When Was Jesus Really Born?
December 16th, 2009
There are many ideas on the date of Jesus’ actual birth and several of them have merit. I’m going to outline the evidence for one that, I think, seems to fit the best. Keep in mind that the day we celebrate the birth of Christ is not really all that critical. It’s the reason we celebrate, not when we celebrate, that’s important.Elizabeth, John’s mother, was a cousin of Mary and the wife of a priest named Zacharias who was of the “course” of Abijah. (Priests were divided into 24 courses and each course officiated in the Temple for one week, from sabbath to sabbath.)
John the Baptist was born to Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, and a priest named Zacharias. Zacharias served in the temple during the course of Abijah. A “course” was a group of priests that served in the temple for seven days, from Sabbath to Sabbath. The priests were divided into 24 courses. The course of Abijah was the 8th course.
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Luke 1 (New King James Version)
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. |
We know from historical records that the temple was destroyed on August 5th, 70 a.d. and that the first course had just begun their duties. Working backwards, we can determine that Zacharias served from July 6th to the 13th of 3 b.c. It was during this week that Zacharias was told by an angel that Elizabeth would bear a son. Zacharias left the temple and went home.
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Luke 1 23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
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If John the Baptist was born 9 months later, or 120 days, he would have born on April 19th-20th, 2 b.c. This would have made him born on Passover of that year. It makes sense to me that the Lord would arrange for the herald of the Messiah to be born on the feast that foreshadowed the birth of the Church. There is an old rabbis’ saying “Coincidence is not a kosher word”.
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Luke 1
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
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The 6th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy would mean that John the Baptist was 5 months older than Jesus. Mary hurried to see Elizabeth, who was in the first week of her 6th month. This would have been in the first week of December.
If Jesus was born 280 days later, He would have been born on September 29th of 2 b.c. (the First of Tishri). That year, September 29th was the Feast of Trumpets, another coincidence. All through the Bible there are recurring patterns, like this. It makes perfect sense that John the Baptist would be born on the day the sacrificial lamb is presented and Jesus was born on the day that predicts His coming back to earth to rule as king.
As I said, there are several dates that are good candidates and a lot of people have made some very convincing arguments for them. However, it’s generally agreed that Jesus was born in the fall and September 29th of 2 b.c. fits in with patterns the Lord uses throughout the scriptures, especially when it comes to the Feasts of Israel.
The birth of Christ was set on December 25th by the early Church leaders in 440 a.d. on the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, the winter solstice. At this time the pagan trappings, like the tree and the yule log were incorporated into the Christian celebration. See Christmas Traditions And The Birth Of Jesus.
We could get all wrapped up in what we should be doing to commemorate the birth of Christ, but it’s much more important that we remember why and not how we stop to remember His birth. I do think that it’s more than a little ironic that the secular world is trying as hard as it can to remove any symbols of “Christmas” from our culture. They are trying to ban things like Christmas trees from public display without understanding that those things are actually pagan in origin and have nothing to do with the real Christmas.
