Since the gifts to baby Jesus included gold and valuable spices, can we assume that Joseph became wealthy for a time?
The Bible tells us very little about the gifts Jesus’ family received:
Matt. 2:11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
We do not know how much gold Joseph and Mary received, so we cannot say how wealthy they became. Since scripture tells us that Jesus lived a humble, unremarkable life as a child, we must assume that his family was not particularly wealthy despite the gifts. Perhaps the amount of gold given was very small or the family gave some of it away as a tithe. Another theory speculates that the gifts would have funded the family's exile in Egypt for a few years.
All we can say for sure is that the family was not known to be wealthy according to the Gospels.
