I didn't say the Bible gives a date, or that a date was found inscribed on some ancient document. I said the "evidence" from all these sources "supports" the December 25 date. Whereas there is no actual historical or archaeological evidence to support those who proffer other dates.
For example, the comment you made that shepherds would not be in the fields with their sheep in December ... there is no Scriptural or historical or archaeological or, for that matter, even meterological data to support that notion. Wherever you got that information, did they by any chance offer you any kind of evidence to prove that sheep would not be in the fields of Bethlehem in December? If so, I'd like to see it. But there is a lot of evidence, from Scripture as well as historical documents that proves that sheep would indeed have been in the fields in December, and in fact, all the year round.
First from Scripture, we have evidence from Genesis 31:38-40 that Jacob was in the fields tending Laban's flocks in both the drought of summer and also the frosty winter nights.
And from historical sources, there are two Rabbinic sources which state that during 2nd Temple times flocks “remain in the open alike in the hottest days and in the rainy season.” (Bezah 40a cf. Tosephta Bezah iv.6 and also Jer. Bezah 63b) The winter in Israel is referred to as the rainy season because this is a moderate region of the Mediterranean where the winter is mild and rainy compared to European winters, and even American winters in the northern states. After all, Israel is a land of palms, and fig trees, and pomegranates, plants which only grow in areas with moderate winter temperatures. The average nighttime temperature in Bethlehem on December 24 is 44 degrees F. I have actually seen temperatures on Christmas day in the 60’s. This is simply not a cold enough climate to require that wooly sheep be brought into shelter for the winter. To verify the temperature data I’ve provided log onto
http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Israel/Bethlehem/climate-profile.aspx?month=12 or www.jerusalempost.com and search their archives.
But there is much more evidence that also must be taken into consideration. During the 1st century there were literally hundreds of thousands of animals sacrificed in the Temple every year. According to Josephus as many as a quarter million lambs were slain at Passover alone! Animals to be used for cultic purposes was the primary import commodity of Israel (Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus, Joachim Jeremias), and before these animals could be offered they had to be inspected by specially trained priests to be sure they were free of any blemish, deformity, scars, or infestations. According to Rabbinic writings (Mishnah, Baba K. 7.7 and Baba K. 80a) the “Temple flock,” as it was called referring to those flocks of sheep intended for sacrifice in Jerusalem, were kept at Bethlehem, five miles south of the city. This would not be a typical sheep fold, but a stock-yard type arrangement where hundreds and even thousands of animals were temporarily kept until they were inspected and then brought to Jerusalem for sacrifice. And since Jesus was born on the 7th day of Chanukah, during the festival of lights, there would have been a greater demand for sacrificial animals than on a non-festival day so certainly there would have been animals in the fields ready to be brought the 5 miles to the city for the next day’s sacrifices.
Another important piece of data, this time of particular archaeological interest, is that Bethlehem was the ancient site of the royal house of David, and there was at one time a castle there. Even in Jesus’ time that castle had long since fallen to ruin, but it is believed that the “Migdal Eder,” the “tower of the flock” which was located in the old ancient royal village was in fact one of the old watchtowers from the royal castle that in Jesus’ time was being used as the watchtower for the shepherds who were keeping watch over the temple flock. The Palestinian authority has been peppered with requests for permits to conduct archaeological investigations in this area to attempt to locate the castle ruins, but permission has not yet been given. We know that this Migdal Eder stood just outside Bethlehem on the road to Jerusalem.
A messianic prophecy about this Migdal Eder was very familiar to 1st century Jews. The prophet Micah had foretold that the birth of the Messiah would be announced from this tower: “And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:8) We know from both the Gospels as well as the Rabbinic writings that it was believed that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but this prophecy about his birth being announced from the tower of the flock was equally well-known to the Jews (Targum Pseudo-Jon. On Gen. 35.21). There is also an ancient story of Messiah’s birth related in the Jerusalem Talmud which says the Messiah would be born “in the royal castle of Bethlehem” (Ber. 2.3 cf. Midrash on Lamentations 1.16). According to the Rabbis, even if a castle falls down, it is still called a castle (Yalkut, Vol. 2, p. 60 B). But this Migdal Eder, the “tower of the flock,” was an old watchtower that remained from the ruins of the royal castle and it was from here that the shepherds kept watch over the Temple flocks just outside Bethlehem.
And another piece of historical information, the shepherds who tended these flocks were no ordinary shepherds. The reason we know this is that shepherds, because of their necessary isolation from the religions life of the nation, were under a Rabbinic ban, such as that imposed on others who engaged in trades that in some way rendered them unclean, such as tax collectors, weavers, tanners, physicians, midwives, city sanitation workers, etc. And yet, on the night of Christ’s birth, we see the shepherds who were keeping watch over the flock in Bethlehem going freely about the neighborhood conversing openly with the people about the things they had seen and heard. The only reason these shepherds were able to do so is that they were not under the Rabbinic ban because these were not ordinary shepherds, their duty was to guard and care for the Temple flock, a sacred purpose, and they were not required to live in isolation from the religious life but in fact played a very important role in that religious life.
All of which means that not only was Jesus born in Bethlehem, as the ancient prophet had foretold, but his birth was announced to the Jewish people by the very shepherds stationed in the Migdal Eder, the royal tower of the temple flock, who kept watch over the lambs destined for sacrifice in Jerusalem.
So the evidence for shepherds being in the fields of Bethlehem on a December night is rather extensive, whereas the evidence to the contrary is based on what? …
In Christ,
Pilgrimer