Was Jesus ever a real carpenter?

[jethro]

I know that Jospeh was a carpenter from Matthew 13:55, but how does that reconcile in the Gospel of Mark 6:3? Are these temple people in the latter just assuming Jesus is a carpenter because he is the oldest child of a carpenter? Or did they just totally miss the point at that Nazareth temple - that He was the builder of all?

A minister told me once that Joseph (and Jesus as well) could have been a stonemason because Jesus made use of a number of many more metaphors and allusions to the mason's trade (stone AND brick) than to anything resembling carpentry.

[Wildcat81]

A former professor of mine is fond of pointing out that in our modern culture, the two things about which we tend to most fervently seek God's will are the two things that people in Biblical times (indeed, for much of human history in general) were least anxious about: what we do for a living, and who we marry. For most of human culture, men have done what their fathers did, and everybody (men and women) married who their families chose. This was very much the case in first-century Palestine, too: since Joseph was a carpenter, Jesus would have been trained as a carpenter as well. Boys were taught the trade of their fathers and, excepting the rare occasion when a boy became a rabbi or something like, spent their lives in that trade. Jesus' brothers would almost certainly also have been trained as carpenters and, until they became preachers and leaders of the church, worked in that trade. Likewise Peter, Andrew, James, and John: all are described as fishermen working with their fathers.

As for the bit about masonry: there were probably more trees in that part of the world 2000 years ago than there are now, but there weren't many even then. Any builder would have to be able to work with stone as well as wood, so Jesus (and Joseph, and James, and Jude, et al) would likely have been qualified stonemasons, as well as woodworkers.

[Buzzardhut]

I know that Jospeh was a carpenter from Matthew 13:55, but how does that reconcile in the Gospel of Mark 6:3? Are these temple people in the latter just assuming Jesus is a carpenter because he is the oldest child of a carpenter? Or did they just totally miss the point at that Nazareth temple - that He was the builder of all?

A minister told me once that Joseph (and Jesus as well) could have been a stonemason because Jesus made use of a number of many more metaphors and allusions to the mason's trade (stone AND brick) than to anything resembling carpentry.
Jesus was a creator in wood working, a likely trade for the Creator of the Universe.
He did not lay carpet.

[CelticMist]

Between the age of 12 and the time Jesus began His ministry, the Bible lays silent on what He did during that period, outside the two you have mentioned. We have to believe He was in the same trade as His step-father, by the two passages.

If you read the verse 54 there in Matthew... the town folks as well as those in the synagogue were astonished at the wisdom Jesus had... they knew Him as a young child well into His adulthood. I would think He would have picked up Joseph's trade. I know in movies they have Him working as a Carpenter.....guess this is a good question to ask Jesus when we meet Him face to face. What was your trade before you began Your ministry?

[Jany]

A "carpenter" is an artificer in stone, iron, and copper, as well as in wood.

It was said of our Lord, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Matt. 13:55); also, "Is not this the carpenter?" (Mark 6:3).

Every Jew, even the rabbis, learned some handicraft: for example Paul was a tentmaker. <><

[PickensSlim]

A better translation would be day laborer

One of those guys that stood in the market and looked for work. He probably spent a lot of time working on Herod's remodel of The Temple.

Slim

[Zaphnathpaaneah]

Or did they just totally miss the point at that Nazareth temple - that He was the builder of all?


Jethro: I don't mean to get off topic, but what was the Nazareth temple?

Thanks,

[Wildcat81]

A better translation would be day laborer ... One of those guys that stood in the market and looked for work.

I'm curious as to where this comes from. All the information I'm finding gives tekton as a builder or craftsman, specifically a worker in wood, metal, or stone. It only pops up twice in the NT (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3), but in extra-biblical Greek it's used for a woodworker, stonemason, or metalsmith. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) it's used to translate the Hebrew word charash, which means carpenter, mason, or smith.

[jethro]

I have heard He worked in both as well, I was wondering if He ever plied the trade, but there's nothing physical remaining that indicates He ever practiced carpentry/masonary, although He had to have learned it.

Does anybody know if Joseph was stilll living at this time at the synagogue? I have heard that he was and that he wasn't.

Jethro: I don't mean to get off topic, but what was the Nazareth temple?

Thanks,

I meant the synagogue Jesus visits in, in the Book of Matthew, right before the death of John the Baptist. Mark 6:1 says Jesus is back in His "own country", that of Mark 1:9.

[PickensSlim]

I'm curious as to where this comes from. All the information I'm finding gives tekton as a builder or craftsman, specifically a worker in wood, metal, or stone. It only pops up twice in the NT (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3), but in extra-biblical Greek it's used for a woodworker, stonemason, or metalsmith. In the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) it's used to translate the Hebrew word charash, which means carpenter, mason, or smith.

I'll have to research more. It's something that my pastor said in a sermon. (he majored in Greek).

Slim