The Birth Of Christ

Good Topic, commended on your research. as said, Christ is Born that's what Matters

PICJAG.

Yes Amen !!

firstthings1st. said:

The Scriptures show us that Jesus Christ was born “in the days of Herod the king” (Matt.2:1).

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May I offer some additional historical details to help fill in the gaps?

It is now indisputable that Herod died in the year 4 B.C. as there have been coins discovered that were minted by his sons that date their reigns beginning in 4 B.C. Archaeology (and it’s child Numismatology) is a relatively new science (the 5 pillars of scientific methodology were developed late 19th and early 20th century) but it has been a great boon in settling centuries-long disputes about dates.

My best estimate is that Herod died about March 25. The reason is that Josephus records that Herod died before the Passover which occurred on April 12 of that year. And Herod's son Archelaus mourned his father for 7 days before the Passover which sets the latest date for Herod's death at April 4. Allowing for a day of preparation of the body (Jews buried the dead the day of or the day following their death) and another day for the funeral procession to Herodium where he was interred pushes the latest date for his death back to the first day or two of April or the end of March.

However, another piece of information in the Gospels is that, while in Egypt, Joseph was told by God in a dream that Herod was dead and that he was to take Mary and the infant Jesus back to Judaea. The time required for a journey from and to Egypt from Bethlehem/Jerusalem was two weeks. Joseph and Mary arrived in Judaea and apparently intended to go to either Bethlehem or more likely to Jerusalem for the Passover. However, hearing that Archelaus was now reigning Joseph was worried and then he was warned by God to not go back to Judaea so Joseph and Mary journeyed on to Nazareth in Galilee.

That was very providential as there was a riot in the Temple during Passover that year and Archelaus sent in his soldiers who slew over 3000 Jews in the courts of the Temple, as Josephus says, mixing their blood with the blood of their sacrifices. The Passover festival was canceled and everyone was sent home.

All of which means the latest date for Herod's death would have to be a bare minimum of two weeks before Passover to allow time for the journey from Egypt, which pushes the date of his death back to no later than March 28.

Working at this from another direction, the eclipse before Herod's death occurred on at 3:00 a.m. on March 13. Herod's health had deteriorated to the point that he gave up all hope of a remedy by the doctors and at the suggestion of his adviser left Jerusalem and made the day-long trek to Calirrhoe to bathe in the warm springs in hopes it might cure his affliction (most modern doctors agree from the symptoms laid out by Josephus that Herod suffered from chronic kidney failure complicated by Fournier's gangrene). At best he spent 1 day there as the hot oil bath only caused him excruciating pain so he left the springs and traveled to his palace in the oasis of Jericho. The total time for this journey from Jerusalem to Calirrhor to Jericho would be at least 3 days which brings us to March 16 at the earliest when Herod arrives in Jericho.

There are events that occurred after his arrival including the summoning and arriving of all the elders of the people of Israel who were then shut up in the Hippodrome, Herod instructing his immediate family that they were all to be executed at the moment of his death before the news of his demise could spread so that there would be mourning in all the land of Israel when Herod died. The time required for a messenger to travel the length of Israel was 3 days. Another day for the summoned to prepare for their trip, and then for the most distant another 3 days for the trip to Jericho, so a full week would be required. That would bring us to the date of March 23 at the earliest.

From these facts we would have to place the death of Herod sometime between March 23 at the earliest and March 28 at the latest. Allowing for other events that I have not included in this brief note, my best estimate is that Herod died on March 25, five days after having his son Antipater executed on March 20.

So with an historically reconstructed death date of March 25, 4 B.C. for Herod, that means Jesus was born not long before that date.

Again, there is additional information in the Gospels to fix even more dates.

We know that Joseph and Mary remained in Bethlehem after Jesus' birth for at least 40 days. The reason is that the law required that all first-born males of man and beast belonged to God and it was required that a mother must bring her son to the Temple for a presentation and redemption offering and rite. I won't go into all the legal details of exactly how that was done but for this post the point is that this commandment was to be done on the 40th day of the child's life. With a December 25 birth, that means Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple for his presentation on February 2.

We know from the Gospels that it was sometime after this that the Magi visited because that same night Joseph was warned in a dream that Herod would try to kill Jesus and Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt.

Again, I won't go into all the astronomical observations of this period, but suffice it to say that there was a sighting of a new star during this time, on February 23, that was first noted by the famous astronomer Humboldt that was recorded in the astronomical tables of the Chinese. Further work by the equally eminent astronomer Dr. Goldschmidt and others have astronomically ascertained that this sidereal appearance on February 23 would have been visible low in the south/southwestern sky and would have been visible to those leaving Jerusalem and traveling in the south/southwestern direction of Bethlehem. According to Goldschmidt the star would “almost seem to go before-in the direction of, and stand over, the town of Bethlehem, five miles south/southwest of Jerusalem.”

If this was indeed the star that was witnessed by the Magi as they left Jerusalem traveling toward Bethlehem, and which seemed to “go before them” and “stand over” the house where Jesus lay, this would date the visit of the Magi to February 23.

Working further backward, Mary and Joseph would have traveled the five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem for the presentation and Mary’s purification on the 40th day, February 2.

Jesus’ circumcision would have occurred on the 8th day, on January 1.

All this supports and indeed requires a birth date for Jesus on or around December 25, the date that has been attested to in Christian writings since it was first recorded by the earliest Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries.

There is much, much more but I hope you find this additional bit of historical information as fascinating as I do.

In Christ,
Pilgrimer