Birthday

A few weeks ago someone asked me the question "If Jesus wasn't born in December, then when was He born and give me a bible answer?" I have to admit, I didn't have the answer to this question. During my search for an answer to the question, I discovered there is an answer to the question in the Bible although an exact month can't be found, we can determine that it wasn't December. Get your Bible and check this out.

In 1 Chronicles 24:10 we read where the priests were divided into 24 courses, These courses were for the purpose of fulfilling the responsibilities of the priests in the temple. Each course would serve for one week, twice each year, and then all of the priests would serve during the feasts weeks during the year. In Luke 1:5, we see that Zecharias was a priest who descended from Abia (Abijah). According to 1 Chronicles 24:10, the descendants of Abijah would serve as the 8th course in the order of the priests. Now if we check the Jewish calendar, we would learn that the Jewish year began with the month Abib, which corresponds with our calendar at the end of March and through most of April. Now count the weeks at this particular point, adding a week for the feast of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:6), we learn that the first course of which Zecharias served each year happened during the first week of Sivan (which corresponds with the end of May on our calendars). There were 24 courses of weeks for the priests to serve, which meant that Zecharias had to serve a second week, and that second week in his course would be about the third week of Chisleu (which corresponds with the early to mid part of December on our calendars).

Now observe the text in Luke 1, where Zecharias was told that he would have a son named John, he was fulfilling one of the normal weeks of his priestly course, which means he was either serving in the first week of Sivan (late May or early June), or the third week of Chisleu (early to middle December).

After the angel appeared to him, and his duties were fulfilled, he went home and his wife conceived (Luke 1:23,24). Six months later another individual received a visit from a heavenly messenger telling her that she would also bear a son: her name was Mary (Luke 1:26-27, 36). Now if Zecharias was fulfilling his first course of the priestly responsibilities when the angel appeared to him, then he was working during the first week of Sivan (end of May to early June). Counting 9 months from his return home after this week, one finds that John the Immerser, cousin of Jesus, would have been born during our month of March: continue counting six months for the birth of Christ, he would have been born in September.

But if Zecharias were to be fulfilling the second course of his priestly responsibilities he was serving during the third week of Chisleu (early to middle December). Now, counting 9 months from his return home after this week, one finds that John the Immerser would have been born during our month of September: adding 6 months for the birth of Christ you would find him being born in March. Obviously the text would lead us to believe that Jesus was not born on December 25, but rather that he would most likely have been born either in March or September.

We should be thankful that Jesus was born into this world, but the center of our focus should not be His birth, but rather the death that He died for you and me.