WHEN WAS JESUS REALLY BORN?

When was Yeshua (Jesus) born. Tradition says Dec 25th (Christmas),but as has been demonstrated in earlier articles (Roots of theChristian Faith), this date was done to convert a Pagan Festival intoa "Christian" Festival. The motive appears to have been to makealternatives to the Pagan Festivals. This has had unfortunateside-effects as outlined in the previous article.So when was Yeshua born? Below is the explanation of why many believeYeshua was born on Succot (Feast of Tabernacles). This Theory isconsistent with scripture, historical events and Jewish Culture. Moreimportantly, it is consistent with G-d's prophetic foreshadowing ofmajor events. As we have seen in the Feasts of the L-rd article, G-dgives extra purpose to His ordained Feasts, in that they are"foreshadows" of the coming of Messiah.This work includes major portions from Dr. David Hargis, President ofMessianic Bureau International (MBI, www.messianic.com).So with that brief introduction, consider this amazing work ofHa'Elyon (The Most High).Conception of JohnIn order to establish the date, we must first rely on clues found iinscripture, then add external historical and cultural elements. TheBirth of Yochanan (John) is key as he is a forerunner who announcesMessiah.First Chronicles tells us that the Levitical priesthood was dividedinto 12 divisions of priests. The ancient Jewish Historian Josephus(Antiquities 7) tells us that each division served for a period of oneweek. The first division began its period of service on the first dayof the year — 1 Nisan (also called Aviv or Abib) — as God hadestablished the calendar in Exodus 12:2. Three weeks out of each year— during the weeks of Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost), andSukkot (Tabernacles) — all 24,000 priests served together.As Zekharyah was in the division of Aviyah (Luke 1:5), his term ofservice began in early Spring on the first day of the eighth week(27th of Ayyar) and ran for one week through the 4th of Sivan. As thefollowing week (5-11 Sivan) was Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, hewould have stayed in the temple and served that week also with all thepriests. Luke 1:23-24 tells us that Zekharyah finished his duties atthe Temple , and that Elisheva conceived shortly after his returnhome. This sets the date for Yochanan's conception at approximatelythe third week of Sivan. [In Gregorian year 2001, that weekcorresponds to the first week of June. Adding nine months to that dateputs the birth of Yochanan sometime near the first week of theGregorian month of March.]Conception of YeshuaWe know from scripture that Yeshua (Jesus) was conceived afterYochanan (John), further more, with this information we can nowascertain When Yeshua was conceived. An interesting point, The earlyChurch may have agreed on December for the reason that was Hisconception date, not birth.Near the end of the sixth month of Elisheva's pregnancy the angelGavri'el appeared to Miryam and told her about Elisheva saying, "thisis the sixth month with her who was called barren." Miryam immediatelyleft Natzeret (verse 39, "with haste") and went to the "hill country"near Jerusalem to the home of Zekharyah and Elisheva. We know for surethat Miryam was already pregnant with Yeshua because Yochanan, stillin Elisheva's womb, recognized the unborn Yeshua. [What furtherevidence do the pro-abortionists need that life begins at conception?]This sets the conception of Yeshua about end of Kislev during Chanukah(mid-December), the Feast of Lights, thus demonstrating in a veryspecial way that Yeshua is the Light of the World."Yeshua is shown celebrating Chanukah in John 10:22,23. It is at thiscelebration that He declares `I and My Father are One' [John 10:30],which testifies to His Divine origin in His conception. It alsoreinforces Chanukah as the time of His conception."Birth of JohnGiven the above events, it is now straight forward to calculate whenYochanan was born.The prophet Mal'akhi (Malachi) tells us that Eliyah (Elijah) theprophet must come to prepare the hearts of the fathers and theirchildren before Mashiach comes.4 "Remember the law of Moshe [Moses] my servant, which I commanded tohim in Horev for all Yisra'el, even statutes and ordinances. 5 Behold,I will send you Eliyah the prophet before the great and terrible dayof the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to thechildren, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I comeand strike the eretz with a curse." (Malachi 4, HNV)Therefore, in anticipation of the coming of Mashiach, when Pesach(Passover) is celebrated, a place at the table is set and a cup ofwine is poured for Eliyah (Elijah), and the door of the house is leftopen so that he may come in to the celebration. It is clear that forcenturies before the birth of Messiah the Jews had been anticipatingthe return of Eliyah during Pesach.The way in which Gavri'el worded his announcement to Zekharyah makesit clear that Yochanan was to be the fulfillment of Mal'akhi'sprophecy: "He will turn many of the children of Yisra'el to the Lord,their God. He will go before his face in the spirit and power ofEliyah, `to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and thedisobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people preparedfor the Lord."Luke 1:56 tells us that Miryam stayed with Elisheva for three months,which would have been up until the time Yochanan was born. We can nowcalculate the date of Yochanan's birth with a great deal of accuracy.• A full term pregnancy term is 41 weeks.• There are 27 weeks in the first six months (two trimesters) ofpregnancy.• There are 27 weeks from the spring service of of Abiyah to Chanukah.• There are 14 weeks remaining to accomplish the last trimester and bringthe pregnancy to full term.• There are exactly 14 weeks from Chanukah to Passover (Nisan 14-22).Therefore, Yochanan was born at Passover, most certainly on the firstday of Unleavened Bread. He was circumcised on the eighth day, whichwould be the last day of Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread. His birththerefore exactly fulfills both Mal'akhi's prophecy and the Jewishexpectation of that fulfillment to occur at Passover.The Birth of YeshuaSo we have established that Yochanan was born at Passover. Giventhis, and knowing Yeshua was conceived in December (Kislev), we cometo the time of His birth. Chanakuh occurs on Kislev 25 (note asimilarity to December 25th, adding weight to the Theory the earlychurch picked Dec. 25 because it was His conception). Adding 9 monthsto Kislev, and you get Tishrei, Succot occurs in the Hebrew month ofTishrei.For the past several hundred years, Gentile Christians have taughtthat poor Mary and Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem to registerfor their taxes, and that there were so many people trying to registerat the same time that all the motels and hotels were full. It's abeautiful story, but it's simply not true ... it's only a tradition.First of all, when the decree was issued, citizens were given a fullyear during which to register for the census. There was absolutely noreason for thousands of Bethlehemites to have to come to their hometown all at once to register. That being the case, we must ask whyJoseph would bring his wife Mary all the way from Nazareth toBethlehem to register when her pregnancy was so far along.There were three great feasts during the year when the people ofAdonai were expected to make every reasonable effort to attend inJerusalem : Pesach (the feast of unleavened bread and Passover),Shavuot (Pentecost, the feast of harvest), and Sukkot (the feast ofingathering, booths, or tabernacles). ["You shall observe a feast tome three times a year." Exodus 23:14]During these three feasts, the population of "the metropolitanJerusalem area" would swell from about a hundred twenty thousand tosomething over two million people (according to Josephus). Every homein the entire area was open to guests, and of course all the hotelsand motels would have been booked up for months.However, during the feast of Sukkot [Tabernacles or Booths, pronounced"sue-coat"], every family was expected to live at least part of eachday in their tabernacle or booth, called a sukkah, which is atemporary dwelling usually made out of palm and/or bamboo branches, toremind them that for 40 years their ancestors had lived in temporaryshelters in the wilderness on their trek to the Promised Land. Atnight, these sukkot [the plural form of sukkah] were available for theovernight lodging of out-of-towners, and the homeowners would stockthem with food for the travelers. The food was placed on a food-trayattached to the inside wall of the Sukkah to keep it up off the ground.Beit-Lechem ( Bethlehem ) was a small village in the suburbs justabout four miles south of Jerusalem . Miriam and Yoseph had apparentlydecided to register with the census-takers when they came up toJerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Evidently they had intended tostop over night in Bethlehem , register in the morning, and thenproceed on into Jerusalem for the feast. When they checked the hotelfor available rooms, as there were no vacancies the innkeeper offeredthem shelter in his Sukkah, his Tabernacle, which had been erected andwell-stocked with food for the express purpose of shelteringfeast-keepers. It was not a shelter for animals at all. And when theirBaby was born, they laid Him on the food shelf to keep Him up off thedamp ground. When the (probably agnostic) Gentiles who translated the"King James" Bible got to this passage in Luke's gospel, they had noknowledge of Jewish tradition or of how Sukkot was observed. Thinkingonly in terms of life in Medieval England , they translated the wordfor "food tray" as "manger" and the whole Gentile myth of Yeshua'sbirth in a barn was created out of an ignorant error in translation.We can know for sure that December is wrong for the birth, theSheppard's provide the answer.As to establishing the date for His birth, one thing is very certain …He was certainly not born during the winter. Luke 2:8 tells us: "Therewere shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keepingwatch by night over their flock."The weather in Israel is very similar to that in central California .By December it is quite cold, and the sheep have all been brought intothe fold for the winter. "As is well known, the shepherds in Palestinedo not `abide in the fields' during the winter season. The shepherdsalways bring their flocks in from the mountain slopes and fields notlater than the fifteenth of October!" [Ralph Woodrow, Babylon MysteryReligion. Self-published, 1966, p.160]Since we have already demonstrated that Yeshua was exactly six monthsyounger that Yochanan, it is now easy to establish the time of Hisbirth as mid-Tishrei. The only reason that Beit-Lechem would possiblycrowded in mid-Tishrei would be for Sukkot. The first and last days ofSukkot were "high Shabbats" and travel on those days was forbidden.Therefore Yoseph would have planned their trip to arrive not laterthan a few hours before sunset preceding the first day of Sukkot.According to Luke's account, Yeshua was born that night, on 15 Tishrei.The circumcision of YeshuaTo someone growing up in church, and probably never being taught theculture & History of the "Roots of His Faith", the circumcision mayseem unimportant. But in the culture, and to fulfill the commands ofG-d, this event is critical.The "birth" of a Jewish baby boy was not considered complete until hehad been circumcised on the eighth day. On the eighth day, Yeshua's"presentation" in the Temple included His circumcision according toTorah. Thus we see that the birth of Yeshua HaMashiach spanned theentire eight days of Sukkot, including His birth on the holy Shabbatwhich was the first day of Sukkot and His circumcision on the holyShabbat which was the eighth and final day of Sukkot.The Bread of LifeIf indeed this theory is correct, then it adds even more meaning tothe "Bread of Life" analogy. Scripture says that Succot will becelebrated even by the gentiles, for all time, could the reason bethat it remembers the greatest miracle of all, G-d becoming a mna, anddying for our sins?At His birth he was placed on the food tray in the Sukkah, thusdemonstrating that He is indeed the true Bread of Life (John 6:33-51).God's preparation of the Feast of Sukkot centuries before His birthgives extra significance to Yochanan's comment "The Word became flesh,and lived [literally, "tabernacled"] among us. We saw his glory, suchglory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace andtruth" (John 1:14)."Note that God provided two holy feasts that lasted eight days,Passover/Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. John theBaptist, the forerunner of Messiah, was born and circumcised in theeight days of the first, then six month later Yeshua, the Messiah, wasborn and circumcised the eight days of the second. John came in thefirst month of the year and Yeshua came in the seventh month. Inministry, John introduced the way through Messiah and then Yeshuaperfected it, even as the first and seventh months signify. …The Feast of Tabernacles is a most important commemoration. Zechariah14:16,17 tells us that one day all nations will be required by law tohonor this feast. For what greater reason, than it is the birthday ofthe King of Kings! Why should we delay?"Source:http://bethhamashiach.com/whenwasYeshuaborn.htm