When Was Jesus Born?

When Was Jesus Born?

When Was Jesus Born? Let's learn about birthday of Jesus by exploring historical and biblical evidence along with study made by some historian scholars. This is an effort to find out whether Jesus Christ was really born on 25th December on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day

Did you know that the first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on the 25th of December was actually in 336 AD? This was during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor. A few years later Pope Julius the first officially declared the 25th of December as the date of the birth of Jesus would be celebrated.

Now December 25th might have been chosen because the winter solstice in the ancient Roman midwinter festivals called Saturnalia and Dies Natalis Solis Invicti took place in December around this date. So it was a time when people already celebrated things but there is strong biblical evidence against the fact that Christ was truly born on December 25^th. In fact most theologians and historians believe that Christ was born in the spring sometime between March and April.

So today using the word of God let's see if we can discover Christ's actual birthday. Some of you might ask why is it important to know what day Jesus was born and to that I answer it's the day that God became a human being, the day that the word became flesh. Don't you want to know what day in history that actually happened?

The Death of King Herod

To begin with we need to understand the death of King Herod. If you remember King Herod tried to kill baby Jesus. So Joseph took Jesus and ran away to Egypt the family took refuge in Egypt and when they heard King Herod had died they went back to Israel.

Let's read Matthew 2: 15, ‘He remained there until the death of Herod this was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the Prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my Son”. Here it says that they were there until the death of King Herod. In Matthew 2: 19 and 20, ‘but when Herod died behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “get up take the child and his mother and go into the Land of Israel for those who sought a child's life are dead”. See here it says that when Herod died the angel came to Joseph in a dream and said that those who sought for the baby's life were dead. So go back to Israel. So it's important to know when King Herod died.

Now King Herod died sometime between March 29th and April 4th that year.

Keep reading and I'll explain how these dates are reached historically. 

King Herod died in the year 4 BC. March 29th in the year 4 BC is the solar calendar date, the Gregorian date if you will. However, according to the Hebrew religious calendar March 29th of that year is the first day of the first month. Historical records show that Herod died in the 34th year of his reign. The Jewish people didn't use the solar calendar but the religious calendar to figure out the reigned years of the kings.

So starting from March 28th and before that would have been King Herod's 33rd year reign and after March 29th it would officially be King Herod's 34th year of reign. So March 28th is the last day of King Herod's 33rd year of regional reign so if Herod died in the 34th year of his reign he would have had to have died after March 29th of that year. 

Now how did we reach April 4^th? In this year the year 4 BC Passover was April 11^th. From the Jewish calendar March 29th is the first day of the first month and Passover is on the 14th day of the first month. So that means that March 29th is the first day of the month and April 11th becomes the 14th day of the month. Now the Greek historian Flavius Josephus records that on that day the king was Archelaus, the son of Herod not Herod himself. That means the Herod had already died before that day. Josephus also wrote that after Archelaus became king he had a time of mourning for seven days. He mourned Herod for seven days. So Herod's death had to have occurred at least seven days prior to April 11th so that would have been April 4^th. This means that Herod died sometime between March 29th and April 4^th.

Now why is it important that we know when Herod died? If Herod does not die baby Jesus cannot go to Jerusalem to perform the purification rites. See Jesus came to earth to fulfil the law that's why in Matthew 5:17 the Bible says, “I came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it”. So since Jesus came to fulfil the law Jesus has to abide by the law. He has to keep the law that means that Jesus didn't completely ignore the law at all times but in situations where he could fulfil the law and keep the law he did those things.

The Purification Rite

So now we need to understand the purification rite. Under the Old Testament law, when a woman gives birth to a baby, she has to go through a purification rite. So the second thing we need to understand is that purification rite.

When she has a baby boy she is unclean for seven days. Then after that she needs to go through 33 days of a cleansing ritual. When you combine these you get 40 days before she is completely purified. That means a mother who has given birth cannot go into the temple or even touch any of the items within the sanctuary for 40 days. Then on the 41st day the mother goes into the temple to give her offering of sacrifice which will make her fully purified, this is God's law.

So Mary and baby Jesus also have to keep this law. So on the 41st day they have to go into the temple to perform this purification ritual. However, if King Herod is still alive they cannot go into the temple to perform this. In order for Jesus to go through this 41 day ritual God had to kill King Herod.

Let's read Luke 2:22, ‘and when the days for her purification according to the Law of Moses were completed they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord’. Here it says that the days of purification were completed. The word in Greek here is “play-tho” which means “it's full”. This means when the 41st day came when the days were full, Mary and the baby Jesus came to worship God. In other words it wasn't a little less or a little more than 41 days it was exactly 41 days that they came back to Jerusalem for this ritual. So in order for them to fulfil God's will he enabled them to come right on the 41st day. So they could fulfil those days.

Let's read Leviticus 12 verses 1 through 4, ‘then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the sons of Israel saying, When a woman gives birth and bears a male child then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed."  If you know exactly what day Jesus performed this purification right then you can count back 41 days to his birth. Now hold on to that thought.

Where Did Baby Jesus Take Refuge?

Let's shift gears for a moment. I want to focus for a minute on where Jesus took refuge in Egypt. Check the map of the Mediterranean, see where Cairo is located. Many people think that Jesus took refuge in that area. 

Also, see this map of Israel. See where Jerusalem is. And right under Jerusalem is Bethlehem (Sorry Bethlehem is not indicated in the map. It is right under Jerusalem). So to come from Bethlehem all the way from Cairo is about 250 to 265 miles.

Now the Sinai Peninsula in the wilderness is full of rocks not even a single blade of grass grows there. Matthew 2 verse 11 through 13 States, “after coming into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell to the ground and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod the Magi left for their own country by another way”.

Now when they had gone behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy him”. When we look at this passage it says on the night of Jesus's birth Herod was going to kill the babies. So on that night they ran away, they fled.

Now they have an infant child and a mother who was not healed from her wounds to walk through the wilderness would that make sense? In those days the border between Israel and Egypt was at the place called ‘the brook of Egypt’ and right across the border in Egypt is a place called El Arish. El Arish is about 91 miles from Bethlehem. That is a more plausible location for where baby Jesus took refuge, isn't it? They say a male adult can walk between 15 and 25 miles a day. So El Arish is a place you could flee to in a few days. So one can safely assume that Jesus took refuge in El Arish and after Herod died God called baby Jesus back to Israel.

Matthew 215 states, ‘He remained there until the death of Herod this was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the Prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son”. It says that Jesus' time in Egypt was a fulfilment of Hosea 11:1 which says out of Egypt I called my son.

So now we can understand exactly where in Egypt Jesus fled. We can conjecture that the baby Jesus fled into Egypt and that is where he was circumcised because he was circumcised on the eighth day.

Read Genesis 17 verses 10 through 14, “this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and you. And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Here it says circumcision has to be done on the eighth day. So even if Mary had just given birth she could travel the 91 mile journey to El Arish in just eight days.

Luke 2 verses 21 through 22 states, ‘And when eight days had passed, before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.’ It says circumcision was performed on the eighth day and in verse 22 it says according to the Law of Moses they performed the rite of purification. That means verse 21 was eight days after the birth of Christ and verse 22 was something that happened 41 days after Jesus's birth. So there is a 33 day gap between these two verses.

Now we're almost there. Let's see if we can come to an understanding about the time and distance of travel between these places. What's important here is the date of April 11^th. This is very important. In 4 BC, April 11th was Passover. So on April 11th at Twilight just before sunset they killed the Passover lamb. If you look at Exodus 12 verses 1 through 6 it says, ‘they take the Passover lamb on the tenth day of the first month and on the fourteenth day they slaughtered the lamb.’ Passover in the year 4 BC on the solar calendar is April 11^th. 
Now on the eve of April 11th the Israelites started to give sacrifices. However, due to events that had transpired prior to his father's death, King Archelaus had to send a Tribune in command of a cohort to reason with a group of people mourning the loss of two teachers and 40 youth that his father had killed for destroying a Golden Eagle that he had placed over the temple. And wait until Archelaus could return from Rome and then he would deal with this. However, those who came from Archelaus were stoned and many of them were killed. So the Greek historian Josephus records that after midnight Archelaus suddenly ordered the entire army within the city to the temple. Josephus records that the death toll that night was 3,000 people and Archelaus sent heralds around the city announcing the cancellation of Passover.

Now imagine that for Passover everyone from all over the nation would come to Jerusalem but on April 12th the king sent them all away to their homes. That means that Mary and Joseph could not perform the purification rite on the 12^th. When Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem to perform the purification Rite they met Simeon and Anna and when they were performing the purification Rite they were not bothered by any soldiers. This means that they must have performed the right before April 12th because on April 12th they could not perform any of these rituals.

Now in order to know about the route of travel we need to figure out the distance between El Arish and Nazareth. A lot of people think that Mary and Joseph went straight from El Arish directly to Jerusalem to perform the rituals. That's why they can't figure out what the Bible means. Because the Bible clearly states that they didn't go straight from El Arish to Jerusalem but first went to Nazareth of Galilee.

Let's read Matthew 2 verses 19 through 23, ‘but when Herod died behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “get up take the child and his mother and go into the Land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead”. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother and came into the Land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee and came and lived in a city called Nazareth this was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophets he shall be called a Nazarene.’

Clearly the Bible states that Joseph was afraid to go to Jerusalem. So he went to live in Galilee. Now from El Arish to Nazareth is about a 150 miles. This is a distance that they could make in about six days. Remember that we've already discussed that an adult male usually walks 15 to 25 miles a day. If you're really slow you can make it about 15 miles a day and if you walk fast you can cover 25 miles a day. Especially if you have a donkey you just throw all of your luggage or the woman and the baby on the donkey. Exodus 4:20 is an example of this, ‘Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey.’ It says that Moses brought his children and says that he put them on a donkey as he walked. Also, in a separate instance from Beersheba to Jerusalem about 50 miles, Abraham put all of his things on a donkey and he and Isaac walked a three-day journey. This means that they walked two full days.

If you divide fifty by two days you walk 25 miles a day. So we can see if they had a donkey, they could cover 25 miles a day. If Joseph had placed Mary and Jesus riding on a donkey they could have covered 25 miles a day. It was also customary in those days to have women and children ride on donkeys during a long journey. Some people say that Joseph and Mary were really poor so where did they get the donkey from. Remember the Magi they brought gifts for Christ. One of those gifts was gold they had gold. They could sell the gold and buy eight donkeys if they wanted to. So the distance that they would have covered is about a hundred and fifty miles. It would have taken them around six days. Next we have to think about the distance from Nazareth back to Jerusalem. From Nazareth it is about 65 miles to Jerusalem. However, going from Nazareth to Jerusalem is an uphill journey. So it takes a little longer. We can assume that it took them somewhere around three days to make it. So nine days of travel total.

Another thing we also have to take into consideration is the Sabbath day. They can't travel on the Sabbath. In the year 4 BC, April 7th was the Sabbath and a lot of scholars think King Herod died somewhere around April 1^st.

The True Date Of Jesus' Birth
So let's put all this together. Let's say this is the month of April. Here we have on the 1^st April Herod's supposedly died and then we have the 7^th April which is a Sabbath. Let's say, early in the morning of April 1^st, they start out, they can walk six days, cover 150 miles from El Arish to Nazareth. Then on the 7^th day, this is the Sabbath, so they can't go anywhere. They prepare a place to live and gather the things that they will need to perform it's a purification right when they reach Jerusalem. So if they start to leave on the eighth day they can arrive in Jerusalem on the 10^th April. They could perform the purification rights before God on the morning of the 11^th. Then after they finish they can return to Nazareth because that's where they continued to live. Now remember on the eve of the 11^th and into the 12^th Archelaus has killed three thousand people.

When you take all of these things into account it is correct to say King Herod died on April 1st and when you count 41 days backwards from April 11th Passover in the year 4 BC you come to the date of March 2nd in the year 4 BC. That is the day that Jesus must have been born in order for Mary to fulfil the purification rites on the morning of the 11^th. So Jesus Christ the Saviour of mankind the seed of the woman promised to Adam who came to destroy the works of the devil was born on Friday March the 2nd in the year 4 BC. So we now know When Jesus was born. And how that is for Christmas trivia! Share this with your family at Christmas dinner and show everyone how smart you are if you enjoyed this study please like my article and share it. Don't forget to subscribe so you can keep up to date with my latest articles when they're released and Merry Christmas to you.