Part 2
For the past several hundred years, Gentile Christians have taught that poor Mary and Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem to register for their taxes, and that there were so many people trying to register at the same time that all the motels and hotels were full. It’s a beautiful story, but it’s simply not true ... it’s only a tradition.
First of all, when the decree was issued, citizens were given a full year during which to register for the census. There was absolutely no reason for thousands of Bethlehemites to have to come to their home town all at once to register. That being the case, we must ask why Joseph would bring his wife Mary all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register when her pregnancy was so far along.
There were three great feasts during the year when the people of Adonai were expected to make every reasonable effort to attend in Jerusalem : Pesach (the feast of unleavened bread and Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost, the feast of harvest), and Sukkot (the feast of ingathering, booths, or tabernacles). [“You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.” Exodus 23:14]
During these three feasts, the population of “the metropolitan Jerusalem area” would swell from about a hundred twenty thousand to something over two million people (according to Josephus). Every home in the entire area was open to guests, and of course all the hotels and motels would have been booked up for months.
However, during the feast of Sukkot [Tabernacles or Booths, pronounced “sue-coat”], every family was expected to live at least part of each day in their tabernacle or booth, called a sukkah, which is a temporary dwelling usually made out of palm and/or bamboo branches, to remind them that for 40 years their ancestors had lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness on their trek to the Promised Land. At night, these sukkot [the plural form of sukkah] were available for the overnight lodging of out-of-towners, and the homeowners would stock them with food for the travelers. The food was placed on a food-tray attached to the inside wall of the Sukkah to keep it up off the ground.
Beit-Lechem ( Bethlehem ) was a small village in the suburbs just about four miles south of Jerusalem . Miriam and Yoseph had apparently decided to register with the census-takers when they came up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Evidently they had intended to stop over night in Bethlehem , register in the morning, and then proceed on into Jerusalem for the feast. When they checked the hotel for available rooms, as there were no vacancies the innkeeper offered them shelter in his Sukkah, his Tabernacle, which had been erected and well-stocked with food for the express purpose of sheltering feast-keepers. It was not a shelter for animals at all. And when their Baby was born, they laid Him on the food shelf to keep Him up off the damp ground. When the (probably agnostic) Gentiles who translated the “King James” Bible got to this passage in Luke’s gospel, they had no knowledge of Jewish tradition or of how Sukkot was observed. Thinking only in terms of life in Medieval England , they translated the word for “food tray” as “manger” and the whole Gentile myth of Yeshua’s birth in a barn was created out of an ignorant error in translation.
We can know for sure that December is wrong for the birth, the Sheppard's provide the answer.
As to establishing the date for His birth, one thing is very certain … He was certainly not born during the winter. Luke 2:8 tells us: “There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock."
The weather in Israel is very similar to that in central California . By December it is quite cold, and the sheep have all been brought into the fold for the winter. “As is well known, the shepherds in Palestine do not ‘abide in the fields’ during the winter season. The shepherds always bring their flocks in from the mountain slopes and fields not later than the fifteenth of October!” [Ralph Woodrow, Babylon Mystery Religion. Self-published, 1966, p.160]
Since we have already demonstrated that Yeshua was exactly six months younger that Yochanan, it is now easy to establish the time of His birth as mid-Tishrei. The only reason that Beit-Lechem would possibly crowded in mid-Tishrei would be for Sukkot. The first and last days of Sukkot were “high Shabbats” and travel on those days was forbidden. Therefore Yoseph would have planned their trip to arrive not later than a few hours before sunset preceding the first day of Sukkot. According to Luke’s account, Yeshua was born that night, on 15 Tishrei.
The circumcision of Yeshua
To someone growing up in church, and probably never being taught the culture & History of the “Roots of His Faith”, the circumcision may seem unimportant. But in the culture, and to fulfill the commands of G-d, this event is critical.
The “birth” of a Jewish baby boy was not considered complete until he had been circumcised on the eighth day. On the eighth day, Yeshua’s “presentation” in the Temple included His circumcision according to Torah. Thus we see that the birth of Yeshua HaMashiach spanned the entire eight days of Sukkot, including His birth on the holy Shabbat which was the first day of Sukkot and His circumcision on the holy Shabbat which was the eighth and final day of Sukkot.
The Bread of Life
If indeed this theory is correct, then it adds even more meaning to the “Bread of Life” analogy. Scripture says that Succot will be celebrated even by the gentiles, for all time, could the reason be that it remembers the greatest miracle of all, G-d becoming a mna, and dying for our sins?
At His birth he was placed on the food tray in the Sukkah, thus demonstrating that He is indeed the true Bread of Life (John 6:33-51). God’s preparation of the Feast of Sukkot centuries before His birth gives extra significance to Yochanan’s comment “The Word became flesh, and lived [literally, “tabernacled”] among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
“Note that God provided two holy feasts that lasted eight days, Passover/Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Messiah, was born and circumcised in the eight days of the first, then six month later Yeshua, the Messiah, was born and circumcised the eight days of the second. John came in the first month of the year and Yeshua came in the seventh month. In ministry, John introduced the way through Messiah and then Yeshua perfected it, even as the first and seventh months signify. …
The Feast of Tabernacles is a most important commemoration. Zechariah 14:16,17 tells us that one day all nations will be required by law to honor this feast. For what greater reason, than it is the birthday of the King of Kings! Why should we delay?”