Presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem |
"For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2:30-32).
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Our afternoon itinerary calls for us to explore other sites in and around Bethlehem. Our stomachs, though, remind us it is near lunch time and, as we head back to Bethlehem from Beit Sahour, some of the group begin snacking on the dates, figs, olives and bread purchased earlier at shops along Paul VI Street. We pick up the next part of Luke's birth narrative:
The two ceremonies reported here provide further proof that Mary and Joseph were observant Jews, faithfully keeping traditions that have survived to this day.
Circumcision was recognized as an outward sign of the covenant God made with Abraham: "This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised." (Genesis 17:10)
So, in keeping with Jewish law, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, at which time he was given the name Joshua or Yeshua (a contraction of "Yehoshuha," meaning "Yahweh is salvation;" English form Jesus, derived from Latin Iesus), commanded by God.
Luke also reminds us that there were other rituals associated with a birth. According to Jewish law, Mary was ceremonially unclean for forty days after giving birth and was not allowed to leave the house or participate in religious rites. Once Mary's time of separation was over, the family trudged up the six-mile-long dusty, winding road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem for the required rites of purification and sacrifice at the Temple.
Right, 1 to 50 scale model of 1st century Jerusalem, showing the Tyropoeon Valley and the massive Temple complex.
There, at the Nicanor Gate, she was pronounced clean by the high priest on duty. Furthermore, Mary was required to sacrifice "a pair of doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering" (Leviticus 12:8) which Joseph might have purchased from vendors in the Royal Stoa on the south side of the Court of Gentiles. Had he been wealthier, Joseph would have bought a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove.
Moreover, because Jesus was the firstborn son, he was consecrated to the service of God, described as presented at the Temple. Therefore, Joseph and Mary had to pay "five shekels of silver" (Numbers 18:16) to ransom him back. For a simple craftsman like Joseph the redemption offering plus the price of the doves must have been a hardship.
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Luke next reports two encounters, one with an old man named Simeon who
had been informed by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before seeing
the Messiah with his own eyes. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he had gone
to the Temple that day to pray. Seeing Mary and Joseph presenting the child
Jesus to God, he knew that his prayers had been answered. Approaching the
family, he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying:
In the Temple precincts, probably the Court of Woman, the family also met an eighty-four year old widow named Anna (same as Old Testament Hannah, meaning "grace"), the daughter of Phanuel of the the tribe of Asher, who spent all of her waking hours attending and worshiping in the Temple. Upon witnessing Simeon's testimony, she gave thanks to God. Wandering about the Temple courts, she "spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem" (Luke 2:36). |
Entering through the Fountain Gate near the southeast corner of the city
wall they made their way along the street through the central north-south
valley (called the Tyropoeon Valley by Josephus Flavius) up to the huge
Temple complex. 
Right,
1 to 50 scale model of the Jerusalem Temple
at the Israel Museum (relocated from the Holyland Hotel in Jerusalem), looking west.
Right,
fragment of a stone vessel inscribed with
two crudely drawn birds with the Hebrew word korban, meaning "sacrifice."
It was discovered during excavations at the southwestern corner of
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Birds were the traditional sacrifice
for the birth of a child.