The story in brief
An emperor counts the world, a frightened king counts his rivals, and a young couple from a Galilean village are caught in between. Two Gospels tell the birth: shepherds and a feeding trough in Luke, magi and a flight to Egypt in Matthew.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
In the Days of Herod
An emperor in Rome, a builder king in Jerusalem, and a girl in a village nobody has heard of.
Sources: Luke 1:5–56; Matthew 1:18–25; Josephus, Antiquities 15.380–425
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
No Room at the Inn
An emperor counts the world. A baby sleeps where the animals eat.
Sources: Luke 2:1–20; Josephus, Antiquities 18.1–2; Priene calendar inscription (9 BC); Justin Martyr, Dialogue 78
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
The Star in the East
Foreign stargazers walk into a paranoid king’s capital and ask about his replacement.
Sources: Matthew 2:1–12; Micah 5:2; Psalm 72:10–11; Herodotus 1.101, 1.107; Kepler, De vero anno (1614)
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
Flight into Egypt
A dream at midnight, a road to Egypt, and a king who trusts no one.
Sources: Matthew 2:13–23; Jeremiah 31:15; Josephus, Antiquities 17.168–323; Macrobius, Saturnalia 2.4.11
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Boy in the Temple
An old man’s last wish, a lost boy, and eighteen years nobody wrote down.
Sources: Luke 2:21–52; Mark 6:3; Leviticus 12:8; Josephus, Antiquities 15.380–425
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- ElizabethPriest’s Wife · Mother of John
- Joseph of NazarethBuilder · Dreamer · Guardian
- The MagiStar-Watchers from the East
- Herod the GreatKing of Judaea · Builder · Tyrant
- SimeonWatchman in the Temple
- MaryMother of Jesus
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “Jesus of Nazareth”. By the end of it, you can tell where “no room at the inn”, “turn the other cheek”, “born again” and “cast the first stone” come from.
Stories in this journey
Sources
- Matthew 1:18–2:23
- Luke 1:5–2:52
Bible quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.
