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| For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. |
(below is adapted from an article I read in an email... don't have the source.)
The Scriptures gives sufficient indications
concerning the time of Christ’s birth.
Let’s study them.
1. The birth of John the Baptist
a. The first passage we will consider begins with
the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias:
- Luke 1:5 “There was in the days of Herod, the king
of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the
course of Abia: and his wife was of the
daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 8 And it came to pass, that
while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his
course… 23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his
ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. 24 And after
those days his wife Elisabeth conceived…” Zacharias was of the
"course" of Abia.
b. The 24 courses of the temple priesthood:
- King David on God's instructions (1 Chr 28:11-13)
had divided the sons of Aaron into 24 groups (1 Chr
24:1-4), to setup a schedule by which the Temple of
the Lord could be staffed with priests all year round in an orderly manner.
After the 24 groups of priests were established, lots were drawn to determine
the sequence in which each group would serve in the Temple. 1Chr 24: 7-19 list
the sequence of the 24 courses.
- Each one of the 24 "courses" of priests
would begin and end their service in the Temple on the Sabbath, a tour of duty
being for one week (2 Chr 23:8, 1 Chr 9:25).
- On three occasions during the year, all the men of
Israel were required to travel to Jerusalem for festivals of the Lord, so on
those occasions all the priests would be needed in the Temple to accommodate
the crowds.
- Those three festivals were Unleavened Bread (3rd week), Pentecost (9th week), and Tabernacles (27th week) (Deut 16:16).
c. The Jewish lunar calendar
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| The Jewish lunar calendar |
- The Jewish calendar begins in the spring, during
the month of Nisan, so the first "course" of priests, would be that
of the family of Jehoiarib, who would serve for one week, Sabbath to Sabbath.
The second week would then be the responsibility of the family of Jedaiah.
- The third week would be the feast of Unleavened
Bread, and all priests would be present for service. Then the schedule would
resume with the third course of priests, the family of Harim. By this plan,
when the 24th course was completed, the general cycle of courses
would repeat. This schedule would cover 51 (24x2 + 3) weeks or 357 days, enough
for the lunar Jewish calendar (about 354 days).
- So, in a period of a year, each group of priests
would serve in the Temple twice on their scheduled course, in addition to the 3
major festivals, for a total of about five weeks of duty.
- The course of Abia would serve in week 3
(Unleavened Bread), week 9 (Pentecost), week 10 (the 8th course of the 24 courses); then
week 27 (Tabernacles), and week 35 (the 8th course
of the 2nd
round of the 24
courses) – a total of 5 weeks of duty.
d. The Conception
of John the Baptist.
- Luke 1:23 “And it came to pass, that, as soon as the
days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own
house. 24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived…” [This
is understandable – Zachariah had abstained from sex for weeks because of his
duty. So when he departed to his own house after the tour of duty, the child
was fathered! As soon as the days of his administration, after those days of
his administration, his wife conceived.]
- Beginning with the first month, Nisan, in the
spring (March-April), the schedule of the priest's courses would result with
Zacharias serving during the 10th week of the year. This is because he was a
member of the course of Abia (Abijah), the 8th course, and both the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (15-21 Nisan) and
Pentecost (6 Sivan) would have occurred before his
scheduled duty. This places Zacharias' administration in the Temple as
beginning on the second Sabbath of the third month, Sivan (May-June).
- Having completed his Temple service on the third
Sabbath of Sivan, Zacharias returned home and soon conceived his son John. So
John the Baptist was probably conceived shortly after the third Sabbath of the
month of Sivan.
2. The Birth of Jesus Christ.
a. Now the reason that the information about John is
important, is because according to Luke, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit
in the sixth month of Elisabeth's pregnancy:
- Luke 1:24 And after those days his
wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months… 26 And in the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth…36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in
her old age: and this is the sixth month with her…”
- Now working from the information about John's
conception late in the third month, Sivan, and advancing six months, we arrive
late in the 9th month of Kislev (Nov-Dec) for the time frame for the conception
of Jesus.
- It is notable here that the first day of the
Jewish festival of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev, and Jesus is called
the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46). Interesting connection!
- This does not appear to be a mere coincidence. In
the book of John, Hanukkah is called the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22).
Hanukkah is an eight day festival of rejoicing, celebrating deliverance from enemies
by the relighting of the menorah in the rededicated Temple.
b. The birth of John the Baptist.
- Based on a conception shortly after the third
Sabbath of the month of Sivan, projecting forward an average term of about 10
lunar months (40 weeks), we arrive in the month of Nisan. It would appear that
John the Baptist may have been born in the middle of the month, which would
coincide with Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So then, the Feast of
Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th day of the 1st month, Nisan, and this is a
likely date for the birth of John the Baptist, the expected "Elijah".
c. The birth of Jesus Christ.
- Since Jesus was conceived 6 months after John the
Baptist, and we have established a likely date for John's birth, we need only
move six months farther down the Jewish calendar to arrive at a likely date for
the birth of Jesus. From the 15th day of the 1st month, Nisan, we go to the
15th day of the 7th month, Tishri.
- And what do we find on that date? It is the
festival of Tabernacles! The 15th day of Tishri begins the third and last
festival of the year to which all the men of Israel were to gather in Jerusalem
for Temple services. (Lev 23:34)
- Immanuel means "God with us". The Son of
God had come to dwell with, or tabernacle on earth with His people. John 1:14
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
- The Feast of Tabernacles, occurs five days after
the Day of Atonement, and is a festival of rejoicing and celebration of
deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Leviticus 23:42-43).
Luke 2:7 “And she brought forth her firstborn
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there
was no room for them in the inn.”
- Why was there no room at the inn? Bethlehem is only
about 5 miles from Jerusalem, and all the men of
Israel had come to attend the festival of
Tabernacles as required by the law of Moses. Every room for miles around
Jerusalem would have been already taken by pilgrims, so all that Mary and
Joseph could find for shelter was a stable. During Tabernacles, everyone was to
live in temporary booths (Sukkot), as a memorial to Israel's pilgrimage out of
Egypt - Lev. 23:42-43.
- The birth of the Savior, in what amounted to a
temporary dwelling rather than a house, signaled the coming deliverance of
God's people from slavery to sin, and their departing for the promised land,
which is symbolized by Tabernacles.
d. Jesus died on the Passover day.
- He began his ministry at 30 (Lk 3:23) and ministered for 3 and 1/2years. Moving back 6 months from Passover would be the time of Christ’s birth, i.e. mid Tishri.
- He began his ministry at 30 (Lk 3:23) and ministered for 3 and 1/2years. Moving back 6 months from Passover would be the time of Christ’s birth, i.e. mid Tishri.
- Christ’s ministry involved at least 4 Passover:
John 2:13, Luke 6:1, John 6:4, John 19:14 (his last).
Based on the scriptural
information and the significance of various OT feasts, a case can be made that
Jesus Christ was born on the 15th day of the month of Tishri, on the first day
of the Feast of
Tabernacles,
which corresponds to the September - October timeframe of our present calendar!
(The
full moon of the 15th day of Tishri also explains why the shepherds
could make haste to find the Saviour in the inn in the night!!!)
