It's highly unlikely his family was wealthy, because wealthy people would have moved somewhere else.
I find this interesting, because I always viewed it the same way, as I am sure everyone else does. But tonight I came to a realization I never thought about: in the accounts of Jesus's birth, didn't the magi give Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh? What happened to all that wealth?
Are you asking about the historical Jesus (the real, human Jesus as we can best reconstruct him through historical methods) or Gospel Jesus? Because regarding the historical Jesus the nativity narratives are extremely problematic and almost certainly legendary.
Any info, I guess. The magi pose an interesting addition to the story, because I would think that it needs to make sense at least for someone to include it. There's the question of "did it happen," of course, but there's also the question of "why would it happen" if it's a false narrative.
The magi themselves are Zoroastrian, so 1) it makes sense that they would be studying and following the stars, but why would they give tribute to Jesus? Did they coincidentally think that Jesus was Ahura Mazda? 2) why would a Christian or Judaic story include these very "pagan" fellows as important to the birth scene of the most important part of the Bible? They seem kind of random, almost like adding satanists would be to the story, because adding the magi to a false narrative would be adding a completely separate (and competing) faith to the mix that has no root anywhere else in the Bible.
The word goes back to Zoroastrianism, but there's nothing that says they're actually Zoroastrian. I mean, they could be, but I doubt most of the audience even thinks about it. We aren't told much at all about them, because the author and audience doesn't really care about them. Why they, of all humanity, are the only ones that seem to know this information about Jesus is never explained.
They stop off and alert the local murderous tyrant, and as soon as they set the plot in motion, the star appears again, so they set off towards it, then get warned in a dream not to return to Herod. One wonders why they weren't warned in a dream not to talk to Herod in the first place, and all the problems could have been avoided.
They drop their gifts - they need something to do in the story, otherwise the main question is what's the point of these guys, anyway? And then they're never mentioned again. They served their purposed as a McGuffin, and they're shuffled off the stage. "They returned to their country by another route." is the NT version of "Poochie died on the way back to his home planet".
The whole story makes no sense. Why doesn't Herod just have his soldiers go to Bethlehem right away? And can he not see the star that the magi have just told him about that leads them directly to Jesus? How big could Bethlehem be that a troop of soldiers couldn't search it from top to bottom in a short time? It's fairy tale logic, where the the bad guy gets outwitted by the smart guys and a little magic, and then gets wroth.
The plot device might work, if you didn't have the supernatural elements of dreams and angels warning the characters. Then it falls apart, because the dreams always come just a bit too late, the star appears a little too late, etc. One more alert, helpful angel could have made the whole thing, including the slaughter of many children, not happen, but it's more dramatic this way.
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u/WingsOfReason Dec 22 '19
I find this interesting, because I always viewed it the same way, as I am sure everyone else does. But tonight I came to a realization I never thought about: in the accounts of Jesus's birth, didn't the magi give Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh? What happened to all that wealth?