THE DIVINE PLAN PART 1

 

We always affirm that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because of the Roman’s tax decree. Elder Bruce R. McConkie reasoned that this decree was just a vehicle to fulfil the prophecy that the Saviour would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-8).

Elder McConkie goes on to say that Mary and Joseph knew of this prophecy and knowing who Mary’s baby was, would have moved heaven and earth to make it to Bethlehem so He could be born there (The Mortal Messiah Book 1, p 341.

I tend to agree with this theory as this also came into my mind: did Mary need to be there for the tax issue? Any governmental procedure in the ancient world was conducted by men with men. Women came under the jurisdiction of men. Their record keeping tracked only the paternal and not the maternal line. The scriptures attest to this.

Bethlehem, the city of David, would have kept scrupulous records of the lineage of Joseph who was a descendant of David, as recorded by Matthew (1:1-16). Mary is mentioned not only because she was Joseph’s wife but because she also was a descendant of David. Joseph and Mary were first cousins, children of two brothers, Jacob and Heli (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38; JST Luke 3:30-31, 45).

Consider the patriarchal and legal rights that men had over women: “Had Judah been a free and independent nation, ruled by her rightful sovereign, Joseph the carpenter would have been her crowned king; and his lawful successor to the throne would have been Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” (James Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p 87) So even though by blood Jesus was Mary’s son, in the eyes of the law, He was the son of Joseph.

Would women really have been expected to attend accounting of taxes and census? Surely only Joseph would have been required to be there. So why else would Joseph put Mary ‘heavy with child’ on a journey of eighty dusty, dreary miles from Nazareth riding on a slow stepping donkey to Bethlehem if the primary motivation was not Jesus’ place of birth?

I tried to research this but could not find anything of evidence that women were required to be there. I did learn about the Roman procedure of taxing the provinces in the empire though. Very insightful….

Imagine if Joseph had gone to Bethlehem alone and Jesus was born in Nazareth instead. How much cause would the Jewish ruling class have had against Jesus who claimed He was the promised Messiah that was prophesied would be  born in Bethlehem?! I am certain that Mary and Joseph contemplated this and used it as motivation to fulfil the sacred responsibility they were entrusted with.

And we may we ask, why Bethlehem??? Because it was the city of His father David and because of this: Bethlehem in Hebrew means ‘house of bread’…. Indeed Bethlehem supplied the whole of Jerusalem with bread. Was this city not symbolically fit to be the birth place of the One who proclaimed himself to be “the bread of life?” (John 6:31,51; Bethlehem - Guide to the Scriptures)

The Divine Plan executed every detail of Christ’s birth. It was no coincidence that Rome decreed the tax requirement so late in Mary’s pregnancy which would necessitate her baby be born in the most-humble of circumstances because Bethlehem was overrun with people:

“Though he laid the foundations of the earth, and worlds without number had rolled into orbit at his word, he chose to come into mortality among the beasts of the field. Though he had worn a kingly crown in the eternal courts on high, he chose to breathe as his first mortal breath the stench of a stable.”

-        - Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah 1, p 345

A God of splendour;

A babe of mortal birth;

All power surrendered

For the lowly of this earth.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)