Tis that time of year again! The storekeepers are excited, the children are excited, and the progressives are excited (but I repeat myself). It’s Chrismastime, when all the right people peddle two spurious claims about the Holy Family to them to beat those heartless conservatives about the head and shoulders.
There are two claims we here this time of the year, and both betray either the ignorance or the mendacity of the claimants. The first is that the Holy Family were homeless when Jesus was born. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of scripture and history will recognize it as bunk, but for the rest of you, I’ll lay out the reasons why it’s bunk. (All biblical quotes are from the New Jerusalem Bible.)
First, the source, from the second Chapter of Luke:
1 Now it happened that at this time Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be made of the whole inhabited world.
2 This census — the first — took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria,
3 and everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee for Judaea, to David’s town called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line,
5 in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
6 Now it happened that, while they were there, the time came for her to have her child,
7 and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the living-space.
From this, we can discern that the Holy Family lived in Nazareth in Galilee. Joseph was carpenter (Matthew 13:55). While there is no biblical record of how Joseph lived, it seems reasonable to presume that he had a house there. Certainly there is no suggestion that he did not have a house, so I think we can safely assume that, in Nazareth at least, the Holy Family had a home is which to live.
Then we learn that Joseph, in response to a requirement from the legal authorities, went with his betrothed to Bethlehem, in the province of Judea, (which was not far from Jerusalem) in order to be counted in the census. When they arrived, they found that the inn was full (presumably with others who were traveling due to the government order) and so found shelter in a place with a manger. From this, we can presume that they were in a barn of some sort, which provided shelter for them.
Recall, now, that these events occurred long before the rise of the hotel industry. Travelers, to the extent there were travelers, were lucky to find an inn in which to sleep. Inns were, in fact, very rare in the Roman provinces. For the most part, travelers camped overnight around a fire. The fire was for cooking food, providing warmth, and keeping the local fauna at bay. If they were lucky, the travelers would have a tent, but usually, they simply camped. On occasion, they might find shelter in the out-building of farms or settlements. It was therefore completely normal for travelers to stay in a barn.
So, let’s look at the claim that the Holy Family was homeless. Did they have a home? Yes, in Nazareth. Were they traveling? Yes. Did they find a place where it was not unusual for people to shelter while traveling? Yes, they did. Were they homeless? Not by any stretch of the imagination. They were no more homeless than anyone who stays at a Motel 6 instead of a Hilton while on vacation. Anyone who claims that the Holy Family was homeless is lying to score cheap political points and can safely be ignored.
Let’s look at the second claim: the Holy Family were refugees. For the reasons discussed above, the Holy Family were not refugees at the time Jesus was born. They were, in fact, acting in accord with the direction and requirement of the political rulers of that time and place.
The other commonly cited passage to justify calling the Holy Family refugees is found in Matthew, during the story of the visit of the Magi. in Chapter 2, Matthew tells us:
12 But they were given a warning in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.
13 After they had left, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.’
14 So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt,
15 where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I called my son out of Egypt.
Here, we hear that the Holy Family fled from Judea, not to Galilee, where Joseph lived, but to Egypt. Aha! I hear you cry. They had to go to a foreign country to avoid persecution by the government in Judea. That means they were refugees!
Not so fast. Recall that Herod was King of Judea. However, he was named King by the Roman emperor, and as such, was subservient to the Emperor. Similarly, he also held authority over Galilee, which meant that neither state was safe for the Holy Family. But Herod was also subject to the rule of the Roman governor, who held authority over the province of Jordan, which included Galilee, Judea and Samaria.
So the Holy Family wasn’t safe in Judea or Galilee. The text tells us they went to Egypt and stayed there until Herod died, then returned to Nazareth. So why weren’t they refugees? Simple. Both Egypt and Jordan were provinces of the Roman Empire. The Wikipedia article titled “Flight into Egypt” puts is succinctly:
Egypt was a logical place to find refuge, as it was outside the dominions of King Herod, but both Egypt and palestine were part of the Roman Empire, linked by a coastal road known as “the way of the sea”, making travel between them easy and relatively safe.
So, at the time of the Flight, both Jordan and Egypt were provinces of Rome. Residents of Roman provinces could travel freely between the provinces. In modern terms, the Flight into Egypt was as difficult as a Flight into Indiana would be for people who wanted to escape taxation in Illinois.
Yes, they left Judea and the rule of King Herod. But in going to Egypt, they simply traveled from one Roman jurisdiction to another. They were not, by any stretch of the imagination, traveling into a foreign jurisdiction, which means, by definition, the Holy Family were not refugees.
UPDATE: It looks like we have a new candidate in the Christmas nonsense sweepstakes! As noted by the eminent Robbo at the the inestimable Port Stands at Your Elbow (check out the blogroll for linkies) noted that an academic opined that the Incarnation was in fact sexual assault. Perhaps the clueless academic should reflect on Luke 1:38, where Mary, in clear knowledge of the might and majesty of the Lord, says:
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Seems pretty clear to me.
On the Gripping Hand 
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