Bible scholar Chad Bird shares biblical insight into the question many have been asking. Was Jesus born into a poor family?
Was Jesus Born Into A Poor Family?
Chad Bird provided Bible verses that will support his answer that Jesus was indeed, born into a poor family. He said, “To find out more about the childhood of Jesus, Leviticus is probably not the first, second, or third book that we would go to. But there is a detail in Leviticus 12 that sheds light upon something that happened in the childhood of Jesus and about His family.”
Leviticus 12 writes the purification rites of a mom after childbirth. It gave the various offerings a mother should offer after she’s gone through a period of ritual impurity.
“But there’s a detail there that’s significant,” Chad noted. “It tells us that if the she can’t afford lamb, she’s too poor to afford even a lamb, then instead, she can offer two turtledoves or two pigeons.”
“And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.” (Leviticus 12:8)
He continued, “Now, take that detail and go into Luke chapter 2. Jesus is only 40 days old when Mary and Joseph take him to the temple. And one of the things they do there that day is Mary offers this sacrifice that’s required in the law of Moses. But we’re told she doesn’t offer a lamb, she offers two pigeons instead, two turtledoves instead.”
Jesus’ Ministry
“Now, what this indicates is that Jesus was not born into a rich family. He was not born into a well-off family. He was born into a poor family. And this perfectly accords with His entire ministry because Paul will tell us later that though Christ was rich, yet for our sake He became poor. He came into the lowliness of this family in order that in that place He might begin the work of giving us the riches of salvation. Giving us that which we can never earn on our own, which He provides for us by grace.”
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