Sir/101G, Have you read ?
THAT HEROD DIED IN THE YEAR B.C. 4 = A.U.C. 750, SHORTLY BEFORE THE PASSOVER. This result, at least so far as it relates to the YEAR, is now accepted by most modern scholars" (Schurer, p.465-466). Further, in Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, volume 1, concerning the birth of Christ, we read concerning the death of king Herod: "According to Matthew 2:1 (compare Luke 1:5, 26), Christ was born 'in the days of king Herod' I, or the Great, who died, according to Josephus, at Jericho, A.U. 4 750, just before the Passover, being nearly seventy years of age, after a reign of thirty-seven years. This date has been verified by the astronomical calculation of the eclipse of the moon, which took place March 13, A.U. 750, a few days before Herod's death. Allowing two months or more for the events between the birth of Christ and the murder of the innocents by Herod, the Nativity must be put back at least to February or January, A.U. 750 (or B.C. 4), if not earlier" (vol.1, p.112). The Birth of Christ Reconsidered When, then, was Jesus Christ born? The actual day of the birth of Christ is not known for certain, but we can know the approximate time of year when He was born.
In the book of Luke we read that the father of John the Baptist was Zacharias, and he was a priest who served at the temple in Jerusalem. He was "of the course of Abia" (Luke 1:5). While serving at the temple, he was informed by an angel that his wife was to have a son, who was to be named "John." After this, Zacharias finished "the days of his ministration," and "departed to his own house" (v.23). "And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived . . ." (v.24). The names of the different courses of priests that served at the Temple are given in I Chronicles 24:1-19. "Abia" or "Abijah" was the EIGHTH course. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, each one of these courses served at the Temple for one week, the first course serving the first week of Nisan, in the spring (compare I Chron.27:1-2), and then each course in its own order. All the priests served during the annual festivals (Passover in spring, Pentecost, and then Tabernacles in the fall). After six months, the order would be repeated, thus each "course" would serve two weeks during a year. Let's notice the chronology of events. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, served in the Temple twice a year, with his course, the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5-7), which was the eighth course (I Chron.24:7-19).
There were 24 courses in all. Each course served for one week, in succession (except for weeks when annual Festivals fell, when all priests served together). Josephus tells us: "But David being desirous of ordaining his son king of all the people, called together their rulers to Jerusalem, with the priests and the Levites; and having first numbered the Levites . . . He divided them also into courses; and when he had separated the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses . . . and he ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from Sabbath to Sabbath. And thus were the courses distributed by lot . . . and that course which came up first, was written down first, and accordingly the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this partition hath remained to this day" (Antiquities, VII, xiv, 7). The course of Abijah, then, would have served the eighth week in the rotation. The eighth week from Nisan 1, leaving out the week of Passover, when all the priests served, would have been IYAR 27 to SIVAN 5, the day just before Pentecost, which generally fell on Sivan 6. The eighth week in the fall rotation would have been CHESHVAN 26 to KISLEV 2. 5 If Zacharias received his angelic message during his first rotation, then, after serving a week in the Temple, Zacharias would have remained another week in Jerusalem, because of the Feast of Shavuot. Then, he would have returned home shortly after this, and his wife then would have conceived.
This would have been about June. If we add nine months to this date, the normal time for the gestation of a human baby in the womb, John the Baptist would have been born about March, in the spring, shortly before the Passover. But if Zacharias had been serving during his SECOND rotation, in Cheshvan-Kislev, he would have returned home immediately after the service, in early Kislev. Then John the Baptist's birth would have been around August. Jesus was conceived about six months after John (Luke 1:24-31, especially verse 26). This would suggest that Jesus Christ was conceived either about Kishlev in the winter, or Sivan in the spring. Nine months from Kislev (approximately December) would place His birth about the middle of September. Nine months from Sivan would place His birth in SHEVAT (corresponding to February!). The first course began serving the first week in Nisan. After six months, the order of courses would be repeated, beginning the first week in Tishri. Thus Zacharias served approximately the first week in June, and six months later, the first week in December. Shortly after he served his assigned duties, his wife conceived (Luke 1:5-13, 23-24). Nine months later John was born.
So if we add 9 months to these dates, we find that John was either born in around February, or August-September. Jesus Christ was born six months after John (Luke 1:26, 36). Thus Christ could have been born either around August-September, or around February! -- just the opposite from John! Was Christ born around February, or September? How can we know? Crucial Events Surrounding Christ's Birth We know that when Christ was born, He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. Shepherds, told by an angel of His birth, visited Him and found Him "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12-17). Eight days later Mary and Joseph had Him circumcised, according to the commandment (Luke 2:21). Mary then fulfilled the days of her purification -- which culminated 40 days after His birth (Luke 2:22-24; compare Lev.12:2-8). Joseph and Mary were obviously poor, for the offering they offered at this time was a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (Luke 2:24; Lev.12:8).
Sometime not too long after His birth, the wise men visited Him, and gave Him gifts (Matt.2:1-11). When they arrived, they found him as a "young child" (Matt.2:9, 11). He was no longer a swaddling baby, but now a "young child." The Greek word translated "young child" is paidiske and means "an infant or by extension, a half grown boy or girl." Thayer's GreekEnglish Lexicon shows it can refer to a young infant recently born, a more advanced child, or even a mature child or partly grown children. The chronology of Christ's birth, however, shows the family of Joseph was no longer in a manger when the wise men visited them --for we read, "when they were come into the house, they saw the young child" (Matt.2:11). Their visit could have been around 30 days after His birth, or sometime before the time of 6 His being taken to the Temple, 40 days after His birth! Immediately after this visit, and the Temple visit, Joseph was warned to take the child and Mary, and to "flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child, to destroy him" (Matt.2:13). "When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son" (Matt.2:13-15).
Meanwhile, sickly, old Herod, seeing the wise men had ignored his command to return to him after they found the child, became enraged, and had every child in Bethlehem killed up to two years of age, "according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men" (v.16). Shepherds WERE in the Fields in WINTER! What does this chronology of events tell us of the birth of Christ? For years, many of us have assumed and believed that Christ was born in the autumn of the year. The major proof offered for this was that shepherds were abiding in the fields when He was born, and several ancient authorities tell us that shepherds did not abide in the fields during the winter time. This of course ruled out a "Christmas" birth! Since there were shepherds abiding in the fields by night when He was born (Luke 2:8), we assumed that this ruled out any birth from the months of November through February. This seemed conclusive evidence for a fall birth. Supporting this view is a comment by Werner Keller in
The Bible As History, who quotes a remark in the Jewish Talmud which says in effect that "in that neighborhood the flocks were put out to grass in March and brought in again at the beginning of November. They remained out in the open for almost eight months" (p.332). Since the shepherds were "abiding in the fields by night" when Christ was born, therefore, His birth had to occur between March and September. However, Herod died shortly before Passover in B.C.4. Before his death, he had hundreds of infants slain in Bethlehem. During the last few months of his life, he was desperately ill, and abode at a hot springs near the Dead Sea, and otherwise in Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea -- not at Jerusalem. Furthermore, when the wise men visited him, he was still at Jerusalem (Matt.2:1-3). He was troubled by what the wise men told him, "and all Jerusalem with him" (v.3). This visit, therefore, occurred sometime after the birth of Christ -- probably about 30 to 40 days afterward. At the very least, this would push the birth of Christ back to at least the middle of February. Could Christ have been born in February?
Love, Walter