Mon.’s Devo - Jesus’ Education

Read Luke 2:39-40 Mary and Joseph traveled back to Nazareth which has two meanings. The first is “a branch”. Is. 11: 1,2 says, “ And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;” So, from the branch of Nazareth shall come forth THE branch of the Lord. The second meaning of Nazareth is “preservation”. Verse 3 of Is. 11 says, “3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Nazareth was the place God chose to preserve Jesus and give him understanding in how to walk on the earth. In Luke, verse 40 says that Jesus grew and was empowered in his spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. What a great prayer to pray over your children. Being a Jewish boy, he would start to learn at home by his father at the age of 5 where he would be taught Hebrew letters. His text would be Leviticus, of all books! At age 6 he would start to school. If he proved an excellent student he was able to stay at school and advanced to learning the Talmud (their civil and religious laws), the rest of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Dueteronomy), the Prophets, and last, the Hagiographa (the remaining books of the Old Testament). Jesus would have been one of those students who was invited to stay and learn the whole Old Testament which would prepare him for tomorrow’s devotion. Lord, forgive us for being so lax in memorizing your Word. Give us a fresh desire to hide your Word in our hearts.