When Was Jesus Born?

You overlooked one major fact. Zacharias was of the order (course) of Abijah. In I Chronicles chapter 24 king David divided the priests into family groups (courses) and assigned to each of them the weeks in which they would officiate the temple services. The course of Abijah was served during early June and after serving his week of service Zacharias went home and Elizabeth conceived (most likely in late June). It is clearly stated that John the Baptist was 6 months older than Jesus. Since we can reasonably assume that John was born in the spring then it follows that Jesus would have been born 6 months later in the fall, probably in September.

This is probably the clearest and most concise account of the discrepancies of the various biblical texts, placed in the context of known historical events. I guess one conclusion could be that, since he was born sometime between 6BC and AD6 we actually have the BC/AD line in the correct place :) Merry Christmas!

Very enlightening video and I enjoyed it as well. You have a unique way of giving us the facts in an engaging way. Thank you for all of the work you put into it!

Great job on a timely and challenging topic. Merry Christmas!

Even though a lot of recorded history turns out to be an estimate, it still soothes my mind to at least have a general idea of when we are talking about. Thanks for this great explanation!

I knew there were discrepancies, but thanks for laying out the historical arguments so clearly!

Hi Matt. I enjoyed your video a lot and it raised in me this question about my faith. I recently brought this discrepancy between Matthew and Luke to a biblical archeologist friend and I'm hoping you might consider the evidence he brought forth for me that was lacking in your video. The information that he shared with me is not readily available because it includes discoveries made within the last 20 years; it is nowhere listed on wiki or the first dozen google answers. So, Quirinius was "twice-governor" of Syria. He was governor of Syria when Herod was alive, and he was also governor at the time of that later date, 6ce. This has been mostly confirmed by the recent translations of ancient texts. You will notice in your video that you presented Luke 2:1, where Luke writes, "This was the first census" that was taken while Quirinius was governor. That implies that there was second, or more, censuses taken. In fact, wiki only lists "THE census of quirinius." In my research on the history of Michigan I discovered that this type of verbal confusion is common. For instance, there is a 1st and 2nd Treaty of Chicago that the US made with three native groups in the early 1820's; but the Second Treaty of Chicago is frequently referenced as "The Treaty of Chicago" because the other one is so often overlooked. I believe a similar situation is happening here. Luke writes that this census was taken "for all the roman world." The second census that Quirinius took was this 6ce one, which was, of course, for Judea only, as you pointed out -- but this simply gives evidence that this Judean census is the implied second census, not the full, first census. In addition: a census of all the roman world was an event that would have taken many years, as emissaries from Rome travelled on horseback throughout the Mediterranean. So to pin a census on a particular year is also difficult. All of this information puts the birth of Jesus at 7-5bce, from my understanding. Is any of this information useful? If you find time for a response I'd love to hear from ya. -John, in Michigan

Great video brother! I can sleep now, thank you for covering a lot of questions and such a respectful video.

Funny thing is, 1AD would be roughly the mean average between the two different dates given by the Gospels. So you could argue that it's a good compromise between the two discrepancies.

As someone living near Bethlehem, it's FREEZING in December. It's not European, but I suppose -3°C on an average night is not a great sleeping temperature.

Matt, Thanks for your interesting and accurate analysis! Wayne, one of your chart holders

Very good outline involving many dates I had not been aware of. Your discussion raises a question I have had for years. If the year of the census is known taking Mary too Bethlehem, shouldn't we also know the time of year? Such travel would never occur during December. More likely late spring early summer. December has never made sense to me.

The historian in me appreciates this video. The Catholic in me also appreciates the video as well. Thanks for the great video.

In his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) has a whole chapter devoted to how the Christian liturgy is tied to time and the four seasons. Christmas was celebrated on the winter solstice because it is the darkest day of the year, but hence forth the days get longer and lighter. Christians believe Christ is the light of the world dispelling the darkness, and bringing light to the world. This is similarly why the feast of the passion of John the Baptist is celebrated on June 24th near the summer solstice, in John 3:30, we read John the Baptist saying “He must increase, but I must decrease.” After the summer solstice the days get shorter, or decrease. The sun, associated with John the Baptist, now decreases and prepares the way for the coming of Christ at Christmas. It’s an idea that’s sadly been lost, but the Christian liturgy and liturgical seasons are highly tied to the four seasons and express the cosmic dimension of Christ’s death and resurrection. Thank you for your informative video and your great channel!

Thanks for your very clear unclarity! Seriously though, I very much appreciate your explanation and I've subscribed to your channel to check out more of your videos.

He was born at the time of the year that the sacrificial lambs were born in Bethlehem. The parallels are mind blowing.

I actually really appreciate how you start by honestly saying there won't be a definitive answer and not save that conclusion to the end. This transparency is lacking on Youtube because channels want them views and retention rates. Now I have my expectations set and I'm still going to watch the entire thing.

I always thought there was a clue in the story of Jesus' family returning for the passover when he was 12 years old. When they finally find him after searching for three days, he explains how he must be about his father's business, as if his parents should have plainly realized this. "Know ye not that I must be about my father's business?" Therefore, I posit that he was indeed born during the passover (the paschal lamb) and had a birthday while they were there, making him 13, or the age at which Jewish tradition holds that a boy has become a man. From this story we also see that it was sort of common for families to travel to their home town for the passover, which might have been why Augustus chose that time to take the census. It was convenient. If this is true, Christ also would have died just about the time of his birthday, the sacrificial lamb, born during the passover and sacrificed during the pass over. Possibly, the day he rose from the dead was his actual birthday. So that would be pretty cool.

Papa t you have raised an interesting point of perspective smashed it out the park mate

Love it! Great way of creating more questions from a question. 😂