Friday, December 24, 2010

The birthday of Jesus - the real story

Imagine that you are alive in the year BCE4....


Everyone who is an Israelite is required to travel to Jerusalem (probably called Ierousalem in Greek at that time) to attend a 7 day festival in the fall of the year called Sukkot. In addition, the Roman Empire has ordered that a census be taken....and you have to travel to the town of your ancestors to be counted as part of that family's descendants.  There are thousands and thousands of people in Jerusalem for the High Holy Day which starts tonight.  Each family is required to build a sukk'ah, a temporary dwelling, a booth, a temporary tabernacle, and live in it for the 7 days of the Feast of Ingathering

These booths are erected to house families with some bare comforts and food for the eight days.  (It would be like us going camping for a whole week these days.)  Food is placed in a food storage crib in these temporary tabernacles - sukk'ahs.  The King James Bible has translated the word for food crib as "manger".  After the 7 day long feast, there is an additional Sabbath Day on the 8th day called the Shemini Atzeret Sabbath "The Last Great Day" because it is the final annual Holy Day that was God-established.  The next Holy day (on your calendar) is the next Passover.



It is the fall of the year as the harvests are being brought in (gathered).  Shepherds are in their fields watching over their flocks.  Jerusalem isflooded with people as everyone is required to go there for this Festival.  Everthing is full.  And there are sukk'ahs everywhere.  Perhaps thousands of them!  Overwhelmingly massive crowds of Hebrew Pilgrims attending this High Holy day, this first day of the Feast.  Crowds have previously arrrived (to build their temporary tabernacles to stay in) and crowds are still continuously arriving, to lodge through the entire region.  By sunset, Jerusalem and all of the surrounding villages are completely full.  Even the nearby city of Bethlehem is full. It's just 4 miles away.  Not a place to be had anywhere.




Two young Hebrews, Yos'eh bar Da'vid and Miry'am, need to do 2 things.  They need to go to Jerusalem and they need to go to Bethlehem because that's where Yoseph must go to register for the census.  It is literally just 4 miles from Jerusalem.  A "stop on the way."  Miry'am is pregnant.  They get to Bethlehem.  She goes into labor.  No place to stay.  She is offered a sukk'ah (not a stable) as a place to deliver her baby, and she then placed her baby in the food crib (not a manger).  It was October 4, BCE4

Christmas is NOT the birthday of Jesus (Ye-shu'a)!!!


IF that is in fact what happened, consider these possibilities:

The Messiah was born on the first day of Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering, a High Holy Day,  this day is a Sabbath.

He was born in a temporary tabernacle, a sukk'ah, because he came to tabernacle withus.

He was place in a food storage crib because He is the "bread of life".

As in Hebrew tradition, He would have been named and circumcised on the 8th day which would have been a Sabbath.




9 months prior to Sukkot is Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.  The celebration of the dedication of the Temple. He would have been conceived during this holiday because He is the Light of the world.

Zechariah 14:16-17 says that one day in the future all nations will be required to honor the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukk'ot). For no greater reason, than it is the birthday of the King of Kings!!!

The Messiah was born in the fall of the year, when it was warm, in a temporary tabernacle, on a Sabbath that was a High Holy day, on the first day of the Feast of Ingathering, and was placed in a food storage crib because He is the bread of life.  He was conceived during the Festival of Lights because He is the light of the world.

Jn 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

For more information, see http://anitpas.net/2faq.htm or http://if-isms.blogspot.com

May you be blessed, may your heart be softened, may you come to know that your questions can be answered - all one must do is study the Word.




Notes:


There is no “J” in the Hebrew language and there was no “J” in the English language until the 1400s. 
Christ is greek Christos -actual meaning= Messiah
Jesus Messiah:  Yeshua HaMashiyach
God:  YHVH Elohim
YHVH is pronounced yeh-ho-vaw’
Elohim - plural, meaning GODS
Jerusalem - Ierousalem
Bethlehem - Beit-Lechem
Joseph - Yos’eh bar Da'vid
Mary - Miry’am

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, again, for your telling of the story. I have one question, though. Why is Hanukkah celebrated in the fall/early winter?

Jennifer Moore Lowe said...

Hanukkah is on the 25th of Kislev - on the Hebrew calendar. That calendar and the Gregorian calendarthat we use do not match up, so the date changes from year to year. It's usually in December, but can be in late November.

Hannah said...

Can you recommend any books on this subject-- our anything else related? I know the greatest source of information would come from scripture, but I'd love something to point me in the right direction regarding Hebrew historical dates and timelines.

Jennifer Moore Lowe said...

I do not know of any books per se. Antipas.net/2faq.htm is the best website (click on every single link). It took me 2 months of making notes, doing outlines, researching what they said, to really get my head wrapped around it all.

The Consistent New Testament is ever so much better than any translation out there. More "real". But it also helps to get the cassettes to help study it. The link for their address is at if-isms.blogspot.com - scroll down the right side.

Then, if you read all of the blog post on if-ism, you will have a ton of other links to help get you started.

Again, I highly recomment the tapes from Mount Bible Trust. Most of them come with books.