When Was Jesus Born?
(20) When Was Jesus Born? - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NdQVtzjckA
Transcript:
(00:00) Hi. This is Matt Baker and today we’re going to explore the question, “When was Jesus born?” And by that I mean: “In what year was he born?” as well as “On what day was he born?” But let me break the bad news to you up front – there is not going to be a definitive answer to either of these questions. However, we’re going to explore several of the options and weigh the arguments for each.
(00:40) INTRO So, we’re going to first of all look at the year of Jesus’s birth. And the first thing you need to know is that the answer is not Year Zero. For one thing, there is no Year Zero. In our current dating system, 1 BC is followed immediately by 1 AD. In addition this, although the entire system was initially designed around the birth year of Jesus, historians have long recognized that those who did the initial calculations were likely off by at least a few years.
(01:13) So, even though BC stands for “Before Christ” and AD stands for Anno Domini (which is Latin for “In the year of the Lord”), it doesn’t mean that the current year 2021 is actually exactly two thousand and twenty-one years since Jesus’s birth. This is one of the reasons why most historians now use the more neutral terms BCE “Before the Common Era” and CE “Common Era”.
(01:48) Otherwise it gets kinda confusing, because if we end up concluding that Jesus was born in a BC year, that would indicate that he was born before he was born. Okay, let me set the stage by telling you what was going on in the Mediterranean world around the time that Jesus was born. Note that on this chart, each black tick mark represents one year. I’m going to start with the year 63 BCE.
(02:15) This was the year that the Roman general Pompey laid siege to Jerusalem and thus ended up making Judea a client state of Rome. But at this point, Rome was not yet an empire. Instead, it was a republic dominated by three very powerful men: Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. Crassus died in 56 BCE, leaving Pompey and Caesar to battle it out. Civil war ensued and Caesar emerged as victor, becoming Dictator of Rome.
(02:47) But, as you probably know, Caesar was eventually assassinated. This key event happened in 44 BCE. Following Caesar’s death, power was once again shared by three men. This time, it was Lepidus, Mark Antony and Caesar’s adopted son, Octavian. Lepidus fell from power in 36 BCE, this time leaving Mark Antony and Octavian to battle it out.
(03:17) Octavian defeated Mark Antony and in 27 BCE he became the first emperor of Rome, taking on the name Augustus. Augustus ruled as emperor for 40 years, dying in the year 14 CE. He was then succeeded by his adopted son Tiberius, who reigned for 22 years, dying in the year 37 CE. So, we now have five dates on the chart.
(03:50) These dates are all rock solid and undisputed by historians. We can thus use them as reference points as we go forward. Let’s now talk specifically about Judea, which was the place where Jesus was born. Just prior to Pompey’s conquest of Judea, there had been a civil war there, fought between two brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, both from the Hasmonean dynasty – that was the dynasty that descended from the Maccabees.
(04:21) Pompey ended up supporting Hyrcanus, and therefore after Pompey captured Jerusalem, he put Hyrcanus back in charge, but this time as a servant of Rome. But remember, Pompey was eventually defeated by Julius Caesar. And, shortly after Pompey’s defeat, Caesar found himself besieged in the city of Alexandria. At that moment, a Jewish convert named Antipater helped rescue him.
(04:52) As a reward, Caesar appointed Antipater as Procurator of Judea, which meant he was in charge of the Treasury. So, although Hyrcanus was the official leader, it was actually Antipater and his two sons who ended up wielding most of the power. One of those sons was named Herod. After Caesar died, Mark Antony was put in charge of the Roman territories in the East. And, in the East, Rome’s primary enemy was Parthia.
(05:22) In 40 BCE, Parthia conquered Judea and placed Hyrcanus’s nephew on the throne instead. At this point, Herod (who was a good friend of Mark Antony’s) fled to Rome for help and to his surprise, was appointed “King of the Jews”. It took Herod several years to win back Judea but by 37 BCE, he had captured Jerusalem and thus accomplished the task.
(05:50) It is therefore 37 BCE that is usually given as the year in which Herod started his reign. Now, the dates for Herod’s reign are super important when it comes to calculating the birth year of Jesus so it’s worth spending a little extra time on them. According to Josephus [Antiquities Book 14 Chapter 16 Verse 4], Herod captured Jerusalem in the same year that Marcus Agrippa and Caninius Gallus were consuls of Rome.
(06:18) According to Roman records, this was indeed 37 BCE. However, Josephus also mentions that Herod’s conquest of Jerusalem was 27 years after Pompey’s conquest of Jerusalem. That would make it 36 BCE. But, it was common for ancient writers to use inclusive dates, meaning that both the start year and the end year are counted, which would bring us back to 37 BCE.
(06:51) Now, a couple chapters later, Josephus gives us the end date for Herod’s reign. He says that Herod died 34 years after capturing Jerusalem. But he also states that he died during the Passover season, shortly after a lunar eclipse. So, 34 years after 37 BCE would be either 3 BCE (if we’re using normal counting) or 4 BCE (if we’re using inclusive counting).
(07:25) Luckily, the lunar eclipse reference helps us decide. The only lunar eclipse in that decade to occur around Passover time was in 4 BCE. So, we now have fairly firm dates for the reign of Herod. I say “fairly” firm because there is some room for debate but for the most part, 37 to 4 BCE is the consensus. After the death of Herod, his kingdom was divided into four parts and hence the ruler of each part was called a tetrarch.
(08:01) Herod’s son Archelaus received the main part, Judea. But Archelaus was unpopular and eventually, in 6 CE, Augustus had him deposed. At this point Judea became an official province of the Roman Empire and was given a governor instead of a king. The names of the first four governors are not ones that you are likely to recognize.
(08:28) However, you will probably recognize the name of the fifth governor: Pontius Pilate. For it was Pontius Pilate who was the governor of Judea when Jesus died. He governed from 26 CE to 36 CE, which was the year before Emperor Tiberius died. Okay, so we now have 9 dates to work with. Let’s now turn to the New Testament. Although there are four gospels, only two of them include stories about Jesus’s birth. These are Matthew and Luke.
(08:58) In Matthew 2 verse 1, it says, “In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea...” So, according to Matthew, Jesus must have been born sometime before the year 4 BCE, because he was quite clearly born during the reign of Herod the Great. Now, before you ask, “But, how do we know that the name Herod here refers to Herod the Great and not one of Herod’s sons, who also used the name Herod?” let me point out that later in chapter 2, Matthew specifically mentions Archelaus as succeeding Herod and therefore we
(09:39) know that the Herod referred to in verse 1 is in fact Herod the Great. Now, you probably know the story so I’ll just quickly summarize it. After Jesus is born, some wise men from the East visit Herod and tell him that they have come to worship the newly born King of the Jews.
(10:04) Herod freaks out, thinking he’s got a new rival on his hands and orders all male children 2 years old or younger to be killed. Herod then dies soon after this, Archelaus then takes over, and Jesus and his parents escape to Egypt. So, take note that the author of Matthew doesn’t actually tell us how much time passed between the birth of Jesus and the visit from the wise men.
(10:33) Herod orders all male children 2 years old or younger to be killed, so the assumption is that it could have been as much as 2 or 3 years. Which means that the typical nativity scene is not very accurate. Not only does the Bible not state that there were three wise men, it also makes it pretty clear that the unknown number of wise men were not actually present at the birth of Jesus. If Herod died in the year 4 BCE, this means that, according to the Gospel Matthew, Jesus was likely born somewhere between 6 BCE and 4 BCE. Let’s now look at Luke.
(11:12) In Luke 1 verse 5, it says, “In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah.” It then goes on to talk about Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth becoming miraculously pregnant and then Elizabeth’s relative Mary also becoming miraculously pregnant. However, two things are not clear.
(11:44) First, it’s not clear which Herod he means, Herod the Great or Archelaus. Second, it’s not clear how much time has passed between the statement, “In the days of Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah” and the story about Elizabeth and Mary becoming pregnant”. Which makes Luke chapter 2 all the more important. And Luke chapter 2 starts with some very clear chronological information.
(12:10) In verse 1, it says, “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” It then talks about Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem for the census and Jesus being born there. Which means that, according to the author of Luke, Jesus was born: A.
(12:38) sometime when a man named Quirinius was governor of Syria and B. sometime when a major census took place. Fortunately, both of these facts lead us to a very specific date. Remember what I said earlier about Archelaus being deposed and Judea becoming a Roman province? Well, at that point, Syria was already a Roman province. It thus already had a governor.
(13:09) And, according to Roman records, that governor was a man named Quirinius. You see, when Rome took over Judea, the first thing Emperor Augustus did was send Governor Quirinius over from the nearby province of Syria to take a census so that they would know how much tax revenue they could get. It wasn’t a census of the entire empire and it wasn’t a census that required people to return to their hometowns (that was simply never done) BUT it was a census that became deeply engrained in the memories of first century Jews. This is because it led to a major revolt under a man named Judas of Gamala,
(13:49) the founder of the Zealots. That revolt failed but it set the stage for the Jewish-Roman tensions that eventually culminated in the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. So, yeah, the census of Quirinius was a pretty important event in Jewish history. And we know exactly when it occurred. It occurred in 6 CE, which was when Archelaus was deposed.
(14:19) So, I think you see the problem. According to Matthew, Jesus was definitely born before the year 4 BCE. But according to Luke, Jesus was definitely born after the year 6 CE. So, how do we reconcile these two dates? Well, in my view, we don’t have to. Like most secular historians, I do believe that Jesus was a real, historical person.
(14:50) However, I also believe that the Gospel accounts are highly literary in nature and are more concerned with making theological points than with getting all the little details correct. Okay, so what about the day of Jesus’s birth? Was it actually December 25th? Well, I’d say the chances of Jesus having been born on that exact date are approximately 1 in 365.
(15:19) The fact is, we really have no clue as to what day he was born on. But again, I don’t think it really matters. What matters is that most Christians have chosen December 25th to remember and celebrate his birth. But, just for fun, let’s quickly look at the arguments for and against December 25th and at the possible reasons why this date was selected. Most of the arguments center around sheep.
(15:46) This is because in Luke 2 verse 8, it says that when Jesus was born, “there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Some argue that it was too cold near Bethlehem in December for shepherds to be out with their sheep at night. Others argue that it wasn’t too cold because Bethlehem winters are actually quite mild.
(16:14) Then again, some argue that Jesus was born during lamb birthing season and that lamb birthing season was in the Spring. But others argue that, in Bethlehem, they shepherded a special kind of sheep and that those sheep gave birth in the winter. All of this talk about sheep, I believe, is quite silly. If the time of year was so important, surely the gospel writers would have given us a better reference point.
(16:39) But why December 25th then? Well, what I was told as a kid, by the very anti-Christmas church that I grew up in, was that it was based on the pagan festival of Saturnalia. But that is actually quite unlikely because Saturnalia always fell between December 17th and the 23rd. It’s more likely that the date was chosen simply because, on the Julian calendar, the winter solstice usually lined up with December 25th.
(17:12) Nowadays, on the modern calendar, the winter solstice usually lines up with December 21st. So, there kids, is a great argument for trying to convince your parents to let you open up your presents four days early. But why did the early Christians choose the Winter Solstice? Well, there’s an interesting explanation for that.
(17:37) Although we don’t know what time of year Jesus was born, we do know what time of year he died. He quite clearly died in the spring, because all of the stories about his death have it happening around the time of the Jewish Passover. Passover occurs approximately around the same time as the Spring Equinox, which occurs exactly nine months before the Winter Solstice.
(18:03) Some ancient people believed that great individuals always died on the same day that they were conceived. Therefore, if Jesus was conceived near the Spring Equinox, he would have been born near the Winter Solstice. So, there you have it. Jesus was maybe born on the winter solstice, but then again, maybe not. Maybe he was born around 4 BCE but then again, maybe it was closer to 6 CE.
(18:33) The fact of the matter is: No one really knows. But what we do know for sure is that tomorrow is Christmas and that a few weeks ago, it was Hanukkah. So, whatever you celebrate or don’t celebrate, I wish you all the best. Thanks for watching.