Interesting question, reasonable guess. Many writers like to express that the Holy Family lived in poverty, but the reason the manger was in a cave or barn was that there was no room available for them in the inn, which Joseph apparently had been prepared to pay for.
It seems to me a difficult Christian issue to this day whether poverty is a blessing or a curse, and from God, the devil, or our own free will.
Poverty comes in two forms: voluntary and involuntary. Those who choose to be poor out of the command "Go and sell what you have and give to the poor and follow me."
These are the ones who seek perfection and God rewards them, provided that they remain humble and love their neighbor. There are others who by working hard God rewards with wealth for it is written "The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he humbleth and he exalteth." 1 Samuel 2:7.
We also have the story of Job, whom receives poverty involuntarily and does so without complaining for this God rewarded Job with twice as much as God allowed the devil to take away.
There are others like the rich man who lives a life of leisure and eats sumptuous meals and becomes selfish, giving nothing to the poor. For this he had no reward but only condemnation. There is also the case of Lazarus who, having been poor and at only scraps off the ground was humble and kind and brought to heaven immediately by angels.
There is also the case of Solomon, who received 666 talents of gold from the queen of sheba for it is written "And the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon every year, was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold:" 1 Kings 10:14
But the devil, being exceedingly crafty, tempted Solomon to the height of lust and as it is written "3And he had seven hundred wives as queens, and three hundred concubines: and the women turned away his heart. 4And when he was now old, his heart was turned away by women to follow strange gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5But Solomon worshipped Astarthe the goddess of the Sidonians, and Moloch the idol of the ammonites." 1 King 11:3-5
For it was the greatness of Solomon's wealth and the ease of life that drew Solomon into idolatry and great perversion. All the wisdom of God could not satisfy his perverse heart.
But remember what our Lord Jesus Christ said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
And take heed to the admonition of the Apostle James "9But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation: 10And the rich, in his being low; because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away. 11For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways."
"1Now, ye rich men, weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you. 2Your riches are corrupted: and your garments are motheaten. 3Your gold and silver is cankered: and the rust of them shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up to yourselves wrath against the last days. 4Behold the hire of the labourers, who have reaped down your fields, which by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 5You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and put to death the Just One, and he resisted you not."
The Apostle Paul says thus to Timothy "8But having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. 9For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition. 10For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows."
The Apostle Paul lays commandments for the wealthy Christian.
"17Charge the rich of this world not to be highminded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, (who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy,) 18To do good, to be rich in good works, to give easily, to communicate to others, 19To lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the true life."
To be humble, to trust in the Lord, to do good, to perform the works of charity, to be generous and to speak kindly to others. These are what the Lord Jesus expects of the wealthy.
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