To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 02:14:36
Subject: The Birthday of Yeshua during Sukkot
From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The Birth of Yeshua during Sukkot
THE BIRTH OF YESHUA DURING SUKKOT
(Taken from the book, "Seven Festivals of the Messiah")
With the end of the year approaching, without a doubt we will
probably be getting into the "Christmas" debate about Christmas
having it's origins in the worship of the sun god in Mythraism and
Dec 25th being the birthday of the sun god. The Roman Catholic
church adopted Dec 25 as the birthday of Yeshua/Jesus to allow for
those who worshipped Mithras to be more easily converted to Roman
Catholicism. The Eastern Orthodox church regards "Christmas" as
being on Jan 6th.
What most Protestants don't realize is that Protestants have
not fully left those things that were brought in by the Roman
Catholic church when they mixed paganism
(Egyptian/Babylonian/Mithraism) worship and practices with the
worship of the God of Israel and sanctioned this mixed worship as the
true worship of the God of Israel. By understanding the themes of
the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), we can understand that
Yeshua/Jesus was most probably born on the first day of Sukkot
(Tishrei 15). Let us examine some of the facts which leads us to this
conclusion.
In Luke 1:5, Zachariah is a priest of the division of Abijah. What
does this mean? Israel was divided into 24 districts at the time of
Yeshua/Jesus. Each of these districts sent two representatives to
officiate at the Temple during the weeks of the year. In I Chron 24,
the first division of the priests would serve in the first week of
the year which would be both in the month of Nisan and Tishrei since
both months begin the new year, Tishrei on the Civil Calendar and
Nisan on the religious calendar. During the Festivals, the priests
from all 24 districts would go to Jerusalem to help with the festival
activities.
In I Cor 24:10, we see that Abijah was the eighth division or
course of priests. The course of Abijah would minister in the 10th
week of the year (Passover and Shavuot all would come).
In Luke 1:9-10, we see that Zacharias is burning incense. This
is done in the room of the temple known as the Holy Place. As the
incense (which represents the prayers of God's people ... Psalm
141:2, Rev 8:3-4) is being burned by the priests in the temple, 18
special prayers are prayed. These 18 prayers would be prayed every
day in the Temple. One of these prayers is for the coming of Elijah.
This is important to understand because it was understood by the
people that Elijah would proceed the coming of the Messiah (Malachi
4:5).
In Luke 1:11-13, the angel appeared on the right side of the
altar and told Zacharias that his prayer was heard and John the
Immerser (Baptist) would be born. John was not literally Elijah but
of the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17).
Allowing two weeks for the monthly period of separation between
man and wife that God commanded in Lev 12:5, 15:19.,24-25 after going
back to the house (Luke 1:23) and then going forward nine months puts
the birth of John during the festival of Passover. This is an
extremely important point because during the service for Passover,
which is called the Passover Seder, the people are instructed by God
to go to the door and look for Elijah while the Passover meal is
eaten. The cup is called the cup of Elijah. The understanding that
Elijah will proceed the coming of Messiah is the basis for the
question and discussion as found in (Matthew 17:10-13).
In Luke 1:26, during the sixth month of Elizabeth's
pregnancy, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. This should have been
around the 25th of Kislev otherwise known as Chanukah. During the
time of the first century, Chanukah was known as the second Sukkot.
During the time of Chanukah, all the Sukkot prayers would be prayed
again. Mary's dialogue with the angel Gabriel is still found in the
Sukkot liturgy today.
If you calculate from the 25th of Kislev and add 8 days for
the festival of Chanukah plus nine months for Mary's pregnancy, this
will bring you to the time of the Festival of Sukkot or Tishrei 15.
On Tishrei 22 (also known as the 8th day ... Lev 23:36, Yeshua/Jesus
was circumcised (Luke 2:22-23, Lev 12:1-3)
OTHER EVIDENCES OF YESHUA'S BIRTH DURING SUKKOT
The feast of Sukkot is called "the season of our joy" and "the
feast of the nations". With this in mind, in Luke 2:10 it is
written:
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you
good tidings of GREAT JOY (the season of our joy) which shall be to
ALL PEOPLE (the feast of the nations)"
In Luke 2:12, the babe is wrapped in "swaddling cloths" and
"lying in a manger". The swaddling cloths of the priests were used
as wicks to light the 16 vats of oil within the court of the women
during the festival of Sukkot. So, swaddling cloths are associated
with the feast of Sukkot. The word "manger" in Luke 2:12 is the Gree
word "platn'e". This word is translated as "stall" in Luke 13:15. So,
we can see that the word "manger/stall" can mean a place for hitching
cattle. The Hebrew word for "stall" is "marbek" which can be found in
Amos 6:4 and Malachi 4:2. In Genesis 33:17, it is written that Jacob
journeyed to SUKKOT and made BOOTHS for his CATTLE.
Therefore, by studying and understanding the festival of
Sukkot and the themes and messages that God desired to be
communicated to us during this festival, enables us to read the Bible
in a new light and also allows us to understand that Yeshua/Jesus was
born during the season of Sukkot not on Dec 25th which is the
birthday of the sun god in Mithraism.
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