When Was Yeshua Actually Born? – Part One

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This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord. Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” Suddenly, along with the angel was a vast army from heaven praising God: “In the highest heaven, glory to God! And on earth, peace among people of good will!”

Luke 2:11 – 14 (CJB)

Each year, as we near the end of the Gregorian calendar, I find myself encountering discussions regarding the birth of the Messiah… specifically known not to have occurred on December 25th. In fact, the evidence, both academic and circumstantial indicates that it not only wasn’t in December, it wasn’t in the winter at all. So the question tends to arise; “when was he actually born”?

Before begin in earnest, I want to address a couple of caveats:

First, much of what will be presented is contested. In fact, I find that regardless of the issue or topic, the more one adheres to the actual evidences found in scripture, the more critics will arise to refute and or contest the conclusions drawn. Is it any wonder?

Second is that we’re going to do what I affectionately refer to as “Bible Math”. It is the exercise of calculating dates and times from scriptural evidence. In our case, we’re going to use what information we have to allow calculation to carry us as far as possible. It won’t quite take us all the way, but what we have will get us pretty far. It’s also fairly technical.

Let’s dig in.



The Priestly Courses


The first thing we need to do is find a solid starting point. If we’re honest, there isn’t much to go on with specific regards to timing of the birth of Yeshua Himself… but there is concerning His cousin:

During the reign of Herod king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron.

Luke 1:5

In case you’re not aware, Zechariah and Elizabeth are the parents of Yochanon, more commonly known as John the Baptist. He’s kind of a big deal.

The pertinent portion of this passage (for our purposes) is that Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah”. To understand what that means and why it’s an important part of the means of calculation, we have to look to the original organization of Priestly Temple service by King David himself.

The first lot went to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Malkijah, the sixth to Mijamin, the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, the twenty-first to Jakin, the twenty-second to Gamul, the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

This was the order in which they carried out their assigned responsibilities when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to the regulations given them by their ancestor Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had instructed him.

1 Chronicles 24:7 – 19

To break this down, David established “tours of duty” for the Aaronic Priests so that none of them were required to perform duties “full-time”. They would serve and fulfill their priestly obligations, afterward returning home to their wives and children. This, as with all the plans David laid out for the tabernacle, was executed as instructed by his son, Solomon.

Flavius Josephus records that each course served in eight day intervals:

He divided them also into courses: and when he had separated the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses, sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of that of Ithamar; and he ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from sabbath to sabbath.

Antiquities of the Jews, Book 7, Chapter 14

Understand that, in biblical terms a day begins in the evening and lasts until the following evening. Therefore, what Josephus records is accurate from a Hebraic perspective, but for mathematical purposes, it’s seven… consider the extension into the eighth day “shift change”. This would result in a continuous 168 day cycle.

We find corroboration of this assertion in 2 Chronicles:

The Levites and all the men of Judah did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada the priest did not release his divisions from their duties.

2 Chronicles 23:8

We know that Zechariah served in the eighth course, but we need a bit more information. We know that each course was eight days… but we also need to understand the rotation and when the courses begin each year.

At this point, you may be wondering why we care about the Priestly courses and when Zachariah’s service was, and it’s a fair question. It’s also one that scripture answers.

Now while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the Holy Place of the Lord and burn incense. Now the whole crowd of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering. An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him. And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.

Luke 1:8 – 13

Note that this passage is not indicating that Zachariah is acting as the Cohen Gadol (High priest), nor is it indicating that this event occurred on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). For starters, he is entering “the Holy Place”, which is a reference to the Temple itself. The text does not indicate that he entered the Holy of Holies. Secondly, we see that he is offering incense, whereas the prescribed acceptable sacrifice for Yom Kippur is blood which must be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant which resides in the Holy of Holies.

It’s important to make this distinction because such misunderstandings can and have grossly affected the calculation and led to erroneous assumptions regarding the births of both the Messiah and His forerunner…

“And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Luke 1:36 – 37

Immediately prior to the conception of Messiah by Miryam (Mary), we see that Elizabeth is already six months pregnant with Yochanon… this, directly from the mouth of the Angel Gabriel. While this, in and of itself may not be sufficient to get us to a specific day, pinpointing Zechariah’s service in the temple, immediately prior to the conception of John, will allow us to calculate the season of Yeshua’s conception and subsequently, the season of His birth.

Scripture records that the First Temple was dedicated in the Seventh Month. Both 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles 5 indicate that this was during “the festival” which would indicate these activities occurred during (or around) Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles.

So we see that the First Temple was dedicated in the seventh month and it’s rather easy to conclude that this marked the beginning of the first priestly course. That provides us with a foundation, but there are still some issues… namely the fact that this temple will be destroyed.


Admittedly, there is a lot to ponder. Next week, we’ll continue the discussion and look at the second Temple and the reconstitution of the priestly courses. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some “light” reading on the subject, both of which served as source material for this article:


Until next time,

שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You

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