Pinpointing the Date of CHRISTMAS

Pinpointing the Date of CHRISTMAS by Bill Federer

To understand how the date of Christmas was established, it is first necessary to determine the date of the conception of John the Baptist.

King David divided the Levite priests into 24 family groups, called courses, which took turns ministering at the altar in Jerusalem on a twice-a-year rotating basis -- the sacerdotal rota system as recorded in I Chronicles 24 (NIV):

"The sons of Aaron ... Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. With the help of Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelek, a descendant of Ithamar, David separated them into divisions for their appointed order of ministering."

In 1958, Israeli scholar Shemaryahu Talmon published research from the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls (Parchment No. 321-4Q321) in which he was able to reconstruct the sacerdotal rota calendar, identifying the particular months of each family's course.

The family of Abijah, from which descended Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, served from the 8th to the 14th day of the third month, and the 24th to the 30th day of the eighth month in the Israelite calendar.

Translating this into the Roman calendar shows that, during the reign of King Herod, the time Zechariah would have been ministering at the altar was the end of September, during the day of atonement -- Yom Kippur, and, therefore, John the Baptist would have been conceived shortly thereafter.

The Gospel of Luke, chapter 1 (NIV), explained:

"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron ... When Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense ... All the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.'"

The Byzantine Rite Church Calendar celebrates September 23 as the date of the conception of John the Baptist. Six months after the end of September is the end of March, when Elizabeth, now six months pregnant, was visited by her younger cousin Mary, The liturgical calendar, therefore, celebrates March 25 as the Feast of the Annunciation, as told in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1: 26-35 (NIV):

"In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.' Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.'

'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?'

The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.'"

Luke continued: "At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!'”

Therefore, if Zachariah ministered at the altar at end of September, and Elizabeth conceived shortly thereafter, and six months later Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, around March 25, then nine months after that is December 25, the traditional date of the birth of Jesus.