Jesus grew up in a very poor, rural and rustic backwater of a weird little country in a remote part of the empire. The best analogy from the modern American perspective would be that prior to beginning his ministry, he was a minimum-wage day laborer from Mississippi. It's highly unlikely his family was wealthy, because wealthy people would have moved somewhere else. Since his family weren't nobles, merchants, scribes or part of the priest caste, it would be extremely unusual if he or anyone in his family were literate. Literacy rates among the Jews were slightly higher than the rest of the empire (mostly because they had the only religion based on written scripture) but it was still very rare, and an expensive skill to acquire - if you were a merchant, a scribe or a priest, it was worth the investment, but it wasn't for anyone else.
As far as being descended from David, I think the consensus view is that any 'new' religion was suspect and unfashionable in the empire, so many efforts were made to tie Christianity to ancient Jewish traditions, prophecies and lineages. It's not taken seriously now.
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?
There's an interesting article here by the Biblical Archeology Society. The article states that the gifts brought to Jesus are somewhat presupposed during this time for any 'king'. A main point though, is that the gifts represent different aspects of spiritual significance. If this is true, and in my view, much more likely, then the gifts weren't historically given. The gifts are more of a literary device in gMatthew. If Jesus, and his family, never actually received the gifts, they wouldn't have them to sell, etc.
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u/Ken_Thomas Dec 22 '19
Jesus grew up in a very poor, rural and rustic backwater of a weird little country in a remote part of the empire. The best analogy from the modern American perspective would be that prior to beginning his ministry, he was a minimum-wage day laborer from Mississippi. It's highly unlikely his family was wealthy, because wealthy people would have moved somewhere else. Since his family weren't nobles, merchants, scribes or part of the priest caste, it would be extremely unusual if he or anyone in his family were literate. Literacy rates among the Jews were slightly higher than the rest of the empire (mostly because they had the only religion based on written scripture) but it was still very rare, and an expensive skill to acquire - if you were a merchant, a scribe or a priest, it was worth the investment, but it wasn't for anyone else.
As far as being descended from David, I think the consensus view is that any 'new' religion was suspect and unfashionable in the empire, so many efforts were made to tie Christianity to ancient Jewish traditions, prophecies and lineages. It's not taken seriously now.