By TC Lo 盧天賜 (December 20, 2011)
<中文版在後>
Was Jesus really born on the traditional Christmas day, December 25th? The Bible makes no explicit mention about that. But it does not mean that we couldn’t find clues from the Bible. Let’s examine three Bible verses from the Gospel Luke as the starting point of the investigation:
- 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 (Luke 1:5).
- Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God (Luke 1:8).
- he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
We just here learned that the office of the priesthood was divided into many divisions. Divisions took turn to serve God in the Temple. Each division consisted of more than one priest and the on-duty priest was chosen by lot. With this as background, we are facing three questions:
- How many divisions were there in Zechariah’s time?
- How many priests were there within a division?
- What was the divisions’ appointed order of ministering?
The answers to these questions could give indication as to what month Zechariah was in service as recorded in Luke 1 above.
According to 1 Chronicles 24:1-19, the descendants of Aaron during the reign of King David were divided into 24 divisions. Divisions were group in pairs. Each pair of divisions would take turn to minister the temple business for a month so within a year all divisions had the opportunity to serve God in the temple. Each division of the on-duty pair would select a priest by lot to represent his only division. Zechariah was belonging to the 8th division—the division of Abijah, the one of the fourth pair. If the order of ministering was arranged according to 1 Chronicles 24:7:18, Zechariah would serve on the second half of the fourth month. Doctor Luke, the historian and the author of the Gospel Luke gave us further clue:
- When his (Zechariah’s) time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion (Luke 1:23-24). After the son was born, he was given a name John.
- In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin whose name was Mary proclaiming to her that she would be conceived by the Holy Spirit and would bear a son whose name would be called Jesus. (C.f. Luke 1:26-30)
If Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John, was conceived on the fourth month (Elizabeth was pregnant right after Zechariah went home) , Mary’s baby, Jesus, would be conceived on the tenth (4+6) month of the same year. If Mary’s pregnancy term was nine months, Jesus would be born on the seventh month of the following year. We are slowly homing in on the answer of the underlying question. But a new question arises: How is the Jewish “Seventh Month” related to today’s Gregorian calendar? Let’s read:
- The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year (Exodus 12:1).
Here the Bible talks about the establishment of the First Passover feast. This was a new beginning. God even ordered the Hebrews to change their calendar in order to commemorating a new era. The Jewish scholars told us that this “First Month” corresponds to today’s March (or maybe April). If this is true, the “Seventh Month”, Jesus’ birth month, would have been October, not December.
Consider one more verse:
- The LORD said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire (Leviticus 23:26-27).
Here, the “Seventh Month” was mentioned which has further significance: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur—one of Jewish’s most holy festivals) falls on this month. Is it not the meaning of the name “Jesus” all about—“He will deliver His people from their sins”? The first day of the Seventh Month is the day of the trumpets, symbolizing praising God. The 15th to 21st period of the Seventh Month was the Feast of Tabernacles, signifies Emmanuel, the indwelling of God in our hearts. (Leviticus 23:24, 34). However, these are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (colossians 2:17).
When was Jesus born? From the point of view of the Gospel, this is very insignificant issue. The most important message is that God had sent His Only begotten Son to be our Savior according to the prophecies proclaimed in the Old Testament. Incarnation is one of the central themes of Christian faith. However, by doing this analysis, we’ve gained knowledge about the Bible, this by-product perhaps is more important than the answer itself. Throughout the Bible God has put enough into the world to make faith in Him a most reasonable thing, and He has left enough to make it impossible to live by sheer reason or observation alone. Our faith in Jesus is the reason for the season!
耶穌真的在十二月十五日 (傳統聖誕節) 出生嗎? 聖經沒有明說, 但不代表聖經中沒有線索可尋. 讓我們先看三節聖經, 作為追蹤的起步點:
• 當猶太王希律的時候，亞比雅班裡有一個祭司，名叫撒迦利亞。(路1:5)
• 撒迦利亞按班次在神面前供祭司的職分. (路1:8)
• 照祭司的規矩掣籤，得進主殿燒香。(路1:9)
這裡告訴我們當時的祭司是分成很多班的, 各班照着班次 (即 “事奉表”) 來事奉. 每一班就是一個祭司團. 那一個團員去供職是由掣籤來决定. 如果我們對這 “事奉表” 有些了解, 我們便知道撒迦利亞究竟是在那一個月事奉了.
這個事奉表原來可以從歷代志上 (24:1-19) 推測出來: 大衛作王時, 他把亞倫子孫分為24班, 如果這是個一年的事奉表, 且是由第一個月順序排到第十二個月, 那就表示每一個月有两個屬不同班的人供職. 從這段經文所述的次序, 我們便有理由假設撒迦利亞 (亞比雅班是排行第八的) 是在第四個月的下半月值班.
路加醫生也是史學家. 他提供另一線索:
• 他供職的日子已滿，就回家去了。這些日子以後，他的妻子伊利沙伯懷了孕，就隱藏了五個月. (路1:23-24)
• 到了第六個月 (即六個月後)，天使加百列告訢馬利亞即將要懷孕. (路1:26-30)
如果假設撒迦利亞任務完畢回家後, 妻子馬上便懷孕. 再假設, 如果天使向馬利亞說話後, 馬利亞馬上懷孕, 那麼這裡所說的 “六個月後” 便是同一年的第十個月了. 如果馬利亞的懷孕期是正常的九個月, 那麼, 嬰兒耶穌便會在次年的第七個月出生了.
但我們還面對一個新的問題: 究竟猶太人的第七個月相當於今天羅馬日曆的那一個月呢?
• 耶和華在埃及地曉諭摩西、亞倫說：“你們要以本月為正月，為一年之首。(出12:1)
這裡論及神為以色列人設立第一個逾越節. 因為是一個新的開始, 所以神把當時的日曆更改, 命此月為正月, 即第一個月. 猶太人和聖經註釋學者都告訴我們這 “第一個月” 相當於今天的三月或四月 (羅馬曆以日為準, 猶太和中國農曆以月為準, 所以有些出入). 那麼耶穌的生日便在今天的十月了.
還有一點可以思考:
• 耶和華曉諭摩西說：“七月初十是贖罪日，你們要守為聖會，並要刻苦己心，也要將火祭獻給耶和華。(利23:26-27)
我們看到, 耶穌的生日與贖罪日 (Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur) 原來是同一個月. 這豈不是耶穌這個名字 (衪要把衪的百姓從罪裡救出來) 的意義嗎? 還有七月一日是吹角節 (利23:24), 代表讚美神, 七月十五至廿一是住棚節 (利23:34), 代表以馬內利, 即神與人同在, 都在猶太七月 (今天的十月). 聖經說, 這些節日原是後事的影兒, 那形體却是基督 (西2:17).
耶穌在那一天出生? 從福音的角度是個極不重要的問題. 最重要的訊息是上帝的獨生子確照預言所示, 曾到世上來作我們的救主. 但在追蹤答案的過程中, 可導至我們對聖經有進一步的了解. 這也是研究聖經難題的好處, 滿是理性追求對我來說還是次要. 聖經真是一本窮盡一生研究不盡的書呀!
