Was Jesus an illegal immigrant?

Well, short answer: no.

The longer answer starts with a reference to a book published in 1992 titled: “When Did Wild Poodles Roam the Earth? An Imponderables Book”

Poodles

Back in the times “before Google” books full of answers to “weird” questions were popular. The “imponderables” series were funny and sold well – I don’t think the author of the series David Feldmen is the same David Feldmen (comedian) but it isn’t important.

SO just when DID “wild poodles roam the earth?” The answer is “never.” People have been “domesticating” dogs for a LONG time (at least 15,000 years). Poodles were bred as water retrieving hunting dogs in 17th Century France.

That distinctive “poodle haircut” started for practical reasons as well – to help the dog dry faster after retrieving something from the water.

To connect the dots – the title of the book was a joke. The author had (probably) been asked the question in some form about various modern dog breeds – and the answer is basically “it is easy for humans to breed dogs for selected characteristics.”

MY guess is that most “smaller non working” dog breeds started out as “companion animals” for people – and part of the “companionship” might have included killing rats.

e.g. Chihuahuas didn’t descendant from tiny dogs fighting for survival against larger dogs. There were NEVER packs of wild Chihuahuas roaming ancient Mexico.

Of course one of the big geographic differences between ancient Mexico/Central/South America and Africa/Europe/Asia was that they didn’t have a lot of large land animals. Which meant that smaller dog breeds were common in Mexico/Central/South America. e.g. The Aztecs used selective breeding to start us on the way to modern Chihuahuas.

Random thought: when the indigenous tribal folks in North America first saw the horses that Europeans brought over that called them “big dogs.” Most of the cattle in North America also descended from animals brought over by Christopher Columbus et al –

The point being that the JOKE starts by how the question is framed. More to the point “Was Jesus an illegal immigrant?” STARTS with errors in the framing of the question.

Illegal Immigration

SO any MODERN “illegal immigration” question starts with two assumptions:

1. that “nation States” exist with defined borders, AND they are actively monitoring/policing those borders
2. large numbers of people are “immigrating”

You cannot have “illegal” immigration unless there are laws to break. There cannot be “immigration laws” to break unless there are “nation States.” Makes sense right?

THEN the way “human devised laws” tend to come about is that there is a problem that folks in power want to stop – so then then make a law prohibiting “whatever the problem was.”

Did the Ancient Roman Empire or Egypt at that time have laws prohibiting immigration? Well, not like WE think of them.

Of course travelling long distances easily, safely, and relatively secure didn’t become possible until relatively recently in human history. Arguments could be made on a specific date – but the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th Century is as good a place as any to pinpoint as the beginning of “modern” travel.

Fun to point out: if folks are “happy and prosperous” they aren’t thinking about immigrating. If folks are starving and oppressed THEN they start thinking about immigration.

In the United States MOST people lived and died within 20 miles of where they were born until trains and automobiles made it safe and easy to move about the countryside.

The history of “immigration” laws in the U.S. starts out as “descriptive” BEFORE it became “restrictive.” The early laws were much more about defining who was a citizen for voting purposes. The early U.S. actively encouraged immigration from outside the U.S. simply because there was a lot of empty land out west – and the need to laborers was high.

It wasn’t until the 1800 when laws restricting entry to the U.S. started happening. BUT that is also a different subject …

Where was Jesus born?

Now, I get the impression that a lot of folks that are asking the “was Jesus an illegal immigrant” question PROBABLY aren’t historically literate or familiar with the Biblical texts.

SO I’ll point out that what commonly gets called the “New Testament” starts with four books (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Collectively they are called the “Gospels.”

Doing a “harmony of the Gospels” is beyond MY limited ability – I’ll just point out that the four texts tell the story of Jesus’ life and ministry and death. The four texts “dovetail” together – but the part important for THIS discussion starts in the second chapter of Matthew verse 1

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 

SO where was “Bethlehem of Judea?”

The Google AI overview tells me “In the 1st century CE, Bethlehem of Judea was a small, humble village situated about six miles south of Jerusalem, in the fertile hill country of Judea, near the border of the Judean desert. “

Roman officials had ruled the area since 63 BCE – at that time THEY would have referred to it as the “province of Judaea”

Where residents of the Province of Judaea Roman Citizens?

No. Most of the permanent residents were Jewish – which was defined by tradition, religion, and language not by geographic borders.

Jews could become Roman Citizens. e.g. The book of Acts follows the Gospels in the New Testament. The conversion of Saul/Paul of Tarsus and then the start of his travels/ministry are in the second half of Acts – at one point Paul is about to be flogged and his Roman Citizenship prevents the flogging.

i.e. without a doubt being a Roman Citizen had benefits – but just living in a province ruled by Rome did NOT automatically make someone a Roman citizen

Wise men from the East

Ok, pop quiz – how many “wise men from the East” brought the infant Jesus gifts?

I can confidently say that – having seen countless “Nativity scenes” with three wise men – MOST folks will say three.

Notice that the text doesn’t say how many “wise men came from the East” – it says they brought three gifts (gold, frankincense, and myrrh) BUT doesn’t give a number of “wise men from the East.”

Oh, yes, there is symbolism to those gifts – but that is a different subject.

Under the category of “just me guessing” – travelling long distances at the time would have been dangerous and difficult, it is hard to imagine ONLY three people making ANY long trip especially one with this significance. I imagine a small armed entourage attached to each “gift.” All of which is conjecture on my part …

Flight to Egypt

The “wise men” part of the Gospel of Matthew account also provides the background for WHY Jesus and family went to Egypt – i.e. Herod – the secular leader of the Jews at the time – wanted to harm the child:

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, ¹⁵ and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

… and when the “wise men” didn’t return and tell Herod where Jesus was …

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Old Testament Prophecy

Notice that Gospels refer to parts of the “Old Testament” as prophecy that was being fulfilled. The expectation at the time in 1st Century Judaea was that the Messiah was going to appear – but those 1st Century Jews were probably expecting a “King David” type to come and defeat the Romans.

umm, and that is another “Harmony of the Gospels” things …

Was Jesus an “illegal immigrant” in Egypt?

again, no.

Egypt at the time was ALSO a province of Rome. You know, Cleopatra, Marc Anthony and all that.

Again, “conjecture on my part” – There was probably a “Jewish community” in Egypt that Joseph and Mary were able to blend into without much difficulty. Obviously just because MOST of the residents of Judaea were Jewish doesn’t mean that ALL of the Jewish population lived there.

THEN Joseph has a few “divine dreams” directing him where to go and another Prophecy gets fulfilled:

²³ And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

21st Century immigration

What baffles me is exactly what the folks who are pushing “Jesus was an illegal immigrant” think they are going to accomplish.

Ok, I get that THEY think they have found a metaphorical “loose brick” in the argument of their political opponents. BUT it comes across as “Jesus was an illegal immigrant so open the borders!”

Personally I think the “west” needs to make it easier for LEGAL immigrants to come here and work.

Part of that process should include assimilation training for immigrants. Voting privileges and access to the “welfare state” are things that must be earned.

i.e. honest hard working immigrant willing to risk their lives to come to the “west” should be treated as a positive resource to be optimized NOT a disease to be eradicated.

I’m in favor of making it harder on the human traffickers preying on immigrates — but it also needs to be recognized that “immigration WITHOUT assimilation” is an “invasion”

The best selling book of 1925

Yes, I’ve read the entire Bible more than once – no I am NOT a minister. I’ve got some resources for individual Bible study on the top menu – (https://www.iterudio.com/?page_id=830)

as always the only “authoritative source” for Bible study should be the Bible – finding a modern translation is useful – e.g. my Bible quotes are from the “New King James”

fwiw: I found a database of different Bible versions and I have been working on generating pdfs – which will get posted on this site when completed.

I’m looking for work and always willing to accept big checks for bloviating on this or that – spam comments get treated like spam

communication, inquires, job offers sent to iterudio at clancameron.us will get looked at – but I’m gonna assume it is spam so you need to make an effort to convince me you AREN’T spam –

I enjoyed reading The Man Nobody Knows – which was the bestselling book of 1925. I wrote a short introduction that points out some of the “1925 references.”

Back in 1925 the contemporary image of Jesus was (probably) derived from famous Renaissance art works – the author of the book was working in the early days of “modern advertising” and takes a “Jesus as modern organizational leader” view.