Joseph travelled from Nazareth in Galilee south toward Bethlehem Ephrata with his betrothed Mary in her ninth month for a census of the entire Roman world which had been ordered by Caesar Augustus. Every person had to return to the city from which his family came for the census. Joseph had to go the Bethlehem Ephrata because he was of David's family. (Luke 2:1-5)

Bethlehem was a walled city where the wealthy people lived. Some of the biblical characters that lived in the city of Bethlehem included Naomi, Boaz, Jesse, and Rehoboam. By contrast, Ephrata was a lowly farm community that grew food and raised sheep and goats for the city of Bethlehem and for the Temple. David's father and brothers lived in the City of Bethlehem but David was born and grew up in the Bethlehem Ephrata.

Thus Jesus was also born in Bethlehem Ephrata. (Luke 2:6) However, Joseph who had finished registering the census, for some reason did not return to Galilee, but travelled with Mary and the newborn, Jesus, to Egypt. (Mat 2:14) It may be mentioned that the fact that Mary had become pregnant caused some scandal in Nazareth, that is, the rumors that Joseph was not the one who had impregnated her, but that her pregnancy had been the result of an affair with another man. However, the Gospel of Matthew refers to the following legend; King Herod, the ruler of Judea, who had heard of a prophecy that the Messiah was to be born, ordered to slaughter all male sons, under the age of two. (Mat 2:16)

By the way, although David's father Jesse had a lawful wife called Nitzevet bat Adael, the name of David's mother is not in record and Psalms (Psalm 69) implies that David was a child of injustice. Perhaps Jesse had another house outside the city and kept his mistress in it. David seems to have had been born and raised under his own mother. If so, it seems to be no doubt that David belonged to the tribe of Judah. In contrast to it, if Jesus' father was not Joseph, the generally accepted idea that Jesus belongs to David's bloodline will become groundless.

Anyway, why did Joseph choose Egypt as a place of refuge for them? According to Mr. Shlomo Sand, Professor of history at Tel Aviv University, the Jewish population in Palestine was only about 800 thousand in the 1st century. In contrast to it, the Jewish population in the world was about 4 million. And big communities of Jewish believers seem to have been formed in Alexandria and Cyrene of North Africa much earlier. The numbers of gentile believers increased dramatically and Ecclesias (churches for the non-circumcision gentile believers, who could not formally attend Synagogue) were formed in many places around the Mediterranean. Alexandria seems to have been the hub of these Gentile Jews.

Although when Jesus made a debut to the religious society of Jerusalem with testimony of John the Baptist in Bethany (John 1:28), he was about thirty years old according to the Gospel of.Luke (Luke 3:23), there is no record regarding where Jesus had been or what he had been doing until then.

Joseph returned to Nazareth and finally married Mary after staying in Egypt for a few years. However, Joseph might have left Jesus in Egypt just as Jesse let David stay outside the city of Bethlehem until the son grew up. Therefore, Jesus, during he grew up in Egypt, might have determined to take on the role of leader of the gentile church movement and to be crucified in Jerusalem as a savior not only for Israelis but also people in the world. If so, the questions, such as where Jesus had been and what he had been doing before he suddenly appeared alone on the banks of the Jordan River and was baptized by John the Baptist (Mark 1:9/ Mat 3:13/ Luke 3:21), can be solved and it is no wonder that on the day of the Crucifixion, a man called Simon, who had taken his sons, Alexander and Rufus, and come to Jerusalem from all the way from Cyrene in North Africa, carried the cross to Golgotha on behalf of Jesus. (Mark 15:21/Mat 27:32/Luke 23:26)

The grief and indignation of David, who was forbidden to enter the city of Bethlehem and was alienated from even his brothers, are written in Psalm 69, which is said to be penned by King David himself. When depicting the scene that Jesus made a whip out of cords, and drove all the merchants from the temple area during the Jewish Passover feast, the Gospel of John citing the passage, "Zeal for your house (the temple) will consume me (David)," from Psalm (69:9), implies that disciples noticed, albeit vaguely, that Jesus' zeal for the house of God would consume Jesus, in other words, his fate of the crucifixion was stated at that time. (John 2:17) However it was after the death of Jesus, and not at this time, that his disciples realized that the crucifixion had been chosen by Jesus himself as the way to reveal the essence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that is, the spiritual rebirth through sublating his flesh, to the world, according to the Gospel. (John 2:22)

Jesus seems to have grown up in Egypt with grief and indignation just as David and perhaps to have supported in his adversity by the family of Simon of Cyrene.

Paul wrote, "Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own; and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me. (Roma 16:13)" at the end of 'Epistle to the Romans.' If Rufus mentioned by Paul in his letter is same person of the son of Simon, this mother of Rufus not only might have brought up Jesus together with her own children but also might have been a spiritual mother who converted Paul to Christianity. If so, Jesus and Paul would have been spiritual brothers through her. Thus, it seems that Jesus and Paul were bound by a thread of fate.

Once upon a time, Siddhartha Gautama (BC624/463-BC544/383), a young prince of Magadha in India, entered into dhyana (meditation) under a bodhi tree and saw that all phenomena of this world (form skandha) and the human existence itself, which responding to the phenomena, were not substantive, and testified, "The five skandhas (five aggregates: form, feeling, perception, formation and consciousness) were empty of nature." Then he calmed all suffering in this world.

According to his testimony, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Since the bodhisattvas (superlative Buddhist trainees) have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita (supreme wisdom). Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana (ultimate salvation, that is, eternal life). (Heart Sutra)

A few hundred years later, Nagarjuna (150?-250?) further described this theory in his book "The Treatise on the Middle Way" and stated: "Dharmas (phenomena) are born of causes and conditions. I say they are thus empty. They are also called the temporary name, and that is also the truth of the Middle Way." In this world, individual events and things perceived by men through their five senses are merely provisional names given to each process of changes. Thus they are called the temporary name. And they are not substantive, so, called emptiness. However, the truth only exists as universality within individual events and things and does not exist without individual appearances. Therefore, Nagarjuna called it the truth of the Middle Way.

During Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties period (220-589 CE) of China, Hui-wen (550-577), the founder of Tiantai Buddhism, who read this verse and at once perceived the triple truth, namely, the truth of emptiness, the truth of temporariness and the truth of mean, explained as follows. These three - emptiness, temporariness and mean - penetrate one another and are found perfectly harmonized and united. One should not consider the three truths as separate but as the perfectly harmonious three fold truth.

Then, DongShan LiangJie (807-869), a prominent Zen priest in Tang Dynasty of China, one day said to his disciples: "When one has experienced the ultimate of Buddhahood then one will be qualified to speak about it." A Bodhisattva can become a Buddha after enlightenment. However, a Buddha still has to further improve. And if one understands that, he is entitled to preach others, DongShan said. "What is this speaking?" a monk asked immediately. "When these words are delivered, you cannot hear them," the Master replied. "Will you be able to hear it?" demanded the monk. "As soon as I do not speak, I hear it," answered the Master. (The Transmission of the Lamp, Chapter 15)＜To be continued＞