The Day Yeshua was Born - Part 2

Then after a while Mary went to see her relative Elizabeth:

LUKE 1:39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.  41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. (NKJV) 

LUKE 1:56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house. (NKJV)

EXPLANATION:

Mary stayed with Elizabeth right after the time for her to give birth. Probably Mary arrived in Elizabeth’s home in the picturesque village of Ein Kerem in a month’s time due to the distance between Nazareth and Ein Kerem , attended to the needs of Elizabeth and the baby- and went back home to Nazareth about one month after John was born.

In early July of this year (2013), my wife Liza and I were granted by the Lord to visit Israel. We went also to Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Galilee and other places. Our guide who is very knowledgeable told us it would take Jesus few weeks to travel by foot or in a donkey from Nazareth or Galilee to Jerusalem and vice versa. I have seen the terrain and I believe Mary could not have reach the city of David in Judea even in three weeks by riding a donkey.

THE BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

LUKE 1:57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. (NKJV)

Nine months from the time of John's conception in Hanukkah 7 BCE  would bring us to the time of his birth on the second week during the day of atonement of the Jewish year 3756 in the month called Tishrei. 

It's highly symbolic that John the Baptist was born at the time of Repentance and Atonement.

Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר), also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer.

JOHN PREACHED THE MESSAGE OF ATONEMENT AND REPENTANCE

“In the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. - Luke 3:2-3

2 And saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Matt 3:2, 6

Mat 9:14  Then John's disciples came to Jesus. They said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often but your disciples never do?"

Since Jesus was conceived during the month of Tammuz , six months after John the Baptist, he would also have been born six months after John that is on the Day of the Passover.

LUKE 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.  3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.  4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.  6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.  7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (NKJV) 

The Exact Date of Jesus Birth

Jesus was born on Passover, probably on the 14th day of Nisan, in the year 5 BCE. (20^TH April)

This also explains why there was no room at the inn for Joseph and Mary.

HISTORICAL PROOF OF JESUS’ BIRTH:

 

Herod the Great died in Jericho in the spring (probably some days after the Passover) of 4BC.

Few days (probably a week) before his death he issued an edict to massacre all newborn babies to be sure this “King” be destroyed. The soldiers were commanded by Herod to kill the babies two years old and below in Bethlehem.

Herod must have known that the baby King is somewhat one year old by this time! Jesus must also be born during or after the census of Quirinius (Luke 2:1-5), which could have been decreed in late-middle 6BC but implemented some months later.

Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem for this purpose.

The census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. Encyclopedia Encarta 2002 records a census that occurred in 6BC (the promulgation and order of the census but the actual registration occurred late 6BC to the spring of 5BC.)

Under the heading of zealots, it says, “In AD 6, when Judah was put under direct Roman rule and the authorities ordered a census for purposes of taxation, the zealots, led by Judas of Galilee, called for rebellion.”

This could have been the census decreed by Caesar Augustus (see Luke 2:1) that all the world should be registered. “all the world” means this a national registration and a major one and needs a lot of time and preparation.

ASTRONOMICAL PROOF OF JESUS’ BIRTH:

The bible says that a visible star appeared in Israel’s sky at that time. According to a scientific study by Colin Humphrey published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society (Dec. 1991) pgs 389-407, a visible comet was sighted at this very time. Read an article written by Humphrey here.

Another article is here.

Scholar Harold Hoechner wrote of Humphrey’s astronomical findings, “a comet appeared in the constellation Capricornus, in the spring of 5BC.

This comet appeared in the East (Matthew 2:2) and reappeared in Bethlehem (Matt.2: 9). (It is not unusual for a comet to reappear).

Christ must have been born at the comet’s first appearance in the East because it was the date Herod wanted to know: “Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared”(Matthew 2:7)” [Hoechner].

When the star reappeared in Bethlehem the wise men could have traveled for considerably some months because at the reappearance of the comet, Jesus had already grown from a newborn infant to a baby Child: “When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them (reappeared), till it came and stood over where the young Child was (verse 9).

Herod ordered the massacre only after the wise men saw and worshipped Jesus (verse 11, 16), “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men (verse16).”

Jesus thus was born many months before this edict. For at this edict to kill all newborn and older babies, the magi have already seen Jesus who was born by the time they set out for their long expedition and has been transformed to an adorable child.

BIBLICAL PROOF OF JESUS’ BIRTH:
  
Yeshua in the manger is the central figure housed in the story of nativity with four important pillars: 

1. Herod the Great and the massacre of the innocent Jewish children
2. The three wise men from the East and their gifts
3. The comet that appeared twice;  the comet has re-appeared in Bethlehem
4. The shepherds tending their flocks

If you neglect one of these, the tale of nativity diminish in significance.

The reign of the greatest king on earth Herod is important. Why? because of the sign. Herod the Great ordered the killing of all babies in Bethlehem and the nearby districts because he perceived the arrival of One who would displace a great king (Herod). 

Jesus birth signaled the coming of a King greater than a great king. Jesus is born not only to be king of the Jews but to be King of the great Kings on earth. He is the King of Righteousness.

 
“Some (historians and theologians) believe Jesus birth must have been born around 6 BC because Herod killed children up to two years of age (Matt.2: 16). However, a full two years need not have elapse because Herod might have killed children up to two years of age to be certain Jesus was included. Given Herod’s paranoia concerning a successor, this would not have been unusual” (Harold W. Hoehner, History and Chronology of the New Testament: Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, pg476).

If Jesus was born on the Passover of April of 5BC and Herod ordered the massacre of the children days before he died in the third/fourth week of April of 4BC, then Jesus would have been a year and some days old at the time of the massacre. 

For the purpose of clarity I will elaborate here: Say Herod the Great died in the 28th of April, 4BCE. Few days before he died we arrived at the 23th or 24th of April 4 BCE as the day Herod ordered the massacre of the innocent children in Bethlehem. Therefore Jesus who was born April 20 of the previous year of 5BCE was at this time about 0ne year and 3 days old.

Jesus was a year and some days old at the time of the massacre.

This date agrees perfectly why Herod included babies up to 2 (two) years old to be killed. 

JESUS is to be born KING. He was not a king in the making. Jesus was already King even as a new born babe.

Mat 2:1  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,

Mat 2:2  saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

King Herod the Great acknowledge that Jesus was already King even at birth.

John 18:37  Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus replied, "You're correct in saying that I'm a king. I have been born and have come into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me."

The Prophet Isaiah prophesied about the birth of this King in the opening verse of chapter 32 and what will happen to the children of Bethlehem at the close of chapter 32. 

Notice very carefully the correlation within the same chapter of the book. Isaiah prophesied from 740-681 B.C

Chapter 32 verse 1 tell us:

Isaiah 32:1  Behold, a king (is born) and He will reign in righteousness…

Then the Prophet Isaiah proceeded to declare a tragedy in the later verses (verse 9-13) of the same chapter 32.

“Rise up, you women who are at ease, Hear my voice;
You complacent daughters, Give ear to my speech
In a year and some days you will be troubled, you complacent women
For the vintage will fail, the gathering will not come.
Tremble, you women who are at ease; be troubled you complacent ones;
Strip yourselves, make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth on your waists.
People shall mourn upon their breasts…on all the happy homes” (Isaiah 32:9-13)


Also the Prophet Jeremiah prophesied: 

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning.
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted, because they (the dear babies) were no more”
(Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:17-18)

FLOCKS IN THE FIELDS

At the time of Jesus birth the shepherds were still in the fields with their flocks (verse 8),

Notice what commentator Adam Clarke writes regarding this:

It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts [wilderness], about the Passover [sic], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain: during the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the Passover [sic] occurred in the spring, and the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light on this disputed point. (Clarke's Commentary, vol. V, p. 370)

End of essay.