Matthew 1:21
21 She will give birth to a son; and you shall call His name Yeshua,
for He will save His people from their sins.”
Christmas
Regrettably, the birth of our Messiah is later overlaid with so much tradition
and legend about Christmas that it’s hard to let the biblical text speak for itself.
Personally I do not believe in the man-made holiday of Christmas at all
as it is obviously not found in the Bible.
It did not exist 2000 years ago and was not a part of the early Congregation
and followers of Yeshua (Jesus) or even early Christian religious tradition.
Messiah
However, it is our responsibility to educate both Jews and Gentiles on the birth
of the Jewish Messiah and the prophecies about His birth- for example:
• Messiah would make atonement for our sins (Isaiah 53:5/ Isaiah 53)
• Where Messiah would be born (Micah 5:2)
• Messiah would be born a virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14)
• Messiah must be a descendant from King David (2 Samuel 7:12–13)
• Messiah would be called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1)
• Messiah`s ministry would start in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1–7/ 8:23–9:6)
• Messiah would come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
• Messiah must die before the destruction of the Second Temple (Daniel 9:26)
• They would cast lots for Messiah`s clothes (Psalm 22:18)
• 30 pieces of silver would be the price paid for Messiah (Zechariah 11:12)
• Not one of Messiah`s bones would be broken (Psalm 34:20)
• Messiah would be smitten and spat upon (Isaiah 50:6)
Link to –> 55 Old Testament Messiah Prophecies
Amos 3:7
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
Prophecies
Some things I find very very interesting.
The Old Testament contains about 300-400 prophecies of our Jewish
Messiah Yeshua and His birth.
There is not even single one prophecy in the Bible that tells us
about Messiah`s birth in Christmas time.
Also, the New Testament contains no narrations of Christmas at all.
But, the New Testament contains 2 narrations of Yeshua`s (Jesus`) birth:
Link –> Matthew 1–2 & Luke 1–2
Our Saviour
The birth of the Messiah to virgin Miryam (Mary) was miraculous.
As was the life that Yeshua lived- a completely holy life without flaws.
This flawless lamb became a sacrifice for us who are in need of
redemption and forgiveness of sin.
Through Yeshua, Yahweh our God shows us His love for all mankind,
that He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son that we might
have eternal life.
In fact, the Hebrew name Yeshua means salvation.
Link to –> Yeshua
Was Yeshua (Jesus) born on December 25- or in December at all ??
It is extremely improbable and the answer is no.
The Bible does not specify a date or month.
One problem with December is that it would be unusual for shepherds
to be abiding in the field at this very cold, rainy and sometimes even snowy
time of year when fields are unproductive-
and sleeping with sheep outside.
Was Yeshua really born in Bethlehem during the winter ??
No.
The New Testament only speaks of shepherds tending their sheep in the fields-
but does not mention the time of the year.
Luke 2:8-12
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid, for behold,
I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is Messiah the Lord.
12 And this will be the sign to you:
You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths,
lying in a manger.”
I suspect that these were the sheep intended for sacrifice in the daily
Temple ceremonies.
One way or another, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and their environs can be
extremely cold in late December and often are covered in snow.
And that is making it unlikely that the shepherds would have been able to
graze their sheep at that time of the year, sleeping with them outside.
Luke 1:24-27, 31-37
24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived;
and she hid herself five months, saying,
25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me,
in the days when He looked on me,
to take away my reproach among people.”
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
31 And behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son,
and shall call His name Jesus.
32 He will be great,
and will be called the Son of the Highest;
and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also,
that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 Now indeed,
Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age;
and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Miryam (Mary) & Elisheva (Elizabeth) & Pregnancies
Miryam (Mary) conceived when her cousin Elisheva (Elizabeth)
was in her 6th month of pregnancy.
Elizabeth probably conceived early in the 5th month of the
Hebrew calendar (Av/ July).
Elizabeth`s husband Zachariah
This is likely since the angel Gabriel appeared to her husband Zachariah
while he was serving in the Temple as a priest in the division of Abijah
and advised him that Elizabeth would become pregnant.
Facts –> Luke 1
Luke 1:5-7, 11-17
5 There was in the days of Herod,
the king of Judea,
a certain priest named Zacharias,
of the division of Abijah.
His wife was of the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless.
7 But they had no child,
because Elizabeth was barren,
and they were both well advanced in years.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12 And when Zacharias saw him,
he was troubled,
and fear fell upon him.
13 But the angel said to him,
“Do not be afraid, Zacharias,
for your prayer is heard;
and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall call his name John.
14 And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth.
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord,
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit,
even from his mother’s womb.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah,
‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Division of Abijah
1 Chronicles 24:7, 24:10, 24:18-19
7 Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib,
the second to Jedaiah,
10 the seventh to Hakkoz,
the eighth to Abijah,
18 the twenty-third to Delaiah,
the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.
19 This was the schedule of their service for coming into
the house of the Lord according to their ordinance by
the hand of Aaron their father,
as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.
Calculation
2 divisions per month makes 24 divisions per year.
The Abijah served as the 8th group.
The Abijah served during the last two weeks of the 4th month
of the Hebrew calendar (Tammuz), which is about late June.
And the Bible says that after Zechariah came home from his service
(in early Av/ July), Elizabeth conceived:
Luke 1:21-25
21 And the people waited for Zacharias,
and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple.
22 But when he came out, he could not speak to them;
and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple,
for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
23 So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed,
that he departed to his own house.
24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived;
and she hid herself five months, saying,
25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me,
in the days when He looked on me,
to take away my reproach among people.”
1st month of the year
The Bible also tells us that a year begins in the spring-
shortly before Passover in the month of Nisan
Exodus 12:1-2
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron
in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be your beginning of months;
it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Link –> Exodus 12: Passover
Esther 3:7a
7 In the first month,
which is the month of Nisan…
Calculations lead to the Feast of Tabernacles
9 months of Miryam`s pregnancy and another 6 months of Elisabeth’s
pregnancy are 15 months total and brings us to the 7th month of the Hebrew
calendar (Tishri/ September- October).
During this time is also the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
Through these clues we can come to a conclusion that Yeshua
most likely has been born during the Feast of Tabernacles,
which occurs in late September or early October.
Also, the Feast of Tabernacles is in the Bible-
but I have not found Christmas(s) in the Bible.
Yeshua was born most probably on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
8 days after His birth, He was circumcised and named Yeshua.
This was the name the angel had given him before his mother became pregnant.
14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Luke 2:21
21 Eight days after his birth,
the child was circumcised and named Yeshua.
This was the name the angel had given him before
his mother became pregnant.
Leviticus 23/ Feasts of the Lord:
• 1. The Sabbath
• 2. The Passover and Unleavened Bread
• 3. The Feast of Firstfruits
• 4. The Feast of Weeks
• 5.The Feast of Trumpets
• 6.The Day of Atonement
• 7.The Feast of Tabernacles
Link to –> Biblical Feasts
Purim & Hanukkah
And then you can find in the Bible Purim (”lots”/ Esther 9:20-25)
and Hanukkah (the Feast of Dedication/ John 10:22).
But you cannot find Christmas(s) in the Bible-
and I cannot find it either.
Sol Invictus & Saturnalia
The later selection of December 25 as the date to celebrate the birth of
the Messiah was a decision made by the Catholic Church.
Evidence suggests that the association of Messiah’s birth with the day of
Sol Invictus began sometime in the mid 4th century.
The establishment of December 25 as the day of the birth of the Messiah
coincides with another pagan holiday called Saturnalia.
This was a week-long celebration of lawlessness in which the courts were
closed and all manners of lewdness were allowed.
As late as the 18th and 19th centuries, the rabbis of the ghetto in Rome were
required to dress up like clowns during the Saturnalia carnival.
They were forced to march through the streets while jeering crowds pelted them
with various missiles.
On December 25, 1881, in Poland, the mobs were whipped into a frenzy and
attacked Jewish communities throughout the country.
In Warsaw alone, 12 were killed and many maimed while
scores of women were raped.
The Christmas tree
Although many Christmas customs like caroling have beautiful interpretations and
explanations, they originally had nothing to do with the birth of the Messiah.
Rather, they spring from the very sin that Yeshua came to redeem us from.
The Christmas tree, which is a fairly recent innovation, has been connected to the
Canaanite worship of the Asherah pole and the adoration of trees, including bringing
them into their homes and decorating them.
The pagans also regarded the Evergreen tree as a phallic symbol in fertility worship.
Jeremiah 10:1–4:
1 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.
2 Thus says the Lord:
“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are futile;
For one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold;
They fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
Mistletoe
The Druids used mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victims.
Its use at Christmas time is reminiscent of the sexual license of Saturnalia
combined with the Druidic sacrificial cult.
Pagans believed that the white berries of mistletoe represented the drops of
semen of the sun god.
Holly, along with mistletoe, was hung in the doorways of temples and homes
to bring about the powers of fertility in those who stood beneath and kissed,
causing the spirits of the god and goddess to enter them.
Saint Nicholas
During the time of the Roman Saturnalia, the most despised citizens were
compelled to bring offerings and gifts.
This led to general gift-giving among the populace and it carried over into
the Christian celebration of Christmas where it was given a new root,
linking it with the gift-giving of Saint Nicholas.
Santa Claus is a fairly recent innovation connected to some very old traditions.
Some trace the origin of Santa Claus to Nicholas, who was born in Parara,
Turkey in AD 270 and later became Bishop of Myra.
He was known for his generous giving to the needy, often anonymously,
sometimes placing coins in the shoes of the poor.
Nicholas died in AD 343 on December 6th.
He soon became nicknamed Sinter Klaas or Saint Nicholas by the people with
a feast day set aside for him, but has never been officially canonized by
the Catholic Church.
In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved his bones from
Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy.
There, veneration of him became mixed with celebration of Pasqua Epiphania
who was thought to fill children’s stockings with gifts.
A cult grew up around Nicholas, and members gave each other gifts during the
remembrance of Nicholas’ death on December 6.
Odin (Woden)
The cult spread north where it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans.
Their chief god was Odin (Woden) who had a long white beard.
When Nicolas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance
and took on the white beard and heavy winter clothing.
Santa Claus
In an attempt to attract pagan adherents, the Catholic Church adopted the
Nicholas cult and taught that gifts should be distributed as he did,
on December 25th rather than on December 6th.
The name Santa Claus was given to him by the Dutch,
where the word was Sante Klaas.
The Dutch are credited with transporting the legend of Sante Klaas
to New Amsterdam- nowadays known as New York City.
The image was further defined by the popular Santa Claus advertisements created
for the Coca-Cola Company from 1931.
Link –> Christmas(s)
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
Although, every day is a good day to preach the Gospel.
We can rejoice not only in the birth of Yeshua (Jesus),
but also in the knowledge that Yeshua is returning soon.
Today, Yeshua is the King of those who freely chose to follow Him.
When Yeshua returns, He will rule and reign as King of Israel on
the throne of David- and the entire earth will bow to Yeshua`s Kingship.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:
that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
“Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood.
This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
Luke 22:19-20
19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying,
“This is My body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.
Maranatha (the Lord is coming/ come, O Lord) !!!!
Isaiah 9:6
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And this Child, this Son was born in autumn.
Link to –> Gospel in the Bible
Link to –> Water Baptism
Link –> My Blog
Link –> Site Map
Be strongly blessed and sin no more in Yeshua`s name !!
“He shall be called a Nazarene.” Matthew 2:23 
Excellent article and well written.
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Thank you, Lee !!
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