The Gospels tell us that the birth of Jesus was shortly before Herod the Great died. Herod's death can be fixed with certainty or so many believe.
Josephus records an eclipse of the moon just before Herod passed on. This occurred on March 12th or 13th in 4 B.C.E. Josephus also tells us that Herod expired just before Passover. This feast took place on April 11th, in the same year, 4 B.C.E. From other details supplied by Josephus, we can pinpoint Herod the Great's demise as occurring between March 29th and April 4th in 4 B.C.E. Or can it?
In the 19th century, critical scholars made a crucial decision to reject a total lunar eclipse in January 1 B.C.E. and to accept instead one in March 4 B.C.E., as the chronological cornerstone for dating the death of Herod the Great. By so doing, the critics could argue Jesus had to born before 4 B.C.E., contradicting Luke, who tied Jesus' 30th year to the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, 27-28 C.E. Luke effectively placed the birth in 3 B.C.E, as did many of the early church fathers. Ironically, even the date used by the Pope during the Christmas Eve midnight mass ritual is itself consistent with the last half of 3 B.C.E.
The word "taxed" is from the Greek word apographo meaning to register. The "all the world" is used to emphasize the immensity of the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus was preparing to celebrate his Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) as Roman Emperor in 2 B.C.E. Prior to the celebration he wanted an accounting of his subjects and an official declaration of political allegiance. Registrations such as this were typically conducted in the fall of the year when the weather was mild for travel.
Cyrenius was governor of Syria in 6 C.E. about nine years after this record. The Greek word for "governor" in this verse is hegemon which means commander. This "first" registration was made in 3 B.C.E. when Cyrenius had been sent to Syria to command the registration process. Later in 6/7 C.E. while he was governor a second registration took place. The word "first" is the key to understanding the historical evidence.
What Day?
By rejecting Luke, scholars also threw out the date of the birth Luke gives in his Gospel. In his second chapter, Luke tells what happened the day Mary came to the Temple for purification 40 days after the birth of Jesus. All one has to know is what day this was. And Luke plainly names the day. In fact, he includes three statements identifying the day. So what day was this?
Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. The 10th day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.
In Luke's time, Yom Kippur was called three things: The day of the "Fast," the day of the "Purification,"and the day of "Redemption." Luke uses all three to identify the day Jesus was brought to the Temple. And he even quotes the Torah rule that mandates the 40-day period for the mother to wait after the child's birth [Lk 2.22-23].
22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord")
Other specify another reason. Luke tells of a woman named Anna who had been in the Temple for a "night and day" without leaving. There was ONLY ONE DAY A YEAR when a person could pray overnight in the Temple: Yom Kippur. All other days, the Temple was locked at sundown. But review of Luke 2.37 and it implies that Anna was always there. THat may aso be ther reference to "fasting"
37 ...She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.
This shows the 40th day of Mary's Purification had begun at the end of Yom Kippur, the end of the 10th day of the 7th month, because we know the Purification was done at the earliest opportunity--at the beginning of the 40th day after birth. And since the 6th month normally had only 29 days, simple arithmatic shows Mary's 39 days of Purification had to have begun around sundown on the 1st day of the 6th month, called Elul.
This was the night of the first sighting of the new moon of Elul. The Magi in Babylon were recording this sunset sliver of the new moon on a clay tablet. The cuneiform tablet the Magi made at that hour 2000 years ago, along with thousands of others from Babylon, resides in the British Museum. It is possible that this clay tablet was inscribed by one of the famous Magi who later brought a strange set of gifts to Bethlehem. So the new moon seen by the Magi in Babylon at the very moment of Jesus being born is recorded on one of the tablets now in London. Cuneiform scholars have identified the date on this tablet as equivalent to September 11, 3 B.C.E.
The Hebrew lunar calendar dates vary with respect to our solar calendar. So the 1st of Elul was September 11th in 3 B.C.E, but began on August 22 in 1998. The same was true in the days of the early church, of course. In a given year, the 1st of Elul could have fallen on September 8th, for example.
This may solve another ancient mystery. No one seems to know how Rome came to honor September 8th as the birthday of Mary. There is no Biblical, historical, or church tradition to explain it. It just emerges out of nowhere. Rome keeps the 8th of December as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary [ie. conceived without original sin]. It is a holy day of obligation for all Catholics to attend Mass. This feast is clearly based upon September 8th also, and mortal sin is attached to the failure of a Catholic to observe it, yet the origins of these dates are unknown.
On the other hand, we can now see that if Jesus were born on September 11th as Luke indicates, then Jesus would have been conceived around December 8th in 4 B.C.E. The now mysterious Mary dates fit Jesus quite well. How might this have happened?
In the late 4th century, in early 380 C.E, Pope Damasus I was endeavoring to force all Christians in the Roman Empire to yield to his authority. He got the Emperor to issue an edict requiring them to practice the religion of Rome. We know that it is about this time the Christmas midnight Mass was first celebrated and December 25th first identified as a Catholic holy day. It is said Damasus was seeking to lure the people away from pagan rites honoring the birth of the sun god at midnight by compelling Catholic attendance at a memorial in honor of Christ's death, ie the Mass. The people confused this Mass with the pagan solar birth rituals conducted at that same time. Gradually, the Christ-Mass became associated with the Nativity.
Meanwhile, the true feast around September 8th, which naturally honored Mary in giving birth to Jesus, was converted into a day commemorating her own birth, and an old holyday honoring the conception of Jesus was converted into a day commemorating the conception of Mary on December 8th. Strangely, there is still widespread belief among non-Catholics that this is the day Jesus was concieved--a possible lingering remembrance of the original meaning of this date.
We can also tell from Luke's Gospel that Jesus had been born in early evening, for Luke says the shepherds were keeping watch by night, but still had time to go into town and tell the people what they had seen earlier that evening. People rose early with the sun in those days, and would have been asleep by 9 or 10 pm. Therefore, the birth had taken place no later than 8 pm, and probably before 7 pm. Yet Luke says it happened at night, which means after sunset--surely after 6 pm in September. Hence, it follows that Jesus was born within a few minutes of 6:30-7:30 pm on the evening of September 11th, 3 B.C.E.
A confirmation of this time is in the book of Revelation. Historian Ernest L. Martin consulted NASA lunar-phase tables and found the image of the heavens in Revelation 12 showed where the sun and the moon were, relative to Virgo, at the time Jesus was born, pin-pointing sunset of September 11th of 3 B.C.E. It seems the moon moves so quickly it is "beneath the feet" of Virgo only a few hours every month. Moreover, the moon comes within two lunar diameters of Virgo's feet at the time of a new moon but once in 30 years. The only such occurance any time near the birth of Jesus was on September 11th, 3 B.C.E.
Most previous attempts at determining the birth time were based upon astrology and dating the Star of Bethlehem. No one considered 3 B.C.E. because that year had erroneously been assumed to follow Herod's death. However, Dr. Martin has proven that Herod did not die in 4 BC, but in 1 BC. Scholars are now generally accepting the new chronology for Herod, and this in turn has allowed the confirmation of the New Testament date for the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately, many churches continue to promote the critics' errors and paganized traditions about the Nativity.
Why December 25?
The tradition for December 25th is actually quite ancient. Hippolytus, in the second century A.D., argued that this was Christ's birthday. Meanwhile, in the eastern Church, January 6th was the date followed. But in the fourth century, John Chrysostom argued that December 25th was the correct date and from that day till now, the Church in the East, as well as the West, has observed the 25th of December as the official date of Christ's birth. Almost every Biblical scholar has known and attested for centuries, that Jesus Christ could not have been born on December 25th. The December festival in Rome known as the Saturnalia, or the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birth of their sun-god was adopted by the church in Rome as Christ's birth date in the third century. A special mass was instituted and celebrated for Christ. Hence, the name "Christ-mass", abbreviated "Christmas". The pagan celebration and traditions of decorating fir trees, lighting the yule-log, and many other customs associated with Saturnalia were adopted.