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A reference to defending the Bible's account of origins

Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus?

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"Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus?" (Alleged Contradiction #E4570)
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)…

Luke 2:4

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem … And when they [the wise men] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:1, 11

But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Matthew 2:22-23

If Joseph and Mary had a house in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11), then they must have lived there before Jesus was born and moved to Nazareth afterward.  But Luke 2:4 says Joseph lived in Nazareth before Jesus was born, not after.

Response

Joseph lived in Nazareth of Galilee before the birth of Jesus, and he returned to Nazareth of Galilee after fleeing to Egypt after the birth of Jesus as well.

This contradiction claim is based on a lot of assumptions read into the text.  Matthew 2:1 says Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but it never says that the wise men necessarily found him in a house in Bethlehem.  Even if Jesus was found in a house at Bethlehem, this does not imply that Joseph and Mary owned the house.  They could have rented it or stayed with relatives or friends; and even if they did own the house, this would not prove that they lived in Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus.


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