# Was jesus born in what we would call modern day IRAQ? My friends think I am nuts.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769 "2009-07-21T20:08:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/41 "2009-07-22T18:47:49Z")
i always hate threads like these where the OP never comes back. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/42 "2009-07-22T18:49:13Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > All accounts of his birth put it in Bethlehem, a good 200 miles from Iraq. What are those accounts? Are there any corroborating accounts other than those in the New Testament? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/43 "2009-07-22T18:58:49Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > i always hate threads like these where the OP never comes back. Give it three days. ---
**Author:** ![JonathanTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JonathanTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonathanTheRed)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/44 "2009-07-22T20:10:04Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > In fact, even King David is almost entirely legendary, except possibly the name. (There’s reference to a “House of David” so _a_ King David can be assumed, if not proven) Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you here. Of course there’s “reference” to a “House of David”… the Davidic line was a dynasty that ruled the southern kingdom of Judah for something like twenty-five generations until the Jews were carried away into Babylonian exile in 586 BC. There is pretty strong historical evidence that there was a southern kingdom of Judah, there was a northern kingdom of Israel, that both followed roughly the same Yahvistic religion, that they had cultural memories of having once been a united kingdom, and that after the northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians, the southerners considered them to be lost brethren. That united kingdom, the kingdom of David and Solomon, before they split in the third generation, would not have been unreasonably large for a conquering king to hold (especially if it proved too much for his descendants to keep together), and while the stories of the wealth and glory of David and Solomon are surely exaggerated, as are many of the tales in the books of Kings and Chronicles, there’s no reason to consider them imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/45 "2009-07-22T20:31:54Z")
The archaeological evidence strongly contradicts the notion of a united kingdom. There is also no evidence of any continuous David line, or even definitive confirmation of a historical David or Solomon. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/46 "2009-07-22T20:45:52Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > All accounts of his birth put it in Bethlehem, a good 200 miles from Iraq. What all accounts? If you refer to the gospels, Matthew 2:1 says that he was born in Bethlehem (and has the magis, but not the rest). Mark skips everything about birth and childhood, and simply says in 1:9 that Jesus came from Nazareth. Luke 2:1-20 has the familiar Christmas narrative - census forces Josph and Mary to Bethlehem, shepherds in the fields, manger, angels singing (but no magi). John, of course, is on another level entirely. Outside the Bible, there are not even certain accounts that the Jesus of the New Testament existed, only that people who were his followers were around later. However, as t[his Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2001/what-did-the-census-at-the-time-of-the-birth-of-christ-accomplish)points out, the consensus of the serious Biblical scholars is that Luke invented the birth in Bethlehem to fulfill one prophey (you, Bethlehem, smallest of all houses etc. - plus of the symbolism: the name means “house of bread” and Jesus is the bread of life), and then had them move to Egypt because of Herod’s murder of children (most likely invented, too, because there’s no record of it; and it fits the pattern by repeating the Moses story of being saved from great danger), and then had the family move to Nazareth, because all the followers of Jesus _knew_ he was from Nazareth in Galilee. > [@](#): > > So, almost all scholars agree that it is not reasonable to think that there was ever a decree that required people to travel for purposes of tax registration. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/47 "2009-07-22T21:07:05Z")
> [@](#): > > What are those accounts? Are there any corroborating accounts other than those in the New Testament? It would be more precise to say “all accounts that actually say anything at all about his birth”, but that’s generally assumed in that construction. If you know of any accounts of Jesus’ birth other than those in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and if any of those accounts give a different birthplace than Bethlehem, I’m sure we’d all be interested in hearing of them. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/48 "2009-07-22T21:30:09Z")
John and Mark both imply that Jesus was born in Nazareth. ---
**Author:** ![mamo\_shabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@mamo\_shabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamo_shabo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769/49 "2009-07-23T00:43:10Z")
> [@ih8hwy17](#): > > but I say it is true. Your thoughts please Why do I have the feelings that you’ve forgotten to tell us that you’re an Assyrian and that Christ was Assyrian as well!?😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-jesus-born-in-what-we-would-call-modern-day-iraq-my-friends-think-i-am-nuts/503769.md?page=2)