When did Mary and Joseph begin the journey to Bethlehem?

Answer 1

They took one donkey for Mary to rest upon.

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There is no mention that Mary and Joseph had a donkey in any of the Gospels, or elsewhere in Scripture. One can assume that they walked, but the bottom line is that no one can be sure what their mode of travel might have been.

Answer 2

If Mary and Joseph left Nazareth because of the census undertaken in the time of Quirinius, they must have left in the year 6 CE, more than ten years after the death of King Herod, because that is when Quirinius was governor of Syria and that is also the year of the first Roman census in the Levant.

On the other hand, Matthew's Gospel says that Nazareth was not the home town of Mary and Joseph until long after the birth of Jesus, since this gospel describes Bethlehem as their home town and says that they only turned aside and travelled to Nazareth after returning from Egypt. The best explanation for this is given by Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament), who says that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately. If Luke was carelessly inaccurate about his historical facts, we can not say when or whether Mary and Joseph began a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Answer 3

In Luke's Gospel, yes, they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census, then returned home to Nazareth shortly after the birth of Jesus.

In Matthew's Gospel, no. Bethlehem was their home town but they fled to Egypt for fear of King Herod. They were travelling back to Bethlehem when Joseph was warned in a dream, and they turned aside and travelled to Nazareth instead.

Answer 4

The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem occurs only in Luke's Gospel, which says that Joseph was required to be in Bethlehem for a census. We find Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, but the gospel makes no mention of Mary riding anything. Because of the apparent impossibility of a heavily pregnant young woman walking all the way, it has become widely assumed that she must have ridden a donkey. However, Luke also makes their poverty clear, for example in having them sacrifice two pigeons at the Temple, a small sacrifice permitted only for the very poor. A poor village carpenter would certainly not have owned a donkey, and no one with the means to own a donkey would have lent them such an important asset for such a long and perilous journey, from which they might not return.

Matthew's Gospel is no help, since this account says that Bethlehem was the home town of Mary and Joseph and they therefore had no need to travel there. After the birth of Jesus, they did travel to Egypt and years later begin a return journey to Bethlehem, although being warned in a dream of further dangers they turned aside and travelled to Galilee, where they settled in a city called Nazareth. In this case, it is quite credible that Mary rode a donkey both to Egypt and on the return, since they were now rich, having received gifts of Gold, frankincense and myrrh from the wise men.

Another Answer:

She rode a donkey to Jerusalem with Joseph. Upon getting there, they realised there was no spare rooms no matter where they looked. Finally an innkeeper offered them a place in his manager and so having accepted his offer Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in a manager.
donkey

Answer 5

Luke's Gospel gives us the story of Joseph and Mary travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but he does not mention how they got there, or whether Mary was fortunate enough to have ridden an animal.

Since such a long and arduous journey on foot seems so improbable for a young woman in her late pregnancy, later Christian tradition says that she rode a donkey. Against this, a poor village carpenter, who could only offer two pigeons at the Temple (Luke 2:24), could never have afforded to hire a donkey for this long journey.

Answer 6

william chaffin

Answer 7

on a donkey