The time of Jesus' birth, a search for truth. 2025 01 02

THE EASTER LAMB.   Exodus 12. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month will open the series of months; For you, it should be the first month of the year. Tell the congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month, every father of a family should take a lamb or a kid, an animal for each household. The animal must be flawless, year-old and male, and taken from the sheep or goats. You are to save it for the fourteenth day of this month; then all the assembled congregation of Israel will slaughter the lamb between dusk and darkness. They are to take off the blood and stroke both doorposts and on the crossbeams of the houses where it is eaten. The meat is to be eaten the same night; It should be fried over a fire and it should be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. You must not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water, but it must be roasted over a fire, with the head, feet and insides. Nothing must be left until morning; If anything is left, you should burn it.  At mealtime, you must have your clothes fastened, shoes on your feet and a staff in your hand. Eat in a hurry. This is the Passover of the Lord. ¤ In Moses' time, the spring equinox = New Year's Day and the answer on the first day of the month is April 1. April is lambing time and when the little lambs are born, they walk together with their mothers, first indoors and then outside on the summer pasture when the heat comes in the spring and the grass starts to grow again. So, the shepherds and sheep were close to home at night.

SHEPHERDS. Luke 2:6 While they were there, the time had come for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her son, the firstborn. She wrapped him up and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them inside the shelter. In the same region, shepherds were out guarding their flock at night. Then the angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you news of a great joy, a joy for all the people. Today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, he is the Messiah, the Lord. They hurried away and found Mary and Joseph and the newborn baby lying in the manger. When eight days had passed and the boy was to be circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name that the angel had given him before his mother became pregnant. ¤ The Christmas cards and the church's nativity scenes show both wise men and shepherds in the stable at the same time, but this is an artistic freedom, because there must be almost a year's difference between the events. As soon as the tax was cleared, towns and villages were emptied of Jews who had traveled, and on day 8, when the family went to the temple to sacrifice a dove, the shelter was free.  

THE WISE MEN. Matthew 2 – When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, some Eastern interpreters of the stars came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star rise and come to pay tribute to him." After listening to the king, they set out, and the star they had seen rise went before them, until at last it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with great joy. They went into the house, and there they found the child and Mary his mother, and fell down and saluted him. They opened their chests and brought out gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. Then, in a dream, they were told not to return to Herod, and they took a different route home to their country. When Herod saw that he had been deceived by the interpreters of the stars, he was furious, and he had all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old or less killed; That was the time he had found by questioning the interpreters. ¤ When Jesus was born, the wise men saw the star in the west, and when they studied text scrolls from the time of the prophet Daniel in Persia, they found the information that a great king would be born in the land of Juda. After talking, the wise men decided to travel the long way, about 250 miles, to Jerusalem with precious gifts, at camel speed and to avoid the robbers' areas. 

The Pope's Dilemma, about 350 AD. Suppose Jesus was born on the night of Sunday morning, April 1, then he is circumcised on Sunday, April 8. (The Jewish holiday is Saturday.) On Tuesday, April 10, the wise men come to Herod, and that same evening gave the gifts to the child. That night they had a dream, Joseph warned, and then fled home in the direction of Damascus on Wednesday morning, April 11. Joseph fled with his family that morning to Egypt. When Herod discovered that the prey had fled, he had all the children in the area who were up to 2 years old killed. Why, if Jesus was now no more than a month old? However, according to the Wise Men's itinerary, Hero understood When Herod discovered that the prey had fled, he had all the children in the area who were up to 2 years old killed.

The problem for the Pope was that the Easter celebration in the month of April began with the birth of Jesus on day 1, on day 8 the circumcision took place in the temple, which was also Palm Sunday. The flight to Egypt then ended up on Maundy Thursday and Jesus' crucifixion the next day, on Good Friday. All within a fortnight of Jesus' birth, death, burial and resurrection. So, the Pope said: "We are moving the birth of Jesus to the second half of the year, on the pagan winter solstice day, but now we are celebrating the victory of the sun over darkness with a day of hope when the true light came into the world. And so it came to pass that Jesus, who was born in the month of March - April, now got his birth day at the end of December. But the most important thing is not when Jesus was born, but why and that he came into the world to save us.  Read Joh. 3:16 - 21