The Birth of Jesus

The announcement of Jesus’ birth echoes the birth announcements of several important figures in the Hebrew Bible, in which an angel announces that a child will be born, followed by a declaration of the child’s name and its significance (see, e.g., Genesis 17:15–19 and Judges 13:2–24). The Gospel of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ genealogy goes to great lengths to present Jesus as descended from the line of David and thus a legitimate “king of the Jews” (see also Jesus as Messiah). This passage also presents Jesus’ nativity as the realization of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. In the Hebrew, the prophecy reads that a “young woman” will give birth, but the Septuagint renders the Hebrew for “young woman” as “virgin.” As a result of this translation, Christian tradition understands the prophecy as foretelling that a virgin would give birth. The text is explicit that Jesus’ parents, Joseph and Mary, while betrothed, had not yet cohabited. For this reason, Joseph was surely surprised when “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). The author considers Joseph a kind and righteous man for accepting the situation and not bringing his wife to the Temple and subjecting her to the ordeal of the suspected adulteress (Numbers 5:11–31; see also Suspected Adultery in Early Judaism).

The Gospel of Luke shares Matthew’s concern to establish Jesus as a descendant of King David. In Luke, the author seeks to explain how it came to pass that Jesus’ parents, who lived in Nazareth, in the Galilee, found themselves in Bethlehem in Judah at the time of his birth. Bethlehem is significant because it was the place of King David’s birth and upbringing. The Gospel emphasizes that Jesus’ parents were careful to observe the Jewish practices surrounding his birth, both circumcision and presenting the requisite offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem after the appropriate period of purification (Leviticus 12:2–8).