The Real Christmas
The Real Christmas?
There are many out there trying to justify December 25th as the day when Jesus was truly born millennia ago. Just the fact that shepherds were out in the fields goes against any December date. Plus, God has consistently used His ordained festivals and feasts as markers for major events. There are no such ordained events in December, including Hannukah, which is a manmade Jewish holiday. History pretty much shows that the December 25th date was chosen to blend in with the Roman holiday of Saturnalia.
So, does history and/or the Bible give us clues as to when Jesus was born? Let’s look at history first. Caesar Augustus is mentioned, having ordered the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. His reign lasted from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D., so he was around during that whole period. What about Herod the Great, who ordered the slaughter of all males two years and under? Historians seem settled on his death being in 4 B.C., but this is based on a single historical mention by Josephus of his death occurring in a year when there was a lunar eclipse prior to Passover. Since he ordered the deaths of two-year-old males, that would mean Jesus was born in 6 B.C. or earlier. No one seems to think this is the case. More on this later.
Now, what does the Bible say? Some scholars believe that John’s title as a seer points to his practice of watching the stars, the signs in the heavens. In fact, “astral theology” was a prominent aspect of the religious life of the Jews and early Christians. This is the belief that what was going on in the heavens were signs of God’s will or His intent to do something. This had nothing to do with determining an individual’s fate, as in astrology as we know it today.
In Revelation v12:1-5 we find the woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a wearing a crown with twelve stars. The heavens also showed the dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, standing before the woman ready to devour her child upon her giving birth. In astral terms, the woman is the constellation Virgo, based upon Isaiah 7:14. John describes the dragon as red and says its tail swept away a third of the stars. The dragon is also said to be coming out of the abyss. Both the red color and the abyss (another constellation) point to the southern constellation Hydra. It sits in the southern sky, closer to Virgo than Draco (a northern “dragon”constellation), near the abyss, and there’s a void of stars near its tail. The constellations Corvus and Crater sit above Hydra, and one has seven stars and the other ten. The virgin’s crown would be Leo, which with its nine bright stars, plus the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars, would appear to have 12 stars.
Astronomically, what does this mean? Virgo is a broad constellation that rises above the horizon in spring, traverses the heavens, and begins its descent to the horizon in late summer. The sun follows an imaginary path called the ecliptic, which holds its course 24/7. The ecliptic runs through the night sky as well, showing the sun’s position on the other side of the earth. The ecliptic runs through every zodiacal constellation on a yearly schedule, which takes it through Virgo roughly from September 16 to October 30. However, to say she is clothed with the sun would imply its being in her midst, which only occurs for roughly 20 days during this time span. Because the moon travels its ecliptic once every month, it passes to the east of Virgo (sits at her feet) more than once during those six weeks. However, for the moon to sit at her feet while the sun is in her midst takes us to a roughly 90-minute time window during that 20-day period. Taken as is, this combination isn’t that unique and has occurred four times in the past 1,000 years, the most recent being September 23, 2017.
However, the scripture gives us more information, and if we were Magi watching the skies for signs of the Messiah, we would be aware of other celestial pointers. The Magi were, after all, trained by Daniel who was chief of the Magi in his day. The Magi would no doubt associate Leo, the lion, with the tribe of Judah from which the Messiah would come. (Genesis 49:9-10). Leo is dominated by the star Regulus, known by astronomers as the “King star.” Also, astronomers call Jupiter the “King planet.”
At one unique point in history, the stars lined up and Jupiter went into conjunction with Regulus. That conjunction began on September 11th, 3 B.C. and continued through September 14th. Jupiter continued along its path until December 1, 3 B.C. when it appeared to stop for a while before beginning its retrograde path. On February 17, 2 B.C., it again joined in conjunction with Regulus. That conjunction on September 11th could account for the “star” of Bethlehem. The Magi would have seen this and ascertained that something wonderful had happened, particularly if they were aware of Isaiah’s prophesies about the Messiah. Yet, they would require time to prepare and to get to Jerusalem, thus Herod’s decision to kill every male child two years old and under, based on when the Magi had seen these signs.
If Herod was still alive in 3 B.C., then when might he have died? Revelation 12 goes on to say that the woman fled to the wilderness prepared for her and her child for 3.5 years. Could this point to Joseph taking his family to Egypt until he learned that Herod was dead? If Jesus was roughly two years old when they fled to Egypt, that takes us to roughly 1 B.C. Since there is no year zero, three and a half years bring us to the end of 4 A.D. (I know, that doesn’t seem right but that’s how historians date things.) In 4 A.D. there was a lunar eclipse on March 23rd and Passover started on April 10th. Even if we consider a year zero, that takes us to 3 A.D. and there was a lunar eclipse on March 13th with Passover starting March 29th that year. Either way, this works to fit both the historical and biblical accounts.
September 11th, 3 B.C. works as Jesus’s birth date for other reasons. The timing well fits with the birth of John the Baptist, calculated using his father’s time of service in the temple. We know that John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was of the order of Abijah. The order of Abijah was the eighth order of service as determined by David. In 1 Chr 24:1-19, we find those priestly orders and Jehoiarib was first. In the Ta’anit 29a verse 12 we find a reference to the 9th of Av and the order of Jehoiarib. From that we can calculate when each order served in the temple and in 4 B.C., the order of Abijah would have served in early July. Considering that Elizabeth was six months along and Mary had nine more months to go, Jesus’ birth 15 months later, in September of 3 B.C., fits.
More importantly, God uses His feasts for important events and September 11th began the Feast of Trumpets that year. Also, Tishri 1, aka Rosh Hashanah today, was the beginning of the Jewish new year and the traditional day of Judean kings’ inaugurations, as shown in the account of Solomon, as well as in Jeremiah and Ezra. And per Jewish tradition, this celebrates the day on which the creation began, the first day of the human calendar. Finally, from the flood account, we find Noah opening the ark to discover the earth had dried. Jewish tradition also discerns from that account that Noah’s birthday was Tishri 1, a belief celebrated by Jews. John likely included this celestial pointer to Christ’s birthday because many Jews would believe that the Messiah would share a birthday with Noah. All of these facts come together to support a September 3 B.C. date, not a December date.
So, if Jesus was born on September 11th, 3 B.C., does that hold any importance to today? Many scholars believe He’ll return on Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah). I agree. It’s the Feast of Trumpets, a day of celebration (with no sacrifices made in ancient days). It’s also known as the feast for which the day and hour were not known. Now, I’m not a date setter, but guess when Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashanah starts next year – September 11th. Gives me goose bumps thinking about it.