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#MaryDidYouKnow

Did you know that there are two stories of Jesus birth in the bible? I know most people don't care about the details, but this story was always really interesting to me even when I was a child during Christmas time. As a Mormon, Christmas was filled with 3-hour church services telling the story of Jesus birth, singing hymns, and testimonies. I remember reading it over and over trying to figure out clues like a Nancy Drew novel, my favorite series at the time. I felt that we were so lucky to have this ancient account of this Messiah. I didn't know that it's only through some mishmashing that we come up with the commonly known legend which is really an amalgamation of the two birth stories from Matthew and Luke.

However, when I looked deeper into it, certain things did not weave together as nicely as the church would have us believe. When I was older, I learned more about Josephus' writings who was thought to be a 1st-century historian. Surely the birth of the Messiah would have been written about far and wide or at the very least via some oral tradition, right. I was sure I would be able to find evidence. Well, apparently not so much.

We don't actually know much from that time in relation to Jesus. That's when I first began my journey into the thought that this story was less Word of God and more Stories of Man. With this realization, the less impressive the story becomes. Now, I'm definitely not a scholar, and probably got some of this wrong, so please feel free to post corrections.

The time of Jesus birth is hotly contested, which was something that surprised me as a child. I thought it would be easy to figure out since the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Out of all accounts, we should be able to at least confirm this very important event. I definitely believed the truth was the path to salvation, so I wanted to find the evidence to confirm my beliefs were not unfounded. Yes, as a child I asked too many questions.

While Matthew says quite clearly that Jesus was born during the time of King Herod. Luke mentions a Census degreed by Caesar Augustus to be conducted by the entirety of the Roman empire during the time Quirinius was governor of Syria. (Do you feel the investigation spirit yet?) These are things we can find data for. So let's see what we find.

One thing we do know about the Romans is that they did have some pretty good records. We know that Caesar Augustus ruled from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. (This was the easiest historical fact to verify. Everything else is downhill lol)

In Josephus' Antiquities & the Jewish War, Herod's reign was noted to begin in 37 BCE and lasted 34 years. He marked the death of Herod as before a Passover and a lunar eclipse.

In 1986, Emil Schurer published his work, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ. (On my wish list seriously!! I want this book.) The Journal of Roman Studies describes it as, Critical presentation of the whole evidence concerning Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 BC to AD 135; with updated bibliographies. Schurer puts together a scholarly timeline looking at lunar eclipses, the information provided in the Bible, as well as data from Historians of the time coming up with a death date for Herod of 4 BC which appears to be the current consensus right now. After Herod died, his son Archelaus took over his reign at 4 BC. (Side note, prior scholars put Herod's death date around 1 BC.)

Roman Governors of Syria is well documented thankfully so we can see who might have been in charge. According to Luke, this is supposed to be Quirinius. However, the Romans note the governor as S. Sentius Saturninus from 9-6 B.C. Some scholars think that perhaps Quirinius was working under Saturninus overseeing some of his census work during this time? However, there is another pickle. I'm not sure how he could have done that since, during the time of Saturninus' governing of Syria, Quirinius was waging war in Galatia far away from Syria at the time. So, there's that too.

If Archelaus reign began in 4 BC after the death of his father Herod and Quirinius governed 10 years after Archelaus reign. How could the birth of Jesus occur both during the reign of Herod and during the Census of Quirinius?