When Jesus was Born

 

During this Christmas season the question is raised as to when Jesus was born.

The answered are varied and numerous with different conclusions.  

I start from 1 Corinthians 5 to answer:

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. vs 7 & 8

For Christ to be "our Passover Lamb" would mean He fulfilled all the types in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23. As Gentile believer's we do not like to bother with details we prefer wisdom. But Jews were concerned with sign and they were meticulous that the details were met.

The Passover Lamb had to met certain qualifications:

Timing:

Verse 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

This is the month of Nisan in the Jewish Calendar. 

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.  VERSES 3 & 5

The lamb or kids were born in the Spring, but only those born in the month of Nisan were born between the first to the the tenth day of this month. So the shepherds had to be separated from the flock with their mothers for Passover. Then a year later on Nisan 10 the lambs were separated for the tenth day of this month  each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household a year-old males without defect.

Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.  Verse 6

The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. Leviticus 23:5

As the population grew between the Diaspora and Judea, by the first century, there was two Passovers. Jesus partook of the one after sunset of Nisan 13 and then Jesus died on Passover of Nisan 14. Jesus spent four years between Judea and Galilee and four days in the area of Jerusalem to fulfill being a "male without defect."

You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; Luke 23:14

Luke gives us important time clues for us to consider in the timing of Jesus' birth.

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Luke 1:5, 8 & 9

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All the priests served during the required feasts of Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles (Mishna, Sukkah 55b). Thus, each of the twenty-four courses served twice in their appointed order and at the three festivals, an average of five times a year. They served four times if their course coincided with one of the three feasts, and six if they began and ended a year with thirteen months.  

These are possible dates for the week in which Gabriel confronted Zacharias. When this occurred, "the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside." (Luke 1:10) The "whole multitude" would only have been gathered at one of the three required feasts, at Passover, Pentecost or the Feast of Tabernacles. It would appear that just before John's conception that the "appointed order" of the division of Abijah coincided with one of these feasts. 

New Testament Chronology, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990), Kenneth Frank Doig 

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When we start from Nisan 14, Passover in 6 B.C as the priestly division of Abijah when Zechariah served.

When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. verse 23

Late in the Month of Nisan Elizabeth is pregnant and the nine month count begins.

Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months... verse 23b

So we count from Nisan to between Av and Elul...this would be in the Fall during the month of August. 

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent...to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. verses 26 & 27 

Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.  verse 36 

This is between the months of Elul or Tishri during the month of September.

 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

Now Elizabeth’s full time came (nine months) for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 

This bring us to between Kislev 6 B.C. and Tevet 7 B.C.....about the end of December the first week of January. 

Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being [f]a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Matthew 1:18-20  

Mary returns to Nazareth three to four months pregnant.  So when we count off the rest of the remaining months we would overshoot the month of Nisan. But God is in control of the timing. In the Jewish calendar there is a leap month.

The twelfth month of the Hebrew ecclesiastical year, and the sixth of the civil year. In this month occurred the celebrated feast of Purim. It nearly answers to our March. As the lunar year, which the Jews follow, is shorter than the solar year by eleven days, which after three years by eleven days, which, after three years, make about a month, they then insert a thirteenth month, which they call Ve- Adar, or a second Adar. American Tract Society Bible Dictionary published in 1859

So in 7 B.C. this was a leap month year. 

Leap years

The Jewish calendar is based on the Metonic cycle of 19 years, of which 12 are common (non-leap) years of 12 months and 7 are leap years of 13 months. To determine whether a Jewish year is a leap year, one must find its position in the 19-year Metonic cycle. This position is calculated by dividing the Jewish year number by 19 and finding the remainder. (Since there is no year 0, a remainder of 0 indicates that the year is year 19 of the cycle.) For example, the Jewish year 5781 divided by 19 results in a remainder of 5, indicating that it is year 5 of the Metonic cycle. ^[32]

Years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 of the Metonic cycle are leap years. To assist in remembering this sequence, some people use the mnemonic Hebrew word GUCHADZaT "גוחאדז"ט"‎, where the Hebrew letters gimel-vav-het aleph-dalet-zayin-tet are used as Hebrew numerals equivalent to 3, 6, 8, 1, 4, 7, 9. The keviyah records whether the year is leap or common: פ for peshuta (פשוטה), meaning simple and indicating a common year, and מ indicating a leap year (me'uberet, מעוברת).^[33]

Another memory aid notes that intervals of the major scale follow the same pattern as do Jewish leap years, with do corresponding to year 19 (or 0): a whole step in the scale corresponds to two common years between consecutive leap years, and a half step to one common year between two leap years. This connection with the major scale is more plain in the context of 19 equal temperament: counting the tonic as 0, the notes of the major scale in 19 equal temperament are numbers 0 (or 19), 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, the same numbers as the leap years in the Hebrew calendar.

A simple rule for determining whether a year is a leap year has been given above. However, there is another rule which not only tells whether the year is leap but also gives the fraction of a month by which the calendar is behind the seasons, useful for agricultural purposes. To determine whether year n of the calendar is a leap year, find the remainder on dividing [(7 × n) + 1] by 19. If the remainder is 6 or less it is a leap year; if it is 7 or more it is not. For example, the remainder on dividing [(7 × 5781) + 1] by 19 is 17, so the year 5781 is not a leap year. The remainder on dividing [(7 × 5782) + 1] by 19 is 5, so the year 5782 is a leap year.^[34] This works because as there are seven leap years in nineteen years the difference between the solar and lunar years increases by 7/19-month per year. When the difference goes above 18/19-month this signifies a leap year, and the difference is reduced by one month.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar#Leap_years

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Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed [a]wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a [b]manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

This is the last time clue on when Jesus was born. 

A very perplexing verse, inasmuch as Cyrenius, or Quirinus, appears not to have been governor of Syria for about ten years after the birth of Christ, and the "taxing" under his administration was what led to the insurrection mentioned in Ac 5:37. That there was a taxing, however, of the whole Roman Empire under Augustus, is now admitted by all; and candid critics, even of skeptical tendency, are ready to allow that there is not likely to be any real inaccuracy in the statement of our Evangelist. Many superior scholars would render the words thus, "This registration was previous to Cyrenius being governor of Syria"--as the word "first" is rendered in Joh 1:15; 15:18. In this case, of course, the difficulty vanishes. But it is perhaps better to suppose, with others, that the registration may have been ordered with a view to the taxation, about the time of our Lord's birth, though the taxing itself--an obnoxious measure in Palestine--was not carried out till the time of Quirinus.  -  Jameison-Faussett-Brown Commentary

Augustus ...

"This is the title given by the Roman Senate on January 17, 27 B.C., to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) 

Should be enrolled ...
Critical allegations denying that such enrollments were made have been proved false. As Barclay said:

Such censuses were taken every fourteen years; and from 20 A.D. to 270 A.D., we possess actual documents from every census taken ... Here is an instance where further knowledge has shown the accuracy of the New Testament.  William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1953), p. 15. 47

This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

The second census under Quirinius was in 6 A.D. (Acts 5:37); and the words "the first" in this passage refer to the census fourteen years earlier in 8 B.C., but which was delayed in Palestine until the time coinciding with the birth of Christ in 6 B.C. Quirinius was twice governor and presided over both. Robertson said:

Luke is now shown to be wholly correct in his statement that Quirinius was twice governor, and that the first census took place during the first period. A series of inscriptions in Asia Minor show that Quirinius was governor of Syria in 10-7 B.C., and again in 6 A.D. 

Regarding some of the inscriptions mentioned by Robertson, these included those which were found in the autobiography of Augustus Caesar inscribed on the inner walls of the ruined temple of Augustus at Ankara. These were published in the New York Times in 1929; and these refer to the two censuses, even giving the numbers of those enrolled and naming Quirinius in both as governor of Syria. Luke is therefore quite accurate in his record. A. T. Roberson, A Harmony of the Gospels (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1922), p. 266.

 James Burton Coffman Commentaries

So I can conclude, based on the Bible, that Jesus was born when the Passover lambs were born in the month of Nisan 1-10 in 7 B.C.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Luke 2:8

The shepherds were out to separate the Passover lambs being born, but God sent them an angel to announce the arrive of His Passover Lamb that would redeem mankind. 

From about Passover time in April until autumn, the flocks pastured constantly in the open fields, the shepherds lodging there all that time. (From this it seems plain that the period of the year usually assigned to our Lord's birth is too late). Were these shepherds chosen to have the first sight of the blessed Babe without any respect of their own state of mind? That, at least, is not God's way. "No doubt, like Simeon (Lu 2:25), they were among the waiters for the Consolation of Israel"   James Burton Coffman Commentaries