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Four Reasons To Believe That Y'shua  Was Not Born On December 25
by Jim Brown

Reason #1: Shepherds in the Fields 

Luke 2:8-11 (NASB) 
8  In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9  And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11  for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

In Israel, shepherds are not “in the fields” with the flock much past late September or early October.  Therefore, if they were in the fields on the day Y'shua was born, it could not have been December 25.  Coincidentally, although the date of Feast of Tabernacles changes from year to year on our calendar, it always falls in late September or early October. 

Reason #2: No Room in the Inn 

Luke 2:4-7 (NASB) 
4  Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5  in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6  While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Three of Yahveh’s Appointed Times are known as the Pilgrimage Festivals because Scripture requires all Jewish males to go up to Yerushalayim to celebrate them. Sukkot, known to us as the Feast of Tabernacles is one of them.  It makes sense that the reason there were no rooms in the Inn may have been that it was one of the feasts that all males were required to celebrate in Yerushalayim. 

 Reason #3: He Came and Tabernacled Among Us 

If the prophetic significance of each of Yahveh’s Appointed Times Must be fulfilled by Messiah, then it makes sense that He would come and tabernacle among us during the Feast of Tabernacles. 

Reason # 4: Calculating From Scripture the Birth Dates of  Yochanan Ben Zecharyah and Y'shua Ha Moshiach 

Although Scripture does not specifically document the date of Y'shua’s birth, we can calculate the date from what Scripture does record.  In the first chapter of His Gospel, Luke furnishes the following details:


Zacharias was a member of the priestly order of Abijah.

 While performing his priestly service in the temple “in the appointed order of his division” an angel appeared to him and prophesied the birth and ministry of John (the Baptist).

 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.  After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months… Luke 1:23-24 (NASB)

 In the sixth month (of Elizabeth’s pregnancy) Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she would conceive and bear the Messiah.

 After Gabriel’s announcement, Mary “arose and went in a hurry” to see Elizabeth and upon her arrival, Elizabeth’s child leaped in her womb because Mary was carrying the messiah.

 From 1 Chronicles 24:10 we can calculate when Zacharias would have been serving in the Temple and when his service would have ended.  From the language of Luke, there are a number of reasons to believe that Elizabeth would have conceived on or about the first day of the 4th month of the Hebrew calendar.  By adding 280 days (the average period of gestation for a child) to that date, we can calculate when Yochanan ben Zecharyah was born.  By calculating when Elizabeth would have been in her 6th month of pregnancy, we can calculate the date of Y'shua’s conception.  By adding 280 days we can calculate the date of Y'shua’s birth.  



 Every year, for more than 3400 years, the Jewish people have left an empty chair and place setting at their Passover table in anticipation that Elijah will come and announce the coming of Messiah.  When asked about this expectation, Y'shua testified to what Gabriel had prophesied, i.e. that John had come in the spirit of Elijah to do just that.  Each year during the Passover Seder, every Jewish family sends a child to the door to look to see if Elijah is coming, and each year, that child reports that he did not see him.  Guess when the above calculations would indicate that Yochanan ben Zecharyah was born.  Would you believe that it was on Passover, the day that Jews have been anticipating Elijah’s arrival for thousands of years?  How cool is that.  Working backward from that date, we can calculate that Y'shua, “the light of the world” was conceived during the Feast of Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Light.  Adding 280 days to that, we can calculate that Y'shua was born on the 15th day of the 7th month, which is the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.


 So why does the church celebrate “Christmas” on December 25?  The short answer is, “We don’t know.”  We do know that the first record of Christmas being celebrated on December 25 was in 336 A.D and that a few years later, Pope Julius I, officially declared that the birth of Messiah would be celebrated on the 25th of December.  This was a decade after Constantine initiated the syncretistic melding of paganism into the Christian calendar; by moving the 7th day Sabbath to what he called, “the venerable day of the sun” and the celebration of the Resurrection of Messiah from the Feast of First Fruits to the pagan feast of Ishtar; in 324 A.D.   

From: Jim Brown



Used with permission. Jim's website is highly recommended, although he and I would differ on some of the applications of Jewish and Old Testament commandments to the Christian's walk with God. 

See link to his website below.  

Promise of the Father
"Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות or סֻכּוֹת, sukkōt, or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (late September to late October). It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Jews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Sukkot begins at sundown on Sun, 16 October 2016." It was Sep 28-30, Oct 1-4 2015. See link below: 
Jewish Holidays