As Joseph was a workingman, it is likely that he lived in a house with only one room, with no floor except the earth, no window except a hole in the wall, no pictures upon the walls, and neither bedstead, nor chair, nor looking glass. They sat upon the floor, or upon cushions, they slept upon rolls of matting, and their meals were taken from a low table, not much larger than a stool.
Jesus may have learned to read at the village school, which was generally held in the house used for worship, called the "synagogue". The lessons were from rolls on which were written parts of the Old Testament, but Jesus never had a Bible of his own. From the time when he was a child he went with Joseph to the worship in the synagogue twice every week. There they sat on the floor, and heard the Old Testament read and explained while Mary and the younger sisters of Jesus listened from a gallery behind a lattice screen. The Jewish boys of that time were taught to know almost the whole of the Old Testament by heart. |
The Christ Child, Francisco de Zurbaran |