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Circumstances of Jesus' Birth

The prophet Daniel must have had some understanding of the times and seasons of the Messiah's coming, for he prophesied of a 490-year period to the Messiah's work (Dan. 9:24-27). Early in his career, Daniel had been made the "chief prefect over all the wise men [Magi] of Babylon," (Dan. 2:49, NASB) as the result of his success in interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

But it was not until the arrival of the Magi shortly after Jesus' birth that we begin to see the evidence of Daniel's influence over four centuries earlier. How did they know to come at that time? We are not told, but certainly they would have discussed what Daniel had told them, and they would have watched the calendar to know the end of the 490 years that Daniel had prophesied (Dan. 9:24-27).

By the time of Jesus' birth, however, Babylon had long ceased to be the empire dominating the East. It had been taken over first by Cyrus of Persia in 537 B.C., and the Persian Empire had in turn been conquered by Alexander the Great two centuries later. The Grecian Empire had split into four parts when Alexander died, just as Daniel had prophesied (Dan. 11:1-4). By 250 B.C. Parthia had declared its independence from one of those four--the Seleucids.

Rome encroached upon the Seleucid Empire from the West, while Parthia squeezed it from the East. These wars actually allowed Judea to become independent from 164-64 B.C. before Rome took Judea. As the Seleucid Empire was gobbled up by its rivals, it was not long before Parthia and Rome became the rivals. In 40 B.C. the Parthians temporarily drove the Romans out of Asia altogether. In coming to Judea, the Parthians set up Antigonus as King in Jerusalem. He was the last of the line of Judean kings that had begun their rule in 164 (i.e., the Maccabees).

But the Romans fought back from 40-37 B.C. and took back Jerusalem, putting Herod on the throne. Herod was the first of the Idumean kings, and he finally put Antigonus to death. Meanwhile, Mark Antony, the lover of Cleopatra of Egypt, led an invasion of Parthia in 36 B.C. Antony was defeated, and at that point, Parthia and Rome reached a peace treaty, which held together until 58 A.D.

Thus, Jesus was born in a time of relative peace on Rome's eastern border. It was the evening of the feast of Trumpets, Sept. 29, 2 B.C., when Jesus was born. Three months later, the Magi arrived after seeing various signs in the heavens. Having been well schooled in such matters, they understood that the "King of the Judeans" had been born, and they came to see Him.

One can only imagine the excitement in the schools of the Magi in Parthia that the great prophecies of their revered ancient prophet, Daniel, were now coming to fruition. They had already seen the rise of four empires prophesied in Daniel 4 and no doubt knew that Rome was the fifth unnamed empire of "iron." This would have factored into their advice to the kings of Parthia.

Meanwhile, there were also Roman events that would shape the birth of Jesus. The Roman Senate had proclaimed Augustus Caesar to be "Father of the Country" on February 5, 2 B.C. The decree then went out from the Roman government that the whole Roman world should endorse this decree by their signatures. Cyrenius, the great expert on enrollment and taxation, was sent to Syria to begin this project. The governor of Syria was Saturninus, who wanted to be in Rome that summer for the festivities celebrating Augustus' silver jubilee--his 25th anniversary since being proclaimed "Augustus" in 27 B.C. This is how Cyrenius came to be lieutenant governor of Syria just for the summer of 2 B.C., standing in for Saturninus for a short time. (Saturninus' successor, Varus, came as governor of Syria by the following November.)

So by late summer of that year, the Syrian enrollment was complete, and it was time to move south to enroll all the Judeans. Joseph then took Mary to Bethlehem to sign this document, because everyone had to sign it in the town of their family inheritance. Bethlehem was the "city of David," and both were of that family.

This is how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2. A long trip like that for a pregnant woman must have been difficult. Perhaps the trip was too much for her and actually brought about the delivery. But others had arrived as well for the enrollment, and so there was no room in the inn. The kind innkeeper, however, let them take shelter in the stable, or cave.

This is how Jesus came to be placed in a manger. Bethlehem means "house of bread," and so He was placed in a manger to be food for the people. The angels then informed certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay keeping their sheep. Being September, it was not a cold winter's night yet. In that part of the world, the shepherds always brought their sheep off the hills by November. The last thing they were dreaming of was a white Christmas. That would have been their worst nightmare.

The shepherds immediately left their sheep and came to the little town of Bethlehem and found the family and saw the newborn baby lying in the manger. The Magi had just started on their journey from Parthia, so they were three months late for the birthday celebration. In those days it took quite a while to make such a journey.

Joseph and Mary stayed in Bethlehem for the next three months, probably holding Bible studies about the coming of the Messiah and what His work would be. When Jesus was eight days old, He was circumcised and named Yeshua, which in the Greek language was Iesous (Luke 2:21). In the 1700's when the "J" was adopted by the English language, it was written as Jesus.

When Jesus was 40 days old, He was taken to the temple in Jerusalem, which was about five miles northwest of Bethlehem. Luke 2:22-38 tells of the events that occurred that day. Mary's time of purification was according to the law in Leviticus 12, where a woman had to be purified 40 days after giving birth to a son, or after 80 days if she gave birth to a daughter.

Jesus was brought to the temple on November 7 of 2 B.C. Because the family was poor, they brought "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons" (Lev. 12:8 and Luke 2:24). You see, the wise men, being late, had not brought them any gold yet, so they were not able to bring a lamb to the temple for Mary's purification. Even so, they did bring the true Lamb of God, but probably did so unknowingly.

At the temple, an old man named Simeon ("hearing") was waiting for them. He apparently knew from studying the Scriptures that the name of the Messiah would be Yeshua ("salvation"). Furthermore, it had been prophesied to him personally that he would see the Messiah before he died. Nothing further is known, but when he saw the child and heard that He was named Yeshua, the Holy Spirit instantly confirmed to him that He was the long-awaited One. He took up the child in his arms, and said (Luke 2:29, 30),

"Now, Lord, Thou dost let Thy bond-servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for my eyes have seen Thy Yeshua."

He had long HEARD the word of the Lord, as indicated by his name Simeon, which means "hearing." But now he finally SAW as well. An elderly lady named Anna also rejoiced and provided a double witness to the temple of the birth of the Messiah. Her name means "grace," and she was the daughter of Phanuel, or Peniel, "the face/presence of God." She saw Jesus' face and saw in it the presence of God. She was one woman who was not hindered by the veil that Moses had put over his face. That veil had not hindered Moses from seeing; rather, it prevented the people under Moses from seeing the face of God (Ex. 34:33; 2 Cor. 3:15).

But Anna was GRACE, whose veil was removed in Christ.

After Mary's purification according to the law, they returned to Bethlehem, where they stayed for another seven weeks or so. Luke's account ends here, saying only in 2:39,

"And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth."

Luke says nothing of the Magi's arrival or even of their flight into Egypt. But where Luke is silent, Matthew reveals more details between their stay in Bethlehem and their return to Nazareth.

Matthew 2:11 says that when the Magi arrived, they found Jesus in a "house" in Bethlehem. If they had planned to leave town shortly, they would probably have moved into the inn, once their fellow travelers had signed the decree of Augustus and had returned to their homes. But instead, they moved into a house, showing that they planned to stay a while.

Jesus was three months old when the Magi arrived. Matthew's account of the Magi's visit (2:9) says that Jesus was a paidion ("child"). When the shepherds had arrived on the night of His birth, Luke called him a brephos ("infant"). Some say this is proof that Jesus was already a toddler of about two years old, but the fact is, Luke 2:21 calls Jesus a paidion when He was just eight days old. So we cannot make a big deal of this difference in terminology. Certainly, paidion does not have to mean a child of two years old.

In December of 2 B.C., Matthias the high priest at that time, along with a rabbi by the same name induced some of the young rabbinical students to remove Rome's golden eagle from the temple wall. They were taught that such emblems were idolatrous, and that God would bless the students for removing the idol from the temple wall. Herod, of course, had a different opinion, and he immediately began an investigation into this crime of treason.

Shortly into the investigation, the Magi arrived from Parthia, inquiring, "Where is He that has been born king of the Jews?" (Matt. 2:2). It was bad enough that Herod was already smelling treason among the priests. It was bad enough that Herod was getting old, sick, and paranoid, as Josephus recounted. But now some Magi from Parthia had arrived with their entourage and probably with a small army to guard them and their gold--and they were all excited about the birth of a rival king.

It is no wonder that Matt. 2:3 says, "And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." Was this some sort of Parthian trick to disturb the long-held peace between the two nations that had held since 36 B.C.? Were they looking for a pretext for war? Herod called them in for an interview. There the question was answered, which the Magi did not know, for they apparently did not have a copy of the prophecy of Micah. It was discovered that the Messiah-King was to be born in Bethlehem.

The Magi had been following Jupiter, the King's Planet, in its westward movement. Between September of 3 B.C. and May of 2 B.C., Jupiter and Regulus, the King's Star, had had three conjunctions. Jupiter, in fact, formed a loop over Regulus, "crowning" the King's Star. It was an astronomical event that had great significance, because Regulus was the bright star between the feet of Leo, the lion. This is the star referred to in Gen. 49:9 and 10, when Jacob prophesied to Judah, "Judah is a lion's whelp . . . The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes."

That "law-giver" was represented by Regulus, the King's Star, for it was located between the feet of Leo, the Lion of Judah.

So when the King's Planet crowned the King's Star in the year before Jesus' birth, the Magi understood that this was the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. They probably had preserved Daniel's copy of the book of Genesis.

No doubt they would have had to observe these astronomical events for many months and to discuss their significance. But once they were agreed that the prophesied King had been born in Judea, they began to prepare for the long journey, finally arriving in December of 2 B.C. When they left Herod's palace, they looked up and saw the "star" (actually, Jupiter) positioned directly over Bethlehem (Matt. 2:9). Dr. Ernest Martin shows from astronomical data that Jupiter was positioned over Bethlehem (as viewed from Jerusalem) on Dec. 25, 2 B.C.

And so the Magi finally arrived in Bethlehem at the house where Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had been staying for some months. They gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gold was important because it financed their trip to Egypt.

That same night, at least one of the Magi had a dream, warning them to return to their country by a different route without telling Herod that they had seen the King-Messiah. An angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph, telling him to go to Egypt for their protection. Joseph took the family immediately while it was still night.

In a few days Herod sent troops to kill all the children in Bethlehem. Herod only knew that the heavenly signs had begun in May of 3 B.C., with the main signs coming in September of 3 B.C. The signs, then, had been occurring for about a year and a half. Interpreting signs is a bit subjective, of course, so Herod still did not know the age of the child. He could have been born as early as May of 3 B.C. So to be on the safe side, he ordered the troops to kill all the children up to the age of two (Matt. 2:16).

This would have occurred in the final days of December. Hence, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates this day on December 29, while the Church of England celebrates it on December 28. Jesus would have arrived in Egypt for his protection at the precise age of three months (Sept. 29 to Dec. 29). Moses was a type of Christ in this manner, for he too went into the house of Pharaoh for his protection at the age of three months (Ex. 2:2).

Herod died a month later on January 28 of 1 B.C., and his death was celebrated for a time as a festival. But before his death, he concluded his investigation of the removal of Rome's Golden Eagle. He deposed the high priest named Matthias, and he burned at the stake Rabbi Matthias on January 9. Josephus tells us that there was a lunar eclipse that same night (Antiquities of the Jews, XVII, vi, 4). In fact, the lunar eclipse fixes the date of this historical event, and indirectly fixes the date of the arrival of the Magi a few weeks earlier. It also shows that Jesus was born some time prior to the death of Herod.

A few centuries later, a simple Christian named Nicolas, who lived in Ephesus, thought it would be a great idea to leave some gifts on the door steps of poor people on the night of December 24 each year, following the example of the Magi. Later, the Church declared him to be a saint. And so began the story of Saint Nicolas. And the rest is history.