The Nativity

September 30

“Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn,” Luke 2:4-7.

This passage of scripture is more identified with the Christmas season than with Autumn, but if internal Biblical evidence is as experts construe it to be, the reality is that Jesus’ conception occurred in December and His birth was sometime late in September or early October. None of this is actually significant to our salvation, but it is a matter of interest to every believer who desires to know as much as he can about our Savior.

One of the significant pieces of evidence gleaned from this passage concerns the tax Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem to pay. Luke informs us that their trip to Bethlehem was required so they could be registered for the tax that had been decreed by Caesar Augustus in 8 BC.

The tax was not, however, levied on the Jews until 4 BC due to a Jewish revolt. Normally, registrations like this were done after the people were finished harvesting their fields so that they would neither be required to be working their fields nor be without the money to pay the tax.

This was very significant to the Romans who kept their Empire running on the labors of their conquered peoples. The necessity for everyone in Palestine to pay the Roman tax would also explain the fact that when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, “there was no room for them in the inn,” Luke 2:7.

A second factor that is usually overlooked in the Nativity Story is that the time when travel was required to pay the tax which had been levied by Caesar Augustus fell when the Jewish people would have been traveling anyway to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. This is not, of course, irrefutable proof of the time of Christ’s birth but it does afford viable evidence to establish when His nativity occurred.

Although we may never know the actual date of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can be certain that it is imperative that we worship Him continually in our hearts. May our lives be the living epistles He desires them to be (see II Corinthians 3:2) that can be clearly read by all men.

May they tell the story of the sacrifice the Holy One, made in the behalf of all people so that all people who hear the good news may have the opportunity to receive Him as Savior and Lord and to know Him as our soon-coming King.