Christmas is a Birthday with no Historical Root

Dec 18, 2007 20:09

Trying to prevent the churches from disintegrating is a futile exercise because the Pastors are never hesitate to turn away from any meaningful discussion of scripture. The latest suicide attempt is to refuse to worship the lonely dead rabbi on December 25th because it's too much trouble. They don't even make a theological excuse.

We offer a coherent reason for all churches to move Christmas from December 25th to the proper time which is Sukkot. At least with this argument, they can answer their critics without resorting to the ridiculous statement that the Devil made them do it!

Argument for a Tishri (Sukkot) Birth

There are several reasons to believe that Jesus was born during the Fall, in particular, during the festival of Sukkot. Among the reasons cited are as follows:

1. Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, was conceived in mid Sivan (May/June) and born 40 weeks later on Nissan 15, the Passover.

* John's father (Zacharias) was a Levite who was assigned to serve in the temple during the course of “Abia,” the 8th course of the year. (Luke 1:5, 1 Chr 24:10)

* Since the cycle of service began on the first Shabbat of Nisan but both Passover and Shavu’ot require all priestly courses to serve, the actual time the 8th course would serve would be during the 10th week of the year. This places Zacharias' service in the Temple as beginning on the second Sabbath of the month of Sivan (May/June).

* It is written that John was conceived shortly after this tour of duty (Luke 1:23-4). Therefore, John the Baptist was probably conceived shortly after the third Sabbath of the month of Sivan (i.e., late Sivan).

* Therefore John the Baptist was born around Passover (Nisan 15). (Recall that Jesus said that John the Baptist was a type of Elijah the prophet (Matt 17:10-13, cp. Luke 1:17). Even today it is customary for Jews to set out a special cup of wine during the Passover Seder meal in anticipation of the arrival of Elijah for the festival.)

2. Jesus was conceived in late Kislev (Nov/Dec) and born 40 weeks later during Sukkot.

* Jesus was conceived six months after John the Baptist (Luke 1:24-27, 36). Note that the “sixth” month refers to Elizabeth’s pregnancy, not the month of Elul (cp. Luke 1:36).

* Six months added to late Sivan is late Kislev, which is the time of the conception of Jesus (note that the first day of the Jewish festival of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated on the 25th day of Kislev, and Jesus is called the Light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46)).

* From the 15th day of Nisan (John’s birthday), we add six months to arrive at the 15th day of the 7th month, Tishri - the first day of the festival of Sukkot.

If the day of his birth were the first day of Sukkot, the day of his circumcision would be the eighth day, Shemini Atzeret/Sinchat Torah, which, like the first day, is a day of sacred assembly (Leviticus 23:39). On this day the Jews complete their annual cycle of Torah readings and start again from Bereshit (Genesis). Simchat Torah is considered to be a time of “fulfillment” of the Torah. The circumcision of Jesus at this time indicates how he had come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17-18).

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47968 http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Christmas/christmas.html