Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)
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Cruising the gospel – luke 2:21-40
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Circumcision and naming
(Wikimedia)
2:21 – Just as with Yohanan (John) and for every Jewish boy, on the eighth day after birth, Yahshua (Jesus) was circumcised and named. For the details of this read the previous post.
True to his word in his introduction, Luke arranges everything in proper chronological sequence, first the birth of Yashua, then his circumcision and naming, and then anything more he can find about him as a child. At sometime the family would have returned to Nasra (Nazareth) in the north near the shore of Lake Ginnosar (Galilee).
Temple offerings
There’s a lot to mull over in verses 22-24. There are two distinct obligations that must be fulfilled when Yahshua is about 40 days old. The first concerns Maryam’s purification following childbirth. After giving birth to a son, a mother was ceremonially unclean for 7 days. On the 8th day came circumcision as we have seen (Lev 12:3 and Luke 2:21). But a woman needed to wait a total of 40 days before she could touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary. (For a daughter those periods would be doubled to 14 and 80 days.)
An offering was required when the 40 days were up, she would bring a year-old lamb as a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering. The priest would make atonement for her, and she was then regarded as ritually clean (Lev 12:6–7). Poor people would not have been able to afford a lamb for the burnt offering, and in this case two turtledoves or two young pigeons were acceptable, one bird for the burnt offering and the other for the sin offering (Lev 12:8).
Luke mentions the concession for poverty so it seems Yosep and Maryam were needy at this time. The sin offering does not suggest any wrongdoing on Maryam’s part; it was simply a ritual uncleanness due to the loss of blood during the birth.
Redeeming the first-born
It was also necessary to redeem a first-born son (see Exodus 13:2, 12–15, repeated in Exodus 34:19–20, also Numbers 3:11–13, 40–51 and Numbers 18:15–16). However, the child did not need to be taken to the Temple for this redemption, and Luke doesn’t mention the five shekels being paid.
Perhaps, from Luke’s point of view, since Yahshua is in a sense the first-born of his heavenly Father, not of Yosep, there was no need for the five shekel fee. Maybe the Simeon passage (Luke 2:25-33) is included specifically to make this clear. Hearing this prophecy over the infant Yahshua clearly impressed Yosep and Maryam and gave them further pause for thought.
Hanna (Anna)’s words (Luke 2:36-38) will no doubt have reinforced these impressions and thoughts still further in Yosep and Maryam’s minds.
After fulfilling all the requirements for ritual cleansing and redemption, they returned home to Nasra (Nazareth), and Luke has no details to share about Yahshua’s early life there except for the generalisations that he grew, became strong, was filled with wisdom, and that Father’s grace was on him (Luke 2:40). There remains just one piece of additional detail, and we’ll look at that next time. We can also add, though Luke doesn’t tell us, that Yashua during his childhood years would have learned Yo-sep‘s trade as a general builder (not, as commonly thought, a carpenter, though carpentry would certainly have been included). He would also have been taught by a local scribe to read and write Hebrew and would have studied the Hebrew Bible exhaustively, learning considerable chunks by heart as all Jewish boys were required to do.
Question: Consider that Yahshua, as he grew up, worked with Yo-sep at building and repairing work. Do you think practice at building and repairing structures might have helped him later with the work of building and repairing relationships? Think about the skills involved in getting things to fit well, the need for firm, reliable foundations. Think about things like care, attention to detail, self-control, gentleness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness. He came to repair relationships between everyday people and between those people and his Father in heaven. He said, ‘I will build my church’.
See also:
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