use the story of the Savior as an example as to why we should allow everybody who wants to come to our country for any reason, is disingenuous.
    Christians fleeing persecution should be allowed in. Extreme vetting on every person wanting to come here is an absolute must. But welcoming everybody that shows up at the door without a good reason to come here, and without vetting, and without the desire to truly make this their home and make it better by their presence, and putting them on the public dole for the rest of their lives.. is insanity.

    1. Rj says:

      Fleeing persecution from the church of our lord ..his own who esteemed him not .
      Today jesus would still be rejected by the church especially today.

  8. Obura Josephat says:

    The article did not , even slightly enumerate any reason as to why The Baby Jesus could not have left Judea to Egypt.No contemporary mention of journeys to Egypt and why it would have been possible or impossible for the holy family to travel to Egypt.

  9. Obura Josephat says:

    The article did not , even slightly enumerate any reason as to why The Baby Jesus could not have left Judea to Egypt.No contemporary mention of journeys to Egypt and why it would have been possible or impossible for the holy family to travel to Egypt.

    1. Prodigal48 says:

      The family did go to Egypt.
      The author of the article is incorrect in saying that the prophecy in Hosea refers only to Israel and not to Jesus also. It is a dual prophecy.

  10. Robert B says:

    Mary and Joseph didn’t live in Bethlehem. They travelled there for a census.

  11. Robert B says:

    Mary and Joseph didn’t live in Bethlehem. They travelled there for a census.

  12. Leslie says:

    Isn’t a refugee and an illegal alien two different categories? The Vietnam boat people were refugees. People crossing into the USA from the Mexican border are illegal aliens.

    There is a specific protocol that classifies people as refugees. it’s not merely a matter of seeking refuge.. People coming here illegally are supposedly coming for a “better life” a better life is not a reason to obtain refugee status. If people merely want a better life they can work in their own country to create a better life.

    And no the first pilgrims were not refugees because there was no official government that granted refugee status. They were settlers.

    The reason this matters is because so many people seeming want to justify people coming here illegally by calling them refugees and saying Jesus was a refugee so the Christian thing to do is to just make accomodations.

    While Jesus and so forth might have been seeking refuge that does nOT make Jesus a refugee as defined today. WHen we come inside to seek refuge from the pouring rain we are not refugees.

  13. Leslie says:

    Isn’t a refugee and an illegal alien two different categories? The Vietnam boat people were refugees. People crossing into the USA from the Mexican border are illegal aliens.
    There is a specific protocol that classifies people as refugees. it’s not merely a matter of seeking refuge.. People coming here illegally are supposedly coming for a “better life” a better life is not a reason to obtain refugee status. If people merely want a better life they can work in their own country to create a better life.
    And no the first pilgrims were not refugees because there was no official government that granted refugee status. They were settlers.
    The reason this matters is because so many people seeming want to justify people coming here illegally by calling them refugees and saying Jesus was a refugee so the Christian thing to do is to just make accomodations.
    While Jesus and so forth might have been seeking refuge that does nOT make Jesus a refugee as defined today. WHen we come inside to seek refuge from the pouring rain we are not refugees.

    1. di36464 says:

      excellent response.

  14. Valeria says:

    You are certifiably crazy if you actually believe Yeshua was a refugee.
    Yeshua CREATED this world and the universe at large: that means HE OWNS IT. How is it possible to be a refugee when the OWNER is in residence?
    Not only are you certifiable, but if you are ‘professor of’ anything … it is bullshit. It is clear your ‘research’ went no further than your nose which is biased and misses the smell test. Do the world a favor and STOP writing nonsense. IN fact, just stop musing and writing …. your ‘research’ is dangerously blasphemous.

  15. Maria del Soma says:

    This article should be removed from this blog. Using the name of the Lord to make apolitical point is unethical.

  16. PAUL DIBARTOLO says:

    I’m unaware of refugees who pay their own way. Don’t refugees flee their homes with nothing?

  17. PAUL DIBARTOLO says:

    I’m unaware of refugees who pay their own way. Don’t refugees flee their homes with nothing?

  18. Charles says:

    You can be fairly sure that such hospitality would not have been given in Israel to those of a nation that had in the recent past declared Israel to be their enemy, went to war against them, and meanwhile and subsequently made life for the people of Israel within their own country unbearable, threatening them with death and murdering them, confiscating their property, burning their homes, shops, businesses, and schools until the centuries old Jewish communities that were in Syria are virtually non-existent today, all but less than 100 mostly ederly people having fled to other lands. And then, when the judgement of the Most High comes on Syria, and a civil war breaks out, and it destroys itself from within, and without any indication of repentance for the above, you say the righteous should embrace them as brothers and fellow countrymen? All of that learning but where are your scruples? If he called the Samaritans dogs, what Jesus would have said of the Syrians?

  19. David says:

    “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”

    Modern day equivalent of filing his taxes.

    They did return home by a different route to escape Herod.

  20. David says:

    “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”
    Modern day equivalent of filing his taxes.
    They did return home by a different route to escape Herod.

  21. The Sanity Inspector says:

    The prophet Mohammed was also a refugee. The Jewish city of Medina received him and his followers. Within five years the Jews were all expelled, enslaved, or massacred.

  22. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    People forget that Judea and Egypt were both parts of the Roman Empire. Moving from the former to the latter for fear of persecution was really no different than those who leave California for Arizona for fear of political persecution today. However, since BOTH were/are seeking “refuge”, yes, they are “refugees”.

    Regarding the so-called refugees in Europe, I’m certain that Daesh was taking advantage of European laxness and sent in hundreds of terrorists as “refugees”.

  23. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    People forget that Judea and Egypt were both parts of the Roman Empire. Moving from the former to the latter for fear of persecution was really no different than those who leave California for Arizona for fear of political persecution today. However, since BOTH were/are seeking “refuge”, yes, they are “refugees”.
    Regarding the so-called refugees in Europe, I’m certain that Daesh was taking advantage of European laxness and sent in hundreds of terrorists as “refugees”.

  24. Study says:

    I found the author’s stretch of the word “refugee” appalling when applied to the Holy Family and their circumstances. To then further abuse the gospel by attempting to make a connection to the current European situation is further evidence to me of the political leanings of the author. This article is neither enlightened nor scholarly, rather, it is an attempt to join forces with the growing number of ill-informed liberals who would see Europe and the rest of the world sink into barbarism rather than be considered “cold-hearted”.

  25. AP says:

    Does the author feel as sorry for the Germans, the South Tel Avivans, etc. who are becoming refugees in their own countries? This abuse of a scholarly journal to make a pitch for a dubious cause is disgraceful.

  26. AP says:

    Does the author feel as sorry for the Germans, the South Tel Avivans, etc. who are becoming refugees in their own countries? This abuse of a scholarly journal to make a pitch for a dubious cause is disgraceful.

  27. Cena Foura says:

    This article is a blatant attempt to justify the current suicide that the christian west is committing. The truth is that we are under islamic migration jihad. The reason for the muslims perpetrating this hostile act against kaffirs is based on the fact that mahomet, the false prophet, was a refugee, and it was when he entered Medina and killed off the jews and stole their property and children that he started to succeed as a warlord slaver. Jesus has no parallel to this.

  28. Bob says:

    This is sick. Comparing Jesus to the coordinated takedown of western civilization by anti-Christian God haters is heretical and blasphemous.

  29. Firestone says:

    So let me get this right. Jesus Christ is a refugee because Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt to escape the assassination of king Herod and yet in the beginning of time Jesus Christ created all things of both heaven and earth. This sounds like a conundrum?

  30. Firestone says:

    So let me get this right. Jesus Christ is a refugee because Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt to escape the assassination of king Herod and yet in the beginning of time Jesus Christ created all things of both heaven and earth. This sounds like a conundrum?

  31. Paul Ballotta says:

    It seems that Jesus implying that he feels like a refugee in his native country didn’t go over well with the congregation at Nazareth (Luke 4:24-29). An earlier gospel states:
    “Jesus said, ‘Become passers-by'” (The Gospel of Thomas, saying #42).

  32. Paul Ballotta says:

    It seems that Jesus implying that he feels like a refugee in his native country didn’t go over well with the congregation at Nazareth (Luke 4:24-29). An earlier gospel states:
    “Jesus said, ‘Become passers-by'” (The Gospel of Thomas, saying #42).

  33. Alexa Smith says:

    Jesus was not intending to invade and undermine Egypt. He went in with gold from the Magi which provided for them. There would also be other Jewish communities there. Joseph had a trade, carpenter/master builder/architect. They weren’t going to be dirt poor.

  34. Rob Palmer says:

    Amazing how long-term residents of a culture area accept any refugees at all. After all, refugees lower working standards as well as wages for current and future generations. If any employer (or corporation, today) can get cheap help easily, he has no motivation to pay higher wages, or improve working conditions. Bringing in multitudes of immigrants only leads to the overcrowding problems of Calcutta (and other cities) in India in the previous ages. Today many modern societies make immigration very difficult, as Australia and Iceland demonstrate. Politicians promoting gross immigration must, therefore be compensated in some way by those seeking cheap help.

  35. John says:

    I cannot agree more with the views of AF above.
    One can appreciate the writings of Ms Taylor. But i do think that the comparison is greatly misguided. Yes, in simple terms, the flight was into exile from the threats of a manic despot. Can one, however, rightly and generally compare what happened to the bar-Jacob family and the refugee crisis of today? Joseph and his little family would have lived within the cultural context of Egypt, but without losing their jewish identity.
    this 21st-century crisis is a double-edged sword. And a crisis it is. Evil (so-called ‘radical’ Islam) has descended and millions displaced, tortured, murdered.
    If this was a genuine refugee situation then one may sympathise totally. But within the ranks of these unfortunate people is a threat of dangerous proportions. The so-called extremist know full well that Muslims will not live according to the cultural norms of the society they want to move into, but will seek to change that culture to their own. Slowly but surely, Islam will displace the (now almost non-existent) Christian underpinning of European culture.
    And Islam will achieve what it set out to do all those centuries ago – subject the Great Satan to Islam. Fight the infidel is the clarion call of the Koran and the sons of Ishmael will not relent until they have achieved world domination.
    Europe first, USA second and onwards from there.

  36. AF says:

    The problem with this article is not speculation about the possible migrations of Jesus’ childhood. It’s with the article’s initial attempt to connect this biographical lore, factual or not, to a mischaracterization of a current large scale geo-political crisis. Germans, Belgians and Swedes are less concerned about jobs, health, and welfare services as they are about their values, customs, and culture. Westerners globally are feeling coerced into transforming their societies in order to culturally accommodate both the internal political influences of multiculturalism as well as the very often violent and socially caustic behavior of the immigrants themselves, not to mention the inherent risk of terrorism. For instance, in Cologne transit authorities have created separate railway cars for women and children because they are no longer safe to travel as they have traditionally. This is one of many instances of such policies in which the host is being assimilated to the newcomer, not the other way around. The very mandate to treat displaced and refugee populations with compassion and hospitality has come to be a feature of a Western cultural worldview, but there’s no way to ensure that trait’s survival or effectiveness if few feel the need to maintain the civilizational legacy from which that worldview proceeds.

  37. AF says:

    The problem with this article is not speculation about the possible migrations of Jesus’ childhood. It’s with the article’s initial attempt to connect this biographical lore, factual or not, to a mischaracterization of a current large scale geo-political crisis. Germans, Belgians and Swedes are less concerned about jobs, health, and welfare services as they are about their values, customs, and culture. Westerners globally are feeling coerced into transforming their societies in order to culturally accommodate both the internal political influences of multiculturalism as well as the very often violent and socially caustic behavior of the immigrants themselves, not to mention the inherent risk of terrorism. For instance, in Cologne transit authorities have created separate railway cars for women and children because they are no longer safe to travel as they have traditionally. This is one of many instances of such policies in which the host is being assimilated to the newcomer, not the other way around. The very mandate to treat displaced and refugee populations with compassion and hospitality has come to be a feature of a Western cultural worldview, but there’s no way to ensure that trait’s survival or effectiveness if few feel the need to maintain the civilizational legacy from which that worldview proceeds.

  38. crosssprint says:

    Seems like a very liberal interpretation to me , omitting the miracle of the Angel telling Joseph to leave, she can rewrite it to suit her particular viewpoint.

  39. crosssprint says:

    Seems like a very liberal interpretation to me , omitting the miracle of the Angel telling Joseph to leave, she can rewrite it to suit her particular viewpoint.

  40. Odinga says:

    There is so much so-called religious history written that we take for fact, when it is really redactions of what the Roman Catholic Church has done. There is no proof of what is written inasmuch as all original documents are lost or destroyed.
    Joseph and Mary gave birth to Jesus and other children from their home in Nazareth, not Bethlehem as the text states. It too is redacted. There is so much ancient myth circulating that writer, Europeans, have included as authentic. In order to give due-diligence one has revisit literature before the 17th Century and move more to the hear-say that come close to truth.
    Jesus never instituted the institution called church. Jesus would not have said, “Upon the rock Peter I will build my church…” Jesus would have said if anything, “James,” the brother of Jesus who was in line to continue The Way Movement, :Upon James I give permission to continue The Way Movement.”
    It was Constantine, and later the Popes ,that change the movement by installing Peter as head of the Church, not The Way Movement. Once the so-called church is established it become a male dominated, greed, wealth, sex, at all and any expense. We have been introduced to the wrong religious template. That of Man, not Jesus who is call The Christ.
    There is so much more but time does not permit to go on.
    Truth crush the earth will rise again!

  41. Prodigal48 says:

    I seriously wonder if this writer has a complete understanding of Scripture or its Author.

  42. Prodigal48 says:

    I seriously wonder if this writer has a complete understanding of Scripture or its Author.

  43. Kevin DeFranco says:

    There is a book called Tales of Glastonbury. This book is a historical book, that tells about Jesus travelling with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to Joseph’s tin mines in the British Isle’s during His teenage years. There are monuments on rocks there depicting a man in a boat, with a boy standing at the front of the boat. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Mary the mother of Jesus along with John, and Joseph of Arimathea went to England and started the Church there.

  44. Kevin DeFranco says:

    There is a book called Tales of Glastonbury. This book is a historical book, that tells about Jesus travelling with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to Joseph’s tin mines in the British Isle’s during His teenage years. There are monuments on rocks there depicting a man in a boat, with a boy standing at the front of the boat. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Mary the mother of Jesus along with John, and Joseph of Arimathea went to England and started the Church there.

  45. Toni says:

    Since Judea and Egypt were both a part of a Roman Empire, Jesus’s family technically travelled within the same country, when they went to Egypt.

  46. Toni says:

    Since Judea and Egypt were both a part of a Roman Empire, Jesus’s family technically travelled within the same country, when they went to Egypt.

  47. Les Brown says:

    Aside from the fact that there is another “Bethlehem” not more than 10 kms from Nazareth (Bethlehem literally means “House of Bread” – “House” in this instance meaning a locality, it is a place where the best quality wheat for the Showbread in the Temple was harvested and milled).
    Aside from the fact that although Josephus mentions many towns in the Galilee an area which he was very familiar with, he never mentions “Nazareth”, leading to the possibility that Nazareth did not even exist at the time of Jesus and that it was not Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus the Nazrene, the two terms being confused in the New Testament.
    Aside from the fact that Jews never left the Holy Land without a clear objective of returning to it when circumstances permit.
    Aside from the fact that it is not European concerns that the Muslims are benefitting from health care and welfare, and taking jobs, their insularity, an inability to integrate and their lack of respect for European tradition and values, an increase in burglaries, rapes and abuse of white women notably in Cologne and Malmo, while the police impotently look on, afraid to intervene.
    I suppose what really bothers Europeans is the violence toward their society together with the terror attacks on their citizens.
    Is it any wonder that Muslims are not welcome by many in Europe?

  48. a laitinen says:

    Egypt has border with Israel, they knew where they were going not in any unfamiliar country, only some neighbour where fathers had lived too.They did not try to reach Scandinavia after higher living standard :DD

  49. a laitinen says:

    Egypt has border with Israel, they knew where they were going not in any unfamiliar country, only some neighbour where fathers had lived too.They did not try to reach Scandinavia after higher living standard :DD

  50. Yvonne Marais says:

    Jesus was NOT A MUSLIM !Neither a SUICIDE BOMBER etc. Big difference.Neither ISIS, HAMAS ,Al Khaeda, PLO Boko Haram and all the others too many to mention of the MUSLIM FAITH. So stop propagating and comparing JESUS to the current bunch of MONSTERS and MURDERERS from the Middle East Muslim Countries the entire WORLD has to contend with. .

  51. charlesc97 says:

    He did not invade to rape and kill, you MORONS.

  52. Mari Jo says:

    The gospel of Matthew states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not that it was Joseph and Mary’s home before the birth. Matthew’s gospel does not provide any details as to their place of residence. The gospel of Luke states that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, travelled to Bethlehem for the census and that is where Jesus was born.
    For the author to state that the family of Jesus were residence of Bethlehem before His birth and found “a new place of refuge” in Nazareth because it adds to story of Jesus’ life as a refuge seems a stretch to anyone who has read the Nativity stories.

  53. Mari Jo says:

    The gospel of Matthew states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not that it was Joseph and Mary’s home before the birth. Matthew’s gospel does not provide any details as to their place of residence. The gospel of Luke states that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, travelled to Bethlehem for the census and that is where Jesus was born.
    For the author to state that the family of Jesus were residence of Bethlehem before His birth and found “a new place of refuge” in Nazareth because it adds to story of Jesus’ life as a refuge seems a stretch to anyone who has read the Nativity stories.

  54. Ken Gleim says:

    By our human misperception we might think of Jesus as a refugee, but He was in Egypt not because He (or his parents) ran away in fear, but because his parents were instructed by God to go to Egypt. God was in control. They sought their refuge in God and it was God who instructed them to sojourn in Egypt.

  55. Ken Gleim says:

    By our human misperception we might think of Jesus as a refugee, but He was in Egypt not because He (or his parents) ran away in fear, but because his parents were instructed by God to go to Egypt. God was in control. They sought their refuge in God and it was God who instructed them to sojourn in Egypt.

  56. Ponzio Oliverio says:

    The flight of Jesus and His family involved just that, a single family. As is accurately pointed out in the article however, when massive migrations took place, the refugees were not always welcome. Nations have the absolute right to secure their borders by allowing, or disallowing, refugees into their countries. The implication here seems to be that because Jesus’ family was not turned away by Egypt, then European nations should not turn away Syrian refugees but it is not a similar comparison.

  57. Ponzio Oliverio says:

    The flight of Jesus and His family involved just that, a single family. As is accurately pointed out in the article however, when massive migrations took place, the refugees were not always welcome. Nations have the absolute right to secure their borders by allowing, or disallowing, refugees into their countries. The implication here seems to be that because Jesus’ family was not turned away by Egypt, then European nations should not turn away Syrian refugees but it is not a similar comparison.

  58. Al Bouman says:

    Even though Jesus was a refugee. I’m confident his family was not part of a terrorist group blowing up the people of Egypt where they fled to.

  59. Helen says:

    Roger…spices were very valuable in those days also – perhaps as valuable as gold. These resources surely helped the parents provide housing, food, clothing, and perhaps carpentry tools to enable the growing family to thrive in Egypt and when they migrated back to Nazareth.

  60. Helen says:

    Roger…spices were very valuable in those days also – perhaps as valuable as gold. These resources surely helped the parents provide housing, food, clothing, and perhaps carpentry tools to enable the growing family to thrive in Egypt and when they migrated back to Nazareth.

  61. mikeb says:

    Were Mary and Joseph eligible for low-income housing subsidies, subsidized medical care, food stamps, WIC payments, tax refund payouts to the poor, mandated free schooling, voting rights during their stay in Egypt?
    Did Mary and Joseph join rape gangs and gangs of rioters?
    Were they members of terror cells?
    Can we have a BAR article on Jesus’ time in Egypt without making erroneous claims about contemporary political conditions (“unstoppable force,” “in order to preserve jobs” etc., “cold-heartedness”) in the modern west?

  62. davidb366 says:

    2. I’m wondering how the disciple Matthew could not know Herod died some six plus years before the birth of Christ?

  63. davidb366 says:

    2. I’m wondering how the disciple Matthew could not know Herod died some six plus years before the birth of Christ?

  64. Burton Everist says:

    Not only was Jesus a refugee, so were many in the young church especially following the retaking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. The Gospel according to John speaks to this homelessness as John’s hearers/readers were assured that their home was in Jesus and that Jesus had prepared a place for them. 1 Peter begins by addressing the exiles in many places. Again in 2:11 he speaks of them as sojourners and exiles.

  65. Burton Everist says:

    Not only was Jesus a refugee, so were many in the young church especially following the retaking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. The Gospel according to John speaks to this homelessness as John’s hearers/readers were assured that their home was in Jesus and that Jesus had prepared a place for them. 1 Peter begins by addressing the exiles in many places. Again in 2:11 he speaks of them as sojourners and exiles.

  66. Cheryl says:

    What? refugee? He was the son of G-D . The earth is His and the fullness of it therof
    As The other comment states,the gifts of the Magi !

  67. Cheryl says:

    What? refugee? He was the son of G-D . The earth is His and the fullness of it therof
    As The other comment states,the gifts of the Magi !

  68. rogerh30 says:

    With the gifts of the Magi – particularly the gold – I have wondered if that was the source of funds for the long stay in Egypt.

  69. rogerh30 says:

    With the gifts of the Magi – particularly the gold – I have wondered if that was the source of funds for the long stay in Egypt.

  70. Jim Sill says:

    No comparison to present refugees all over the world.
    My grand parents came from West Prussia. All people started in Africa and are all over the world.

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76 Responses

  1. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    Yes and No. Remember that both Judea and Egypt were provinces (states) of the Roman Empire. Joseph, Mary, and baby Joshua (in Greek: Jesus) were POLITICAL refugees fleeing the government of the Province of Judea to the Province of Aegyptus. This is no different than those leaving California for Arizona. However, they were not ECONOMIC refugees coming from OUTSIDE the Roman Empire like those coming from Mexico and the rest of Central America to these United States.

  2. Rj says:

    What side would jesus be on ..is the side of those who have no place ..

  3. Rj says:

    What side would jesus be on ..is the side of those who have no place ..

  4. Rj says:

    You may hate it but …you will never take the bleeding heart from jesus . Jesus was not accepted by his own he was rejected by the church and today he would still be rejected by his own

  5. Rj says:

    You may hate it but …you will never take the bleeding heart from jesus . Jesus was not accepted by his own he was rejected by the church and today he would still be rejected by his own

  6. Prodigal48 says:

    The family was told by God in a dream to go to Egypt temporarily for safety. They were not planning on living there permanently, nor did God want them to.

    They were not refuges, and attempting to use the story of the Savior as an example as to why we should allow everybody who wants to come to our country for any reason, is disingenuous.

    Christians fleeing persecution should be allowed in. Extreme vetting on every person wanting to come here is an absolute must. But welcoming everybody that shows up at the door without a good reason to come here, and without vetting, and without the desire to truly make this their home and make it better by their presence, and putting them on the public dole for the rest of their lives.. is insanity.

  7. Prodigal48 says:

    The family was told by God in a dream to go to Egypt temporarily for safety. They were not planning on living there permanently, nor did God want them to.
    They were not refuges, and attempting to use the story of the Savior as an example as to why we should allow everybody who wants to come to our country for any reason, is disingenuous.
    Christians fleeing persecution should be allowed in. Extreme vetting on every person wanting to come here is an absolute must. But welcoming everybody that shows up at the door without a good reason to come here, and without vetting, and without the desire to truly make this their home and make it better by their presence, and putting them on the public dole for the rest of their lives.. is insanity.

    1. Rj says:

      Fleeing persecution from the church of our lord ..his own who esteemed him not .
      Today jesus would still be rejected by the church especially today.

  8. Obura Josephat says:

    The article did not , even slightly enumerate any reason as to why The Baby Jesus could not have left Judea to Egypt.No contemporary mention of journeys to Egypt and why it would have been possible or impossible for the holy family to travel to Egypt.

  9. Obura Josephat says:

    The article did not , even slightly enumerate any reason as to why The Baby Jesus could not have left Judea to Egypt.No contemporary mention of journeys to Egypt and why it would have been possible or impossible for the holy family to travel to Egypt.

    1. Prodigal48 says:

      The family did go to Egypt.
      The author of the article is incorrect in saying that the prophecy in Hosea refers only to Israel and not to Jesus also. It is a dual prophecy.

  10. Robert B says:

    Mary and Joseph didn’t live in Bethlehem. They travelled there for a census.

  11. Robert B says:

    Mary and Joseph didn’t live in Bethlehem. They travelled there for a census.

  12. Leslie says:

    Isn’t a refugee and an illegal alien two different categories? The Vietnam boat people were refugees. People crossing into the USA from the Mexican border are illegal aliens.

    There is a specific protocol that classifies people as refugees. it’s not merely a matter of seeking refuge.. People coming here illegally are supposedly coming for a “better life” a better life is not a reason to obtain refugee status. If people merely want a better life they can work in their own country to create a better life.

    And no the first pilgrims were not refugees because there was no official government that granted refugee status. They were settlers.

    The reason this matters is because so many people seeming want to justify people coming here illegally by calling them refugees and saying Jesus was a refugee so the Christian thing to do is to just make accomodations.

    While Jesus and so forth might have been seeking refuge that does nOT make Jesus a refugee as defined today. WHen we come inside to seek refuge from the pouring rain we are not refugees.

  13. Leslie says:

    Isn’t a refugee and an illegal alien two different categories? The Vietnam boat people were refugees. People crossing into the USA from the Mexican border are illegal aliens.
    There is a specific protocol that classifies people as refugees. it’s not merely a matter of seeking refuge.. People coming here illegally are supposedly coming for a “better life” a better life is not a reason to obtain refugee status. If people merely want a better life they can work in their own country to create a better life.
    And no the first pilgrims were not refugees because there was no official government that granted refugee status. They were settlers.
    The reason this matters is because so many people seeming want to justify people coming here illegally by calling them refugees and saying Jesus was a refugee so the Christian thing to do is to just make accomodations.
    While Jesus and so forth might have been seeking refuge that does nOT make Jesus a refugee as defined today. WHen we come inside to seek refuge from the pouring rain we are not refugees.

    1. di36464 says:

      excellent response.

  14. Valeria says:

    You are certifiably crazy if you actually believe Yeshua was a refugee.
    Yeshua CREATED this world and the universe at large: that means HE OWNS IT. How is it possible to be a refugee when the OWNER is in residence?
    Not only are you certifiable, but if you are ‘professor of’ anything … it is bullshit. It is clear your ‘research’ went no further than your nose which is biased and misses the smell test. Do the world a favor and STOP writing nonsense. IN fact, just stop musing and writing …. your ‘research’ is dangerously blasphemous.

  15. Maria del Soma says:

    This article should be removed from this blog. Using the name of the Lord to make apolitical point is unethical.

  16. PAUL DIBARTOLO says:

    I’m unaware of refugees who pay their own way. Don’t refugees flee their homes with nothing?

  17. PAUL DIBARTOLO says:

    I’m unaware of refugees who pay their own way. Don’t refugees flee their homes with nothing?

  18. Charles says:

    You can be fairly sure that such hospitality would not have been given in Israel to those of a nation that had in the recent past declared Israel to be their enemy, went to war against them, and meanwhile and subsequently made life for the people of Israel within their own country unbearable, threatening them with death and murdering them, confiscating their property, burning their homes, shops, businesses, and schools until the centuries old Jewish communities that were in Syria are virtually non-existent today, all but less than 100 mostly ederly people having fled to other lands. And then, when the judgement of the Most High comes on Syria, and a civil war breaks out, and it destroys itself from within, and without any indication of repentance for the above, you say the righteous should embrace them as brothers and fellow countrymen? All of that learning but where are your scruples? If he called the Samaritans dogs, what Jesus would have said of the Syrians?

  19. David says:

    “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”

    Modern day equivalent of filing his taxes.

    They did return home by a different route to escape Herod.

  20. David says:

    “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”
    Modern day equivalent of filing his taxes.
    They did return home by a different route to escape Herod.

  21. The Sanity Inspector says:

    The prophet Mohammed was also a refugee. The Jewish city of Medina received him and his followers. Within five years the Jews were all expelled, enslaved, or massacred.

  22. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    People forget that Judea and Egypt were both parts of the Roman Empire. Moving from the former to the latter for fear of persecution was really no different than those who leave California for Arizona for fear of political persecution today. However, since BOTH were/are seeking “refuge”, yes, they are “refugees”.

    Regarding the so-called refugees in Europe, I’m certain that Daesh was taking advantage of European laxness and sent in hundreds of terrorists as “refugees”.

  23. Dennis B. Swaney says:

    People forget that Judea and Egypt were both parts of the Roman Empire. Moving from the former to the latter for fear of persecution was really no different than those who leave California for Arizona for fear of political persecution today. However, since BOTH were/are seeking “refuge”, yes, they are “refugees”.
    Regarding the so-called refugees in Europe, I’m certain that Daesh was taking advantage of European laxness and sent in hundreds of terrorists as “refugees”.

  24. Study says:

    I found the author’s stretch of the word “refugee” appalling when applied to the Holy Family and their circumstances. To then further abuse the gospel by attempting to make a connection to the current European situation is further evidence to me of the political leanings of the author. This article is neither enlightened nor scholarly, rather, it is an attempt to join forces with the growing number of ill-informed liberals who would see Europe and the rest of the world sink into barbarism rather than be considered “cold-hearted”.

  25. AP says:

    Does the author feel as sorry for the Germans, the South Tel Avivans, etc. who are becoming refugees in their own countries? This abuse of a scholarly journal to make a pitch for a dubious cause is disgraceful.

  26. AP says:

    Does the author feel as sorry for the Germans, the South Tel Avivans, etc. who are becoming refugees in their own countries? This abuse of a scholarly journal to make a pitch for a dubious cause is disgraceful.

  27. Cena Foura says:

    This article is a blatant attempt to justify the current suicide that the christian west is committing. The truth is that we are under islamic migration jihad. The reason for the muslims perpetrating this hostile act against kaffirs is based on the fact that mahomet, the false prophet, was a refugee, and it was when he entered Medina and killed off the jews and stole their property and children that he started to succeed as a warlord slaver. Jesus has no parallel to this.

  28. Bob says:

    This is sick. Comparing Jesus to the coordinated takedown of western civilization by anti-Christian God haters is heretical and blasphemous.

  29. Firestone says:

    So let me get this right. Jesus Christ is a refugee because Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt to escape the assassination of king Herod and yet in the beginning of time Jesus Christ created all things of both heaven and earth. This sounds like a conundrum?

  30. Firestone says:

    So let me get this right. Jesus Christ is a refugee because Joseph and Mary took him to Egypt to escape the assassination of king Herod and yet in the beginning of time Jesus Christ created all things of both heaven and earth. This sounds like a conundrum?

  31. Paul Ballotta says:

    It seems that Jesus implying that he feels like a refugee in his native country didn’t go over well with the congregation at Nazareth (Luke 4:24-29). An earlier gospel states:
    “Jesus said, ‘Become passers-by'” (The Gospel of Thomas, saying #42).

  32. Paul Ballotta says:

    It seems that Jesus implying that he feels like a refugee in his native country didn’t go over well with the congregation at Nazareth (Luke 4:24-29). An earlier gospel states:
    “Jesus said, ‘Become passers-by'” (The Gospel of Thomas, saying #42).

  33. Alexa Smith says:

    Jesus was not intending to invade and undermine Egypt. He went in with gold from the Magi which provided for them. There would also be other Jewish communities there. Joseph had a trade, carpenter/master builder/architect. They weren’t going to be dirt poor.

  34. Rob Palmer says:

    Amazing how long-term residents of a culture area accept any refugees at all. After all, refugees lower working standards as well as wages for current and future generations. If any employer (or corporation, today) can get cheap help easily, he has no motivation to pay higher wages, or improve working conditions. Bringing in multitudes of immigrants only leads to the overcrowding problems of Calcutta (and other cities) in India in the previous ages. Today many modern societies make immigration very difficult, as Australia and Iceland demonstrate. Politicians promoting gross immigration must, therefore be compensated in some way by those seeking cheap help.

  35. John says:

    I cannot agree more with the views of AF above.
    One can appreciate the writings of Ms Taylor. But i do think that the comparison is greatly misguided. Yes, in simple terms, the flight was into exile from the threats of a manic despot. Can one, however, rightly and generally compare what happened to the bar-Jacob family and the refugee crisis of today? Joseph and his little family would have lived within the cultural context of Egypt, but without losing their jewish identity.
    this 21st-century crisis is a double-edged sword. And a crisis it is. Evil (so-called ‘radical’ Islam) has descended and millions displaced, tortured, murdered.
    If this was a genuine refugee situation then one may sympathise totally. But within the ranks of these unfortunate people is a threat of dangerous proportions. The so-called extremist know full well that Muslims will not live according to the cultural norms of the society they want to move into, but will seek to change that culture to their own. Slowly but surely, Islam will displace the (now almost non-existent) Christian underpinning of European culture.
    And Islam will achieve what it set out to do all those centuries ago – subject the Great Satan to Islam. Fight the infidel is the clarion call of the Koran and the sons of Ishmael will not relent until they have achieved world domination.
    Europe first, USA second and onwards from there.

  36. AF says:

    The problem with this article is not speculation about the possible migrations of Jesus’ childhood. It’s with the article’s initial attempt to connect this biographical lore, factual or not, to a mischaracterization of a current large scale geo-political crisis. Germans, Belgians and Swedes are less concerned about jobs, health, and welfare services as they are about their values, customs, and culture. Westerners globally are feeling coerced into transforming their societies in order to culturally accommodate both the internal political influences of multiculturalism as well as the very often violent and socially caustic behavior of the immigrants themselves, not to mention the inherent risk of terrorism. For instance, in Cologne transit authorities have created separate railway cars for women and children because they are no longer safe to travel as they have traditionally. This is one of many instances of such policies in which the host is being assimilated to the newcomer, not the other way around. The very mandate to treat displaced and refugee populations with compassion and hospitality has come to be a feature of a Western cultural worldview, but there’s no way to ensure that trait’s survival or effectiveness if few feel the need to maintain the civilizational legacy from which that worldview proceeds.

  37. AF says:

    The problem with this article is not speculation about the possible migrations of Jesus’ childhood. It’s with the article’s initial attempt to connect this biographical lore, factual or not, to a mischaracterization of a current large scale geo-political crisis. Germans, Belgians and Swedes are less concerned about jobs, health, and welfare services as they are about their values, customs, and culture. Westerners globally are feeling coerced into transforming their societies in order to culturally accommodate both the internal political influences of multiculturalism as well as the very often violent and socially caustic behavior of the immigrants themselves, not to mention the inherent risk of terrorism. For instance, in Cologne transit authorities have created separate railway cars for women and children because they are no longer safe to travel as they have traditionally. This is one of many instances of such policies in which the host is being assimilated to the newcomer, not the other way around. The very mandate to treat displaced and refugee populations with compassion and hospitality has come to be a feature of a Western cultural worldview, but there’s no way to ensure that trait’s survival or effectiveness if few feel the need to maintain the civilizational legacy from which that worldview proceeds.

  38. crosssprint says:

    Seems like a very liberal interpretation to me , omitting the miracle of the Angel telling Joseph to leave, she can rewrite it to suit her particular viewpoint.

  39. crosssprint says:

    Seems like a very liberal interpretation to me , omitting the miracle of the Angel telling Joseph to leave, she can rewrite it to suit her particular viewpoint.

  40. Odinga says:

    There is so much so-called religious history written that we take for fact, when it is really redactions of what the Roman Catholic Church has done. There is no proof of what is written inasmuch as all original documents are lost or destroyed.
    Joseph and Mary gave birth to Jesus and other children from their home in Nazareth, not Bethlehem as the text states. It too is redacted. There is so much ancient myth circulating that writer, Europeans, have included as authentic. In order to give due-diligence one has revisit literature before the 17th Century and move more to the hear-say that come close to truth.
    Jesus never instituted the institution called church. Jesus would not have said, “Upon the rock Peter I will build my church…” Jesus would have said if anything, “James,” the brother of Jesus who was in line to continue The Way Movement, :Upon James I give permission to continue The Way Movement.”
    It was Constantine, and later the Popes ,that change the movement by installing Peter as head of the Church, not The Way Movement. Once the so-called church is established it become a male dominated, greed, wealth, sex, at all and any expense. We have been introduced to the wrong religious template. That of Man, not Jesus who is call The Christ.
    There is so much more but time does not permit to go on.
    Truth crush the earth will rise again!

  41. Prodigal48 says:

    I seriously wonder if this writer has a complete understanding of Scripture or its Author.

  42. Prodigal48 says:

    I seriously wonder if this writer has a complete understanding of Scripture or its Author.

  43. Kevin DeFranco says:

    There is a book called Tales of Glastonbury. This book is a historical book, that tells about Jesus travelling with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to Joseph’s tin mines in the British Isle’s during His teenage years. There are monuments on rocks there depicting a man in a boat, with a boy standing at the front of the boat. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Mary the mother of Jesus along with John, and Joseph of Arimathea went to England and started the Church there.

  44. Kevin DeFranco says:

    There is a book called Tales of Glastonbury. This book is a historical book, that tells about Jesus travelling with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to Joseph’s tin mines in the British Isle’s during His teenage years. There are monuments on rocks there depicting a man in a boat, with a boy standing at the front of the boat. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, Mary the mother of Jesus along with John, and Joseph of Arimathea went to England and started the Church there.

  45. Toni says:

    Since Judea and Egypt were both a part of a Roman Empire, Jesus’s family technically travelled within the same country, when they went to Egypt.

  46. Toni says:

    Since Judea and Egypt were both a part of a Roman Empire, Jesus’s family technically travelled within the same country, when they went to Egypt.

  47. Les Brown says:

    Aside from the fact that there is another “Bethlehem” not more than 10 kms from Nazareth (Bethlehem literally means “House of Bread” – “House” in this instance meaning a locality, it is a place where the best quality wheat for the Showbread in the Temple was harvested and milled).
    Aside from the fact that although Josephus mentions many towns in the Galilee an area which he was very familiar with, he never mentions “Nazareth”, leading to the possibility that Nazareth did not even exist at the time of Jesus and that it was not Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus the Nazrene, the two terms being confused in the New Testament.
    Aside from the fact that Jews never left the Holy Land without a clear objective of returning to it when circumstances permit.
    Aside from the fact that it is not European concerns that the Muslims are benefitting from health care and welfare, and taking jobs, their insularity, an inability to integrate and their lack of respect for European tradition and values, an increase in burglaries, rapes and abuse of white women notably in Cologne and Malmo, while the police impotently look on, afraid to intervene.
    I suppose what really bothers Europeans is the violence toward their society together with the terror attacks on their citizens.
    Is it any wonder that Muslims are not welcome by many in Europe?

  48. a laitinen says:

    Egypt has border with Israel, they knew where they were going not in any unfamiliar country, only some neighbour where fathers had lived too.They did not try to reach Scandinavia after higher living standard :DD

  49. a laitinen says:

    Egypt has border with Israel, they knew where they were going not in any unfamiliar country, only some neighbour where fathers had lived too.They did not try to reach Scandinavia after higher living standard :DD

  50. Yvonne Marais says:

    Jesus was NOT A MUSLIM !Neither a SUICIDE BOMBER etc. Big difference.Neither ISIS, HAMAS ,Al Khaeda, PLO Boko Haram and all the others too many to mention of the MUSLIM FAITH. So stop propagating and comparing JESUS to the current bunch of MONSTERS and MURDERERS from the Middle East Muslim Countries the entire WORLD has to contend with. .

  51. charlesc97 says:

    He did not invade to rape and kill, you MORONS.

  52. Mari Jo says:

    The gospel of Matthew states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not that it was Joseph and Mary’s home before the birth. Matthew’s gospel does not provide any details as to their place of residence. The gospel of Luke states that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, travelled to Bethlehem for the census and that is where Jesus was born.
    For the author to state that the family of Jesus were residence of Bethlehem before His birth and found “a new place of refuge” in Nazareth because it adds to story of Jesus’ life as a refuge seems a stretch to anyone who has read the Nativity stories.

  53. Mari Jo says:

    The gospel of Matthew states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not that it was Joseph and Mary’s home before the birth. Matthew’s gospel does not provide any details as to their place of residence. The gospel of Luke states that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, travelled to Bethlehem for the census and that is where Jesus was born.
    For the author to state that the family of Jesus were residence of Bethlehem before His birth and found “a new place of refuge” in Nazareth because it adds to story of Jesus’ life as a refuge seems a stretch to anyone who has read the Nativity stories.

  54. Ken Gleim says:

    By our human misperception we might think of Jesus as a refugee, but He was in Egypt not because He (or his parents) ran away in fear, but because his parents were instructed by God to go to Egypt. God was in control. They sought their refuge in God and it was God who instructed them to sojourn in Egypt.

  55. Ken Gleim says:

    By our human misperception we might think of Jesus as a refugee, but He was in Egypt not because He (or his parents) ran away in fear, but because his parents were instructed by God to go to Egypt. God was in control. They sought their refuge in God and it was God who instructed them to sojourn in Egypt.

  56. Ponzio Oliverio says:

    The flight of Jesus and His family involved just that, a single family. As is accurately pointed out in the article however, when massive migrations took place, the refugees were not always welcome. Nations have the absolute right to secure their borders by allowing, or disallowing, refugees into their countries. The implication here seems to be that because Jesus’ family was not turned away by Egypt, then European nations should not turn away Syrian refugees but it is not a similar comparison.

  57. Ponzio Oliverio says:

    The flight of Jesus and His family involved just that, a single family. As is accurately pointed out in the article however, when massive migrations took place, the refugees were not always welcome. Nations have the absolute right to secure their borders by allowing, or disallowing, refugees into their countries. The implication here seems to be that because Jesus’ family was not turned away by Egypt, then European nations should not turn away Syrian refugees but it is not a similar comparison.

  58. Al Bouman says:

    Even though Jesus was a refugee. I’m confident his family was not part of a terrorist group blowing up the people of Egypt where they fled to.

  59. Helen says:

    Roger…spices were very valuable in those days also – perhaps as valuable as gold. These resources surely helped the parents provide housing, food, clothing, and perhaps carpentry tools to enable the growing family to thrive in Egypt and when they migrated back to Nazareth.

  60. Helen says:

    Roger…spices were very valuable in those days also – perhaps as valuable as gold. These resources surely helped the parents provide housing, food, clothing, and perhaps carpentry tools to enable the growing family to thrive in Egypt and when they migrated back to Nazareth.

  61. mikeb says:

    Were Mary and Joseph eligible for low-income housing subsidies, subsidized medical care, food stamps, WIC payments, tax refund payouts to the poor, mandated free schooling, voting rights during their stay in Egypt?
    Did Mary and Joseph join rape gangs and gangs of rioters?
    Were they members of terror cells?
    Can we have a BAR article on Jesus’ time in Egypt without making erroneous claims about contemporary political conditions (“unstoppable force,” “in order to preserve jobs” etc., “cold-heartedness”) in the modern west?

  62. davidb366 says:

    2. I’m wondering how the disciple Matthew could not know Herod died some six plus years before the birth of Christ?

  63. davidb366 says:

    2. I’m wondering how the disciple Matthew could not know Herod died some six plus years before the birth of Christ?

  64. Burton Everist says:

    Not only was Jesus a refugee, so were many in the young church especially following the retaking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. The Gospel according to John speaks to this homelessness as John’s hearers/readers were assured that their home was in Jesus and that Jesus had prepared a place for them. 1 Peter begins by addressing the exiles in many places. Again in 2:11 he speaks of them as sojourners and exiles.

  65. Burton Everist says:

    Not only was Jesus a refugee, so were many in the young church especially following the retaking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. The Gospel according to John speaks to this homelessness as John’s hearers/readers were assured that their home was in Jesus and that Jesus had prepared a place for them. 1 Peter begins by addressing the exiles in many places. Again in 2:11 he speaks of them as sojourners and exiles.

  66. Cheryl says:

    What? refugee? He was the son of G-D . The earth is His and the fullness of it therof
    As The other comment states,the gifts of the Magi !

  67. Cheryl says:

    What? refugee? He was the son of G-D . The earth is His and the fullness of it therof
    As The other comment states,the gifts of the Magi !

  68. rogerh30 says:

    With the gifts of the Magi – particularly the gold – I have wondered if that was the source of funds for the long stay in Egypt.

  69. rogerh30 says:

    With the gifts of the Magi – particularly the gold – I have wondered if that was the source of funds for the long stay in Egypt.

  70. Jim Sill says:

    No comparison to present refugees all over the world.
    My grand parents came from West Prussia. All people started in Africa and are all over the world.

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