On which day was the Saviour born?

12.DEC.08

Editor: It is only a relative few people who are diligent enough to investigate the facts which are pertinent to understanding the drift in observing annual holidays. If you have an open mind, let’s examine these facts and learn if we really observe the birthday of our Saviour on December 25th each year.{{more}}

Your Bible and history reveal that the Messiah’s birthday was not on December 25th. When Yahshua the Messiah was born, the shepherds were in the field watching over their flocks by night, (Luke 2: 8). During the winter months, it would be unpleasant for shepherds or animals to sleep on the cold, wet ground.

A second fact, which should convince even the most skeptical person, is the taxation which took Joseph and Miriam (not Mary) to Bethlehem, Luke 2: 1-5. It is obvious that such taxation would have been done during the fall of the year when the crops were harvested and surplus sold; not during the winter.

The first clue of the actual birth date of the Messiah is found in the chronology offered in Luke Chapter 1: 5. Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, was a priest of the course of Abiyah. These priests served for 8 weeks. The course of Zachariah was after the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The conception of John the Baptist was, therefore, 2 months after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which occurred in the spring (about April). The course of Abiyah was the eighth priestly course to serve in the Temple, (1 Chronicles 24: 10). Using your local Roman calendar, Zachariah served 2 months after April, which takes us to June. Thus, John the Baptist was conceived about June. Since it was in the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth that the birth of the Messiah was announced to Miriam, the conception of the Messiah (not his birth) is likely to have taken place just about exactly six months after the Conception of John. This would be about the 1st day of the month of Tebeth, or around December 20th; bringing the Messiah’s birth date to exactly the 15th day of the 7th scriptural month – the Feast of Tabernacles (September 28th to October 3rd on our Roman calendar).

“The first rain falls in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to the latter part of our October and the former part of November … From whence it appears that [the Messiah] must be born before the middle of October, since the first rain was not yet come.” (The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, Page 91-92).

The Assemblies of Yahweh

Sheldon Govia