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In the August issue we saw
proof that, contrary to popular
tradition, Jesus Christ was a
common, ordinary-appearing
Jewish man with a fairly short
haircut. This article c/early
shows, from the Bible, thal he
was a hard-working builder,
lhal he had tour brolhers and
al leasl lwo sislers, and lhal
he lived in a house jusi like
anybody else.
J
esus Christ of Nazareth worked
with his hands for a living. He
was a builder by profession.
He was well educated (speaking
perhaps three languages) and weli
respected even in the official Jewish
community, that is, unt il th e time he
began to proclaim his very highly
con troversia! gospel message at
about age 30.
Even after he began his minis try,
Jesus Christ was neve r. a t any time ,
a frustrated Jewish revolutionary
who was cons tantly coming into
confl ict with the establ ishment. He
was what we would call in modern
parlance a "good citizen." He paid
his taxes as a property owner and
was a lways subject to the civil au–
thorities o f his day.
Jesus was born into o ne of the
finest families in the whole area of
Ga lilee with an exce llen t genealogy.
And no twithstanding nea rly two
tho usand yea rs of fable and false
tradition, he had seve ra! younger
brolhers and sisters - all of whom
looked up to him as thc o ldcs t.
He and hi s family lived in what
proba bly was a fairly fine home -
cerlain ly nota s tone or adobe ho vel.
He was not, as popula rly believed, a
dirty, grubby, hippie-type vagabond
who invari ably slept out-of-doors
with no opportun ity lo even bathe
and clea n up.
Jesus Christ had a well-rounded
social life rang ing a ll lhe way from
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
28
fair ly frequent banquets with Ro–
roan soldiers. wealthy tax collectors,
and clergymen in the well-to-do rul–
ing class to his associations with the
average man on the s treet.
He was
no1
a broke, itinerant
preacher-type who traveled around
from town to town banging on doors
and begging people to believe on
him. He never a t any time in his 3Y2-
year ministry embarked o n a "soul–
winning" campaign designed to
save the world then.
I
rea l1ze f've said a mouthful. But
don' t quit reading until you've seen
the p roof with your own eyes from
the only totaUy reliable source - the
New and Old Testaments o f your
Bible.
Complex Carpentry in Palestine
The Bible reveals that both Jesus
C hris t and his legal father, Joseph .
were carpenters by trade - builders
in the hard and stony country o f
Gal ilee (Matt.
13:55;
Mark
6:3).
However, the English word "carpen–
ter" does not properly connote the
true function of a bui lder during the
day of Jesus Christ. Perhaps "con–
tractor" would be a better choice of
terms in the case of Joseph.
At that time "carpentry" included
much more than jusl the fabrica tion
of wooden dwellings with hamme r
and nails. Most of the homes were a
combination of s tonc and ot he r
types of masonry with hewn beams
a nd "lumber."
Jesus spent much o f his ea rly
minis try in the Galilcan ci ty o f Ca–
pernaum. At that time, Capernaum
was a gleaming, modern , bca uti fully
sculptured Grecian-typc ci ty.
lt
was
filled with beautiful multi-leve led
homes which had large central ga r–
dens, mosaic walks, fountains, a nd
even, believe it or not, indoor bath–
rooms a nd steam ba ths eq uipped
with pipes and cut-off va lves.
A "carpe nter" would have
to
have known a certain amount of
ma thematics, engineering princ ipies
(wo rking with block and tackl e, le–
vers, and knowing how to construct
arches and cantilever overhansing
ba lconies, e tc .), and es pecia l ly
would have to be ski llful in finish ing
work, such as interior surfaccs, mo–
saic hallways, and walkways.
The New Bible Commentary: Re–
vised
says this about the English
word "carpenter" as it is used in the
New Testament: "The Greek
(tek–
ton)
could mean a mason"
(p.
834).
M 'C l intock and Strong 's
Cy–
clopaedia of Biblica/, Theological,
and Ecclesiasrical Literature
says of
" ca rpenter":
" A
general name, ap–
plicable to an artificer in stone, iron
or copper, as well as in wood"
(vol. 2, p. 128).
The fac t that Jesus was a carpen–
ter a lso says something about his
physica l a ppearance. Although the
profession was highly advanced in
that day, especially when compared
to today's popular conceptions, s till
there were no power saws or precut
tim ber.
M
uch of the work was ac–
complished by fai rly sophistica ted
ha nd tools that still req uired a lot o f
s heer phys ical strength. Founda–
tions had lo be dug out of the s tony
hillsides; trces bad to be felled;
stone had to be quarried.
lt
is hard
to imagine how Jesus could have
been anything else bu t an evenly
muscled person with a fairly well–
developed physique.
Chris t's ministry did not begi n
until he was "about thirty." That
means, fro m the ea rliest age of ap–
prenticcship (perhaps as soon as age
10 ·or 12) on up to age 30, J esus
labo red with his hands a ll ove r the
hill cou ntry of Galilee - no doubt
principally in the city of Nazareth
and pcrha ps later Capernaum.
What Kind of a Home?
One autho r who wrote a book about
Jcsus said that the house he lived in
ha d no furniture except sorne bcds.
Does tha t sound very logical with a t
least two carpenters in the family? If
The PLAIN TRUTH
October
1976