Jesus birthday was 11 Sept 3 BC about 6:15pm - 7:49pm in Israel. Jesus was born in 3759 and 1999 was 5760 - Therefore on 11 Sept 2001 Jesus was 2003 years old at 11:15 am to 12:49 pm EDT in NYC.

Here is something I got from VOAF forum a while ago:
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Exact Date Of Yeshua's Birth, by Roy A. Reinhold February 1, 2001
A few days before January 1, 2001, I decided to see if the Bible...could identify the exact day of Yeshua's birth (Jesus), since a ton of books and articles have been written forwarding different views and theories. The traditional day celebrated in the church is December 25, 1 BC, although that day wasn't designated until about 360 AD. All the ante-nicene church fathers did not specify in their writings, the exact day that Yeshua (Jesus) was born.

The following multi-part article complements the 2-part article on this website called, The Pagan Aspects of Christmas. In that article, there is evidence from the calculated possible birth date of John the baptist (Yochanan the Immerser), that he was born around Passover in the spring of the year. Since John the baptist was 6 months older than Yeshua (Jesus), that would place the birth of Yeshua in the fall of the year around Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), plus or minus 3 weeks.

This multi-part article will present ...scholarship to show that with a fair degree of certainty, we can specify the exact day the angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced that she would bear a child conceived by the Holy Spirit, the exact day Mary conceived the child, the exact day of the birth of Yeshua, and the exact day Mary and Joseph took the child to the Temple on the 8th day to dedicate the firstborn with the necessary sacrifice and perform the Brit Milah (circumcision).

In beginning the process, I was predisposed to believe that the Bible ...would show Yeshua's birth on a feast day. The fall feast days of Israel are as follows.

Rosh Hashanah (Yom Teruah, or Feast of Trumpets), occurs on 1 Tishri in the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), occurs on 10 Tishri in the Jewish calendar.Succot (Feast of Tabernacles), starts on 15 Tishri and runs for 7 days, where the 15th and 21st are annual Sabbath days.
Why was I predisposed to believe it would fall on a feast day of Israel? In the gospel of Luke, it states the following:

Luke 2:1-7Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all were proceeding to register for the census, everyone to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (actually, Beit Lechem), because he was of the house and family of David; in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and who was with child. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger (feeding trough), because there was no room for them in the inn.

What I wanted you to see are 3 clues necessary to sort out this process of looking for exact date of Yeshua's birth. One, they left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem to register for the census, because both Mary and Joseph were descended from king David along different family lines. The birth took place in Bethlehem. Secondly, the days were completed for her to give birth, which tells us that the child was born at the correct gestation time. The Encyclopedia Brittanica shows that the average human gestation period for a female child is 266-267 days, and 270-271 days for a male child. That will come into play in pre-calculating the expected day of conception when Mary became pregnant. Thirdly, it states that there was no room at the inn.

I would have guessed that the day of birth of Yeshua was on one of the feast days, because there was no room at the inn. Bethlehem is only 3-5 miles south of Jerusalem, and during the fall feast days, Jewish people from all over the world would arrive ahead of time and overflow into the surrounding towns. According to the scriptures, all Israel was only required to appear before the Lord at the Temple 3 times a year (Passover, Shavuot or Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles). However, because they didn't have airplanes, trains, and cars then, Jewish people from other countries would arrive early and be there for Rosh Hashanah through Succot (a 3 week period). Therefore, it would have been difficult to find a room at the inn anytime during the fall feast days.

Specifically, John 1:14 led me to believe that the birth of Yeshua was probably on the15th of Tishri, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles; where it says, "And the Wordbecame flesh and tabernacled among us." I believed that I would most likely find 15 Tishri going into this process, but that IS NOT the day of birth of Yeshua.

I should mention that if we were only looking for one date (the actual birth date of Yeshua), it would be very difficult to try and prove one date. However, since we know from the scriptures that we have 3 dates that all have to be shown and are related in a tight way, it is more conclusive. We know there is a date for the day Yeshua was born. From that date, we must see a date of conception exactly 270-271 days prior to the birth date. Finally, the scriptures say that the Brit Milah (dedication and circumcision) took place onthe 8th day following the birth. Since we have at least 3 specific dates that are inter-related, if all show up, then we have much more certainty that we have found the exact dates for all of them.

What it shows is that Yeshua (Jesus) was born on Rosh Hashanah (head of the year),which is also called Yom Teruah (day of blowing) and in English the Feast of Trumpets. It's also Rosh Khodesh which means the head of the month. Rosh Hashanah occurs on the 1st of Tishri every year in the Jewish calendar, and is in the fall of the year. The matrix shows that the birth occurred in the jewish year 3759, which is the fall of 3 BC. In 3 BC, the 1st of Tishri occurred on September 11, 3 BC. With the matrix showing Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah, Rosh Khodesh, and "on 1 Tishri", it is clearly showing 1 Tishri as the exact day of Yeshua's birth.

Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem and stayed in a succah, a stable. Yeshua the Messiah came from heaven, to the earth, and His name is Wonderful, and Counselor, and the Son of Man. The manger or feeding trough is mentioned where Mary laid the baby after the birth. The Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) was present and the shepherds came to pay homage. It mentions the angels who announced the birth to the shepherds, and the star in the sky announcing His birth.

All the details from the gospels are present. Have we proven that Yeshua was born exactly on September 11, 3 BC? No, because if the matrix doesn't have the conception 270-271 days prior to September 11, 3 BC, then it didn't meet the criteria showing all the aspects surrounding Yeshua's conception and birth. If we count up the days from January 1 to September 11 in 3 BC (a non leap year, because 4 AD is a leap year which would make 1 BC a leap year), then we get 254 days. That means 18 days backwards in December of 4 BC, should be the exact date of the conception (December has 31 days). Our target should then be December 13, 4 BC for the date of the conception based on a 271 day average human gestation period for male babies.

Is there scriptural support for Yeshua (Jesus) being born on the 1st of Tishri? Yes, in 1 Corinthians 15:45 it says in talking about Yeshua, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit." In 1 Corinthians 15:22, it states, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ (the Messiah) all shall be made alive." Yeshua is the second Adam, and the rabbi's have long taught that Adam's birthdate was on 1 Tishri. So it is no coincidence that the second Adam has the same exact birth date.
We've gotten to the point where we are looking for corroberation for the 1 Tishri, 3759 birth date for Yeshua (September 11, 3 BC) by investigating whether the matrix also has the angelic announcement to Mary and the conception. The conception should be 270-271 days prior to the birth, or ~December 13, 4 BC.

It seems that the Angel Gabriel visited Mary on Kislev 22 in 3758 (December 11, 4 BC), and announced to her that she would conceive and bear a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. However, the conception didn't take place until Evening 1 of Hanukkah, which begins on the 25th of Kislev every year. Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights and commemorates the Maccabees victory over Antiochus Epiphanes and the Syrians. They liberated Jerusalem and the Temple Mount and lighted the menorah in the holy place of the Temple, with just enough oil for one day and it burned for 8 days. Hanukkah commemorates that miraculous cleansing of the Temple and the 8 days the menorah was lighted supernaturally.

As 24 Kislev was ending and 25 Kislev beginning, marking the beginning of Hanukkah, the power of the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she conceived. That day was December 13, 4 BC, when Mary conceived and became pregnant with Yeshua.

Erev 1 of Hanukkah is more specific than just saying 25 Kislev, since it pinpoints the time to a few hours in the evening of December 13, 4 BC. Our criteria has been met now, where the conception of Mary was shown to be 271 days prior to the birth date. The bonus was in finding out the date that the angel made the announcement to Mary, which was a couple of days prior to the conception. What we'll need to look at now, is whether the Brit Milah (first-born dedication and circumcision) at the Temple was on the 8th day following the birth of Yeshua.

The events at the Temple on the 8th day following the birth of Yeshua in a succah (stable) in Bethlehem, are an important aspect to show with a high degree of certainty that the Bible ...shows the correct dating for all mentioned events. We have shown that the angel visited Mary and announced that she would conceive and bear a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. This event occurred on 22 Kislev 3758 (December 10/11, 4 BC).

Next, ...the conception took place at the very beginning of Kislev 25, the first day of Hanukkah, the festival of lights. That conception took place on December 13, 4 BC in the evening, which is exactly what we pre-calculated based on the 270-271 average human gestation for a male child.

We know that there was no extra month of Adar II in the Jewish year 3758, because 1Tishri started the next year and it occurred on September 11 in 3 BC. If there had beenan extra month, then 1 Tishri would have been in early October for 3 BC. This is important for showing that the conception took place on the first evening of Hanukkah. The same sequence was repeated in the Jewish calendar a couple of years ago. In 1999, Rosh Hashanah occurred on September 11, 1999 (1 Tishri 5760). Any Jewish calendar you look at will show that going back 270-271 days takes you to December 13, 1998, which was evening 1 of Hanukkah on Kislev 25. You don't need to look at ancient events, but just compare the Jewish calendar in 1998 and 1999 and the dates were exactly the same in the civil calendar as in 4 BC and 3 BC.

Is there a Bible verse that would lead us to believe that we have the date correct for the conception? Perhaps there is an allusion to a prophecy in Haggai 2:18-19

Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (24 Kislev), from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: Is the seed yet in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.

Sometimes we wonder why the scriptures were so specific in citing day and month for an event. The prophet spoke, "Is the seed yet in the barn?" Perhaps this is an allusion to a future event when the true vine, the root of the olive tree, the heavenly fig tree, would be conceived as a human being. The seed in the barn can be an allusion to pregnancy. As the 24th of Kislev was ending and the 25th of Kislev beginning, Mary conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. The seed was in the barn, and a blessing for the world was here from that day onwards.

1. Announcement to Mary--took place on 22 Kislev 3758, which was December 10/11, 4 BC.
2. Mary Conceived the Child by the Holy Spirit--took place on the end of 24 Kislev, beginning of 25 Kislev in the evening, in the year 3758, which was December 13, 4 BC. This was the beginning of Hanukkah.
3. Birth of Yeshua in Bethlehem--took place on 1 Tishri in 3759 (Rosh Hashanah), which was September 11, 3 BC.
4. Brit Milah at the Temple--took place on 8 Tishri in 3759, which was September 18, 3 BC.

Is there additional scholarship to support the above scenario? A friend wrote to me as I was working on it and suggested the work by Dr. Ernest L. Martin. I ordered his book, and in the last section of this multi-part article will relate what Dr. Martin shows in his book related to signs in the sky and the real date of death of king Herod. Needless to say, Dr. Martin's work agrees 100% with the scenario above.
Dr. Ernest L. Martin wrote a book called, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star that Astonished the World I became aware of this book as I was working on the Yeshua birth matrixes. His scholarship has withstood peer review and at least one aspect of the book is now in the latest edition of The Handbook of Biblical Chronology. We'll cover that shortly, but first his website is http://www.askelm.com and you can order his book directly bycalling 1-503-292-4352. His e-mail address is: askoffice@askelm.com
Dr. Ernest L. Martin shows in his book, that the signs in the sky shown in Revelation 12:1-3, occurred on only one day in 3 BC, and they occurred exactly on September 11, 3 BC between 6:15 pm and 7:49 pm. What are these celestial signs?

Revelation 12:1-3 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars; and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon having seven heds and 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

Because the earth is rotating, there is apparent motion of the sun and moon, while the stars stay somewhat fixed in relation to the earth. The sun was mid-body along the ecliptic in Virgo the Virgin on September 11, 3 BC, and the moon was under her feet exactly from 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC. According to Dr. Martin, this great sign in the sky only occured on that one day in 3 BC.

While Dr. Martin's date for the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) agrees,... can we infer that the birth of Yeshua took place exactly between 6:15 to 7:49 pm on September 11, 3 BC? I believe that we can accept the time of birth as being 7 pm plus or minus an hour based on the exact sign in the sky.

What about the death of Herod as it relates to all this? After all, many scholars have said that king Herod died in 4 BC or 5 BC? Dr. Ernest L. Martin in his book, laboriously goes through each possibility for the death of king Herod and with a number of other scholars, proves that Herod died a couple of weeks after the total lunar eclipse of January 10, 1 BC. He pinpoints the date of death of Herod to about January 29, 1 BC plus or minus a couple of days.

Flavius Josephus wrote many details surrounding the death and burial of king Herod in his Jewish Antiquities. He writes that king Herod died shortly after a lunar eclipse. The lunar eclipses for that period of time in Israel were:

7 BC -- no lunar eclipse
6 BC -- no lunar eclipse
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on March 23, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
5 BC -- total lunar eclipse on September 15, time between eclipse and Passover was 7 months
4 BC -- partial lunar eclipse on March 13, time between eclipse and Passover was 29 days
3 BC -- no lunar eclipse
2 BC -- no lunar eclipse
1 BC -- total lunar eclipse on January 10, time between eclipse and Passover was 12.5 weeks.

Dr. Martin and a number of other scholars have shown that given the details by Josephus and other historians of that time, that king Herod had to have died almost 3 weeks after the lunar eclipse. Then there were preparations for a royal burial and a 30-day period for the procession and burial. After that was over, the new king, Archelaus took care of many royal duties before Passover. Given all this, the two springtime lunar eclipses in 5 and 4 BC could not possibly be the lunar eclipse preceding king Herod's death. You'll have to read Dr. Martin's book to get all the details and other supporting information.

What does this all mean? It means that Christmas is entirely pagan and is the continuation of the religious practices of ancient Babylon. Yeshua (Jesus) was born on September 11, 3 BC and was earlier conceived on December 13, 4 BC. There is nothing about Yeshua related to Christmas except man-made customs. Saturnalia was the celebration of the winter solstice from ancient Babylon and Semiramis gave birth to Tammuz on December 25. The Roman and Greek world worshipped the sun in a religion called Mithraism, and December 25 was the Nativity of the Sun (Sol the sun god). Tammuz was supposedly the rebirth of Nimrod who is also known as Baal. The yule log is from ancient Babylon symbolizing the stump for Nimrod or Baal. The green tree decorated with silver and gold and nailed down so that it would not totter was celebrated by ancient Israel as they apostasized (Jeremiah 10:3-4), and there are a number of references in the Old Testament to a green tree as an idol. It is the same Christmas tree customs which people use today for Christmas. The round sparklyballs represent the sun. The popes in about 350 AD deliberately renamed the birth of Sol the sun-god on December 25 as a Christian custom. That is recorded in the Roman writings of that time. All of these Christmascustoms were done by the pagans before the day was renamed as a Christian holiday. Isn't it interesting that there were ancient presentations of the woman and child thousands of years before Yeshua was born? These madonna and child representations were Semiramis and Tammuz from ancient Babylon.

So many Christians wonder when reading the Revelation, what Mystery Babylon could be in our modern time. It is partly the modern church, which has a mixture of the true teachings from the Bible, plus the most sacred Christian days being the old pagan Baal customs. All of these old pagan customs are part of the celebration of the rebirth of the sun on December 25. None of this is from God our Father. The Puritans in America forbade the celebration of Christmas because they knew and taught what has been presented here, that Christmas has nothing to do with Christ or the conception or birth of Yeshua. Actually the end-times Mystery Babylon is a religious Babylon, an economic Babylon, and a political Babylon. The religious Babylon is only part of Mystery Babylon.

I know, the first excuse usually given is, well we can do good on that day. Yes, you can do good on any day of the year. Why is it that you have to give gifts and put up a green tree in your house on December 25? Is it because everyone else does it? Secondly, pastors will say that they preach the gospel on that day and some get saved. Yes, that does occur, but isn't it the preaching of the Word of God and not the trappings of the pagan holiday that saves people. That too can occur any day of the year.

The fact is that believers need to repent that they perpetuated these pagan days and called them meaningful. You can make fun of ancient Israel when they adopted the customs of the pagans and were later expelled from the land for their faithlessness, but aren't we doing the same things? Please reconsider celebrating pagan holidays and calling them Christian.

======================end
http://www.askelm.com/books/book003.htm web site of book.

--Ðøug ™ 2003.12.20.0.25.41 PT

The site I am quoting from also has something to say about the year of Christ's birth:

quote:

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The year of Christ's birth

Jesus wasn't born in A.D. 0 either. In 525 Pope John I commissioned the scholar Dionysius Exiguus to establish a feast calendar for the Church.. Dionysius also estimated the year of Christ's birth based upon the founding of the city of Rome. Unfortunately because of insufficient historical data he arrived at a date at least a few years later than the actual event.

The Gospels record Jesus' birth as occurring during the reign of Herod the Great. Herod's death is recorded by Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, Book 17, Chpt. 8) and occurred in the spring of 4 B.C. (New Testament History, F.F. Bruce, Anchor Books, p.23). Therefore, Christ's birth had to take place at least four years before the traditional date!

Jesus was not born on December 25, A.D. 0. [Actually there is no such year as A.D. 0. Our calendar jumps from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1 with no intervening year of zero.]

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Based on the above quote, what year then was Christ born, and how does this year compare with other Bible records that establishes the year in which Christ began His ministry and the year in which He was crucified, as it relates to the 70 week or 490 year prophecy?

Hmmm. Seems like there are a good number of assumptions and holes in the theory from VOAF, upon first examination. Some that jump right out:

(1) The Bethlehem star associated with Christ's birth wasn't the result of astronomical phenomena (stars, planets, moon etc.) --

"The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens upon that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. As the light faded, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the sky. It was not a fixed star nor a planet, and the phenomenon excited the keenest interest. That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant." DA 60

(2) This theory seems to be going on the rabbinical Jewish calendar, which doesn't give an accurate depiction of Jewish chronology, according to the method set forth in the Bible. Only the Karaite reckoning does so. This has to do with when the barley ripens in Israel -- that determines when the new year starts, so it varies from year to year in Karaite reckoning.

http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/karaite-reckoning-1844.htm

(3) Couldn't it be that there was no room at the inn simply because many people had returned to Bethlehem to be taxed, like Joseph and Mary did? All the descendants of David returned to Bethlehem, and that surely was a lot more people than the inns in Bethlehem were normally prepared to handle. It doesn't seem obvious at all that the inns were full because it was during the time of a fall festival. That's possible, but not a demonstrated fact.

John,

I agree with you re the quote from DA60, however, how then did the wise men from the east come into the picture?

quote:

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Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 2:7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

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When did the star first appear?

How did they discover this star?

How long did it take for the wise men to travel from the east to where the Christ child was located?

John,

I guess you already answered my first two questions in the DA60 quote you posted, and I missed it until now.

The only question remaining is how long did it take for the wise men to travel to Jerusalem, and then to Bethlehem? Can we find an answer to this somewhere?

(I meant to post this days ago.)

===

EGW says the wise men had a long journey:

"As by faith Abraham went forth at the call of God, "not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8); as by faith Israel followed the pillar of cloud to the Promised Land, so did these Gentiles go forth to find the promised Saviour. The Eastern country abounded in precious things, and the magi did not set out empty-handed. It was the custom to offer presents as an act of homage to princes or other personages of rank, and the richest gifts the land afforded were borne as an offering to Him in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. It was necessary to journey by night in order to keep the star in view; but the travelers beguiled the hours by repeating traditional sayings and prophetic utterances concerning the One they sought. At every pause for rest they searched the prophecies; and the conviction deepened that they were divinely guided. While they had the star before them as an outward sign, they had also the inward evidence of the Holy Spirit, which was impressing their hearts, and inspiring them with hope. The journey, though long, was a happy one to them." DA 60

I'm no expert on light and distance, but it would seem that the wise men couldn't have been *too* far away, or they couldn't have seen the angels' light when they appeared to the shepherds, as EGW says they did. No more than a few hundred miles, maybe?

"These wise men had seen the heavens illuminated with light, which enshrouded the heavenly host who heralded the advent of Christ to the humble shepherds. And after the angels returned to Heaven, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the heavens. This light was a distant cluster of flaming angels, which appeared like a luminous star. The unusual appearance of the large, bright star which they had never seen before, hanging as a sign in the heavens, attracted their attention. They were not privileged to hear the proclamation of the angels to the shepherds. But the Spirit of God moved them out to seek this heavenly Visitor to a fallen world. The wise men directed their course where the star seemed to lead them....." RH 12-24-72

Then in the following passage she indicates that it was very soon after the angels appeared to the shepherds, that Herod hatched his plan to kill all the Hebrew babies in Bethlehem -- which occurred after the wise men visited him:

"The city of Jerusalem was thrown into great excitement by the sayings of the wise men. The news was immediately carried to Herod. He was exceedingly troubled, yet disguised the discomfiture, and received the men with apparent courtesy. . . .
The glory of God attending the angelic host had scarcely disappeared from the plains of Bethlehem when the malice of envious Herod was aroused in opposition to the infant Saviour." RH 12-24-72

So, though it was called a "long" journey, it couldn't have been thousands of miles; for the wise men saw the light attending the angels who appeared to the shepherds; and Herod's wrath was kindled shortly after that.

I couldn't find any more passages that would give more information than this; maybe someone else can.

Here is some interesting information from the web site I came across:

quote:

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Magi from the east
The Scriptures tell us that there were wise men (scholars) who came from the east looking for the birth of the Messiah, saying "we have seen his star in the east". Who were these scholars from the east? Why were they looking for a Jewish Messiah?

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My question is, where in the east were these scholars from?

This web site states the following:

quote:

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Babylon was known as "the land to the east." At the time of the birth of Jesus, the largest Jewish population was actually in Babylon, not in Palestine. Nearly five hundred years earlier, the entire nation of Judah had been carried away captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Only a small colony of Jews returned to Palestine after sixty-three years of captivity. The greater number of them remained where they had established homes in the land of Babylon.

The Greek for "wise men" is magoi. Daniel was referred to by this same title (Daniel 4:9). The word is equivalent to the Jewish term rabbi. It is very likely that the wise men from the east were Jewish rabbis who had been anticipating the coming of the Messiah because of Daniel’s seventy weeks prophecy [Daniel 9:24]. They had spotted a new star in the sky and took it to be a sign of the coming of the Messiah.

At the very least, even if the wise men were not Jewish, they would have been influenced by Daniel's writings. At an earlier time, Daniel had been in charge of all of the wise men in Babylon (Daniel 2:48; 4:9; 5:11).

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We know from the SOP that they were Gentiles and not Jewish rabbis, however, I find the rest of the above quote interesting.

I can see where the influence of Daniel could have been a factor in the interest and voyage of these wisemen.

If they did come from Babylon, and seeing that the star first appeared the night Jesus Christ was born, then how long would it have taken them to arrive at Jerusalem, and then from there to Bethlehem?

Nice find there Daryl, interesting is right.

As for how long it took the wise men to travel from their home to Jerusalem, that would depend on several variables.

• When they set out, what time of year, would determine how many hours of nightly travel time they had each day. In late spring and early fall there might be 10½-11 hours of night; in mid-summer there'd only be about 10 hours, with the longer days.

• What kind of animals they used to travel. I'd assume they used Arabian camels, the baggage-carrying kind --

quote:

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"The name 'Dromedary' is properly reserved for the Arabian racing camel such as those used in the various military camel corps. These camels can travel 80 to 120 miles per day carrying a rider. Arabian baggage camels have a heavier build and are capable of carrying a 200 kg [441 lb] load up to 40 miles per day."
( http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azcamel.html )

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So maybe they could have managed 50 miles a day with a lighter load? Again, also depending on how many nighttime hours they had available.

• Just how far away they were. If they came from Babylon itself, that's about 520 miles from Jerusalem as the crow flies. Of course a land trip would be more miles than that, maybe 550 or even 600 depending on how the roads were laid out.

Or they might have started out west of there, closer to Israel. We don't really know.

At any rate, it appears that they would have taken something like a week to ten days for such a trip; no more than two weeks. Then once they reached Jerusalem it would have taken only an hour or two to get to Bethlehem.

That would explain why Jesus was still in Bethlehem.

Jesus was circumcised and probably also dedicated in the temple prior to the visit of the Wisemen.

This is always an amusing subject. Simple biology has always been over looked. Anyone who understands the basic facts of life, like how long does it take for a child to be developed inorder to be born.

The Law staes a man cannot become a priest until his thirtieth year. Jesus thus began his ministry when he turned thirty. We are taught his ministry was three and one half years.

If his ministry took him to his thirty three and one half year, and he was crucified at Passover week, Then simple logic says count back six months and you will have the time of his birth. In this case his birth took place at, or about the time of the feast of Tablernacles in the Fall. This would have made his birth date about the time of the 7th month, 16th day or 7 days after the day of atonement, in the time of Herod the Great, which according to Usshers Chronology which we use today, about the forth year before the common era.

Further because Conception was considered the sign of a free man, His period of conception fell about the time of Channucha, or rather the feast of Dedication the preveious year. (see John 10:22)

Our acceptance of birthdates under the worlds reckoning make us slaves and not freemen. However when we take Christ as our Saviour and go back to the Biblical way of thinking, then we put away birthdates and become acknoweledged Freeman in Christ.

Whitlie
Henry