Jesus' Christmas Birth Unlikely By Sandy Kemper I have through the years have come to the conclusion that

Jesus was not born on December 25th or anytime at all during the winter season. Since I believe in the primancy of the Holy Scriptures, I am looking only at the Scriptural evidence and then at information from commentators that have researched into the practices of the Jewish people and the Romans at the time.

1. The Testimony of the Roman Census. "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city" (Luke 2:1-3). It is unlikely that the Roman census was carried out during the wintertime. December is cold and rainy in Judea. In winter, temperatures drop below freezing around Jerusalem, and the roads would have been muddy and wet with cold rains and occasional snow. It would've been a terrible time to travel, especially for a wife nearing her delivery. To take a census in which people had to travel would have been selfdefeating and thus no rational Roman official would have scheduled a census in winter. For an agrarian society such as that of first-century Judea, a census in the autumn, when the crops would've been safely gathered in, would have made much more sense.

2. The Testimony of the Shepherds. The fact that the shepherds were out in numbers with the sheep also points that December 25th date for Christ's birth is unlikely. Shepherds were out in large numbers like which was described in Luke only during lambing time, which takes place during the spring and the fall, not in the middle of the winter in December. If lambing took place in December there would be a lot of dead lambs. Also since December was cold and rainy, shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks and themselves, and thus would not be out in such numbers. Continuing in Luke's account, we find further proof that Jesus wasn't born in winter. Verse 8 tells us, " Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night." This likewise shows that these events did not take place in winter. The common practice of shepherds was to keep their flocks in the open fields from April to October, but in the cold and wet winter months they took their flocks back home and sheltered them. The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary (1971) says this passage argues "against the birth [of Christ] occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted" shepherds watching over their flocks

in the fields at night. Adam Clarke's Commentary explains that, "as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light upon this disputed point." Again, the evidence in Luke points to a late September birth.

3. The Testimony of the Conception and Birth of John the Baptist. Since Elizabeth (John's mother) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36), we can determine the approximate time of year Jesus was born if we know when John was born. John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Zacharias' priestly assignment or "division" helps us to know and understand the general time frame of Christ's birth. His was "the course of Abijah." But what does this mean? About a thousand years earlier, King David had organized the Levitical priesthood into 24 "courses" or "divisions." As explained in 1 Chronicles 24 and more specifically in verses 3, 10 and 19, there was an abundance of priests to serve in the various temple functions. Each priest would then serve for a specified week-long term twice during the year, plus the three festival seasons (Deuteronomy 16:16) when all the priests would serve. Do we know at what times of the year the course of Abijah , the course that Zacharia was in, served at the temple? Yes, we do. The determination can be made by combining the information in 1 Chronicles 24 with a study into the traditions of Judaism regarding when the temple courses were carried out during the year. The evidence points to Zacharias' week of service described by Luke being around Pentecost, which generally falls in late May to mid-June on our calendar. One resource, The Companion Bible, calculates it to the week of June 13-19 in the determined year. (E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200) Now, let's see how the conceptions of John and Jesus correspond to Zacharias' course in the temple. "So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months" (Luke 1:23-24). Since Zacharias' temple course was in mid-June, assuming she became pregnant within a couple of weeks, five months would put this into mid- to late November. Assuming John's conception took place near the end of June, adding nine months brings us to the end of March as the most likely time for John's birth. Adding another six months (the difference in ages between John and Jesus and Luke 2:36-37) brings us to the end of September as the likely time of Jesus' birth.

4. The Testimony of No Room at the Inn in Bethlehem. This is also evidence for the timing of Christ's birth. Most commentators state that there was no room at the inn because of the large amount of people who had to travel for the census. This is not necessarily the case. Late September and early October is the autumn festival season on God's calendar, one of the three times in the year when families would travel to Jerusalem to observe God's Holy Days. Also, it would have been a good time to conduct a census. The population of Jerusalem swelled several times over to overflowing at this time. This affected nearby towns such as Bethlehem, a few miles south of Jerusalem. With a huge influx of people like this, every house and inn was filled. Thus Joseph and Mary were thankful to find shelter in a stable.

Therefore I conclude that Jesus was born in late September, not Decemeber 25th.

Note: These are not my original ideas. I am just stating that in my opinion this is the more liikely case.