I am puzzled. In my youth I was taught that Mary went with Joseph to register for the census in Jerusalem. How come, then, the babe was born in Bethlehem? The map indicates that a journey beginning in Nazareth passes through Jerusalem before reaching Bethlehem. (Nazareth is north of Jerusalem. Bethlehem lies to the south of Jerusalem.) We are told the babe was born in a stable at Bethlehem because there was no room in the inn. We are not told Jerusalem was overcrowded. Why go the extra distance? Was it to fulfill an Old Testament prophesy? Or is the Birth in Bethlehem story simply a myth invented later to bolster up a developing theology?
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