Christ not born in December

What does the Bible say about when Jesus was born? Does it say He was born on December 25th?

According to tradition Christmas is celebrated on December 25th which is supposedly the birthday of Jesus. This is also the belief of the vast majority of Christians. Let's search the Bible to see if it tells just when during the year Jesus was born.

Let's start with the scripture where the virgin Mary was told that she was going to conceive from the Holy Spirit.

Luke 1:26-38:
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Mary is not only told that she would give birth to the Son of God but also that her cousin Elizabeth had already conceived and was 6 month pregnant with John the Baptist (Luke 1:36).

So what do we know so far? When Christ was conceived John the Baptist was 6 months in the womb of Elizabeth. From this scripture there is not really anything that tells us what time of year it is but we are told that Elizabeth is already 6 month pregnant with John the Baptist which is a clue as to the time of year. So if we can determine when John the Baptist was conceived then we can calculate about when Christ was born, even possibly the very day.

Let's continue reading where we left off in Luke1:39-45:
39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

So, right after Mary gets this amazing news she hurries to tell her cousin Elizabeth what she was just told (Luke 1:39). Undoubtedly Mary was also going to see Elizabeth because the Holy Spirit told her that Elizabeth was already 6 month pregnant with John. Then when Elizabeth heard Mary call to her at the door the child (John the Baptist) leaped in her womb at the sound of her voice because she was carrying Jesus (Luke 1:41).

On a side note, Luke 1:41 is strong evidence that the day a woman conceives, the moment of conception, is when the spirit has entered the child in the womb and the child is a living being.

We are given no specific month when Mary conceived but we are given specific times surrounding Zacharias and Elizabeth. So, if we can determine when Elizabeth first became pregnant with John then we might be able to close in on when Mary conceived, and thus eventually gave birth to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's turn back to Luke 1:5 where Zacharias was first told that he and Elizabeth would have a son, John the Baptist.

Luke 1:5-13:
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

In Luke 1:5 we are told that the priest Zacharias was serving his priestly duties in the course of Abia. The course of Abia is determined in 1 Chronicles 24:10 which is one of 12 courses that occurred twice each year for 1 week. Abia occurred in the month of Chisleau the 12th thru the 18th (= December 6-12) and then again in Sivan the 12th thru the 18th (= June 13-19).

Each of the 24 courses were performed twice each year. One week in a given month and then about six months later the second week. Knowing this we have to determine which of the two weeks of the course of Abia was Zacharias serving when this event described in Luke 1:5-12 happened, in that he was told that Elizabeth would conceive, Sivan the 12th thru the 18th  which is June 13-19, or Chisleau the 12th thru the 18th which is December 6-13. There are several things that strongly indicate, if not, prove, that the week that John the Baptist was conceived was Sivan the 12th thru the 18th  which is June 13-19. So, if this is correct it means that Christ would have been conceived 6 months later which would be in late December and thus actaully born in late September the following year.

To nail this down let's turn to Luke chapter 2 verse 1 thru 11which gives us a picture of how things were when Mary gave birth to Christ.
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

(Some of the following information was taken from appendix 179 in the Companion Bible.)
From this we can ascertain the following:
1) When Jesus was born there were shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch of their flock by night. Luke 2:8. If Jesus were born in December then shepherds would not be watching their flocks in the field but would have put them in the barn for the winter as it would be too cold and likely have snow and no grass to eat.
2) It is highly unlikely that Mary would, or could, have made the journey of about 70 miles, at least, thru a hill district with an average of about 3000 feet above sea level in the winter when she was late in her pregnancy (Luke 2:5) to enroll for the Roman tax in the nearest city.
3) The Roman government would most certainly not try and impose a hated foreign tax (Luke 2:1-3) at this time when it would have been difficult for people to enroll themselves at their nearest cities in December. The Roman government would want it to be a time when it was easy for people to do so and when they were free to make the trip. This would be in Autumn, after the harvest is over and they were already planning to go to Jerusalem for the Feast Of Tabernacles at the end of September.

Given this information alone is pretty strong evidence that Christ must not have been born in December but in a time when it was warmer. That being said John the baptist being born 6 month earlier than Christ means John must have been conceived just after his week of service in the week of Sivan the 12th thru the 18th  which is June 13-19 and not in the week of Chisleau the 12th thru the 18th which is December 6-13. It would have taken Zacharias several days to make the trip back home which means John would have been conceived around June 23rd or 24th. Thus, John being 6 months older than Christ means that Christ was conceived in late December. Calculating the dates out, assuming that Christ would naturally have a perfect gestation period, we come up with the following.

The dates and significance of them associated with Christ's birth are as follows:
1) June 23rd or 24th – John the Baptist conceived.
2) December 25th – Christ conceived.
3) March 25th - 28th – John the Baptist born.
4) September 29th – Christ born – Tisri 15 – First day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Note the perfect gestation period of Christ and the Biblical numerics associated with it:
December 25th to September 29th = 280 = 40 weeks of 7 days = 7 X 5 X 8.
(7 = Spiritual perfection, 5 = Grace, 8 = New beginnings)

Also note that Christ was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles which only makes sense that our Lord and Saviour was born at a time of much celebration. A special time that our Father had established long ago to celebrate the bounty, after the harvest, that God had provided for his people. A time to thank God and remember Him for His blessings, especially the blessing of His son to be born in the flesh and become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins so that we may be able to live with Him forever.

Deuteronomy 16:13-15
13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

Praise His Holy name!

See appendix 179 in Companion Bible. The timeline of the conception to the birth of Christ. Specifically the course of Abia.