What was the timeline of Jesus' birth and when the Magi showed up?

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oneofmany

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I am wondering when all the events tool place when Jesus was born. After he was born how long did Mary and Joseph stay in Bethlehem before taking him to Egypt? If Harrod was searching for him they would have had to leave soon after his birth. Also, where and when did the Magi show up? Was it in Bethlehem or in Egypt but then the star that was guiding them would be gone.
 
According to the Bible, they were still in Bethlehem, but they had at least moved up to staying in a house, despite the nativity scenes that all show kings and camels outside of the barn.
 
From Matthew 2:
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
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From this I take it they visited him shortly after his birth in Bethlehem, then after Herod realized the magi weren’t going to report back to him, he sent soldiers to find Jesus, but Mary and Joseph left for Egypt before those soldiers arrived.

That’s just my read on it.
 
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I don’t believe the Church has ever definitively “ruled” on this, but the reference to a house and not a stable and that Herod’s order was to kill any male child under the age of two suggests the Holy Family lingered in Bethlehem for awhile.
 
I guess they had to be there until Jesus was presented at the Temple. Is that on the eighth day? I need to see a map of the area I guess to imagine all the traveling they did.
 
Jesus would have been circumcised within a few days after his birth. Edited to add, as Luke said, this would have happened 8 days after his birth in accordance with Leviticus 12. He would not have been presented at Temple for a month because Mary needed to be purified at the temple the same time and (edited here for clarity) Leviticus 12 says that requires 33 more days after the day on which the son is circumcised. They would have had to go to the temple in Jerusalem for the presentation and purification after the 33 days were up, which for 2 people including one new mom with infant would have been a significant journey from Bethlehem. So yes, they likely stayed somewhere in the area until time to go to Jerusalem, and fled to Egypt after that.
It would have taken Herod a while to figure out the Magi weren’t coming back to tell him where Jesus was.
 
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I was told 2 yrs. they followed the star, which came at the Birth. Still debating on the star? What star stays in place 2 yrs. ??
 
How do Catholics reconcile the differences in the story between Matthew and Luke? In Luke, the family never goes to Egypt, they go back to Nazareth a month later. Thanks for any insight you can give!
 
Patty, one explanation I have heard is that Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, while Luke was writing to a gentile (Roman) audience, and left out material that he thought would be poorly received by gentile/Roman readers.
 
That was certainly a concern! I’ve never heard that reasoning…usually I’ve heard some very conflated mish mashing of trying to get the stories to agree…even though they don’t! This is not only more reasonable, it makes sense!
 
Allegra said:
According to the Bible, they were still in Bethlehem
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Really? What I see is that Herod tells them to go to Bethlehem and they see the star again on leaving. I don’t see a definite statement that the house was in Bethlehem and think it may have been in Nazareth.
 
There is definite statement that Magi went to Bethlehem only.Read M2:5 and 8
 
As per Mathew, after the visit of Magi at Bethlehem ,Joseph fled to Egypt with Jesus and Mary, stayed there and came back and lived in Nazareth.As per Luke the family of Jesus went to Nazareth only after the presentation ceremony at Jerusalem(which was done on the 40th day of birth),but nothing said about the visit of Magi or about the escape to Egypt.A harmonious reading of these two would suggest that the visit of Magi,escape to and return from Egypt all happened with in 40 days of Jesus’s birth.Also Herod ordering killing of children below 2 years show that the information he got from Magi about the time of birth of Jesus include the possibility of Jesus birth even just a few days earlier also.
In short it is reasonable ti assume that Magi’s visit was when Jesus was only a few days old .
 
In Matthew, you have:
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
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So that would lead me to believe that Jesus was between 1 and 2 years old, rather than being an infant at that point. Anyone who’s had children knows there’s no possible way of mistaking a two-year-old for a two-month-old or a two-week-old.

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joseie said:
There is definite statement that Magi went to Bethlehem only.Read M2:5 and 8
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Herod sends them to Bethlehem in those verses indeed, but 2.9 seems to show the star leading them to Jesus. I think that the star may not have lead them to Bethlehem.
 
The Bible talks about Jesus being presented in the Temple by his parents after the days of Mary’s purification. I believe the Jewish custom was about 40 days after a baby’s birth so IMO after Jesus was born in a cave and was circumcised, the Magi came and went and then the holy family went directly from Bethlehem to the Jerusalem Temple for the baby’s presentation.
 
That was later imo. After the presentation, they went back to Nazareth. Herod must have taken his time to deploy spies and follow various leads about the whereabouts of the child. After these efforts produced no result, he got frustrated and decreed the massacre of the Innocents. Several months could have passed.
 
You appear to be out of touch with what is stated in the Scriptures in this regard.As per Mathew,they fled to Egypt directly from Bethlehem after the visit of Magi and not after the presentation/purification done at Jerusalem.Also they came down and lived at Nazareth after all these events.
 
I stated my opinion only. Scripture does not tell us that they went to Egypt directly from Bethlehem. Get your Bible quotes right. In any event, I do not engage rude people so believe what you want and goodbye.
 
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