The Navitity

[Gregory Matthews]

For another  look at the Nativity see:

https://spectrummagazine.org/article/2017/12/06/central-character-nativity-story

 

[8thdaypriest]

Jehoiachin, with his "curse" is in the royal line of Joseph, but he is not in the line from David to Mary, which came thru Nathan (mother also Bathsheba) (See Luke).    
Curse: Jeremiah 36:30

The Messiah must be born to a virgin descendant of David, not descended from Jehoiachin, who would marry (before the birth of her son) a man descended from David’s royal line through Solomon (to give her son a legal claim to the throne of David).

He would be a "son of David" BOTH legally and by blood, while avoiding the curse of Jehoiachin.     No easy find - especially if you add in the good characters element.   There was probably only one couple in all the land, that fulfilled the requirements. 

    NOTE:  The Temple in Jerusalem, with all of the written records proving ancestry, was destroyed in 70AD.  Messiah must therefore appear before that Temple was destroyed.

Why must Mary necessarily be a teenager?   Joseph was looking for a mother for the children he already had - not a teenager, barely out of childhood herself.   I think it more likely that Mary was a little older, more mature,  and maybe had been passed over as "first pic" by the village men nearer her own age.  In my mind, I do not equate Mary with the stunning teenager of the movie. 

After the angels visit to her, Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth (herself six months pregnant by a miracle).   She probably told Joseph after she returned to Nazareth, maybe around the time of Passover. 

And I hope everyone knows that Jesus was NOT born at the winter solstice.   Rather - closer to Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Tabernacles.   It is possible that the conception took place around the winter solstice.  Just not the birth. 

And regarding the "no room at the inn" - that is just poor translation.   There was no need for Joseph to seek shelter in a roadside "inn".   Bethlehem was the center of his clan.  He could find shelter with dozens of relatives.   What they didn't have ready was a "room of separation" for a woman about to give birth.   It was common, among to poor, to shelter a new mother for her period of uncleanness, in a room with fresh straw - like a stable.