Maybe the Torah's Calendar was never a Lunar or Lunisolar Calendar?

First some terminology clarification.  The traditional Rabbinic Hebrew Calendar we're used to calling a Lunar Calendar is strictly speaking a Lunisolar Calendar, the phases of the Moon come first but synchronization is done with a Solar year so the seasons don't drift out of place.  The same is true of the popular variants I've discussed already like the Samaritan Calendar, the Kariate reckoning and the proposed Lunar Sabbath model.  A strictly Lunar Calendar would be something like the Islamic Calendar which makes no attempt to reconcile and so Ramadan has fallen all over the Gregorian Calendar.

But I've lately been questioning the traditional assumption that the Torah's Calendar is Lunar at all.

Let's start with the fact that the Torah has completely different words for Month and Moon, that is not what I'd expect from an ancient strictly Lunar month based culture.  Month is Chodesh/Hodesh (Strongs Number 2320) while Moon is Jerah/Yerach (3394).  There are a few places where the latter word is used of a passage of time, but that's because even without a lunar calendar the concept of a month is still tied poetically to the Moon somewhat as it's phases come at least close.

Japan for example had a Lunar Calendar until 1873, and that's why their language uses the same word for both Month and Moon, Tsuki.  That's why in the English version of episode 6 of my favorite Anime, Noir, it sounds weird when Mireille says "so many Months and Years have passed", in a language where all the word "month" means is a fraction of a year my mind goes "why even include months in that expression?".  But I'm pretty sure in the Japanese she's saying "so many Tsuki and Hi", Hi being an alternate word for both Sun and Year and sometimes Day.  So a more poetic yet equally literal translation would be "so many Moons and Suns have passed" which sounds more right even if technically equally as redundant.

The phrase "Rosh Chodesh" gets translated "New Moon" sometimes because of our traditional assumptions, but Rosh means the beginning or head of something not quite "New".  Colossians 2:16 is the one New Testament reference to the Jewish concept of the "Rosh Chodesh", and it again uses a Greek word for Month, not Selene the word for the Moon.

Because we think of it as the Crescent New Moon so much talk about Rosh Chodesh is spent on saying we don't know for certain exactly when it is till it happens.  With Dispensationalists saying it typologically fits the Pre-Trib Rapture and "no man knowth the day or the hour" verses.  But there is one clear Biblical reference to people knowing for certain the next day is a Rosh Chodesh, 1 Samuel 20:5.

The Torah never talks about the Full Moon, even in regards to the Holy Days that should happen about then on a Lunar or Lunisolar calendar.  Two verses elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible are often translated as referring to the Full Moon, but those are highly disputable as I've discussed before.  For Psalm 81 I don't know how to translate it but my hunch is it's about the Jubilee Yom Kippur sounded Shofar.  The word for "feast" used here is sometimes used of Sacrificial animals like Exodus 23:18, Psalm 118:27 and Isaiah 29:1, so that could be the Yom Kippur Sin Offering in this verse.  The root of the word thought to refer to the Full Moon appears in Leviticus 16:13 where it's translated "cover".

And then there is all the evidence that The Bible clearly thinks of a Month as being 30 days not 29 and a half.  It's there when you do the math of the Flood chronology of Genesis 7 and 8 with 5 months being exactly 150 days beginning on the 17th of the second month and ending on the 17th of the seventh month.  And it's also in Revelation with 42 Months, 1,260 days and three and a half years being treated as synonymous time periods.  

However there is one thing often taken as evidence for a 365 day year in the Torah, and that is how that number happens to be the number of years Enoch lived. But that could be a coincidence.

Genesis 1:14-19 discuses the Sun (greater light), Moon (lesser light) and stars being made for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.  But you'll notice in verse 16 the Sun is made and talked about first, it has priority.  And months are seemingly missing from the discussion.

It is well known that the Hebrew Calendar was influenced by the Babylonian Calendar during the Captivity, the names we're now used to calling the months come from Babylon for one thing.  Well the thing is Babylon had a Lunisolar Calendar, so even that aspect of it could be Babylonian in origin.

Lunar Calendars were more popular with the ancient Pagans then you might expect given the modern popular narrative that ancient Paganism always started with Sun worship.  In fact the most prominent not at all Lunar Calendar used by Pagans in classical antiquity was the Civil Egyptian calendar, but even they originally had a Lunar one which they kept using for ceremonial purposes.  Actually even in Greece the Attic Lunar Calender's main purpose was for how they observed Pagan festivals.

Now as much as we love to see all things Egyptian as bad, it wasn't the Egyptians much of the Torah is telling the Israelites not to be like, it was the Canaanites, (When Jerusalem is derogatorily called "Sodom and Egypt" it's about them being inhospitable to strangers not any particular customs.).  One of the Canaanite tribes was the Amorites, Babylon first became a major player in Mesopotamia under it's Amorite dynasty, so that Babylonian calendar could be Canaanite in origin.

There is one indisputable difference between the Torah Calendar and the Civil Egyptian Calendar, and that is when to start it.  Exodus 12 proclaims Aviv (the time of the Barley Harvest, early Spring) to be the first month while the Egyptian Calendar starts near the Autumnal Equinox.

It is a common traditional conjecture that before Exodus 12 the first season was Fall rather then Spring, and that in Exodus 12 YHWH is swapping the First and Seventh months.  I'd been thinking of making a post on how we can't entirely prove that using Scripture alone and so shouldn't build so many theories on it.  But since they were in Egypt for several generations it's very possible the Egyptian Calendar was their starting point and what month to make the first month was the only change YHWH is making in Exodus 12.  Though different agricultural and climate circumstances in Canaan probably brought further differences, the Egyptian Calendar was organized around 3 seasons rather then 4 because of how much they were ruled by the flooding of the Nile.

In a hypothetical Torah based Solar Calendar the Intercalary month of five or six days (if that was the method used for synchronization) would go between Adar and Nisan rather then in September.  (BTW, those 5 days were when the Egyptians observed the birthdays of Osiris and Horus, not anywhere near Christmas.  And the Egyptian new year was September 11th on our calendar coincidentally enough.)  Or maybe you would try to put them before the Seventh Month to keep Yom Teruah close to the Fall Equinox.  

Genesis 1:14 is possibly using Signs in place of Months, I have over the years gone back and forth on the Mazzaroth/Gospel in the Stars theory.  Maybe fellow Mazzaroth proponents like Rob Skiba should consider that the Star Signs can be an alternative to the Moon for how to determine the months of the year.  Josephus did refer to Nisan as being when the Sun is in Aries, in the first century the Sun entered Aries around the Spring Equinox, and that month is indeed when the Barley Harvest happens.  The Romans had a Seven Day Barley Festival similar to Unleavened Bread that was the 12-18th of April, but due to the awkwardness of Caesar's revisions that may be off from when in the Sun's journey it was supposed to be.

It is popular to theorize that Revelation 12:1 is describing some astronomical alignment involving the Moon. If it is it could be an exception and not proof the months are usually defined by the Moon.  But I'm skeptical of that altogether, I think it's probably a purely supernatural vision and not something predictable using Stelarrium.

Now I do believe the Passover through Pentecost of Christ's Passion, Resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit was likely based on what the Jews of the time were doing regardless of if it was still accurate.  But it may be it happened to be a year when they did line up, or at least close enough that First Fruits was the right Sunday.  Since I favor 30 AD and a Thursday Crucifixion on the 14th of Nisan followed by a Sunday Resurrection on the 17th of Nisan, I have long placed the Passion on the 6th of April 30 AD and The Resurrection of the 9th.

But maybe not all the Jews were already using the Babylonian Calendar in Christ's time?  Maybe it was originally mainly the Pharisees, who became the only sect to survive the 70 AD war?  It was the Sadducees who actually controlled the Priesthood and The Temple, and according to Josephus they were a Torah only sect.

The Qumran Community who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls also rejected the Lunar Calendar, the Temple Scroll is our main source on their Calendar but it's discussed in other scrolls too.  I don't think that Calendar is right either, like the Lunar Sabbath model it wants to synchronize the monthly and yearly cycle to the weekly cycle by giving every 3rd month an extra day creating a 364 day year.  As I've talked about before the language in Leviticus 23 about Firs Fruits and Pentecost is clearly assuming they won't always line up.  They make the first day of the year a Wednesday because that was the day the Sun and Moon were created.  But at least they correctly placed First Fruits and Pentecost on Sundays.  Weeks are not even remotely mentioned in the Genesis 1 account of the fourth day, so they aren't connected to the sun, moon or stars.

The Book of Jubilees was popular with them because it too rejected the Lunar Calendar (Chapter 6 verses 32-37).  Something I bet Rob Skiba didn't notice when using the book for his agendas (This Calendar also seems to be endorsed by Enoch 72-82).  But indeed Jubilees has the same problem as the Temple Scroll system.  In fact it's criticism of the lunar system is a little hypocritical since it doesn't line up perfectly with the seasons either, being one day short of a solar year will inevitably create the same issue even if it'd take longer.

The Hebrew Roots movement has a lot of irrational fear of Sun Worship wrapped up into it.  Obviously actually worshiping the actual Sun or Moon or any other inanimate object is a Sin.  But Malachi does call Jesus the Sun(Shamash) of Righteousness, there is no equivalent title making the Moon a symbol of Jesus.  So I have no problem believing Jesus Rose from The Grave at Sunrise on a Sunday Morning, or that he was born on or soon after the Winter Solstice.  I'd rather base my calendar on the astronomical object that is explicitly a symbol of Jesus then one that is not and was frequently the basis for Pagan ceremonial calendars.

You might ask "are you gonna also question if Biblical days begin and end with Sunset?"  Well I did consider it, but I concluded that they do.  Genesis 1 lists them as Evenings and Mornings, and later Torah verses after Exodus 13 do the same, like Exodus 16 which is also the proper origin of the Sabbath.  Also Exodus 27:21 and Leviticus 24:3.  Instead I'm just going to point out that even that is also determined by the the Sun, when the Sun sets.  [Update: on this paragraph I've had a change of mind since.]

But I'm not just disagreeing with the current Hebrew Roots movement here.  This may shock you to learn but the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other mainstream Christian Churches do use the Moon to calculate "Easter".  It's just that explaining why it doesn't always line up with Rabbinic Passover is complicated.  In most Languages "Easter" is just called Pascha.  If Catholic "Easter" was just a Christianized Spring Solstice festival as many allege it would consistently happen in the 20s of March.

Also remember that as a Six-Day Young Earth Creationist I do believe originally the Solar and Lunar cycles were in sync and there was no need to choose between them.  I think that was the case at least until the Flood but maybe also till the time of Joshua or even Hezekiah.

I'm not ready to propose a specific calendar model just yet.  I merely want to open up this line of discussion.

Or maybe I am.  But take everything below with a grain of salt, it's all stuff I could easily abandon.  What I've talked about above is the point of this post.

In Fact ignore everything below, I've revamped it all here.

https://midseventiethweekrapture.blogspot.com/2021/09/biblical-calendar-proposal.html

[Update 2023: I have an even newer idea to add.

https://solascripturachristianliberty.blogspot.com/2022/04/passion-week-chronology-completely.html]

When I say I think Jesus was born on December 25th

I don't necessarily mean that exactly.  But I think the basic time-frame is right.  Late December or early January.  On the Hebrew Calendar in either Kislev or Tevet.

I have a bit of a hunch it may have been the 25th day of the Month on the Hebrew Calendar, and then that got translated to December 25th by Gentile Christians.   In other words I think it highly possible Jesus was born on the First day of Hanukkah and Circumcised on the Eight Day of Hanukkah.

My past estimate that a Passover/First Fruits conception would place his Birth near the end of Tevet was based on a misunderstanding of how the Gestation cycle is counted.

Following Zola Levitt's observations about the Gestation cycle and the Leviticus 23 Feast days.  If the first month of Mary's cycle directly lined up with the month of Nisan.  Then 270 days takes us to about when Hanukkah happens.

Ya know often on the first day of Hanukkah the Moon is under the Feet of Virgo.

I still haven't made up my mind what year yet.  That's something I'll be getting into more in the future.

The Books of Tobit and Judith

Originally I was going to do this on my Revised Chronology blog.  But the theories about these books relevant to that are mainly the ones I'm going to be the most critical of.

I don't consider them Canon, as I already explained in my post on the Deutercanonical Books.  But they can be historically interesting to contemplate.

These books have in common being clearly mainly fictional narratives, that at least in the forms we have them contain some difficult to explain geographical errors, and much more so with Judith, apparent historical anachronisms.

Damien F Mackey attempts to explain the geographical issues in Tobit by saying Media is actually regions in Arabia, (Midian, Medan, Medina).  However this ignores the context of it clearly being about the deported Northern Israelites.  II Kings is clear, many were taken to Media and all of then to east of the Euphrates.

 I've mentioned before about how Tobit as we know it is the product of a time where First Cousin marriages were strongly encouraged.  But I also have reasons to suspect Tobias's bride maybe wasn't his cousin originally before it was revised.

With the references to Ahikar we are told exactly how he fits into Tobit's genealogy, even though that character is only someone refereed to and not really part of the story (like the Author of Tobit wanted to create a Shared Apocryphal Universe).  However we're not told how Sarah or her father Raguel fit into it, just that she is Tobias' cousin somehow.  That could be consistent with her being a cousin being a detail added to the text later.

Sarah is the Hebrew word for Princess.  According to Herodotus it was around the time frame depicted in this book that the first King of Media lived.  And she is living in Ecbatane the capital of Media.  Could the original narrative have been about Tobias marrying a Median Princess?  And maybe the book of Judith calls the king of Media Arphaxad because they descended from Arphaxad via deported Northern Israelites?

The last verse of the book refers to the fall of Nineveh to "Nabuchodonosor and Assuerus".  A lot of people assume Ahasuerus here is another name for Cyaxares I of Media.  But there is evidence his son and future successor Astyages was also involved in the taking of Nineveh, and Nebuchadnezzar was also at that time the Crown Prince of his father Nabopolassar.  Ahasuerus being a name for Astyages would agree with Josephus calling the Darius son of Ahasuerus of Daniel 5 a son of Astyages.  Which in turn agrees with that Darius being the same as Cyaxares II of Xenophon's Cyropedia.

Damien F Mackey's theory about The Book of Judith is that the "Nebuchadnezzar" of that book is really Sennacherib under his Babylonian Throne Name.  And that this is the same attempted invasion of Judah recorded in 2 Kings and Isaiah 36-39.  My main problem with that theory is Judith doesn't record an Angel destroying Assyria's Army.

His argument for this largely begins with theorizing that the Ahikar of Tobit and the Story of Ahikar is the same person as Achior of the Book of Judith.  I see why those names seem kind of similar, but not enough to be a smoking gun.

The revised Chronology comes into it via saying Sennacherib is the same as Nebuchadnezzar I of Babylon, conventionally dated to the end of the 12th century BC.  And if I were still inclined to agree with that theory, I'd consider identifying Holofernes, a name often said to seem Egyptian, with Horemheb based on Velikvosky's view of Horemheb.  But I'm not.

Three major mainstream theories about what historical context might have inspired Judith are Nebuchadnezzar as Artaxerxes III, as Ashurbanipal and as Tigranes The Great of Armenia.  Of those three the Ashurbanipal one is the main one I want to talk about here briefly.

It speculates the lack of a King in Judah is because it's while King Manasseh was being held in Babylon.  Which makes it interesting that Judith is called the Widow of a Manasseh. The only wife of King Manasseh mentioned in Scripture is Meshullemeth the mother of King Amon.  But the Kings of Judah frequently practiced Polygamy.  And some have speculated the name of Judith itself to be a symbol or code, as a feminine from of the name of the Southern Kingdom.

And since Tobit lived to see the fall of Nineveh, Ahikar could likewise have lived into the reign of Ashurbanipal.

Even if I were willing to consider changing when Nebuchadnezzar I lived.  He actually fits the time of Ashurbanipal better.  Ashurbanipal's brother Shamam-shum-ukin was King of Babylon during some of his reign.  A similar event involving a statue of Marduk being returned to Babylon transpires during this period.  Nebuchadnezzar I celebrated a victory over Elam that seems similar to Ashurbanipal's.  And Nebuchadnezzar I conquered the "land of the Amorites" which could well refer to Canaan, where the Amorites originally came from, even Jerusalem specifically was sometimes linked to the Amorites.

However my own revised chronology theories generally leave the Mesopotamian Kings Lists unaltered, as supported by Vellikvosky's own writing about Hamurabi and the 12th Dynasty of Egypt.

The city or village refereed to as Bethulia, which is not otherwise known to have existed but seems to be near Jerusalem, I think is possibly meant to be Bethlehem.  Both names begin with Beth. Bethulia seems to come from a Hebrew word for Virgin, Micah 4-5 tells us Bethlehem is where The Messiah will be born.  And in the context of my argument that Bethlehem is Zion which is the City of David, three Bible verses refer to the Bethulah daughter of Zion, (2 Kings 19:21, Isaiah 37:22 and Lamentations 2:13).  Micah 4-5 also refers to the Daughter of Zion giving birth in Bethlehem.  And if Judith was a wife of King Manasseh, it ties into the element of Bethlehem remaining a city linked to the house of David all through the Kingdom Period.

Now for my own personal theory.

Today a Jewish tradition has developed to read the Book of Judith during Hanukkah.  And to identify the character of Holofernes with Nicanor, both wind up beheaded for example.  I haven't yet however read any theory that the Maccabees were the original inspiration for the book.  But Judith 4:3 does seem to allude to The Temple being recently rededicated following a desecration. 

Syria is a Greek name derived form Assyria, so calling the Seleucid Empire an Assyrian Empire is just as valid as calling the Ptolemies Egypt.  And the Megalit Antiochus conflates the different Seleucid kings together in a way that explains how Judith could have one Assyrian ruler ruling over the entire career of Nicanor.

Who is Judith in this context?  Well in II Maccabees in particular in 14:24, Nicanor seems to be attracted to Judas Maccabeus.  Judith is the feminine form of the name Judah, which often becomes Judas in Greek Texts.

Did the author(s) of the book of Judith swap out a woman for Judas because of heteronormativity?  Or is it the product of some tradition the more mainstream historians who wrote the books of Maccabees and whatever other sources Josephus used would have ignored, that Judas Maccabeus was what we'd today call a Trans Woman?

Of course a potential Queer subtext for the Book of Judith on it's own is Judith and her unnamed maid.  If I made a film based on the story, I'd rename the city of Bethulia as Bethlehem, and give the name Bethulia to the maid.

Update July 2018: Or maybe it makes more sense to interpret Judas as a Trans Masculine rather then a Trans Woman?

It is natural that one's first assumption is such an Ancient History would record a Trans Person under their Assigned Gender, and it'd be left to something more poetic to regard their true identity.  But those assumptions could be wrong.

Whatever their true inner Identity or assigned Biology was, Judas Maccabeus was definitely publicly presenting as male during his political and military career.  And Judas was regarded as being particularly Masculine, and that it seems is what Nicanor was attracted to.

I don't think Jesus was born on a Leviticus 23 Holy Day

I've already done one post where I explained why historically I find it highly implausible, I don't think Rome would have forced everyone to be at a specific location so close to any of the Pilgrimage Festivals.

Still, there are some people in the Torah Observant and Hebrew Roots communities who seem darn near like the Holy Days are Idols to them.  Insisting "They are Yahweh's Appointed Times, of course Yeshua could only be born then", ignoring any history based arguments besides the common anti December 25th Memes that I've firmly refuted.

Remember how people used to mock the title of Star Wars Episode VII?  "The Force doesn't Sleep".  Well it seems like some Christians think Yahuah sleeps over 300 days a year, and wakes up only on those Leviticus appointed times.

In Exodus 16 in the very next month after Yahuah initiated the calendar, He does something significant on a day not mentioned in Leviticus 23.  And later the Book of Esther ordains Purim.

Other Anti-Christmas people start with how The Bible never calls for celebrating Birthdays at all, and every reference to Birthdays seem to be about Pagans celebrating them.  So maybe that's a good argument against Jesus being born on an Appointed Time?

But of course since these people are usually Pro-Lifers, I could point out that perhaps they should consider the Conception date more important, the time of the Annunciation and Visitation.  And the traditional date for Jesus Birth places that around Passover, it is inherently linked to Early Christians believing (before Constantine) that Jesus Conception should logically happen around the same time as His Death and Resurrection.  It's the Conceptions of Jesus and John, being Six months apart, that start the New Testament narrative chronologically, not their births.

It was first Zola Levitt who discovered a compelling correlation between the Gestation process and the Leviticus 23 Holy Days.  And Rob Skiba, one of the most adamant anti-Christmas people out there right now, endorses that idea, including a video about it on his Virtual House Church website, on the page for Week 15, Bo.
http://www.virtualhousechurch.com/biblestudies/exodus-week-15

That begins with placing the sequence of biological events we commonly call "Conception" on the Spring Feasts in Nissan.  That the Early Church Fathers, having no knowledge of any of these modern Scientific facts, for totally separate reasons concluded that Jesus was conceived at that time, I find an awfully compelling coincidence.

What's interesting then is to try, though it's not easy, to follow the chronology of Exodus after the first Passover, and see what if anything there can be estimated to happen about Nine Months later.

In Exodus 18 and 19 the giving of what we commonly call The Ten Commandments is placed in the Third Month, now known as Sivan, and generally conjectured to be Pentecost.

In Exodus 24:18 to chapter 32, after the initial Covenant had been given and ratified, Moses goes up into the Mount for 40 days and 40 nights.  It's difficult to be certain when this was.  But it's common to theorize it as basically Elul and the first 10 days of Tishri.  It was near the end of this Period the Golden Calf was made, and there is potential typological significance to it being in early Tishri or late Elul, when the Abomination of Desolation will likely happen.

Stuff happens after that, and then in Exodus 34:27-28 Moses goes up again for another 40 days because now the Tablets have to be replaced.

Exodus 40:2&17 tell us that the Tabernacle was first set up on the first day of the first month of the second year, that is almost a full year since the first Passover.

Between the end of the second 40 day period, and the start of the second year, it was mostly the creating of The Tabernacle and everything needed for it that they were doing.  And it does seem the first priority was building The Ark of The Covenant.  Could it make sense to place the construction of the Ark as being on the Birth and/or Circumcision day of Christ?  Or maybe it'd be fitting if the Menorah was originally made during what would become Hanukkah?

Is it possible the second 40 day period may have correlated to the 40 days and nights that it rained in Genesis 7?  Which is commonly viewed as beginning on the 17th of Heshvan and ending during the 8 days that would become Hanukkah? 

That's another thing.  In the Torah observant branch of the Anti-Christmas movement, it commonly goes hand in hand with arguing for Hanukkah.  Other Anti-Christmas people also hate Hanukkah (though Hanukkah receives hate from pro-Christmas people as well).  Well I've been a Hanukkah defender on this Blog.  And the fact is I've also seen it argued that Hanukkah is a reason for placing Jesus birth at that time of year.  Him being the Light of The World and so forth.

And to a great extent reasons for placing Jesus birth at Tabernacles can be transferred to Hanukkah, but without the Pilgrimage problems.  I firmly believe the real origin of Hanukkah is Haggai 2, where it is essentially ordained as a Second Tabernacles.  And the First and Second Maccabees accounts of their Hanukkah also back that up.

The first Thanksgiving was actually in September.  And many have argued it originates from celebrating Tabernacles.  Perhaps that Holiday getting moved from the month named the Seventh Month to the month named the Ninth Month has something to do with how Hanukkah relates to Tabernacles?

Of course my initial main argument was for Jesus being born in Tevet.  But I'm less certain on my exact chronology now since I've possibly changed my view on the Lunar Eclipse preceding the Death of Herod. 

So I'm still working out the details.  But I now believe Jesus was born at the earliest in late November and at the latest in early February.

And as I was still writing this, it occurred to me, what if there is some relevance to the start of Leviticus 24?  What Yahuah talked about right after finishing the Leviticus 23 Appointed Times?  Since our modern chapter divisions weren't in the original text.  And that just so happens to be about The Menorah, and then talk of frankincense.  Almost as if The Holy Spirit wanted to tell me something before I finished this.

And then Leviticus 25 to the end is mainly about the Sabbatical Cycle and The Jubilee, showing He wasn't done with The Calendar when 23 ended.

In my attempts to do searches for others who might have thought the same thing.  I am seeing a common argument that it was nine months spent building The Tabernacle.  So far no sign of anyone using this as evidence for the Birth-date of Jesus, but it would be attractive to those who place his Birth in Nissan.  This estimate fudges the dates, they could not have begun building the Tabernacle till after Moses came down from the first period of 40 days.  The soonest that could have ended was maybe in Tammuz, but as I said it was probably much later Moses even went up there.

The completion of the Tabernacle's construction is recorded in Exodus 39.  Then early in 40 the instruction to set it up on the First Day of the new year is given.  Then later in that chapter that is recorded.  So perhaps it can be assumed the Tabernacle was done significantly before it was set up?  Not unlike Solomon's Temple.

Perhaps the first 40 day period, which ended with the Golden Calf incident, was really most of Tammuz and early Av, making a link between that period of Sin and the dates the associated with The Temples' destruction much later.  And the second 40 days were Elul and the beginning of Tishrei.  And the Tabernacle was completed in Kislev or Tevet?

Maybe Daniel 11 isn’t about Antiochus Epiphanes at all

[Update March 2022: I've mostly abandoned this theory for now, but I'm still open to returning to it.]

Does the Book of Maccabees claim a different origin for Purim?

The books of Mccabees tend to be most interesting to us for telling the story of the origin of Hanukkah and of Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilling prophecies presumed to be about him from Daniel.  Once he's dead and the Dedication is celebrated we tend to stop reading besides occasionally taking interest in those letters from Sparta for Lost Tribes/Dan/Edom speculation.

Chapter 7 of First Maccabees begins with Demetrius taking the Seleucid throne.  This is the person who arguably should have been King the whole time, who's birthright was usurped by Epiphanes.  You'd think it'd be in his interest then to relate to others wronged by Epiphanes, like the Jews.  But no, he decided pretty quickly he wants Judea back in his empire.  And treasonous Jews who'd usurped the High Priesthood encourage him in doing so.  Nicanor is still one of the chief Seleucid generals.

I encourage you to read the entire Chapter.  I shall copy here starting from verse 33.  This is BTW the King James translation.

After this went Nicanor up to mount Sion, and there came out of the sanctuary certain of the priests and certain of the elders of the people, to salute him peaceably, and to shew him the burnt sacrifice that was offered for the king.  But he mocked them, and laughed at them, and abused them shamefully, and spake proudly, and sware in his wrath, saying, "Unless Judas and his host be now delivered into my hands, if ever I come again in safety, I will burn up this house: and with that he went out in a great rage."

 Then the priests entered in, and stood before the altar and the temple, weeping, and saying, "Thou, O Lord, didst choose this house to be called by thy name, and to be a house of prayer and petition for thy people: Be avenged of this man and his host, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and suffer them not to continue any longer."

 So Nicanor went out of Jerusalem, and pitched his tents in Bethhoron, where an host out of Syria met him.  But Judas pitched in Adasa with three thousand men, and there he prayed, saying, "O Lord, when they that were sent from the king of the Assyrians blasphemed, thine angel went out, and smote an hundred fourscore and five thousand of them.  Even so destroy thou this host before us this day, that the rest may know that he hath spoken blasphemously against thy sanctuary, and judge thou him according to his wickedness."

 So the thirteenth day of the month Adar the hosts joined battle: but Nicanor's host was discomfited, and he himself was first slain in the battle.  

Now when Nicanor's host saw that he was slain, they cast away their weapons, and fled.  Then they pursued after them a day's journey, from Adasa unto Gazera, sounding an alarm after them with their trumpets.  Whereupon they came forth out of all the towns of Judea round about, and closed them in; so that they, turning back upon them that pursued them, were all slain with the sword, and not one of them was left.  Afterwards they took the spoils, and the prey, and smote off Nicanors head, and his right hand, which he stretched out so proudly, and brought them away, and hanged them up toward Jerusalem.

 For this cause the people rejoiced greatly, and they kept that day a day of great gladness.  Moreover they ordained to keep yearly this day, being the thirteenth of Adar.  Thus the land of Juda was in rest a little while.

I'm accusing it of presenting a different origin not simply another deliverance on the same day because it records them referencing back to a past deliverance of Israel, Isaiah 36, in the days of Sennacherib and Hezekiah.  Which is a cool story to remember but you'd think he'd also remember the deliverance from Haman's scheme that happened at this same time of year?  And because it later says they ordained this day.

Nicanor and his men's bodies are hanged up, just like Haman and his sons.

Now I believe Esther over Maccabees because I consider the Masoretic Text, not the Septuagint, God's Word.  In a lot of ways 1 Maccabees is clearly propaganda of the Hasmonean Dynasty, it may be they wanted to claim the origin of the holiday.

Which then makes me wonder, going back to all the debates about if Hanukkah is Biblical or not.  And how I believe Haggai 2 ties into Hanukkah.  What if these books are lying about it's origin too?  But the older account just keeps getting overlooked.  What if Haggai 2 is the real origin of Hanukkah?

2 Maccabees does tell a very different story about the fate of Nicanor in chapters 14 and 15.  But also claims it the origin of the 13th of Adar holiday.

My Hypothesis for the fulfillment of the Fall Feasts in Revelation

I watched much of Michael Rood's Prophecies in the Fall Feasts.  He says much that I found wonderfully edifying, especially on the Seventh Trumpet.  But I disagree on the Final Week beginning and ending in Tishri, I see the Fall Feasts as chiefly the midway point.

I want to lay out my hypothesis here, and while I'll be linking to earlier posts I'm also going against some things I said before in those same posts.  My mind does change as I study more.

I have a post on how the Two Witnesses and the 7th Trumpet fulfill Yom Teruah.  And about the Rapture of The Man-Child.  But I have one thing to add for Yom Teruah.

I'm hesitant to build doctrine on Rabbinic Traditions the way Michael Rood does, but some are interesting.  One idea not gained directly from The Bible is the days of Awe which begin with Yom Teruah and end with Yom Kippur in which the gates of Heaven are open.  Well one more thing we are told about the Seventh Trumpet in Revelation 11 is that the God's Temple in Heaven and the Ark of the Covenant was seen.  Genesis 24:55 could provide a basis for a period of ten days.

2 Chronicles 31 has the first fruits of Hezekiah's harvest begin being heaped up in the third month (the month of Pentecost) and finished in the Seventh month when they are gathered up and placed in the secret chambers of YHWH's House.  The beginning of Revelation 11 tells us the city of Jerusalem will be mostly Gentiles during the first half of the Week.  At the end when most of those people believe The Witnesses after their ascension, that is when he Fullness of the Gentiles is come in.

The days of Awe are the days you can seek atonement, the Judgment is set on Yom Kippur, but it's carried out on Tabernacles.  According to Rabbinic views at least.  That can happen to fit what I will lay out below, but it's not necessary for my argument.

The main interpretation of the twin Goats of Yom Kippur is that both point to Jesus, one bears our Sins and the other's Blood is shed for them.  One is Jesus bearing The Cross the other is him On It.  Biblical symbolism can be layered however, so that preferred view need not conflict with others.

Including the possibility of seeing Satan or other villainous figures in the Scapegoat.  I've argued on this blog before about both Cain and Barnabas.  I've also thought about the Goats of the Sheeps and Goats judgment being cast out.  I really don't like the Book of Enoch's popularity, but it does reflect a possibly very old tendency to see Satan in the Azazel/Scapegoat by calling it's most unique fallen angel Azazel.

What's relevant here is IF you think such a connection is valid, it can justify seeing Yom Kippur as the day Satan is cast out of Heaven.

My study of Isaiah 14 has lead to me to a conclusion that the Eight King ascending out of the Abyss happens after, probably the same day, Satan is cast out of Heaven.  Since I made that study I no longer view his death has needing to happen during the end times.
[Update note: my perspective on Isaiah has changed rendering this point moot.]

Traditional Jewish interpretations of the chronology of Exodus say the 40 days Moses was on Mt Sinai from Exodus 24:18-31:18 were Elul and the Days of Awe.  Near the end of that period is when chapter 32 tells us they made the Golden Calf.  When Moses came down on Yom Kippur they were worshiping it.  Antiochus Epiphanes' Abomination of Desolation was set up 10 days before it was consecrated.

So connecting the Abomination to Yom Kippur could make a lot of sense.  But I still think it possible there is an abomination of sorts at the start of the Week.  But putting these pieces together really helps my theory that the Image of Revelation 13 is the Eight King.  If you're thinking "but he has to kill the Witnesses before Yom Teruah" well I think that Beast is actually the second one.  Ascending out of the Bottomless Pit can apply to both, but Apollyon is The False Prophet.

I think maybe the mortal sword wound being healed isn't a death and resurrection itself but a sign that he's already resurrected.

But for those that insist the Abomination must happen both at about the middle of the week and before the Rapture.  I would consider placing it maybe when the Witnesses die three and a half days before the Rapture.  Or maybe a week before on Elul 23 the day referenced at the end of Haggai 1.  Or maybe 10 days before, Jesus refereed to 10 days of tribulation in the message to Smyrna.  Or maybe the beginning of Elul referenced at the start of Haggai 1.  Post-tribbers think Matthew 21-28 must span three and a half years because of other Biblical importance to that time frame, but Jesus mentioned no specific time lengths.

Yom Kippur imagery possibly still exists in Revelation 14 as well.  In the past I've written off theories that the Rapture doesn't happen all at once.  I'm now more open to that but not in any sense of them being separated by years, but rather less then half a month.  The Church is caught up on Tzom Gedaliah at the latest after being glorified on Yom Teruah.  If you're not saved by the Last Trumpet it's too late to be the Bride, but maybe not too late be a guest at the wedding.  No one I think gets Raptured alive after Yom Kippur.

The Son of Man on the Cloud with the Sickle and Crown is both the High Priest and the Shekinah Glory which are prominent in Leviticus 16.  The 144,000 I see s being a specific group of Church Age believers from each Tribe of Israel, but also representing the whole in a sense.

Those who argue Jesus was born on Tabernacles (a theory I find impossible) like to Translate John 1:14 "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," as "And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us".  Well if any use of "dwell" or it's word forms can justify an illusion to Tabernacles, let's look at Revelation 13:6 talking about The Beast.

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."  I've long viewed this as proof we are Raptured by this point.  Now I don't think we're at Tabernacles yet, I see this as the II Thessalonians 2 abomination event.  But it shows the conditions are in place.

One of the themes of Revelation 14 is the Grape Harvest.  The Grape Harvest has to be done before Tabernacles, Tabernacles is the festival to celebrate the Harvest.  One thing you can point out to undermine people's assumptions about how the Last Supper relates to Passover is to point out that there is no Torah basis for drinking wine on Passover or during the days of Unleavened Breast.  The only Holy Day where wine is mentioned is the Feast of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 16.

When I was real little, I used to visualize God filling seven bowls with his Wrath as him vomiting into them.  As I got older I started thinking of that as silly and immature.  Until when I used to listen to Chuck Missler's seminars a lot how he'd cite verses I can't remember right now as saying our Sin is like a vile stench in God's nostrils.

And now I'm thinking of this Grape and Wine connection.  You know how when someone gets drunk off red wine they puke vomit that looks kinda blood red?  Well imagine then seven bowls filled with God's blood red vomit, two of which are poured into the world's water supply.  It will logically become red like blood.

The Blood=Wine connection didn't begin with the Last Supper.  It's implied in the very etymology of the Hebrew words for them according to Strongs.  It's implied in Genesis 49:11 and Deuteronomy 32:14 which refer to wine as the blood of grapes.  And Isaiah 63 which talks about Blood and Winepresses.  And it's repeated again at the end of Revelation 14, talking about God's Wrath.

Revelation 20 tells us those post Rapture Saints martyred for not taking The Mark will be beheaded.  Revelation 15 has them all in Heaven before the Bowls of Wrath are poured out.  I don't think this persecution will last very long, Revelation 13 seems to give the Beasts the means to kill most resisters pretty quickly.  I don't think any die after the Bowls have started.  Revelation 14:13 says.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

I've speculated before this could mean from here on all believers who die are resurrected and raptured right away.   But if not I think these martyrs will be Raptured when Tabernacles starts.

Does that mean I think once the Bowls start the only people on earth without The Mark are the Israelites being protected in Edom?  Maybe, maybe not.  It could be the troubles caused by the Bowls, even the first Bowl which will effect every Marked person, will hamper the beasts' ablity to kill anyone else.

John The Baptist was also beheaded, only other NT reference to that form of capital punishment, it's is pretty rare in Tanakh too, only occurrence I can recall is Jehu using it.

When I argued for Jesus being born in December, I also conjectured John was conceived between Yom Kippur and Tabernacles.  I now favor the 14th of Tishri as the day his conception process started paralleling Jesus on the 14th of Nisan- First Fruits.  Since one theme of that was Jesus being conceived at the same time frame (on the Hebrew calendar) as his Death and Resurrection, perhaps likewise John was beheaded on the 14th of Tishri.

Contrary to the Blood Moon hype, the 14th not 15th days of Biblical Months are the Full Moons.  The least important thing I'll mention in this thread is that if one model I'm speculating for when this might play out is correct, the 14th of Tishri in question will be a Lunar Eclipse.

Because I view Revelation as Chronological.  I believe the time allotted for the Bowls must span about three and a half years, the 42 months the beast reigns and 1260 days Israel is in the widlerness.  Arguments for a shorter time for the Bowls include Chris White and other Pre-Wrathers saying they're a month, Michael Rood saying they span the days of awe, and Rob Skiba saying they're all one day.  The only shorter model I could entertain is them spanning the seven days of Tabernacles.

But I've found an answer for how to bring the Tabernacles connection and spanning three and a half years together.

I've argued before the First Bowl must happen soon after The Mark is instituted.  Back then I was willing to allow half a year between them, but now I think closer to five days.  Then in my Great City post I observed how the remaining 6 bowls came in pairs.

The first Bowl I think will be the 15th of Tabernacles immediately following the Midway point drama I've just discussed.  One year later the 2nd and 3rd bowls will be poured out on the 16th and 17th of Tishri, destroying the world's water supply.

One year after that the 4th day of Tabernacles will see the Sun become really super hot.  But that I don't see lasting a long time.  In John 7 the midst of the Feast is when Jesus (The Sun of Righteousness) made his presence known.  The next day it will be blotted out, and based on Isaiah 13 that continues at least to the fall of Babylon.

One year after that, the last Tabernacles during the seven years, will see the last two days fulfill the last two bowls.

Haggai 2 refers to the 21st day of the Seventh month as a day YHWH will shake the nations.  I see that as alluding to the great earthquake of the 7th Bowl, the greatest of any in history including the more commonly quoted Sixth Seal.

Because of how Haggai 2 ties into Hanukkah and my careful reading of the Maccabees account.  I think the 21st of Tishri was actually the day the Maccabees liberated Jerusalem, but it wasn't till the 24th of Kislev that they had cleansed everything, then the following 8 days they Rededicated The Temple with a sort of second Tabernacles.  Antiochus Epiphanes did not die till awhile later, contrary to speculation I did before I read the accounts more carefully, we don't know when exactly.

As I said in the Great City post, the 7th Bowl is when Jerusalem is divided in three, and then after that God will judge Babylon.  That day is a judgment on Jerusalem, but also part of it's liberation, the beginning of it being reshaped into what we see in Ezekiel 40-48.

The eighth day I think will be Revelation 17-18 (and to an extent early 19) the Judgment on Babylon.

Esther 2:16 says Esther became the King's Wife in the Tenth Month (Tebet) of the seventh year.  It doesn't say what day.  Hanukkah begins in late Kislev but always ends in Tevet/Tebet.  The New Moon of Tevet is always during Hanukkah.

The next event in Revelation's timeline is the Marriage Supper.  Michael Rood talks about Jewish weddings being traditionally a seven day feast followed by an eighth day, thus justifying placing it on Tabernacles.  But remember Hanukkah is eight days because it was a second Tabernacles.

And The Bride of Christ is also His Temple, so it makes sense that the Feast of Dedication (which Jesus observed in John 10:22) will be the Wedding Feast in which He dedicates Himself to His Bride.

Also in Revelation 1-2 the Seven Churches (which typify the entire Church) are represented by Seven Lampstands.  Hence the importance of the Menorah to Hanukkah.  And Zechariah 4 has the two olive trees, the Witnesses next to it.  Jewish Weddings traditionally have Two Witnesses.  Jews also like to link Zechariah 4 to Hanukkah, seeing the Olive Trees on each side of the Menorah as foreshadowing the two added candles of the Hanukkah Menorah.

Jesus called himself "The Light of The World" in John 8, but He also called us in Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

I disagree with the view that during this time-frame two thirds of all Jews will be wiped out in a holocaust that surpasses Hitler's.  I think that one detail of Zechariah 13 is being misused.  This will be a time that Israel (The Woman of Revelation 12) is protected in the Wilderness like in the days of Moses (which Tabernacles is supposed to be a memorial of).  There will be hardships, but I agree with those who assert that viewing the end times as God and Satan torturing the Jews until they repent is in fact a sneaky kind of antisemitism.  I believe this time results in their finally accepting Yeshua as their Messiah, but it will be what's done for them not to them that brings that about.

This isn't the final fulfillment of Tabernacles however, Zechariah 14 tells us it'll be observed in The Millennium.  And I've argued before that Tabernacles will be when New Jerusalem descends and the Eight Day when Time (as we know it) stops.  Though when I talked about that in the past I was more open to the Seven Millenniums theory that I now oppose.

I now have a follow up on the Spring Feasts.

The Fifth Trumpet, The Flood and Hanukkah

Some in the past have argued for seeing some kind of thematic connection between The Fifth Trumpet in Revelation 9 and The Flood account in Genesis 7 and 8 based on parallel time periods.  First 40 days and then five months.  I'd noticed this months ago and mentioned it on this blog.

More recently (it came up while I was engaging with Flat Earthers) I've realized that the Abyss/Bottomless Pit could possibly be the same place as The Great Deep where much of the Flood waters were before The Flood.  Abyss has sometimes been translated as Deep.  There is no water there now, it's all on The Earth's surface, but it's interesting.

That makes the possibility of a connection here even stronger.  A period of 40 days of something coming out of the Deep to punish mankind for five months.  Very different but an interesting connection.

In the very first post on this blog I argued that the opening of The Abyss in Revelation 9 is the removal of Restraint mentioned in II Thessalonians 2.  And I've discussed how the Antichrist's Resurrection is defined as him ascending out of The Bottomless Pit.  I do not consider those arguments dependent on identifying The Antichrist or False Prophet with anyone specific in Revelation 9, we can debate Apollyon all day. The point is nothing can ascend out of The Abyss before Revelation 9 happens.  I'll return to this later.

Could this connection mean the 40 days of Revelation 9 happen on the Hebrew calendar about the same time as the 40 days of rain from The Flood account?

The Rain began on the 17th day of what was the Second month but is now the Eight.  I believe back in Pre-Flood times all months had 30 days because the Lunar and solar cycles were in sync putting the end of the rain on the 26th of Kislev.  But a repeat of that today would put 40 days that began on the 17th of the Eight month as ending on the 27th of Kislev.

Both of those days have in common that they are part of the the Eight Days of Hanukkah.

In my discussion of Winter Pagan holidays I pointed out that the claims of Anitochus Epiphanes being born on the 25th of Kislev or December are spurious, but that he did die seemingly during or near the first Hanukkah according to the accounts in both books of Maccabees.

I had also pointed out in that post that the Solstices were when pagans placed deaths and resurrections/conceptions, not births.  And I have also argued that IF The Antichrist is someone from the past who already lived coming back, it would most likely be be Antiochus Epiphanes, and certainly could only be a Seleucid ruler.

If this theory is true, I believe it would be the Hanukkah that occurs 9 months before the Yom Teruah that marks the Midway Point of the Week, when the Seventh Trumpet will be sounded and The Rapture will happen.

The first of Tishri is when Noah removed the Cover of the Ark in Genesis 8:13.  That fits being connected to the 7th Trumpet.  Perhaps the 6th Trumpet will then be linked to the first day of Tammuz (Genesis 8:5).

Further Update:  Reading Maccabees more carefully it seems less likely Epiphanies died that close to Hanukkah.  The First Hanukkah celebration being at the end of Chapter 4 in First Maccabees, with the account of Epiphanies demise being Chapter 6.

However Second Maccabees tells the story of Epiphanies Demise in Chapter 9 and then the first Hanukkah celebration at the beginning of Chapter 10 right after.  I generally consider Second Maccabees less reliable however.

Hanukkah is a Biblical Holy Day

I've seen one random online forum filled with Christians really offended by the notion that Jesus was observing Hanukkah in John 10:22-23.  "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch."

They insist Jesus could not have been observing a Holy Day never actually ordained in The Hebrew Bible.  That Daniel foretells the history that produced Hanukkah isn't enough for them.

They insist this "dedication" refers either to the second of Adar when the Second Temple was first dedicated.  Or to how Solomon originally Dedicated the Temple with an expansion of Tabernacles to 14 days, and feel that's backed up by this following John 7-9.

The latter requires expanding the definition of Winter, (maybe so does the former, but sometimes Adar can fall during a pretty cold period).  But the point is it doesn't say the anniversary of the dedication, it said the Feast of Dedication was being observed.  The 25th of Kislev is the only Feast the Jews ever celebrated by that name.

Also I firmly believe the Expansion of the Festival Solomon did was the prior week not the following Week, since it clearly defines the 22nd as the day the Festival ended, and the 23rd as the day everyone went home.  Also 2 Chronicles 7:9 says "And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days." Which clearly defines the extra 7 days as coming first.

The only objection offered to it being the prior week is the assumption of Yom Kippr being a Fast Day.  The Bible never links the word Fast to Yom Kippur, in fact God expressed disapproval of annual Fast Days in Zachariah.  The basis for making Yom Kippur a fast day is that the people were to "afflict your souls", fasting is a way to do that but not the only way (Jesus was afflicting His soul without fasting in Gethsemane).  Either way it would be merely the 2nd or 3rd day of a two week festival being toned down by people doing whatever they feel is best to keep that command.  Besides with what is supposed to go on in The Temple that day I could easily see it being treated as part of the Festival.

As far as the lack of Old Testament precedent they complain about, leaving Daniel aside for a moment.

Haggai 2:10-23 is a revelation God gave to Haggai on the 24th of Kislev, and it foretells that very day being a time to rededicate the Temple.  Reading 1 Maccabees chapter 4 (it's at the end pretty much) it would seem the 24th was the day they were actually done rebuilding and cleansing everything, the 25th was the day the new Sacrifices were made.

The whole "Menorah burning for 8 days on 1 day's worth of oil" is a made up fairy tale from much later tradition.  2 Maccabees 10:1-8 tells us it was an 8 day festival because it was done in the manner of the Feast of Tabernacles.  Some have conjectured the original logic was a counterpart for Tabernacles of the Second Passover law from Numbers 9.  One reason to make it two months later rather then one would be the Eight Month's affiliation with The Feast of Jeroboam.  But if that was the only factor it'd have been on the 15th not the 25th.  Haggai's prophecy I'm convinced is why this was when it was whether they knew it or not.  Actually the text of Haggai in question discuses the same issues that make Second Passover necessary in Numbers 9, and since Haggai's previous vision was during Tabernacles, it seems valid to interpret him as validating a Second Tabernacles Law.

The Hebrew word Hanukkah (Dedication) first appears in The Bible in Number 7:84&88 ("Dedicating" was used twice much earlier in the same chapter) this Chapter is about the original Dedication of the Tabernacle and may be one likely drawn on at the first Hanukkah.  That right after this Aaron is instructed to light The Menorah could be the original reason The Menorah became important to Hanukkah.

Also if you do the math in Genesis, the 26th or 27th of Kislev is when the 40 days of rain that caused the Flood stopped.  And it's been popular to see the Nine Candle Menorah of Hanukkah foreshadowed by Zechariah 4.

Back to Daniel, some people, especially those who want to late date Daniel but knowing they can't make it too late due to DSS manuscripts.  Will insist it discuses Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution, but not the Maccabees actual victory.

Daniel 11:32 "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."  One Bible I have in it's marginal footnotes suggests "Take Action" as an alternate translation of "do exploits".

But more directly relevant to the idea of The Re-dedication being Biblical is Daniel 8:13-14.

"Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?  And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred mornings and evenings; then shall the  sanctuary be cleansed."

The Number 2300 mornings and evenings (1150 days) is the main reason this verse in it's details I feel applies more to Antiochus then The Antichrist, I like Chris White's explanation of it, It does fit to say the time from Antiochus' Abomination first being set up until the Maccabees rededicated The Temple.  But it's pretty hard to make it line up perfectly with Revelation where it's always 1260 days or 42 months being mentioned.

The point is, that the Cleansing of The Temple in 164 BC was part of Bible Prophecy.

Josephus talks about the origin of Hanukkah in Antiquities of The Jews, Book 12, Chapter 7 in section 6 and 7, the last part of the chapter.  He there directly links it to Daniel's Prophecy, which I will admit the Books of Maccabees failed to do.

An argument might also be made that John 10 doesn't tell us Jesus was celebrating or observing Hanukkah, He just happened to be there at that time.

During His ministry I find it interesting that Jesus was in Jerusalem only on Holy Days, with John in particular linking Holy Days to anytime He was even in Judea.  In fact in the entire Gospel account of his life the only time we are told He was in Jerusalem when it wasn't specifically a Holy Day was to fulfill the Torah's law about being presented in The Temple 40 days after His Birth.

I'm convinced every detail of Scripture is there for a reason, and The Holy Spirit wanted us to take note of the fact that Jesus was in Jerusalem during Hanukkah.

I rant more against anti-Hanukkah Christians here.

Update 1/11/2016:  I've found a site online called "Why Yahshuah Refused to Celebrate Hanukkah".

First of all "Yahshuah" is an interpretation of how to properly render Yeshua affiliated with a peculiar brand of the Sacred Name movement.  So be warned.

First this site claims John 7 is about Hanukkah, (it talks about the connection between Tabernacles and Hanukkah that I talk about above), then says the John 10 reference is just continuing the same narrative.  However an unqualified reference to Tabernacles always means the Tishri celebration just as an unqualified reference to a Feast of Dedication means the Kislev one.  And John 10:22-23 stylistically is clearly the start of a new incident that clearly dates itself to a different time then what came just before.

This site actually claims The Jews of this period stopped observing Tishri Tabernacles all together and just replaced it with Hanukkah.  There is no evidence of that, 2 Maccabees 10:6-7 says it was observed in the manner of Tabernacles but in no way says it replaced that feast.

Josephus has I'm pretty sure made clear references to Tabernacles still being observed in Tishri at this time.   When Josephus describes the origin of Hanukkah which I mentioned above he doesn't mention the link to Tabernacles that only 2 Maccabees directly makes (Josephus seemed to only know 1 Maccabees) and only called it the Festival of Lights.  So it's highly unlikely Josephus ever meant that any time he refereed to Tabernacles.

After making that argument they make a thing out of Jesus refusing to go up to the Feast when it started.  Then says when He did show up He condemned them for not following The Law.

Read John 7 more carefully, He did go up at the same time his brothers did more or less, but was simply in secret till the midst of the Feast.  And what Jesus talks about at this time the site misrepresents completely.  He was observing that Feast as much as He was Passover during the Passion Week, where he also argued with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Christmas and Pagan festivals linked to the Winter Solstice

The modern secular commercialized Christmas Holiday is Pagan, an amalgamation of various winter pagan traditions. The ones we in modern America are familiar with mostly come from Celtic and Norse/Germanic traditions more so then the Greeco-Roman/Egyptian/Levant/Mesopotamian religions The Bible's human authors directly interacted with..

Jeremiah 10 is about cutting down a tree to carve it into an idol, that's clear when you read the entire chapter.  Isaiah 60:13 refers to pine trees as decorations in a positive context.  The Christmas tree does have a relationship to some Germanic rituals involving trees, but the desire to connect it to that Jeremiah passage is a torturing of the text.  I Laugh at any pastor who calls a Pine Tree an Idol but has an American Flag in their Church.

There are pagan holidays all year round, the Wiccans and related Neo-Pagans alone have 8 evenly scattered throughout the year, all of which are based on ancient ones.  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

No matter when Jesus was born, some Pagan holy day is near by if not exactly on it.   It's popular now to say he was born on one of the Tishi Jewish Holy Days, any one of those could fall on the Autumnal Equinox, and Tabernacles sometimes can fall late enough to put Halloween on one of it's 8 days.  Also the Full Moon of Tabernacles is always either the Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon.  As for those who think Jesus was born in the Spring, spring holidays will come up later.

The Church should do Spiritual warfare on Pagan holy days against the demonic forces whether or not there is a Biblical Holy Day to celebrate.  That includes reading The Bible, praying in unison, singing godly hymns ect.  So the way I see it whether the date is correct or not reading the Gospel Nativity narratives and singing the strictly Jesus centric Christmas hymns in December can never be a bad thing.

Rob Skiba even condemns the act of gift giving "why are giving gifts to other people if it's supposedly Jesus Birthday?" he says.  Because Jesus said "it is better to give to receive" and we are the Body of Christ so any gift given to a brother or sister in Christ is a gift to Jesus in my book.  I've always felt the healthy attitude is to delight in giving gifts but not feel entitled to receive any.

Christians should certainly never deceive their children into believing in Santa Claus (Odin), or the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy or any other such modern folk deities.  Satan has repeatedly used that as a means to make people doubt the existence of God.  One notorious example is Gene Roddenberry.

The other Pagan aspects like Christmas Trees and Yule Logs and Mistletoe may be harmless as long as you don't do them with false god worshiping intent.  But people think the same about Quij boards and many demonic possessions started from dabbling with that.  It's ultimately between you and the Holy Spirit.

What I'm seeking to refute here is the notion that December 25th specifically has it's origin in Paganism, and Christians only adopted it to co-opt the Pagan holiday.  This is based on the poor research of Hislop just like the Semiramis was married to Nimrod myth.

Now it's cited by countless both skeptics of Christianity and Christians as an absolute fact that every major Demigod or Avatar was born on December 25th.  But in fact that claim is no more credible then them being born of Virgins or Crucified or any other alleged parallel to Jesus claimed by Christ Mythers.  But it's the only popular Christ Myther claim used in films like Zeigueist that Christian apologists don't object to, instead the concede by saying December 25th isn't Biblical.

The Winter Solstice is actually the 21st or 22nd of December.  Saturnalia was many days that ended on December 23rd.

The only remote basis for claiming Mithra a connection to December 25th is the connection Mithra worship developed over time to Sol Invictus.  Mithra is a deity that always existed in Persia, but during the Hellenistic era he became popular in synchronizing Hellenic religion with Middle Eastern religion.  However everything we know about the Mithridic Cult of Roman Times goes back to the second Century at the earliest.  And none of it mentions December 25th.

It is the Roman Sol Invictus cult the date is accused of directly coming from.  And that is indeed the cult that Constantine and other Romanizeing Christians were trying to merge Christianity with.  But it seems the superficial things like names and dates are what were taken from Christianity, while the Substance came from Paganism.

The Sol Cult was created in the early Third Century. but it was not the official Imperial Cult until Aurelian made it so in 274.  Aurelian held games to Sol Invictus in October not December.  All Pre Constantine references to the Sol cult refers to festivals in December no later then the 22nd.  But the August festivals were considered far more important.

All of this after December 25th for Jesus Birth had been refereed to by Hippolytus as I documented in my previous post.

The Earliest reference to a Sol Invictus holiday on December 25th is the Chronography of 354.  The exact same source refers to Jesus being born on December 25th as well.  So Jesus was on December 25th first, it was Sol who was moved.

Dionysus is another deity who comes up.  Dionysus aka Bacchus aka Bromius had many festivals all over the year, pretty much every month there was a Bacchus festival somewhere in Greece.  The Greeks however even after they adopted a Solar calendar for Civil purposes still used the Lunar Attic Calendar for religious ceremonies.  So none were linked to December 25th consistently.  The Roman Bacchanilias were the only ones linked to a Solar calendar, they were in Spring.

Bacchus had many Births in Greek Mythology, but the Festivals linked to his Birth were always in Spring.

Before Christianity came along, rarely were winter holidays about births.  Pagans, especially if they were worshiping a Solar deity (Sol, Mithras, Apollo as he latter became), or Vegetation deities (Bacchus, Attis, Tammuz) would have considered the Winter Solstice the WORST time to affiliate with their god's birth.

That is when the days are shortest and the Sun is seemingly less powerful then usual, and plant-life is seemingly dead.  The Winter Solstice is in fact defined as when the Sun dies and then rises again.

To the Pagans, Christmas and Easter should be switched.  The Winter Solstice is when Solar and Vegetation Gods die and rise again (none of that being the same as Biblical Resurrection which is about defeating Death not carrying out an endless cycle) and Spring is the time for Birth and Youth and Vitality.  A child born on the Spring Equinox would be conceived around the Summer Solstice (June 21st) when the Sun is at it's most powerful.

Egypt was perhaps an exception, their unique dependence on the Nile inverted a lot of things.  Including making Summer rather then Winter the time they affiliated with death due to the Nile drying up.  But our documentation of dates related to Horus and Osiris are shaky and largely dependent on sources no older then Plutarch.  With even how to interpret/translate what Plutarch said being disagreed on.

Some sources say he was born on the 5th of the Epagomenal Days, which would be in August on our calendar.  An October/November (Khoiak) birth for Horus has also been cited.  It's important to remember according to the Egyptian kings-list there were two Horuses, the latter the son of the first and Hathor. 

This changed because of trying to merge Christianity and Paganism, so modern Neo-Pagans may or may not find reason to justify Births at the Winter Solstice and Death at the Spring Equinox (and claim ancients saw them the same way).  Just as they'll seek to justify seeing a Virgin Birth as Pagan even though the ancients considered the idea of a goddess being both a mother and a virgin at the same time unthinkable.

You know what, Switching those two things around is exactly in God's character.  The Pagan Caananites built their temples facing East, so God told Israel their Tabernacle should face West.

Now you may think "don't pagans talk about death and rebirth"  Pagans affiliated conception and the sexual act with both death and rebirth.  One layer of meaning to it is seeing the... I'm going to get a little crude here... Erect Penis becoming flaccid after it ejaculates as a type of death.  Then when it in time becomes hard again later as a rebirth.  So when Isis temporarily reanimated Orisis to conceive Horus in part represents her getting Osiris hard one last time before he becomes permanently impotent.

Judeao-Christians thought also (for different reasons) liked to see symmetry in seeing Conception and death happening on the same day of the year.  In the post this is a follow up to I talk about why it can make sense to see Jesus as conceived around Passover or First Fruits.

Seeing Jesus as being born in September as is popular with people like Rob Skiba who puts His conception in December.  The irony is Skiba has been tricked into rejecting December 25th as the birthday of the gods he wrongly thinks are Nimrod.  But in turn has placed Jesus conception where sun gods are killed and conceived.

Apollo specifically was believed to have spent the winter months in hyperborrea, a mythical northern land.  Why would the Greeks affiliate Apollo's birth with the time they believed he was gone?  Ten festivals on the Greek calendar were affiliated with Apollo, some are harder to find info on then others.  Boedromia was in the Summer, Carnea was in August.  When Daphnephoria happened in the year seems unknown, but it wasn't annual, it was every nine years.  Hyacithia was in Summer.

The only ones not in Summer are Pyanopsia being in October, and Thrgelia which is the only one identified as being affiliated with birth.  Apollo and Artemis were it seems born on May 6th and May 7th respectively.  Later in Roman times Augustus Caesar made his birthday (September 23rd) the national holiday of Apollo, because he was seeking to be seen as an incarnation of Apollo, hence Virgil's fourth Ecalouge and it's made up prophecy from the Sybil.  And the Coptic Calander shows that Egyptians placed the Birth of the Sun in September at the end of the Month of Mesori.

I think it's interesting that John The Baptist was both conceived and born exactly 6 months before Jesus.

All the pagan birthdates I can find (besides contradictory info on Horus birth) seem to fall in spring, not winter.

That fact about Augustus is very interesting because that's contemporary with the Birth of Christ.  This man who could be viewed as a type of The Antichrist, was being deified as an incarnation of one of the gods Rob Skiba thinks is his imaginary version of Nimrod.  His birth and Apollo were being celebrated at about the Autum Equinox during the time the Nativity narrative happened.  But we're today being told your celebrating the birth of Apollyon if you celebrate Christmas in December rather then September.

The death of Tammuz (and the women weeping for Tammuz) happened at the summer Solstice (usually in the Hebrew month that became named after Tammuz).  The Greek Adonia for Adonis was the same time.  Tammuz died about the Summer Solstice and was risen about the Winter Solstice, Ishtar took his place dying about the Winter Solstice and rising about the Summer Solstice.

I've seen some Christians spreading Christmas paranoia (like Michael Rood) add to and confuse this trying to bring Spring holidays into it and saying Tammuz or someone was born on December 25th.  But that is all nonsense.  Winter was his resurrection not his birth.

Again, modern Neo-Pagans often like all this comparative mythology stuff so you may see material from them supporting births at the winter solstice.  But nothing backs that up in actual ancient sources.

Even if an ancient pre 354 AD example of a pagan deity born on the Winter Solstice can be found, so what.  Genesis 1 tells us the Sun, Moon and Stars were all given for times and for seasons.  At the Exodus God codified a Lunar Calendar for Israel, but the Moon is never a symbol for Jesus himself, Malachi calls Jesus the Sun of Righteousness.  So when the days begin growing longer makes sense as a time for him to be born.  That pagans also found significance in that is just a reminder that Satan can only copy and corrupt the things of God.

Maybe The Antichrist will claim the same Birthday, so what, I have reasons to suspect Satan will arrange for him to be killed on Passover too.

Dionysus is interesting to study in relation to Hannukah.

First Maccabees chapter 1 verse 54 to the end says Antiochus Epiphanes placed his Idol in the Holy of Holies on the 15th of Kislev, and on the 25th sacrifices were made to the Idol.  The same day it was cleansed 3 years later.

The 15th would be after a Full Moon, and since as I said the Greeks also used a Lunar calendar for their religion this could have been significant.  This time of year among other things is when the Athenian Rural Dionysia would happen.

Second Maccabees informs us that the feast of Bacchus was kept in The Temple.  That could be significant, but we're not told which feast, or if this is really supposed to be an elaboration on the ritual that first desecrated The Temple.

People will use this same material from Second Maccabees 6 to say Antiochus Epiphanes birthday was celebrated in The Temple.  And overlap that with the 25th of Ksilev reference to say Antiochus was born on December 25th.  But Second Maccabees 6 was referring to the day of the Kings' birth every MONTH not a yearly anniversary, and again there is no evidence that it is connected to the Kislev 25th sacrifices.

The Books of Maccabees do place Antiochus Epiphanes death about the same time The Temple was cleansed, three years after he first desecrated it.

Again the Rural Dionysia was not about Dionysus' birth.  It was a festival that like many other Dionysian festivals was affiliated with the Theater, a time for Plays to be performed and competitions between play writers to be held.  So the Rural Dionysia's main contribution to modern Christmas is the Christmas season being a time when Hollywood releases (besides Summer) the most of it's big event movies.

I'm absolutely NOT one of those Baptists saying it's bad to enjoy a good time at the movies, or to enjoy any secular media.  I love going to the Cinema, there is a 50/50 chance I'll see The Force Awakens this Christmas.  Just be aware of the possible secret reasons behind when they release them.

Returning to my earlier themes though.  If the Antichrist's abomination of Desolation is on his birthday which could be something he'd want to do.  We know that Abomination is at the Midway Point of the seven year period, which I'm convinced will occur in Tishei (September-October).  Meaning it'd be evidence for the Antichrist's birthday in Fall not Winter.  And I think it's possible the opening of the Abyss is 9 months before that.

I think Jesus was born about December 25 and conceived about March 25

Or very near there at least.  The possibly that Jesus Circumcision was on the 25th is something I've been considering.

I held to the September 11th 3 BC theory for a long time, including in my last Christmas related post on this blog I made fairly recently.  My basic point of that post I still stand by, that there is nothing wrong with celebrating Jesus Birth on the wrong day.  And I'll say the same for those who even after reading my argument still here feel compelled to celebrate it during the Fall Feasts.

I still support the 3-2 BC range for the year of his Birth.  Africanus specifies the date in terms that can be understood as 3/2 BC. Both Irenaeus and Tertullian assign Jesus' birth to the forty-first year of Augustus. If this date presumes that the reign of Augustus began when he was elevated to consulship in August 43 BC, the year intended is 2 BC. Tertullian conveniently confirms this conclusion by adding that Christ's birth was 28 years after the death of Cleopatra and fifteen years before the death of Augustus. Cleopatra died in August 30 BC, and Augustus died in August AD 14. Konradin Ferrari d'Occhieppo has demonstrated that the date which Clement of Alexandria furnishes for the birth of Jesus is equivalent to 6 January 2 BC.

Nothing in Matthew 2 actually says the Star was seen by the Magi the day he was born.  Which means I can still support the same basic view I have before on the Star of Bethlehem, as well as viewing the visit of the Magi as being in December of of 2 BC.  There were three Jupiter-Regulus Conjunctions, I don't think they'd have fully understood their significance till all three happened.  Herod rounded up to two years because he wanted to make absolutely sure.

Likewise I still stand by my prior posts on the Census of Luke 2.  Josephus' reference we commonly cite and that I did there (Antiquities, XVII, 41-45 ),  however is probably not a specific Oath but to this sect in general rejecting Rome.

First I want to express my objection to him being born on either Passover or Tabernacles.  There is no way Rome would have enforced a Census requiring presence in their hometown in Judea on a day their religion demanded most people to pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  I feel this makes Trumpets and Tom Kippur unlikely too, that's still to close to the pilgrimage day.

Shepherds in Winter

The Biblical Argument against a winter birth for Jesus is a claim that Shepherds would not have had their flocks outdoors in winter.  These people are forgetting that Israel does not have the climate of Northern Europe or America.  The Weather can indeed be very bad in Winter there sometimes but not always, plenty of areas around the same latitude like the Southern US often have nice weather at this time.  I live in one of the Coldest part of the US, Wisconsin, and sometimes we don't get Snow till after Christmas has passed.

Genesis 31:38-40: "This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.  That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.  That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. "

Jacob was at this time much further north then Bethlehem, yet he was engaged in Shepherding during the winter.  So using the no shepherds in winter argument calls Scripture a liar.  Research into Migdal Eder mentioned in Genesis 35:21 is what is more directly relevant to Bethlehem.

James Kelso, an archaeologist who spent a number of years living in Palestine and who has done extensive research there says this:

The best season for the shepherds of Bethlehem is the winter when heavy rains bring up a luscious crop of new grass. After the rains the once-barren, brown desert earth is suddenly a field of brilliant green. One year when excavating at New Testament Jericho, I lived in Jerusalem and drove through this area twice every day. At one single point along the road, I could see at times as many as five shepherds with their flocks on one hillside. One shepherd stayed with his flock at the same point for three weeks, so lush was the grass. But as soon as the rains stopped in the spring, the land quickly took on its normal desert look once again.

Since there seem to have been a number of shepherds who came to see the Christ child, December or January would be the most likely months (James Kelso, An Archaeologist Looks At The Gospels, p. 23-24).

 Also there is Canon H.B Tristram

“A little knoll of olive trees surrounding a group of ruins marks the traditional site of the angels’ appearance to the shepherds, Migdol Eder, ‘the tower of the flock’. But the place where the first ‘Gloria in excelsis’ was sung was probably further east, where the bare hills of the wilderness begin, and a large tract is claimed by the Bethlehemites as a common pasturage. Here the sheep would be too far off to be led into the town at night; and exposed to the attacks of wild beasts from the eastern ravines, where the wolf and the jackal still prowl, and where of old the yet more formidable lion and bear had their covert, they needed the shepherds’ watchful care during the winter and spring months, when alone pasturage is to be found on these bleak uplands“. Picturesque Palestine Vol 1 page 124 

 Also note this excerpt from Messianic Jewish Scholars Alfred Edersheim:

“That the Messiah was born in Bethlehem was a settled conviction. Equally so, was the belief that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder , the tower of the flock.

This Migdal Eder, was not the watch tower for ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to town, on the road to Jerusalem. A passage in the Mishnah leads to the conclusion that the flocks which pastured there were destined for Temple Sacrifices, and accordingly that the Shepherds who watched over them were, no ordinary Shepherds. The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism on the account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observances unlikely, if not absolutely impossible.

The same Mishnic also leads us to infer, that these flocks lay out all year round , since they are spoken of as in the fields thirty days before Passover- that is, in the month of February, when in Palestine the average rainfall is nearly greatest. Thus Jewish traditions in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from Migdal Eder, where Shepherds watched the Temple flocks all year round. Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak -The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah By Alfred Edersheim

I've also seen it claimed by Chuck Missler and others that Israel is "impassable" during winter, and Mary and Joseph couldn't have traveled south at this time.  But John 10:21-22 tells us Jesus traveled to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the Dedication/Hannukah.  Indeed I take from this passage that Hanukkah while not one of the required pilgrimage days became an unofficial additional one, since it was intimately about Jerusalem and The Temple.

The course of Abijah

Those arguing for Jesus being born in Tishri will claim the documentation places the course of Abijah operating in the Summer, around June/July.  However the agreement on this is far from universal.

Josef Heinrich Friedlieb’s Leben J. Christi des Erlösers. Münster, 1887, p. 312.  Strongly argues that Joarib was the course operating when the Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av.  This would place the course of Abijah about the second week of Tishri, which happens to be when Yom Kippur happens.  The Dead Sea Scrolls seem to back up this chronology.

The apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James, is clearly not inspired, but it's an early witness being from the first half of the second century.  It promotes Zacharias to being The High Priest which is clearly wrong.  But the key thing is it says Yom Kippur is when Gabriel appeared to him.  John Crysostom also refers to Zachariahs being in The Temple during Tishri.

John The Baptist was conceived pretty much immediately after the course ended, which would place it possibly during Tabernacles or just before it, (in 3 BC the 15th of Tishri tell on September 25th, since it is well known September 11th that year was the First of Tishri).  Six months latter is when Jesus was conceived, which would be during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Nine months after that would be December or January.

John being convinced on Tabernacles or the Eve of it, and the Visitation happening during Passover/Unleavened Bread, could likely place John's birth on the 17th of Tammuz, which is an interesting date.  That agrees with the traditional date for his birth on our calendar being June 24th or 25th.

Early Church References

It is frequently claimed that it was a long time before Christians starting celebrating the Birth of Christ at all.  The very Early Christians indeed didn't have the time (dealing with persecution) to create new celebrations.  But there is evidence of a winter date for Christ's birth showing up fairly early.

Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 AD), who was a student of Ireaneus, who was a student of Polycarp, who was a student of John, to whom Jesus entrusted the care of his Mother.  Placed the Birth of Jesus on December 25th, and the Crucifixion on March 25th.  He was off by one on the year on the Crucifixion placing it in 29 AD.

For the first advent of our Lord in the flesh, when he was born in Bethlehem, eight days before the kalends of January [December 25th], the 4th day of the week [Wednesday], while Augustus was in his forty-second year, [2 or 3BC] but from Adam five thousand and five hundred years. He suffered in the thirty third year, 8 days before the kalends of April [March 25th], the Day of Preparation, the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar [29 or 30 AD], while Rufus and Roubellion and Gaius Caesar, for the 4th time, and Gaius Cestius Saturninus were Consuls.

From his Daniel commentary, he also spoke elsewhere on believing Jesus Conception and Death were the same day.  Clement of Alexandria, Jullius Africanus and Theophilus of Caesarea are also cited as early sources for these dates.  The Constitutions of the Apostles dated to 250 AD also refers to December 25th.

Irenaeus (130-202 AD) and Julius Sextus Africanus (160-240 AD) in his work Adversus Haereses, both gave March 25th as the day of Jesus Conception.

The Early Church belief in a winter birth seems to be related to a belief that Jesus was conceived about the same day of the Hebrew year as his Death or Resurrection.  The Western/Latin Church favored December 25th for Christmas and March 25th exactly 270 days earlier for the conception.  Whether they placed the Crucifixion or Resurrection on March 25th varies.  The Eastern/Greek church favored January 6th for Christmas and April 6 for the Crucifixion/Conception.  My argument for a 30 AD Crucifixion agrees with April 6th.

First Fruits did fall on March 25th in 37 AD, it seems some early Christians in Egypt got confused and gave 37 AD as the Crucifixion year.  Might be because that's when the 70 Weeks would have ended without a gap.

You may be thinking, "Wouldn't Mary have been in Jerusalem rather then Nazareth if the annunciation was during Passover/Unleavened bread?"  It's actually only males at least 12 years old the Law required to be in Jerusalem for the three pilgrimage Holy Days.  Now often husbands brought their wives and children with but that wasn't obligated,  Elizabeth may have stayed behind due to being six months pregnant.  Mary wasn't married yet, only betrothed.  The Bride is traditionally supposed to be separated from the groom during betrothal.  And I have reasons to think Mary was perhaps older then we assume and was at this time a single woman not in her father's house.  The men of the story are all absent during the Annunciation and Visitation narrative.

Cyril of Jerusalem in the late 4th century requested the date of Jesus birth be determined from the Census documents which apparently still existed in Rome.  He said they verified it to be December 25th.  Now that's late enough we should take it with a grain of salt, but it's there.

One of the first Protestants to oppose the 25th of December Christmas was Isaac Newton, who was a good scientist but also a Neo-Pagan and Alchemist.. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John, Volume 1 (London: J. Darby, T. Browne & All, 1733), 144-65.

As far as the death and conception correlation goes.  Genesis 4 seems to hint at Seth being conceived very shortly after Abel died.  Abel is considered a type of Christ.

Leviticus 23

Lots of people in the Hebrew Roots movement and other Messianic fellowships that don't deny Grace, have an insistence that Jesus must have been born on one of the Appointed Times of Leviticus 23.

If Jesus birth was meant to be a fulfillment of one of those like his Death was Luke or Matthew would have made that clear, we wouldn't have to deduce it from elsewhere.  The fulfillment of the Fall Feast days lies in the middle of the 70th Week of Daniel.

As far as Revelation 12 goes.  There is a symbolic summery of history there but those signs being seen in Heaven is part of the events of the Seventh Trumpet, the chapter divisions weren't in the original text.  I deal with that here.

My main argument against Jesus being born on any of the Leviticus 23 Holy Days is it's absurd to think Rome would not have enforced a Census in Judea requiring people to be in different scattered towns close to any of the days where there local religion required people to be in Jerusalem.

Mary and Joseph happened to have been headed closer to Jerusalem then they were before so we don't think of that implication a lot.  But other people would have been just the opposite (there could hypothetically have been people living in Bethlehem who were required by this to go to Galilee). Jerusalem itself had lots of citizens who's family origin wasn't in it.  So you'd have people who usually didn't have to worry about the Pilgrimage requirement at all suddenly having that matter over complicated.

Now you can argue that Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur are not pilgrimage days themselves.  In fact I've seen Rob Skiba use Sukkot's pilgrimage day status against it arguing in favor of Yom Teruah.  But those two days are still way to close.  One is 5 days before and the other is 14 days before.  And Sukkot required being in Jerusalem an entire week.  My family has even with modern conveniences making travel a lot easier never gone on a week long trip without beginning the preparations more then three weeks in advance.

The time around the Winter Solstice was about as far away from the pilgrimage days as you can get.  And the date I've come to favor puts it like a month after Hanukkah and over a month away from Purim, so the Census would need not disrupt those less important Holy Days either.

Attempting to determine which year

Using Stellarium, it seems the 14th of Nisan of 3 BC could likely have fallen on April 1st.

However in 2 BC Passover and March lined up almost exactly the same as they did in 37 AD, with a discrepancy of less then 24 hours.  Maybe that is also a factor in the confusion.

And it was December 25th of 2 BC that Jupiter stopped in the night sky in exactly the right conditions to match Matthew 2.  I've seen an argument against the usual view that the Magi must have arrived a significant amount of time latter.

They have decent responses to most of the usual arguments, about the Greek word translated  "young Child" (Luke 2:17 uses the same term for a an infant Jesus) and moving to a house (Joseph could very well have done that the next day).  And insist the tone of Matthew 2:1 is clearly that they arrived in Jerusalem when Jesus was born.

We should consider the possibility that both the flight into Egypt and return (and in-between Herod's Death) happened before the presentation in The Temple.  May was supposed to be set aside for her Purification, Joseph could have found a way to do this even with them doing some traveling.  And it could explain why Mary is not a very active part of the story in Matthew 2, as she is in Matthew 1 and everything in Luke that's largely her POV.  Some have suggested January 28th 1 BC as the Day Herod died.  The presentation in The Temple would be about February 2.

Matthew 2:1 "now when Jesus was born", implies that the one event speedily followed the other. Directly after the presentation, Jesus went with His parents to Nazareth (Luke 2), therefore the presentation must have been preceded by their visit.  At the coming of the Magi, Herod first heard of the birth of Jesus, but if the presentation at the Temple had previously taken place, he must have heard of it, as it had been made public by Anna (Luke 2:38).

I feel placing the specific Oath of Allegiance 15-12 months before Herod's death may be flawed.  When Moses of Khorone refers to the same Oath, we learn it came with Imperial Idols.  Josephus in Antiquities 17.6 refers to a Golden Eagle Herod had erected that was torn down by upset Jews possibly very close to his death, when he was already ill.  If the tearing down of the Eagle happened immediately after it was set up (which I find highly likely), then it's interesting that this seems to have been fairly close to when Herod died..

The major problem for a 2 BC date is the length of Jesus ministry, which begins after he turns 30.  The notion that it's 3 or 3.5 years I refute in my 30 AD study, it's confusion based on not realizing John isn't chronological.  But it does seem to be nearly a whole year.  And we know from John 7-10 that a Tabernacles and Hanukkah happened during it.  And Jesus being born December 25th of 2 BC had Jesus turn 30 around December of 29/30 BC.

However maybe Luke 3 isn't saying what we assume.  I've often been curious about how it seems exact (saying began) and vague (saying about) at the same time.  Given the way Ancient Hebrews didn't even do Birthdays how we do, what if it really means the beginning of the year in which he turned 30?  Which would be Nisan of 29 AD if he was born around December 25th of 2 BC.  That could work quite well.

It was at Jesus Baptism that John proclaimed him "The Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World".  So it'd be fitting if this was around the Passover season the year before the ultimate Passover.  And maybe Jesus 40 days in the wilderness correlates a year in advance to the 40 days from the Resurrection to the Ascension.

Or another alternative is it could have meant the beginning of his 30th year.  Which would be when he turned 29.

If Jesus was 30 when he died in 30 AD, then He was Crowned with the Crown of Thrones the same age David was crowned in Hebron.  David had a second coronation 7 years latter, Jesus will have a second one too. Possibly 2007 years latter, but I'm not certain on that.

(Update: I've come to think it maybe more likely December 25th or after is when the Magi vistied Jesus, but they arrived in Jerusalem before.  The 25th of Tevet would have been the 23rd of 24th of December that year.)

Passover Conception 

What makes this model fascinating to me is the possibly of Jesus being Conceived on Passover or First Fruits, why?  Because of an insight made by Zola Levitt, about a possible correlation between the Gestation process and the High Holy Days of Leviticus 23.  One of the briefer websites describing it.

After the end of woman’s monthly cycle, the new cycle begins. On the fourteenth day of that first month, the egg appears. This matches Passover, which is the fourteenth day of the first month of God’s calendar. (Leviticus 23:5)

The egg must be fertilized within twenty-four hours, or it cannot be fertilized at all and will pass through her body. Twenty-four hours after Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which falls on the fifteenth day of the first month. (Leviticus 23:6)

If the egg does become fertilized, it attaches to the mother’s uterus within 2 – 6 days. This corresponds to the Feast of Firstfruits, which falls anywhere from 2 – 6 days after Passover. Passover and Unleavened Bread can fall on any day of the week, and then Firstfruits is the Sunday after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is why the timing is a flexible date. (Leviticus 23:11)

After another fifty days, the embryo begins to look like a human. You can clearly see the head with eyes, the arms with hands and fingers, and the legs with feet and toes. The fiftieth day after Firstfruits is Pentecost (which is the Greek word for fifty). (Leviticus 23:15-16) 

By the beginning of the seventh month, the baby’s hearing is developed. The first day of the seventh month of God’s calendar is the Feast of Trumpets, sometimes called the Day of Shouting. (Leviticus 23:24) It is the day in God’s calendar that includes a sound to alert his people of the last call to come out of false worship and sin, referred to as Babylon.

By the tenth day of the seventh month, the baby’s bone marrow is starting to produce red blood cells. The tenth day of the seventh month of God’s calendar is the Day of Atonement, the most holy day on the calendar. (Leviticus 23:27) This was the only day that the priest would take the blood sacrifice into the Holy Place of the Sanctuary, to place the blood on the mercy seat to obtain forgiveness of all confessed sins. We are told in Hebrews 9:22, that “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission.”

By the middle of the seventh month, the baby’s lungs have fully developed. This corresponds to the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth of the seventh month (Leviticus 23:34), which is a day of celebrating our reunion with our spiritual Father and his Son. The Greek word for “spirit” is “pneuma” which relates to the lungs (as in the English word pneumonia).

The human gestation cycle is 280 days. Nine months of 30 days each is 270 days, so on the tenth day after the ninth month, the baby is born. Nine months and ten days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the Feast of Hanukkah, also called the Feast of Dedication in John 10:22. This festival lasts for eight days. The eighth day after birth is the day God commanded circumcision (Genesis 17:12).

The one thing wrong here is the Hanukkah tie in fudged the numbers a bit. Though maybe not as much as I at first thought.  This makes all the Leviticus 23 Holy Days potentially significant to the Nativity of Jesus.

The Birth of someone conceived around Passover is likely to be in Tevet (The Tenth Month), and December 25th can fall in Tevet almost as often as it can in Kislev.  If Jesus was born on the Fast of the Tenth Month, that'd be pretty interesting considering Zachariah 8:19.  Messianic Scholar Alfred Edersheim has suggested a theory that the 9th of Tevet was affiliated with Christmas by early Medieval Jewish tradition.

for this section: There is no adequate reason for questioning the historical accuracy of this date. The objections generally made rest on grounds which seem to me historically untenable. …but a curious piece of evidence comes to us from a Jewish source. In the addition to the Megilloth Taanith, the 9th Tebbeth is marked as a fast day, and it is added that the reason for this is not stated. Now, Jewish chronologist have fixed on that day as that of Christ’s birth and it is remarkable that, between the years 500 and 816 A.D. the 25th of December fell no less than twelve times on the 9th of Tebbeth. If the 9th Tebbeth, or 25th December, was regarded as the birthday of Christ, we can understand the concealment about it. — The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah By Alfred Edersheim

Here is a Jewish website on Tevet (Update: that Link isn't working now and I don't know how to find the same information again), which may give insight into significance to The Messiah being around the 24th or 25th of Tevet.  But of course I don't want to build doctrine on Rabbinic sources.

According to Esther 2:16 the Tenth month is when Esther was made Queen.  But we're not told when in the month exactly.  Since the same books gives further significance to the time I place the Resurrection and thus now possibly Conception of Jesus (the 17th of Nisan) it is interesting.

It seems the 25th of Tevet was the day Alexander The Great met with the High Priest in Talmudic sources.  But Josephus disagrees with the Talmud on many details here, and he doesn't imply a date directly.  However he places Alexander coming to Jerusalem after he takes Tyre and and Gaza but before he went went to Egypt.  That wouldn't fit well with placing this event in Tevet(December-January) since Alexander was Crowned Pharaoh of Egypt November 14th.

Other inaccuracies in the Talmud account include who was High Priest at that time, and a claim Alexander let the Jews punish the Samaritans, the Samaritan got the same positive treatment from Alexander the Jews did.

Could be a reason for the confusion is the Rabbis wanted a reason for a holiday they'd forgotten the origin for.  Or perhaps confusing the history of Alexander with something else Simon the Just did.

Many people discussing the Magi arriving in Jerusalem or Bethlehem on the 25th of December 2 BC think that was at the end of Kislev (during Hanukkah).  But since I've decided Passover must have been around the 22nd of March 2 BC the 25th of December that year must have been near the end of Tevet.  1 BC probably had a second Adar.  Remember Judaism hadn't entirely settled on it's current leap year system yet so that could explain by some scholars are confused.

It should be noted that around the 22nd of Tevet is generally when the Moon is under Virgo's feet during it's Tevet cycle.  In 2 BC it was under the feet of Virgo on the 19th of December, 7 days before a Solar Eclipse on the 26th of December and 29th of Tevet.  The day after that was a New Moon (beginning of a Hebrew Month) and the 14 days later was the Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse described by Josephus as proceeding the death of Herod.  It could be Jesus was born on the 22nd and Circumcised on the 29th.

If Jesus was born around the 22-25th of Tevet he could have been presented in The Temple on the 2nd of Adar, the same day the Second Temple was originally completed.

Some out there like to believe Jesus was born on the 25th of Kislev and Circumscribed on last day of Hanukkah.  That model doesn't fit well with a Passover Conception unless he was slightly premature.  But if someone wants to try arguing for Jesus being convinced on Purim, that could be interesting.

It could be the Rabbis were observing them a month off from the accurate dates the year in question.  And that the Jews were observing Hanukkah during what was Biblically Tevet.  I should note that the theory Herod died on the 2nd of Shevat of 1 BC based on conjectures of the Scholion of Megillat Ta'anit, place the 25th of December 2 BC during Hanukkah rather then Tevet.  The January 10th Lunar Eclipse would have been the 14th of Shevat in my preferred model.

I will do a separate post on the Paganism of Secular Christmas, which I'm not at all trying to justify.

I will say here as one key thing

The Sun, Moon and stars move the way they do because God designed them to.  The Bible says the Sun, Moon and stars are for discerning times and seasons.

Malachi 4:2 calls Jesus "the Sun of righteousness".

So maybe when the Sun appears to move in a way that could be interpreted as it being "reborn", is exactly the time God intended The Sun of Righteousness to be born.  Likewise when Jess was crucified on April 6th 30 AD the Sun was in Aries The Ram (see Genesis 22).

That Pagans saw significance in those same movements doesn't mean they weren't part of God's design.