Did Jesus spend His childhood in Capernaum?

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irishcolleen45

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I’m reading John Chap 6. Verse 42 which states: "42 They were saying, ‘Surely this is Jesus,son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.’ "

This all took place in Capernaum. Were these people following Jesus from Nazareth or did Jesus, Mary and Joseph live in Capernaum during Jesus’ childhood?

Thank you.
 
It’s conceivable he visited. It’s not that far, about 27 miles/45 km. Maybe a little longer if we consider the roads weren’t what’s there in modern times, but it wouldn’t have been out of the question to walk or caravan between them in those days, even with some regularity.

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We know that as an adult, Jesus lived in Capernaum. It makes sense that as a widow, Mary lived there also. We don’t know when Joseph died, but it’s possible in his old age he moved to Capernaum also.
 
Galilee was a small, and Nazareth a small village. I imagine Capernaum was the “big town” close by to Nazareth, and it’s conceivable that the family could have made the trip many times for various reasons.
 
irishcolleen45 said:
I’m reading John Chap 6. Verse 42 which states: "42 They were saying, ‘Surely this is Jesus,son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.’ "
This all took place in Capernaum. Were these people following Jesus from Nazareth or did Jesus, Mary and Joseph live in Capernaum during Jesus’ childhood?
Thank you.
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Joseph was a carpenter, he would have to travel to a work site to do his on-location work or sell his products at markets where ever they were located. Like most parents in a trade during those days, the son was brought along to learn the skill. It is likely there were people in many towns that knew of them.
 
We know basically nothing about how Jesus spent His life from the ages of about 12 to 30. There are legends that say He went to England or to India (and presumably, points in between). Could have been. We can’t say.
 
It is my understanding that Joseph died before Jesus began His ministry.
 
There are some funny new age theories that say that Jesus travelled around the world before he was 30 and there he learned things from eastern and pagan “spiritual masters”.

I know, it’s absurd, but some people seem to present it as an hypothesis in the internet.
 
AlbMagno said:
There are some funny new age theories that say that Jesus travelled around the world before he was 30 and there he learned things from eastern and pagan “spiritual masters”.

I know, it’s absurd, but some people seem to present it as an hypothesis in the internet.
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He could have. He would not have been going there to “get ideas” for how He would found the religion we call Christian, but as part of His growth in human wisdom and knowledge. There are also some who say Jesus was an Essene before He began His earthly ministry. Anything, aside from sin, is possible.
 
HomeschoolDad said:
some who say Jesus was an Essene before He began His earthly ministry
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That would be more probable. However, I find very odd that nor Him, nor anyone of the Early Church talked about this (and they liked to know every detail of Jesus’ life!).
 
One bit of information we get from scripture is that during the census, they had to go to their own city. So Joseph went to Bethlehem from the city of Nazerath where he was dwelling.

Holy Bible (Douay Rheims)
Lk 2:4 • ‘And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem: because he was of the house and family of David,’
 
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I have some thoughts on this. Note, I’m not Christian!
The only logical reason that I can think of for Joseph to go to Judaea for a census is if he owned some property there. Because he was related to David doesn’t make sense in itself…it was what, a thousand years between David and Joseph and the purpose of a census is for tax reasons and population counts. No need to be present to just be counted. The romans wanted to know who they could tax and you had to own something to be taxed. To me, Joseph probably had some, probably small, property there. Galilee wasn’t part of the Roman area…was it? Anyway, just trying to make sense of this tidbit other than a way to have Jesus born in Bethlehem when everyone knew He was from Nazareth (the secular explanation).

Though we have no way of knowing because it wasn’t written, it does make logical sense…to me!
 
Pattylt said:
it was what, a thousand years between David and Joseph and the purpose of a census is for tax reasons and population counts. No need to be present to just be counted.
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It was a Jewish custom for the men to be counted among their tribe. He went to Bethlehem to be counted among the tribe of Benjamin
 
Yes, I agree with what Justin_Mary posted. But I wonder perhaps if there is another thread to the story aside from the census and symbolism of the city of David. An element of behavior that there may be no evidence for, but is plausible given human nature. Mary was pregnant before she was married, and I can see the Holy Family being the object of gossip in Nazerath. This perhaps may have been an unwritten reason for moving to Bethlehem to have the child. Remember that Joseph wanted to put Mary away because of the obvious scandal this would be, and the angel Gabriel convinced him not to.
 
I’m sorry but there would have been thousands of descendants from the tribe of Benjamin. So literally thousands of families descended upon poor little Bethlehem to be counted by Romans? Like I said, it’s just me trying to figure out a reasonable reason for a Nazareth dweller to be required by Romans…from a territory the Romans didn’t control…to travel there. This wasn’t the Jews taking a census, this was Rome …and Rome only cared about taxing its citizens which Joseph really wasn’t…unless he owned some property.

It’s ok, you don’t have to agree with it. We really don’t know!
 
That does make sense on its own but then why bring in a census story. Joseph protecting Mary’s honor is a much better reason and story than just throwing in a census to have them move. There is some reason the census and the move to Bethlehem are linked. I just think we really don’t know it…because a census alone doesn’t make any sense to me.
 
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