At what time of year was Jesus really born?
I have previously published my own enquiry on different aspects of Christmas, and now accept quite a drove of articles. This week I am planning, without amends, to repost those which generated nigh interest.
One of the problems about the development of traditions around Christmas is that people writing hymns or plays set Jesus' nascency in their ain world rather than in what we know of the first century. In particular, many assume that Jesus was born in winter, since Christmas is historic in winter in the northern hemisphere. (It would be interesting to run across some genuinely antipodeal hymns: 'In the deep midwinter' would become 'In the pinnacle of summer'…)
It is fairly widely recognised that the celebration of Christmas was not adamant by the historical appointment of Jesus' birth. There's as well a common (mostly anti-Christian) myth that the engagement of 25th December was chosen to readapt the pagan festival of Sol Invictus, but Andrew McGowan of Yale University has demonstrated that this was twelfth-century anti-Christmas propaganda. From the primeval times there appear to have been two contesting dates, December 25th in the W, and January 6th in the East of the empire. The December date comes from counting 9 months on from the believed date of Jesus' conception, March 25th, which was as well (for theological reasons) believed to have been the aforementioned date that Jesus died on.
So tin can we know when in the twelvemonth Jesus was born?
The beginning clue comes in noting the relation between the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin'south name was Mary. (Luke 1.26–27)
If Mary conceived soon afterwards this, and assuming that Mary and Elizabeth both went to term, then Jesus was born v to six months after John. (Discover that the visit of Gabriel was in the sixth calendar month of Elizabeth'southward pregnancy.)
The second clue comes in noting when John's male parent, Zechariah, was serving his term as priest in the temple. Zechariah belonged to the priestly partition of Abijah (Luke 1.5) and we know when this division served from 1 Chronicles 24.vii–19:
The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
the 3rd to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
the fifth to Malkijah, the 6th to Mijamin,
the seventh to Hakkoz,the eighth to Abijah,
the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah…
Each of the 24 divisions served for a week, but all divisions served together at major festivals. We demand to remember that the ecclesiastical calendar began in the month of Nisan, around the end of March, whereas the domestic calendar began at Rosh HaShannah ('the caput of the twelvemonth') at the end of September. (Nosotros also need to remember that the Jewish agenda uses lunar months of 29 or 30 days, and has to add an extra calendar month in six years out of every 19 to align with the solar year. So correspondences with months in the Gregorian agenda vary from i year to another.) This pattern of service was interrupted during the exile when Solomon's temple was destroyed, but it was restored (presumably from this text) on the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple.
Bold Zechariah was on his first duty of the twelvemonth, the timing would look like this:
| Outcome | Priestly segmentation on duty | Month | Week |
| 1. Jehoiarib | 1 Nissan | ane | |
| two. Jedaiah | 2 | ||
| Passover Festival | All 24 | 3 | |
| 3. Harim | iv | ||
| 4. Seorim | 2 Iyar | 5 | |
| 5. Malkijah | 6 | ||
| 6. Mijamin | 7 | ||
| 7. Hakkoz | 8 | ||
| 8.Abijah | three Sivan | 9 | |
| Schavuot (Weeks or Pentecost) | All 24 | 10 | |
| Zechariah returns home: John conceived | ix. Jeshua | xi | |
| ten. Shecaniah | 12 |
So John was likely conceived in the second half of Sivan, which is effectually the beginning of June. Adding the six months between John and Jesus, and the 9 months of Mary'southward gestation, brings the states to effectually the eye of September the following year.
And so Jesus would have been born in September.
Some interesting points arise from this adding:
1. This would hateful that the shepherds in their fields were outdoors in September (Luke 2.8). Given the mild weather at this time of year, this is highly plausible. The hill country effectually Jerusalem and Bethlehem is cold in the wintertime, often with snow, and so this would be less probable in December.
2. There is a tradition that Jesus was conceived on or effectually 25th Dec (rather than built-in then), and this would fit with Elizabeth's visit to her in her 6th month.
iii. There is also a tradition that 'Elijah' who comes to prepare the way for the Messiah would be born at Passover, which is John'south date of birth by this calculation.
4. If Jesus was born in September, that would be close to one of the three major pilgrim feasts, that of Succoth, also called Tabernacles or 'Booths'. This banquet commemorates the menses of time that Israel lived in tents in the wilderness. 'Tents' is southwarduccoth in Hebrew,tabernacula in Latin andskenaiin Greek; we become our word 'scene' from this, since tent textile would have been hung at the back of the stage in a Greek theatre. This connects with John 1.xiv:
The Discussion became flesh and fabricated his dwelling [Gk: skenoo] among u.s.a..
which some accept translated 'tabernacled amid us' to bring out this connection. So it might be that John's theological reflection on Jesus was prompted by knowing the date of his nascency.
Information technology is worth pointing out that information technology is rather unusual that we can be relatively confident of historical events at this kind of level of detail. The root source of this is the Jewish interest in schedules and calendars, in this case, the rota of priestly duties. Such precision and organization is relatively rare in the ancient world, and it offers a historical framework for the textile of the New Testament that is unrivalled.
A farther theological point of interest is that Jesus' life, death and ministry are then connected with all iii of the pilgrim feasts. He was born at Succoth, crucified and risen at Passover (Pesach) and the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost (Shavuot). [Many years agone I read David Pawson arguing that Jesus' return would happen at Pentecost, to complete the three, simply I think he missed the significance of the outpouring of the Spirit at this festival.]
Of form, Gabriel's advent to Zechariah could have taken place during hissecond duty as priest, which would have been around vi months later, putting the Proclamation in June and Jesus' birth in March. I have found no arguments either for or against this in the literature.
Does this all mean we are wasting our time celebrating Christmas in Dec in the northern hemisphere?Not at all. The main point of Christmas is not chronology buttheology. As I comment elsewhere:
As the nights shut in, and the days shorten, nosotros long to come across light. As the winter gets colder, nosotros long for warmth. As nature effectually us seems strangled past expiry, we need signs of promise and life. And as the inconvenience of going out gets greater, and we are more isolated from friends and neighbours, we long for company…Who tin bring us lite simply the light of the world (John 8.12)? Who can bring us warmth but the one who has poured God'south beloved into our hearts (Rom 5.v)? Who gives us hope beyond death, but the one who not just tasted death for u.s. but swallowed information technology up in victory (one Cor 15.54)? And who else can bring united states of america into friendship with God (2 Cor v.xviii–19)?
Additional Note: for some further fascinating and detail contend around this, see the previous post of this article here.
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