New Testament History

The birth of Christ

1. The date of the birth

Christ was born at midnight 12 Kislev[1] = Saturday/Sunday 24/25 November.[2] In 1 BC the lunar date of 12 Kislev fell on Saturday/Sunday factual Julian 26/27 November = actual 24/25 November. Myrna Nazzour received her first stigmata on Friday 25 November 1983,[3] i.e. on the solar date of the birth of Christ. Tradition situated the birth of Christ one month after the historical date, at the winter solstice:[4] on the night of Julian 24/25 December = actual 21/22 December.

Since Christ incarnated on Sunday factual Julian 27 February 1 BC and was born on Sunday factual Julian 27 November 1 BC, Christ stayed for 273 days (instead of 270 days) in the womb of the Holy Virgin (1 day in February[5] + 31 days in March + 30 days in April + 31 days in May + 30 days in June + 31 days in July + 31 days in August + 30 days in September + 31 days in October + 27 days in November = 273 days).

Christ was 33 years and three times six weeks (= 18 weeks = 126 days) old at His death.[6] From His birth on actual 25 November (factual Julian 27 November) until the crucifixion on actual 31 March (Julian 3 April), there are 126 days (5 days in November + 31 days in December + 31 days in January + 28 days in February + 31 days in March; for the 33 years, see here).

A.C.E. had seen the Holy Family leaving for Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-5) on the evening of Tuesday 13 November 1821[7] = during the night of Tuesday/Wednesday factual Julian 15/16 November 1 BC = at the beginning of 1 Kislev. On Wednesday 28 November 1821 she told that Herod the Great invited a pious Temple high official to Jericho and had him murdered on the way.[8] She saw the circumcision and the name giving of Christ on Sunday 2 December 1821[9] = Sunday factual Julian 4 December 1 BC = 19 Kislev. This was the eighth day after birth (Lev 12:3), i.e. after seven non-inclusive days (Lev 12:2).

In the year in which Christ was born, 25 Kislev fell on a Saturday (the vision of Saturday 8 December 1821).[10] Therefore the Festival of Hanukkah began one day later, on the evening of Saturday factual Julian 10 December 1 BC = at the beginning of 26 Kislev. When Herod was staying in Jerusalem on account of this feast, he placed a kid over the gate which led from the outer Court of the Women into the Court of Sacrifice. The statue was broken in two by a zealous official, who was subsequently imprisoned.[11] Josephus describes this incident as the demolition of a golden eagle that had been erected by Herod in the Temple.[12]

2. The year of the birth

Christ was born during the consulship of Lentulus.[13] Cossus Cornelius Lentulus (together with Lucius Calpurnius Piso) was consul in 1 BC.[14] Christ was also born in a Jewish leap year,[15] i.e. in a year with two months of Adar. The year 1 BC/1 AD would normally not have been intercalated but, when Herod the Great died on 25 Adar 1 AD, an Adar II was added in order to have enough time for the burial and the mourning before the festivals of 1 Nisan (the religious New Year) and 14-21 Nisan (Passover).[16]

Christ was born in the 45th year of Augustus.[17] The year 1 BC is the year 45 of the Julian calendar (the Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC and began on 1 January 45 BC).[18] Moreover, in March 44 BC Julius Caesar was murdered and Augustus was adopted in his testament.[19] Reckoned from early 44 BC, Augustus’s 45th year (the year extending from early 1 AD until early 2 AD) overlapped with the first year of Christ (the year extending from November 1 BC until November 1 AD).

At the time that Christ was born, a statue of Jupiter was destroyed in Rome. This destruction had been prophesied about 70 years before the birth of Christ.[20] The prophecy might have been made at the time of the inauguration of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, which event took place in 69 BC.[21]

Herod was at first a vassal-king during seven years:[22] from his acquisition of Galilee in 47 BC[23] until his appointment as king in 40 BC.[24] Since A.C.E. received that Herod reigned for 40 years and since she put Herod’s death in the 6th year of Christ, she concluded that Christ was born around the 34th year of Herod’s reign.[25] Yet A.C.E. apparently did not distinguish Herod the Great from his son Herod Archelaus, such that Archelaus’s deposition in 6 AD (i.e. in the 6th year of Christ) was interpreted as Herod the Great’s death. Consequently, A.C.E. put the birth of Christ in Herod’s 34th year. Herod did reign for 40 years (40 BC-1 AD),[26] but Christ was born in Herod’s 40th year (40 BC-1 BC/1 AD). Yet the 34th year is also of significance because Herod reigned for 34 years starting from Aristobulus III’s execution in the spring of 34 BC.[27] Herod’s years were sometimes reckoned from that spring.[28] The 34th year (spring 1 BC/spring 1 AD) corresponds to the year in which Christ was born.

The 2000th birthday of Christ fell on actual 25 November 2000 AD, i.e. within the Catholic Great Jubilee year 2000 AD (24 December 1999 AD-6 January 2001 AD).[29] The vernal point shifts through the zodiac at a rate of one degree in a period of 71.66 years,[30] i.e. the sun returns to the same place in the sidereal zodiac after 71.66 years, but one day later. In 2000 AD the sun returned to the same degree as the one in 1 BC almost 28 days later (2000 ÷ 71.66 = 27.91): midnight Saturday/Sunday actual 24/25 November 1 BC + 28 days = midnight Friday/Saturday 22/23 December 2000 AD. On the midnight of Sunday/Monday 24/25 December 2000 AD Pope John Paul II celebrated the 2000th birthday of Christ.

3. The census at the time of the birth

At the time of the birth of Christ, the Emperor decreed for an enrolment and a taxation (Luke 1:2),[31] though a displacement of the people was not necessary.[32] Palestine had to pay a Roman tax contribution in post-Sabbatical years.[33] The relevant census took place in the post-Sabbatical year Tishri 1 BC/Elul 1 AD.[34] There had been no organised taxation for seven years,[35] i.e. from Tishri 8 BC/Elul 7 BC until Tishri 1 BC/Elul 1 AD. The census was the “first before” (the Greek superlative prôtos in the meaning of the comparative proteros) the census of Quirinius (Luke 2:2): the census of 1 BC/1 AD preceded Quirinius’s census of 6 AD.[36]

The enrolment and the taxing were announced at the end of October,[37] i.e. immediately after the close of the Sabbatical year Tishri 2 BC/Elul 1 BC. The Syrian governor Varus was present in Jerusalem in the autumn of 1 BC[38], apparently in order to arrange for the taxation.[39] Joseph arrived at the tax office on Friday factual Julian 25 November = 10 Kislev (the vision of Friday 23 November 1821). The taxation lasted for three months.[40]

The taxation at the birth of Christ had three destinations:[41] (1) Augustus, Herod the Great, and a king near Egypt;[42] (2) the building of the Temple; and (3) the widows and the poor. Ancient data suggest that the Jews were to transfer 25% of their civil taxes to Rome in post-Sabbatical years.[43] Since Augustus received 25%, the remaining 75% of the civil taxes were apparently divided among Herod the Great, Aretas IV, the Temple building, and the widows and the poor.

4. The visit of the Holy Kings

The constellation that the Holy Kings saw in Mesopotamia was a comet.[44] The star that guided them to Palestine (Matt 2:1-2) was not this comet but a luminosity held by an angel.[45] The Holy Kings began their journey on Sunday factual Julian 27 November 1 BC (the vision of Sunday 25 November 1821).[46] During the three preceding nights, they had continuously seen images relating to the Holy Virgin and Christ.[47]

The Holy Kings were received by Herod the Great on the night of Saturday/Sunday factual Julian 24/25 December 1 BC[48] = at the start of 10 Tevet. The fast of 10 Tevet commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (2 Kgs 25:1; Jer 39:1; 52:4; Ezek 24:1).[49] The fact that kings of the east (as was Nebuchadnezzar II) arrived at Jerusalem on that day must have frightened Herod (Matt 2:3). On the night of Monday/Tuesday 26/27 December = at the beginning of 12 Tevet, the Holy Kings left in a hurry after the apparition of an angel.[50] That afternoon (of 27 December), 16 soldiers of Herod came to look for a newborn king.[51] On the night of Wednesday/Thursday 28/29 December = at the beginning of 14 Tevet, when the moon eclipsed,[52] Herod the Great executed the rebel Matthias and his companions – persons whom he had imprisoned during the Festival of Hanukkah of 1 BC.[53] Since Herod’s soldiers had not found the Holy Kings on 27 December, Herod might have suspected a complot between the Holy Kings and these prisoners and therefore executed the latter during the next night. On the next Saturday, i.e. on Saturday factual Julian 31 December 1 BC = 16 Tevet, Joseph and the Holy Virgin celebrated the anniversary of their marriage.[54]