When was Jesus born?

In spite of the carol which sings of 'in the bleak mid-Winter' and in spite of any hard evidence regarding the time of Jesus birth it is highly unlikely that He was born in December.

first published 19/12/2010

With the schedule for temple duty fixed in Scripture, Zechariah – in the line of Abijah (Luke 1:5) and allocated the 8th 2-week period of the Jewish year at the end of Tammuz (1 Chron 24:10) – would have been on temple duty around the end of June/beginning of July. (Nisan is the first month in the Jewish calendar.)

It was then that he received divine revelation concerning his wife Elizabeth becoming pregnant (Luke 1:11-13). Six months into that pregnancy (Luke 1:36) Mary was similarly shown that she was to 'be with child' (Luke 1:31).

It is therefore quite probable that Jesus was born in the Autum rather than at the end of the year.
In fact the shepherds wouldn't have been 'in their fields at night' in mid-Winter, nor would Caesar have been likely to have called a census which involved mass travel at that time of year.

'Mouse-over' for the following Scripture references: 1 Chron. 24:10; Luke 1:5; Luke 1:11-13; Luke 1:31; Luke 1:36; Luke 2:7

Christians Together, 01/10/2013