PAPER 123
THE EARLY CHILDHOOD OF JESUS
123:0.1
OWING to the uncertainties and anxieties of their
sojourn in Bethlehem, Mary did not wean the babe
until they had arrived safely in Alexandria, where
the family was able to settle down to a normal life.
They lived with kinsfolk, and Joseph was well able
to support his family as he secured work shortly
after their arrival. He was employed as a carpenter
for several months and then elevated to the position
of foreman of a large group of workmen employed on
one of the public buildings then in process of
construction. This new experience gave him the idea
of becoming a contractor and builder after their
return to Nazareth.
123:0.2
All through these early years of Jesus' helpless
infancy, Mary maintained one long and constant vigil
lest anything befall her child which might
jeopardize his welfare or in any way interfere with
his future mission on earth; no mother was ever more
devoted to her child. In the home where Jesus
chanced to be there were two other children about
his age, and among the near neighbors there were six
others whose ages were sufficiently near his own to
make them acceptable play-fellows. At first Mary was
disposed to keep Jesus close by her side. She feared
something might happen to him if he were allowed to
play in the garden with the other children, but
Joseph, with the assistance of his kinsfolk, was
able to convince her that such a course would
deprive Jesus of the helpful experience of learning
how to adjust himself to children of his own age.
And Mary, realizing that such a program of undue
sheltering and unusual protection might tend to make
him self-conscious and somewhat self-centered,
finally gave assent to the plan of permitting the
child of promise to grow up just like any other
child; and though she was obedient to this decision,
she made it her business always to be on watch while
the little folks were at play about the house or in
the garden. Only an affectionate mother can know the
burden that Mary carried in her heart for the safety
of her son during these years of his infancy and
early childhood.
123:0.3
Throughout the two years of their sojourn at
Alexandria, Jesus enjoyed good health and continued
to grow normally. Aside from a few friends and
relatives no one was told about Jesus' being a
"child of promise." One of Joseph's relatives
revealed this to a few friends in Memphis,
descendants of the distant Ikhnaton, and they, with
a small group of Alexandrian believers, assembled at
the palatial home of Joseph's relative-benefactor a
short time before the return to Palestine to wish
the Nazareth family well and to pay their respects
to the child. On this occasion the assembled friends
presented Jesus with a complete copy of the Greek
translation of the Hebrew scriptures. But this copy
of the Jewish sacred writings was not placed in
Joseph's hands until both he and Mary had finally
declined the invitation of their Memphis and
Alexandrian friends to remain in Egypt. These
believers insisted that the child of destiny would
be able to exert a far greater world influence as a
resident of Alexandria than of any designated place
in Palestine. These persuasions delayed their
departure for Palestine for some time after they
received the news of Herod's death.
123:0.4
Joseph and Mary finally took leave of Alexandria on
a boat belonging to their friend Ezraeon, bound for
Joppa, arriving at that port late in August of the
year 4 B.C. They went directly to Bethlehem, where
they spent the entire month of September in counsel
with their friends and relatives concerning whether
they should remain there or return to Nazareth.
123:0.5
Mary had never fully given up the idea that Jesus
ought to grow up in Bethlehem, the City of David.
Joseph did not really believe that their son was to
become a kingly deliverer of Israel. Besides, he
knew that he himself was not really a descendant of
David; that his being reckoned among the offspring
of David was due to the adoption of one of his
ancestors into the Davidic line of descent. Mary, of
course, thought the City of David the most
appropriate place in which the new candidate for
David's throne could be reared, but Joseph preferred
to take chances with Herod Antipas rather than with
his brother Archelaus. He entertained great fears
for the child's safety in Bethlehem or in any other
city in Judea, and surmised that Archelaus would be
more likely to pursue the menacing policies of his
father, Herod, than would Antipas in Galilee. And
besides all these reasons, Joseph was outspoken in
his preference for Galilee as a better place in
which to rear and educate the child, but it required
three weeks to overcome Mary's objections.
123:0.6
By the first of October Joseph had convinced Mary
and all their friends that it was best for them to
return to Nazareth. Accordingly, early in October, 4
B.C., they departed from Bethlehem for Nazareth,
going by way of Lydda and Scythopolis. They started
out early one Sunday morning, Mary and the child
riding on their newly acquired beast of burden,
while Joseph and five accompanying kinsmen proceeded
on foot; Joseph's relatives refused to permit them
to make the trip to Nazareth alone. They feared to
go to Galilee by Jerusalem and the Jordan valley,
and the western routes were not altogether safe for
two lone travelers with a child of tender years.
1. BACK IN NAZARETH
123:1.1
On the fourth day of the journey the party reached
its destination in safety. They arrived unannounced
at the Nazareth home, which had been occupied for
more than three years by one of Joseph's married
brothers, who was indeed surprised to see them; so
quietly had they gone about their business that
neither the family of Joseph nor that of Mary knew
they had even left Alexandria. The next day Joseph's
brother moved his family, and Mary, for the first
time since Jesus' birth, settled down with her
little family to enjoy life in their own home. In
less than a week Joseph secured work as a carpenter,
and they were supremely happy.
123:1.2
Jesus was about three years and two months old at
the time of their return to Nazareth. He had stood
all these travels very well and was in excellent
health and full of childish glee and excitement at
having premises of his own to run about in and to
enjoy. But he greatly missed the association of his
Alexandrian playmates.
123:1.3
On the way to Nazareth Joseph had persuaded Mary
that it would be unwise to spread the word among
their Galilean friends and relatives that Jesus was
a child of promise. They agreed to refrain from all
mention of these matters to anyone. And they were
both very faithful in keeping this promise.
123:1.4
Jesus' entire fourth year was a period of normal
physical development and of unusual mental activity.
Meantime he had formed a very close attachment for a
neighbor boy about his own age named Jacob. Jesus
and Jacob were always happy in their play, and they
grew up to be great friends and loyal companions.
123:1.5
The next important event in the life of this
Nazareth family was the birth of the second child,
James, in the early morning hours of April 2, 3 B.C.
Jesus was thrilled by the thought of having a baby
brother, and he would stand around by the hour just
to observe the baby's early activities.
123:1.6
It was midsummer of this same year that Joseph built
a small workshop close to the village spring and
near the caravan tarrying lot. After this he did
very little carpenter work by the day. He had as
associates two of his brothers and several other
mechanics, whom he sent out to work while he
remained at the shop making yokes and plows and
doing other woodwork. He also did some work in
leather and with rope and canvas. And Jesus, as he
grew up, when not at school, spent his time about
equally between helping his mother with home duties
and watching his father work at the shop, meanwhile
listening to the conversation and gossip of the
caravan conductors and passengers from the four
corners of the earth.
123:1.7
In July of this year, one month before Jesus was
four years old, an outbreak of malignant intestinal
trouble spread over all Nazareth from contact with
the caravan travelers. Mary became so alarmed by the
danger of Jesus being exposed to this epidemic of
disease that she bundled up both her children and
fled to the country home of her brother, several
miles south of Nazareth on the Megiddo road near
Sarid. They did not return to Nazareth for more than
two months; Jesus greatly enjoyed this, his first
experience on a farm.
2. THE FIFTH YEAR (2 B.C.)
123:2.1
In something more than a year after the return to
Nazareth the boy Jesus arrived at the age of his
first personal and wholehearted moral decision; and
there came to abide with him a Thought Adjuster, a
divine gift of the Paradise Father, which had
aforetime served with Machiventa Melchizedek, thus
gaining the experience of functioning in connection
with the incarnation of a supermortal being living
in the likeness of mortal flesh. This event occurred
on February 11, 2 B.C. Jesus was no more aware of
the coming of the divine Monitor than are the
millions upon millions of other children who, before
and since that day, have likewise received these
Thought Adjusters to indwell their minds and work
for the ultimate spiritualization of these minds and
the eternal survival of their evolving immortal
souls.
123:2.2
On this day in February the direct and personal
supervision of the Universe Rulers, as it was
related to the integrity of the childlike
incarnation of Michael, terminated. From that time
on throughout the human unfolding of the
incarnation, the guardianship of Jesus was destined
to rest in the keeping of this indwelling Adjuster
and the associated seraphic guardians, supplemented
from time to time by the ministry of midway
creatures assigned for the performance of certain
definite duties in accordance with the instruction
of their planetary superiors.
123:2.3
Jesus was five years old in August of this year, and
we will, therefore, refer to this as his fifth
(calendar) year of life. In this year, 2 B.C., a
little more than one month before his fifth birthday
anniversay, Jesus was made very happy by the coming
of his sister Miriam, who was born on the night of
July 11. During the evening of the following day
Jesus had a long talk with his father concerning the
manner in which various groups of living things are
born into the world as separate individuals. The
most valuable part of Jesus' early education was
secured from his parents in answer to his thoughtful
and searching inquiries. Joseph never failed to do
his full duty in taking pains and spending time
answering the boy's numerous questions. From the
time Jesus was five years old until he was ten, he
was one continuous question mark. While Joseph and
Mary could not always answer his questions, they
never failed fully to discuss his inquiries and in
every other possible way to assist him in his
efforts to reach a satisfactory solution of the
problem which his alert mind had suggested.
123:2.4
Since returning to Nazareth, theirs had been a busy
household, and Joseph had been unusually occupied
building his new shop and getting his business
started again. So fully was he occupied that he had
found no time to build a cradle for James, but this
was corrected long before Miriam came, so that she
had a very comfortable crib in which to nestle while
the family admired her. And the child Jesus heartily
entered into all these natural and normal home
experiences. He greatly enjoyed his little brother
and his baby sister and was of great help to Mary in
their care.
123:2.5
There were few homes in the gentile world of those
days that could give a child a better intellectual,
moral, and religious training than the Jewish homes
of Galilee. These Jews had a systematic program for
rearing and educating their children. They divided a
child's life into seven stages:
1. The newborn child, the first to the eighth day.
2. The suckling child.
3. The weaned child.
4. The period of dependence on the mother, lasting
up to the end of the fifth year.
5. The beginning independence of the child and, with
sons, the father assuming responsibility for their
education.
6. The adolescent youths and maidens.
7. The young men and the young women.
123:2.6
It was the custom of the Galilean Jews for the
mother to bear the responsibility for a child's
training until the fifth birthday, and then, if the
child were a boy, to hold the father responsible for
the lad's education from that time on. This year,
therefore, Jesus entered upon the fifth stage of a
Galilean Jewish child's career, and accordingly on
August 21, 2 B.C., Mary formally turned him over to
Joseph for further instruction.
123:2.7
Though Joseph was now assuming the direct
responsibility for Jesus' intellectual and religious
education, his mother still interested herself in
his home training. She taught him to know and care
for the vines and flowers growing about the garden
walls which completely surrounded the home plot. She
also provided on the roof of the house (the summer
bedroom) shallow boxes of sand in which Jesus worked
out maps and did much of his early practice at
writing Aramaic, Greek, and later on, Hebrew, for in
time he learned to read, write, and speak, fluently,
all three languages.
123:2.8
Jesus appeared to be a well-nigh perfect child
physically and continued to make normal progress
mentally and emotionally. He experienced a mild
digestive upset, his first minor illness, in the
latter part of this, his fifth (calendar) year.
123:2.9
Though Joseph and Mary often talked about the future
of their eldest child, had you been there, you would
only have observed the growing up of a normal,
healthy, carefree, but exceedingly inquisitive child
of that time and place.
3. EVENTS OF THE SIXTH YEAR (1 B.C.)
123:3.1
Already, with his mother's help, Jesus had mastered
the Galilean dialect of the Aramaic tongue; and now
his father began teaching him Greek. Mary spoke
little Greek, but Joseph was a fluent speaker of
both Aramaic and Greek. The textbook for the study
of the Greek language was the copy of the Hebrew
scriptures -- a complete version of the law and the
prophets, including the Psalms -- which had been
presented to them on leaving Egypt. There were only
two complete copies of the Scriptures in Greek in
all Nazareth, and the possession of one of them by
the carpenter's family made Joseph's home a
much-sought place and enabled Jesus, as he grew up,
to meet an almost endless procession of earnest
students and sincere truth seekers. Before this year
ended, Jesus had assumed custody of this priceless
manuscript, having been told on his sixth birthday
that the sacred book had been presented to him by
Alexandrian friends and relatives. And in a very
short time he could read it readily.
123:3.2
The first great shock of Jesus' young life occurred
when he was not quite six years old. It had seemed
to the lad that his father -- at least his father
and mother together -- knew everything. Imagine,
therefore, the surprise of this inquiring child,
when he asked his father the cause of a mild
earthquake which had just occurred, to hear Joseph
say, "My son, I really do not know." Thus began that
long and disconcerting disillusionment in the course
of which Jesus found out that his earthly parents
were not all-wise and all-knowing.
123:3.3
Joseph's first thought was to tell Jesus that the
earthquake had been caused by God, but a moment's
reflection admonished him that such an answer would
immediately be provocative of further and still more
embarrassing inquiries. Even at an early age it was
very difficult to answer Jesus' questions about
physical or social phenomena by thoughtlessly
telling him that either God or the devil was
responsible. In harmony with the prevailing belief
of the Jewish people, Jesus was long willing to
accept the doctrine of good spirits and evil spirits
as the possible explanation of mental and spiritual
phenomena, but he very early became doubtful that
such unseen influences were responsible for the
physical happenings of the natural world.
123:3.4
Before Jesus was six years of age, in the early
summer of 1 B.C., Zacharias and Elizabeth and their
son John came to visit the Nazareth family. Jesus
and John had a happy time during this, their first
visit within their memories. Although the visitors
could remain only a few days, the parents talked
over many things, including the future plans for
their sons. While they were thus engaged, the lads
played with blocks in the sand on top of the house
and in many other ways enjoyed themselves in true
boyish fashion.
123:3.5
Having met John, who came from near Jerusalem, Jesus
began to evince an unusual interest in the history
of Israel and to inquire in great detail as to the
meaning of the Sabbath rites, the synagogue sermons,
and the recurring feasts of commemoration. His
father explained to him the meaning of all these
seasons. The first was the midwinter festive
illumination, lasting eight days, starting out with
one candle the first night and adding one each
successive night; this commemorated the dedication
of the temple after the restoration of the Mosaic
services by Judas Maccabee. Next came the early
springtime celebration of Purim, the feast of Esther
and Israel's deliverance through her. Then followed
the solemn Passover, which the adults celebrated in
Jerusalem whenever possible, while at home the
children would remember that no leavened bread was
to be eaten for the whole week. Later came the feast
of the first-fruits, the harvest ingathering; and
last, the most solemn of all, the feast of the new
year, the day of atonement. While some of these
celebrations and observances were difficult for
Jesus' young mind to understand, he pondered them
seriously and then entered fully into the joy of the
feast of tabernacles, the annual vacation season of
the whole Jewish people, the time when they camped
out in leafy booths and gave themselves up to mirth
and pleasure.
123:3.6
During this year Joseph and Mary had trouble with
Jesus about his prayers. He insisted on talking to
his heavenly Father much as he would talk to Joseph,
his earthly father. This departure from the more
solemn and reverent modes of communication with
Deity was a bit disconcerting to his parents,
especially to his mother, but there was no
persuading him to change; he would say his prayers
just as he had been taught, after which he insisted
on having "just a little talk with my Father in
heaven."
123:3.7
In June of this year Joseph turned the shop in
Nazareth over to his brothers and formally entered
upon his work as a builder. Before the year was
over, the family income had more than trebled. Never
again, until after Joseph's death, did the Nazareth
family feel the pinch of poverty. The family grew
larger and larger, and they spent much money on
extra education and travel, but always Joseph's
increasing income kept pace with the growing
expenses.
123:3.8
The next few years Joseph did considerable work at
Cana, Bethlehem (of Galilee), Magdala, Nain,
Sepphoris, Capernaum, and Endor, as well as much
building in and near Nazareth. As James grew up to
be old enough to help his mother with the housework
and care of the younger children, Jesus made
frequent trips away from home with his father to
these surrounding towns and villages. Jesus was a
keen observer and gained much practical knowledge
from these trips away from home; he was assiduously
storing up knowledge regarding man and the way he
lived on earth.
123:3.9
This year Jesus made great progress in adjusting his
strong feelings and vigorous impulses to the demands
of family co-operation and home discipline. Mary was
a loving mother but a fairly strict disciplinarian.
In many ways, however, Joseph exerted the greater
control over Jesus as it was his practice to sit
down with the boy and fully explain the real and
underlying reasons for the necessity of disciplinary
curtailment of personal desires in deference to the
welfare and tranquillity of the entire family. When
the situation had been explained to Jesus, he was
always intelligently and willingly co-operative with
parental wishes and family regulations.
123:3.10
Much of his spare time -- when his mother did not
require his help about the house -- was spent
studying the flowers and plants by day and the stars
by night. He evinced a troublesome penchant for
lying on his back and gazing wonderingly up into the
starry heavens long after his usual bedtime in this
well-ordered Nazareth household.
4. THE SEVENTH YEAR (A.D. 1)
123:4.1
This was, indeed, an eventful year in Jesus' life.
Early in January a great snowstorm occurred in
Galilee. Snow fell two feet deep, the heaviest
snowfall Jesus saw during his lifetime and one of
the deepest at Nazareth in a hundred years.
123:4.2
The play life of Jewish children in the times of
Jesus was rather circumscribed; all too often the
children played at the more serious things they
observed their elders doing. They played much at
weddings and funerals, ceremonies which they so
frequently saw and which were so spectacular. They
danced and sang but had few organized games, such as
children of later days so much enjoy.
123:4.3
Jesus, in company with a neighbor boy and later his
brother James, delighted to play in the far corner
of the family carpenter shop, where they had great
fun with the shavings and the blocks of wood. It was
always difficult for Jesus to comprehend the harm of
certain sorts of play which were forbidden on the
Sabbath, but he never failed to conform to his
parents' wishes. He had a capacity for humor and
play which was afforded little opportunity for
expression in the environment of his day and
generation, but up to the age of fourteen he was
cheerful and lighthearted most of the time.
123:4.4
Mary maintained a dovecote on top of the animal
house adjoining the home, and they used the profits
from the sale of doves as a special charity fund,
which Jesus administered after he deducted the tithe
and turned it over to the officer of the synagogue.
123:4.5
The only real accident Jesus had up to this time was
a fall down the back-yard stone stairs which led up
to the canvas-roofed bedroom. It happened during an
unexpected July sandstorm from the east. The hot
winds, carrying blasts of fine sand, usually blew
during the rainy season, especially in March and
April. It was extraordinary to have such a storm in
July. When the storm came up, Jesus was on the
housetop playing, as was his habit, for during much
of the dry season this was his accustomed playroom.
He was blinded by the sand when descending the
stairs and fell. After this accident Joseph built a
balustrade up both sides of the stairway.
123:4.6
There was no way in which this accident could have
been prevented. It was not chargeable to neglect by
the midway temporal guardians, one primary and one
secondary midwayer having been assigned to the
watchcare of the lad; neither was it chargeable to
the guardian seraphim. It simply could not have been
avoided. But this slight accident, occurring while
Joseph was absent in Endor, caused such great
anxiety to develop in Mary's mind that she unwisely
tried to keep Jesus very close to her side for some
months.
123:4.7
Material accidents, commonplace occurrences of a
physical nature, are not arbitrarily interfered with
by celestial personalities. Under ordinary
circumstances only midway creatures can intervene in
material conditions to safeguard the persons of men
and women of destiny, and even in special situations
these beings can so act only in obedience to the
specific mandates of their superiors.
123:4.8
And this was but one of a number of such minor
accidents which subsequently befell this inquisitive
and adventurous youth. If you envisage the average
childhood and youth of an aggressive boy, you will
have a fairly good idea of the youthful career of
Jesus, and you will be able to imagine just about
how much anxiety he caused his parents, particularly
his mother.
123:4.9
The fourth member of the Nazareth family, Joseph,
was born Wednesday morning, March 16, A.D. 1.
5. SCHOOL DAYS IN NAZARETH
123:5.1
Jesus was now seven years old, the age when Jewish
children were supposed to begin their formal
education in the synagogue schools. Accordingly, in
August of this year he entered upon his eventful
school life at Nazareth. Already this lad was a
fluent reader, writer, and speaker of two languages,
Aramaic and Greek. He was now to acquaint himself
with the task of learning to read, write, and speak
the Hebrew language. And he was truly eager for the
new school life which was ahead of him.
123:5.2
For three years -- until he was ten -- he attended
the elementary school of the Nazareth synagogue. For
these three years he studied the rudiments of the
Book of the Law as it was recorded in the Hebrew
tongue. For the following three years he studied in
the advanced school and committed to memory, by the
method of repeating aloud, the deeper teachings of
the sacred law. He graduated from this school of the
synagogue during his thirteenth year and was turned
over to his parents by the synagogue rulers as an
educated "son of the commandment" -- henceforth a
responsible citizen of the commonwealth of Israel,
all of which entailed his attendance at the
Passovers in Jerusalem; accordingly, he attended his
first Passover that year in company with his father
and mother.
123:5.3
At Nazareth the pupils sat on the floor in a
semicircle, while their teacher, the chazan, an
officer of the synagogue, sat facing them. Beginning
with the Book of Leviticus, they passed on to the
study of the other books of the law, followed by the
study of the Prophets and the Psalms. The Nazareth
synagogue possessed a complete copy of the
Scriptures in Hebrew. Nothing but the Scriptures was
studied prior to the twelfth year. In the summer
months the hours for school were greatly shortened.
123:5.4
Jesus early became a master of Hebrew, and as a
young man, when no visitor of prominence happened to
be sojourning in Nazareth, he would often be asked
to read the Hebrew scriptures to the faithful
assembled in the synagogue at the regular Sabbath
services.
123:5.5
These synagogue schools, of course, had no
textbooks. In teaching, the chazan would utter a
statement while the pupils would in unison repeat it
after him. When having access to the written books
of the law, the student learned his lesson by
reading aloud and by constant repetition.
123:5.6
Next, in addition to his more formal schooling,
Jesus began to make contact with human nature from
the four quarters of the earth as men from many
lands passed in and out of his father's repair shop.
When he grew older, he mingled freely with the
caravans as they tarried near the spring for rest
and nourishment. Being a fluent speaker of Greek, he
had little trouble in conversing with the majority
of the caravan travelers and conductors.
123:5.7
Nazareth was a caravan way station and crossroads of
travel and largely gentile in population; at the
same time it was widely known as a center of liberal
interpretation of Jewish traditional law. In Galilee
the Jews mingled more freely with the gentiles than
was their practice in Judea. And of all the cities
of Galilee, the Jews of Nazareth were most liberal
in their interpretation of the social restrictions
based on the fears of contamination as a result of
contact with the gentiles. And these conditions gave
rise to the common saying in Jerusalem, "Can any
good thing come out of Nazareth?"
123:5.8
Jesus received his moral training and spiritual
culture chiefly in his own home. He secured much of
his intellectual and theological education from the
chazan. But his real education -- that equipment of
mind and heart for the actual test of grappling with
the difficult problems of life -- he obtained by
mingling with his fellow men. It was this close
association with his fellow men, young and old, Jew
and gentile, that afforded him the opportunity to
know the human race. Jesus was highly educated in
that he thoroughly understood men and devotedly
loved them.
123:5.9
Throughout his years at the synagogue he was a
brilliant student, possessing a great advantage
since he was conversant with three languages. The
Nazareth chazan, on the occasion of Jesus' finishing
the course in his school, remarked to Joseph that he
feared he "had learned more from Jesus' searching
questions" than he had "been able to teach the lad."
123:5.10
Throughout his course of study Jesus learned much
and derived great inspiration from the regular
Sabbath sermons in the synagogue. It was customary
to ask distinguished visitors, stopping over the
Sabbath in Nazareth, to address the synagogue. As
Jesus grew up, he heard many great thinkers of the
entire Jewish world expound their views, and many
also who were hardly orthodox Jews since the
synagogue of Nazareth was an advanced and liberal
center of Hebrew thought and culture.
123:5.11
When entering school at seven years (at this time
the Jews had just inaugurated a compulsory education
law), it was customary for the pupils to choose
their "birthday text," a sort of golden rule to
guide them throughout their studies, one upon which
they often expatiated at their graduation when
thirteen years old. The text which Jesus chose was
from the Prophet Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord God
is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me; he has
sent me to bring good news to the meek, to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and to set the spiritual prisoners free."
123:5.12
Nazareth was one of the twenty-four priest centers
of the Hebrew nation. But the Galilean priesthood
was more liberal in the interpretation of the
traditional laws than were the Judean scribes and
rabbis. And at Nazareth they were also more liberal
regarding the observance of the Sabbath. It was
therefore the custom for Joseph to take Jesus out
for walks on Sabbath afternoons, one of their
favorite jaunts being to climb the high hill near
their home, from which they could obtain a panoramic
view of all Galilee. To the northwest, on clear
days, they could see the long ridge of Mount Carmel
running down to the sea; and many times Jesus heard
his father relate the story of Elijah, one of the
first of that long line of Hebrew prophets, who
reproved Ahab and exposed the priests of Baal. To
the north Mount Hermon raised its snowy peak in
majestic splendor and monopolized the skyline,
almost 3,000 feet of the upper slopes glistening
white with perpetual snow. Far to the east they
could discern the Jordan valley and, far beyond, the
rocky hills of Moab. Also to the south and the east,
when the sun shone upon their marble walls, they
could see the Greco-Roman cities of the Decapolis,
with their amphitheaters and pretentious temples.
And when they lingered toward the going down of the
sun, to the west they could make out the sailing
vessels on the distant Mediterranean.
123:5.13
From four directions Jesus could observe the caravan
trains as they wended their way in and out of
Nazareth, and to the south he could overlook the
broad and fertile plain country of Esdraelon,
stretching off toward Mount Gilboa and Samaria.
123:5.14
When they did not climb the heights to view the
distant landscape, they strolled through the
countryside and studied nature in her various moods
in accordance with the seasons. Jesus' earliest
training, aside from that of the home hearth, had to
do with a reverent and sympathetic contact with
nature.
123:5.15
Before he was eight years of age, he was known to
all the mothers and young women of Nazareth, who had
met him and talked with him at the spring, which was
not far from his home, and which was one of the
social centers of contact and gossip for the entire
town. This year Jesus learned to milk the family cow
and care for the other animals. During this and the
following year he also learned to make cheese and to
weave. When he was ten years of age, he was an
expert loom operator. It was about this time that
Jesus and the neighbor boy Jacob became great
friends of the potter who worked near the flowing
spring; and as they watched Nathan's deft fingers
mold the clay on the potter's wheel, many times both
of them determined to be potters when they grew up.
Nathan was very fond of the lads and often gave them
clay to play with, seeking to stimulate their
creative imaginations by suggesting competitive
efforts in modeling various objects and animals.
6. HIS EIGHTH YEAR (A.D. 2)
123:6.1
This was an interesting year at school. Although
Jesus was not an unusual student, he was a diligent
pupil and belonged to the more progressive third of
the class, doing his work so well that he was
excused from attendance one week out of each month.
This week he usually spent either with his fisherman
uncle on the shores of the Sea of Galilee near
Magdala or on the farm of another uncle (his
mother's brother) five miles south of Nazareth.
123:6.2
Although his mother had become unduly anxious about
his health and safety, she gradually became
reconciled to these trips away from home. Jesus'
uncles and aunts were all very fond of him, and
there ensued a lively competition among them to
secure his company for these monthly visits
throughout this and immediately subsequent years.
His first week's sojourn on his uncle's farm (since
infancy) was in January of this year; the first
week's fishing experience on the Sea of Galilee
occurred in the month of May.
123:6.3
About this time Jesus met a teacher of mathematics
from Damascus, and learning some new techniques of
numbers, he spent much time on mathematics for
several years. He developed a keen sense of numbers,
distances, and proportions.
123:6.4
Jesus began to enjoy his brother James very much and
by the end of this year had begun to teach him the
alphabet.
123:6.5
This year Jesus made arrangements to exchange dairy
products for lessons on the harp. He had an unusual
liking for everything musical. Later on he did much
to promote an interest in vocal music among his
youthful associates. By the time he was eleven years
of age, he was a skillful harpist and greatly
enjoyed entertaining both family and friends with
his extraordinary interpretations and able
improvisations.
123:6.6
While Jesus continued to make enviable progress at
school, all did not run smoothly for either parents
or teachers. He persisted in asking many
embarrassing questions concerning both science and
religion, particularly regarding geography and
astronomy. He was especially insistent on finding
out why there was a dry season and a rainy season in
Palestine. Repeatedly he sought the explanation for
the great difference between the temperatures of
Nazareth and the Jordan valley. He simply never
ceased to ask such intelligent but perplexing
questions.
123:6.7
His third brother, Simon, was born on Friday
evening, April 14, of this year, A.D. 2.
123:6.8
In February, Nahor, one of the teachers in a
Jerusalem academy of the rabbis, came to Nazareth to
observe Jesus, having been on a similar mission to
Zacharias's home near Jerusalem. He came to Nazareth
at the instigation of John's father. While at first
he was somewhat shocked by Jesus' frankness and
unconventional manner of relating himself to things
religious, he attributed it to the remoteness of
Galilee from the centers of Hebrew learning and
culture and advised Joseph and Mary to allow him to
take Jesus back with him to Jerusalem, where he
could have the advantages of education and training
at the center of Jewish culture. Mary was half
persuaded to consent; she was convinced her eldest
son was to become the Messiah, the Jewish deliverer;
Joseph hesitated; he was equally persuaded that
Jesus was to grow up to become a man of destiny, but
what that destiny would prove to be he was
profoundly uncertain. But he never really doubted
that his son was to fulfill some great mission on
earth. The more he thought about Nahor's advice, the
more he questioned the wisdom of the proposed
sojourn in Jerusalem.
123:6.9
Because of this difference of opinion between Joseph
and Mary, Nahor requested permission to lay the
whole matter before Jesus. Jesus listened
attentively, talked with Joseph, Mary, and a
neighbor, Jacob the stone mason, whose son was his
favorite playmate, and then, two days later,
reported that since there was such a difference of
opinion among his parents and advisers, and since he
did not feel competent to assume the responsibility
for such a decision, not feeling strongly one way or
the other, in view of the whole situation, he had
finally decided to "talk with my Father who is in
heaven"; and while he was not perfectly sure about
the answer, he rather felt he should remain at home
"with my father and mother," adding, "they who love
me so much should be able to do more for me and
guide me more safely than strangers who can only
view my body and observe my mind but can hardly
truly know me." They all marveled, and Nahor went
his way, back to Jerusalem. And it was many years
before the subject of Jesus' going away from home
again came up for consideration.
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