We have now established that Jesus was born in March or April of 5 BC on the evidence of the appearance of a bright comet in 5 BC and the death of King Herod in 4 BC. Jesus was born in spring time of that year just before Passover. This was one of the points made in the article by Colin Humphreys.
I am now going to take a closer look at the dates for Passover in 5 BC and make my own suggestions as to the significance of the date when Jesus may have been born and the mission he came to complete.
First of all this is a summary of the institution of the Passover Feast in Exodus chapter 12
These are the instructions from the Lord to Moses and Aaron while they were still in Egypt:
This month is to be the first month of your year. On the 10th day each household will select a lamb.
The lambs will be year-old males without defect; they can be sheep or goats.
On the 14th day of this month the chosen lambs will be slaughtered at twilight.
Some of the blood is to be put on the sides and tops of door-frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.
The meat is to be roasted over a fire and totally consumed. It is to be eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
You are to eat it with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
On that same night the Lord will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on the gods of Egypt.
The households that have blood on the door posts will be passed over – no plague will strike down these households.
Passover is to be conmemorated as a festival as a lasting ordinance.
For seven days eat only bread without yeast. The Feast of Unleavened Bread commences on the evening of the 14th and goes on until the evening of the 21st day of this month. If anyone eats leavened bread during this time, he is to be cut off from the community of Israel.
Moses summons the elders and instructs them to go at once and select the animals for their families and slaughter the Passover lamb.
The first month of the Jewish calendar is called Nisan. In 5 BC 10 Nisan was Sunday 14th to Monday 15th April. On this day the Passover lambs were chosen – lambs without spot or blemish.
On 14 Nisan the lambs were slaughtered at sundown. The blood was put on doorposts and the meat roasted and consumed as the Passover meal. The sacrificing of the lambs would have taken place on Friday 19th April 5 BC. The Passover Sabbath would have been on the 20th April in 5 BC.
We saw that the latest date for the appearance of the comet in 5 BC was the 6th April. If Jesus was born on this day, when the comet appeared, then he would have been circumcized eight days later on the 14th April.
The passage that refers to Jesus’ circumcision is Luke 2:21. If Jesus was circumcised on the 14th April or 10 Nisan then this coincided with the day that the sacrificial lambs were chosen. The 6th April or 2 Nisan when he was born was the Sabbath day.
Colin Humphreys does not say this, but in my estimation, if the latest date for the appearance of the star which was the 6th April is taken as the date of Jesus’ birth, then his circumcision eight days later would have been on the 14th April. If this were so, Jesus would have received the symbol of being chosen on the day that the sacrificial lambs were chosen.
Merry and True 