From:          Jim Thompson
To:               heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:      The Birthday of Jesus


THE BIRTHDATE OF JESUS
by Jim Thompson

Caesar Augustus decreed that the whole world should be taxed. This tax
enrollment was made when Quirinius (Cyrenius) was governor of Syria in 1 B.C.
Cyrenius ruled from 4 B.C. through 1 B.C.

Joseph and Mary lived and worked in Nazareth of Galilee. Joseph had to return
to his own city of Bethlehem for the census and enrollment to pay his taxes
because he was of the house and lineage of David. The time was now late
September. The Feast of Tabernacles was on the fifteenth day of Tishri. Joseph
and Mary had to make an 80-mile journey through the desert in six days. They
left Nazareth Sunday morning and reached Bethlehem on Friday. The pace was
slow because Mary was nine months pregnant. Because all Jewish males were
required to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, the inn was crowded.
Sukkot is the Feast of Tabernacles and is celebrated on different days of the
week because the Jewish calendar is based on a 29.5 day lunar month and a 354
day lunar year. The Feast of Tabernacles is God's seventh Holy Day and is
celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the religious year and
the first month of the civil year. The Feast of Tabernacles is a Sabbath.
Jesus was born in a grotto (cave) used to shelter sheep in the
winter. This cave is known as a sukka, a temporary shelter or
dwelling place (Tabernacle) used for raising lambs for Passover in
the city of the shepherd, David. Jesus was placed in a manger (a carved-out
niche in the rock) which was used as a feeding trough for the sheep in winter
months.


On the day that Jesus was born, shepherds were tending their flocks in Judea.
An angel of the Lord appeared before them with the glory of the Lord (Shekinah)
which shone round about them. The angel instructed them that a Savior, Christ the
Lord, was born that day in the City of David. The shepherds went with haste
and found Jesus lying in the manger.

The wise men of the East were seven Judges of Jewish lineage from the tribe of
Issachar, as their forefathers had been in Israel some six hundred years
earlier. Their forefathers had been taken captive by the Babylonians, then by
the Medes and Persians. The Jewish Sages were also astronomers and were
advisors and counselors to the king of the former Empire of Persia concerning
the times, the law, and judgment. They knew Balaam's prophecy, "I shall see
Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; There shall come a star
out of Jacob, and the scepter shall rise out of Israel." The fallen Persian
Empire formerly covered 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. The wise men
observed the star from the city of Shushan in Persia. Shushan was
approximately 225 miles east of the ancient city of Babylon. There had been
five conjunctures of planets between mid-August of 3 B.C. to June 17th of 2
B.C. The conjuncture of Jupiter and Venus in the constellation of Leo
would have been interpreted as "a Mighty King will be born in
Israel". When they observed the brilliant star on the night of October 1st
of 1 B.C. marking the birth of Jesus, they began their journey. They
left Shushan with their caravan, traveling 1000 miles to Jerusalem.
The star was not visible as they journeyed to Jerusalem.  When they
arrived in Jerusalem two years later, they asked King Herod the Great
where they could find the new King of the Jews. King Herod's priests
and scribes told them that the prophet Balaam had written that Christ
would be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was only six miles
south of Jerusalem. When the wise men left Jerusalem, the bright and unusual
star that had appeared two years earlier, reappeared and led them to and stood
over Jesus' house in Nazareth. The star that the wise men saw was not a
heavenly body. This star was the glory of God known as the Shekinah. When the
wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, Jesus was two years
old. The gifts represented Jesus' life. The gold represents Kingship; the
frankincense represents his life without sin and the myrrh was prophetic of
his death and burial. Joseph, Mary and Jesus had only remained in Bethlehem
for 40 days. After the completion of Mary's purification (40 days) according
to the Law of Moses, they took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to be
presented to the Lord. Then Joseph took Mary and Jesus back to their home in
Nazareth. Herod was raging in Jerusalem because he had sent the wise men to
Bethlehem, a 2-hour journey, to find the new King of the Jews, and they had
simply disappeared and could not be found because they were 80 miles north of
Jerusalem in Nazareth. God warned the wise men in a dream not to return to
King Herod in Jerusalem, so they returned to their own country by another
route. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and revealed
the impending danger of King Herod's wrath. Herod had all the children two
years old and younger slain in and around Egypt. They remained in Egypt until
King Herod's death, which occurred after a lunar eclipse. After King Herod's
death, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that it was safe to
return to Israel.

Jesus may have been conceived on December 25th, 2 B.C., the Festival of
Lights. From the 25th of December to October 1st (Sukkot), there are 40 weeks --
exactly 280 days --  the period of time required for human gestation. Jesus
may have been born on the beginning of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, when
the full moon rose on Friday evening. Friday is the 6th day of the week, when
man was created. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and is the
beginning of the 7th day. The birth may have been on Friday evening of October
1st in 1 B.C. (year 0).

Maranatha - Our Lord Come

Jim

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