John Calvin Commentary Luke 2:39

"And when they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth." — Luke 2:39 (ASV)

They returned to Galilee. The departure to Egypt, I readily acknowledge, came between those events. The fact mentioned by Luke, that they dwelt in their own city Nazareth, is later, in point of time, than the flight into Egypt, which Matthew relates (Matthew 2:14).

But if there was no impropriety in one Evangelist leaving out what is related by another, there was nothing to prevent Luke from overleaping the period he did not intend to mention and passing at once to the following history.

I am very far from agreeing with those who imagine that Joseph and Mary, after having finished the sacrifice of purification, returned to Bethlehem to live there. Those persons are foolish enough to believe that Joseph had a settled residence in a place where he was so little known that he was unable to find a temporary lodging.

Nor is it without a good reason that Luke says, with respect to both Joseph and Mary, that Nazareth was their own city. We infer from this that he was never an inhabitant of Bethlehem, though it was the place of his origin.²⁰⁷ As to the order of time, I will presently give a more complete explanation.

²⁰⁷ “Combien que ce fust le pays de ses ancestres;” — “though it was the country of his ancestors.”;” — “though it was the country of his ancestors.”