Sukkot - the birthday of the Messiah

Imagine living in the year 4 CE. It is October 4, or 15 Tishri 3758 on the Hebrew Calendar. At sunset, tonight, it is the dawn of Sukkot, (starts at sunset on October 2, 2009) the first day of a High Holy Day, a Pilgrimage Sabbath. Everyone who is Hebrew is required to travel to Jerusalem to attend this 8 day festival. In addition, the Roman Empire has ordered that a census be taken…..and you have to travel to the town of your ancestors to be counted as part of that family’s descendants. There are thousands and thousands of people in Jerusalem for the High Holy Day which starts tonight. Each family is required to build a sukk’ah, a temporary dwelling, a booth, a temporary tabernacle, and dwell in it for the 7 days of this feast of tabernacles, or sometimes called the feast of Ingathering.

These booths are erected to house families with some bare comforts and food for the seven days. (It would be like us going camping for a whole week these days.) Food is placed in an animal-fodder crib for storage in these temporary tabernacles (sukk’ah or booth). The King James Bible has translated the word for food crib as “manger”. After the 7 day long feast, there is an additional Sabbath Day on the 8th day called the Shemini Atzeret Sabbath “The Last Great Day” because it is the final annual Holy Day that was God-established. The next Holy day is the next Passover.

It is the fall of the year as the harvests are being brought in (gathered). Shepherds are in their fields watching over their flocks. Jerusalem is flooded with people as everyone is required to go there for this Festival. Everything is full. And there are sukk’ahs everywhere. Perhaps thousands of them! Overwhelmingly massive crowds of Hebrew Pilgrims attending this High Holy day, this first day of the Feast. Crowds have previously arrived (to build their temporary tabernacles to stay in) and crowds are still continuously arriving, to lodge through the entire region. By sunset, Jerusalem and all of the surrounding villages are completely full. Even the nearby city of Bethlehem. Not a place to be had anywhere.

Two young Hebrews, Joseph and Mary, need to do 2 things. They need to go to Jerusalem and they need to go to Bethlehem because that’s where Joseph must go to register for the census. It is literally just 4 miles from Jerusalem. A "stop on the way". Mary is pregnant. They get to Bethlehem. She goes into labor. No place to stay. She is offered a sukk’ah (not a stable) as a place to deliver her baby, and she then placed her baby in the food crib.

IF that is in fact what happened, consider these possibilities:

the Messiah was born on the first day of Sukkot – The Festival of Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering, a High Holy Day. This day is a Sabbath.
He was born in a temporary tabernacle, a sukk’ah, (not a stable) because he came to tabernacle with us.
He was placed in a food storage crib because He is the “bread of life”.
As tradition, He would have been named and circumcised on the 8th day which would have been a Sabbath,
9 months prior to Sukkot is Hanukkah, the Festival of lights. The dedication of the Temple celebration. He would have been conceived during this holiday because He is the light of the world.
Zechariah 14:16-17 says that one day in the future all nations will be required to honor this feast.
For me, this is all I need to know. I LOVE this story. My Messiah was born in the fall of the year, when it was warm, in a temporary tabernacle, on a Sabbath that was a High Holy day, on the first day of the Feast of Ingathering, and was placed in a food storage crib because He is the bread of life. He was conceived during the Festival of Lights because He is the light of the world.

I will start this day to keep this feast – in my heart – as I truly believe this is how He was born. No "Merry Christmas" from me as that date is simply a pagan holiday. But this night, this eve of Sukkot, may you be blessed, may your heart be softened, may you come to know that your questions can be answered - all one must do is study the Word.

Jn 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

May this week be a true celebration of joy for you.

For more, click here.

If we changed the calendar, are our dates all wrong???

Have you ever wondered about our calendar? Do you ever wonder why the Hebrew calendar starts with day 1 and continues to the present, but "our" calendar had a break between AD & BC and one counts forward while the other counts backwards? I know, I was told that you count forward from the time Jesus was born and count back before his birth. But WHY?????

And if the first day of the week is Sunday and G-d said to keep the 7th day holy, why do we have church of any kind on Sunday?

And if Easter is the resurrection "anniversary" - why does the date change every year? Shouldn't it be on the same day every year regardless of what day of the week that is? I mean, seriously, I don't celebrate September 29th, my birthday, on Sunday every year.....I honor it on the actual day of the week that it falls on!

And if we KNOW the day that Elisabeth got pregnant with John the Baptist and we KNOW that Jesus was conceived 6 months later.....HOW could he possibly have been born on December 25?

Finally, remember the Christmas carols? Shepherds watching over their flock by night??? Ummmm...it's a tad cold in December is Bethlehem with snow and frost. I seriously doubt anyone is out watching the sheep at night!!!

Yep, I was a problem in Sunday School years ago and I've not been too good with religious discussions ever since. So, today is the day....if it takes me the next 48 hours to get this down in writing - I am going to get it done!!!

I'm going to use a Hebrew calendar and you need to stick with me because I think this is one of the most amazing things ever...and you just won't find it in church, but you WILL find it in your Bible and I will show you how!!!

But most of all, I always wondered about Christmas.

I'm going to start with a look at the Hebrew calendar:

1. Nisan is the 1st month. Has 30 days. Equates to our Mar/Apr. Passover is the 15th of Nisan
2. Lyar is the 2nd month. It has 29 days, Equates to our Apr/May
3. Sivan is the 3rd month. Has 30 days, equal to our May/June. the 6th of Sivan is Pentecost, aka Shauvot
4. Tammuz is the 4th month. Has 29 days, equal to our Jun/Jul
5. Av is the 5th month, has 30 days, occurs in our Jul/Aug
6. Elul is the 6th month, has 29 days, happens in our Aug/Sep
7. Tishri is the 7th month, has 30 days, happens in our Sep/Oct. Sukkot occurs around the 15th of Tishri
8. Cheshvan is the 8th month, has 29/30 days, equates to our Oct/Nov
9. Kislev is the 9th month, has 29/30 days, equates to Nov/Dec. Hanukkah occurs this month
10. Tevet is the 10th month, has 29 days, is our Dec/Jan
11. Shevat is the 11th month, has 30 days, equates to Jan/Feb
12. Adar is the 12th month, has 29 days, equals our Feb/Mar

So then take a look at these Hebrew feasts:

14 Nisan  is Passover
15 Nisan   is a 7 Day Feast of Unleavened Bread

add 50 days and that takes you to:

Shavu’ot (Pentecost) (the next day is the 10th Week of routine priestly services)

add 6 months and that takes you to
15 Tishri which is Suk’kot, 7 day feast of Tabernacles (or Ingathering)

27 weeks after Passover is

15 Kislev – which is the 7 day Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)

Stick with me because I hope to show you that the Bible tells us the following time table:

So now, let's turn to scripture:

Luke 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife [was] of the daughters of Aaron, and her name [was] Elisabeth.

*Zacharias was ministering in the Hebrew's Jerusalem Temple, during the Aaronic Ministration of the prietly family of Abia (Abijah)

Luke 1:8:And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,

**this order of priests routinely ministered in the Temple in the 8th familial course, during the 9th week of the Hebrew year

* *the 9th week includes the last few days of the second Hebrew month (Lyar) and the first few days of the 3rd Hebrew month (Sivan) and is the week before Pentecost - the Feast of Shavu'ot

Shavu'ot requires ALL 24 priestly families to be in attendance at the Jerusalem temple on that day.

Luke 1:23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

He went home right after Pentecost

Luke 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

**(Elizabeth got pregnant the day after Pentecost)

Luke 1:26: And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

Luke 1:31: And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

It was at the end of the 6th month of Elisabeth's pregnancy that the angel appeared to Mary and told her that Elisabeth was pregnant, and that she, Mary would soon conceive

Luke 1:39: And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda

* Mary immediately traveled to Elisabeth's

Luke 1:43: And whence [is] this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

* this indicates that Mary was already pregnant as Elisabeth called her the mother of my lord

there are 27 weeks between the end of the priestly course of Abijah and the first day of Hannukkah which is celebrated for eight days. There are 14 weeks from the first day of Hanukkah to Passover. That's a total of 41 weeks - a normal pregnancy period.

from the above calendar, we can see that if John was conceived at Penetcost, 6 months later would be Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication. What a perfect time for Jesus to be conceived.

John the Baptist was born at Passover. He was circumcised on the 8th day, which would have been the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Remember, Passover is in Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year.

Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Jesus birth would have come 6 months after John the Baptist, which would put it in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar - Tishri. Which is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot.

I have been studying Sukkot for some time now. Another 7 day feast. The first day is a high holy day and requires the family to make a pilgrimage. Joseph and Mary would have gone to Bethlehem for this feast. There would have been crowds. They build booths during this festival that are temporary, they are called sukkah which means booth or tabernacle and dwell (live) in them during this festival. At the end of the feast, they are torn down.

In these booths, food was placed in a food crib for storage (which the King James has translated "manger".)

So, most likely, Jesus wasn't born in a stable and placed in a manger. He was born in a temporary tabernacle and placed in a food crib (because he was the Bread of Life from heaven?)

I have been to Israel. I have been to Bethlehem. Even to this day, any kind of stable would be unsanitary and I doubt either mother or child would have survived.

Besides, I much prefer the image of my Messiah being born in a temporary tabernacle - it just seems fitting.

The very night after his birth, Joseph and Mary fled with him to the closest part of Egypt. Today's Gaza? Jesus would have been circumsised on the 8th day, a special Sabbath (no matter what day of the week it fell on.)

G-d provided 2 Holy Feasts/Festivals that both lasted 7 days, and they are 6 months apart. While called 7 days, they each have a component that causes them to last for 8 days overall.

The Feast of Unleavend Bread (7 days) is preceeded by Passover.

The Feast of Tabernacles (7 days) is followed by the separate 8th day Sabbath.

Allowing both John the Baptist and Jesus to be born and circumcised within the holiday period.

Going back to a Hebrew calendar, it has been stated that Jesus was born Tishre 15, 3758.   Because the Hebrew calendar is based on the Moon while our calendar is based on the sun, even though His birth is on the same Hebraic calendar each year, it will fluxuate on our calendar and occur on a different day on our calendar.

Our modern "Gregorian" calendar did NOT exist when Jesus was born. So on our calendar, his date of birth is October 4, BC4.

It is written that one day, all nations will honor the Feast of Tabernacles:

Zec 14:16 And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.


Zec 14:17 And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

And now I know why we are to keep this feast - because it is the real birthday of the King of Kings.

CHRISTMAS IS NOT THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS CHRIST!!!

Christmas is nothing short of a pagan holiday brought about by a mergence of pagan traditions, folklore and myths. Google it!

Why, why, why and how did our current day so called christian religions get so completely and totally turned around???

I hope to have  a post about that in the near future.

In the meantime, think about this. Chart it out. Buy a Hebrew calendar or find one online. Look at the dates. How amazingly beautiful to think that the Messiah was conceived on the Feast of Dedication....and that He was born on Sukkot - the Feast of Tabernacles. In a temporary tabernacle, and placed in a food crib because He is the Bread of Life.