Okay. Here comes trouble. I have been writing about the traditions and legends that have grown around Christmas and many of their pagan roots. But here come some cold, hard facts about the Nativity story itself–
It is a comfortable and familiar tale, retold each year in countless churches and reenacted in Charming Christmas pageant tableaux. The birth of the baby Jesus in a rough wooden manger in a stable in Bethlehem, surrounded by Kings and Shepherds.
Only this simple story isn’t so seamless. Here a few facts behind the heartwarming Nativity traditions:
1. Jesus was not born on December 25th. As I wrote earlier, there is no biblical evidence for this date; it was borrowed from pagan festivals in Rome.
2. Jesus was not born in the Year 1, A.D. The precise year of his birth is also a mystery. The system of dates we use was devised by a monk about 1500 years and is seriously flawed, which made the whole fuss over the millennium a pretty silly idea.
3. “Evil” King Herod did not order the slaughter of the innocents.There is no historical record of King Herod issuing such an order or such an atrocity. Also the order to kill all babies under two suggest that Jesus was already that old when the order was given. King Herod died in 4 or 6 BC, which means Jesus might have been born as early as 7 BC.
4. There was no census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Another dating glitch. There is no record of a worldwide census of the Roman empire by the Emperor Augustus. The only known census in this period took place in the province of Judea in 6/7 AD, which puts Jesus birth ten years after King Herod died.
5. Jesus may not come from Bethlehem. Almost every reference to him is as “Jesus of Nazareth” suggesting that was his hometown, and two gospels conflict over the reason for being in Bethlehem, the city of David.
6. Jesus was not laid in a wooden manger. Only Luke mentions the manger, a feeding trough for animals. At this time they were typically carved into stone. Older Christian traditions hold that Jesus was actually born in a cave that was used for keeping animals, not a barn-like stable.
7. Jesus is not actually descended from King David. The family tree of Jesus, which differs in Matthew and Luke, comes through King David down to Joseph. But Joseph is not Jesus’s father.
8. The Star of Bethlehem was not Halley’s Comet. Many astronomers have attempted to relate the Star to an actual cosmic event. Halley’s Comet would have appeared in 12 BC, much too early. But a Roman coin of the period does depict a bright “star” which is actually one of the planets,
9. The “virgin birth” was not foretold in the book of Isaiah. A Greek translation of Hebrew used “virgin” to translate the Hebrew word for “a young woman of a marriageable age.” Early Christian writings show that the idea of the Virgin Birth was not accepted by all early Christians.
10. The four gospels don’t tell the Nativity story. Only two of the gospels, Matthew and Luke, give birth accounts, which differ is some details. Mark and John do not mention the birth of Jesus
So that’s it. All these “facts” simply mean that the Bible is not history or journalism. It is a book of faith, collected, translated and embellished by legends over two thousand years. What you choose to believe is entirely up to you.
“Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”
