J, like H and I, is more for your information than an actual devotional.... but I have had fun studying and learning about what the true first Christmas scene would have looked like.
For J, I looked up on a web-browser information about the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Here is what I found:
A little further information about the census came up... that Joseph had to return to Bethlehem because he quite possibly had family there... The idea being that going back to your ancestral home was for the settling of accounts/inheritance... so then you could be taxed on it. Regardless of reason, this would have not been a journey planned to any great extent... it was a surprise trip.
The distance between the two towns varies upon the individual measuring it... from 70 miles, 80 miles, 92 miles or roughly 100 miles. With this distance, and assuming they traveled 18, or up to 24 miles a day... the journey would have taken anywhere from 4 to 11 days.
Some writers suggested that they would have avoided going through Samaria, because it would have been a hostile pass through. Some believe, logically, that Mary and Joseph would have joined a caravan... however, Rob and I don't see how a lady so pregnant could have kept up with the demands of a caravan... they would have traveled closer to the 24 miles a day mark, and Mary was VERY pregnant...
Regardless of caravan or no... they still would have been able to stop at various towns to rest at night. The evenings were probably chilly and brisk, so protection for Mary from the elements would have been sound thinking.
I keep thinking about how I feel at the end of a long car trip... how I am just exhausted... and sometimes my body still feels like it's riding with the rhythm of the car... can you imagine riding a donkey for 18 to 24 miles a day? for how many days? ... then to deliver your child on top of that?
I think my knowledge has been stretched and my appreciation for Mary and Joseph grown...
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