Most Christians are aware that Jesus likely was not actually born on December 25th, but that was a date that was chosen at some point early in church history. There are a number of different reasons for that date, and perhaps we can discuss that in a later article. For now, let us take a look at a biblical and astrological argument that posits Jesus actual date of birth to be September 11, 3 B.C. This argument utilizes astral theology as a method of interpreting Revelation 12 and deciphering the exact date of Jesus birth. I was pointed to this idea by Michael Heiser, but I will be using the arguments of Earnest L. Martin in his book The Star that Astonished the World.
First, let’s start with the account of Matthew 2:1-2,
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
Note that word used there for star is the Greek, astera, which while primarily referring to stars can also be used to denote planetary bodies. This has led most astronomers to agree that the Star of Bethlehem is not truly a star, but Jupiter in retrograde motion. During this time, Jupiter appears more brightly than usual and stays in the sky for many nights. One other important thing to note, is that this argument is using the usual course of nature to explain these events in the Bible, but that does not mean that I am trying to be anti-supernatural or anti-miracle. Just because God could put a special star in the sky does not mean He did, and just as He used the naturally occurring rainbow as a sign of the covenant with Noah, He could be using naturally occurring celestial events as the sign of the coming messiah.
Now, let’s look at Revelation 12 and what it has to tell us about this same night,
12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
There is a debate as to what exactly is the context of this chapter, but to me it is clear that the text is referring to the birth of Jesus. The “one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” is clearly a reference to Christ, and so I think it is safe to take a more literal reading of this passage and to believe it refers to his birth. However, there are many symbols of the Old Testament present that should not be denied. Both Heiser and Martin address those thoroughly. Reading this event through the lens of astral theology, we see a number of signs: the woman clothed by the sun, the moon under her feet, a crown of twelve stars, and a dragon with seven heads with seven diadems and ten horns. The sun and moon are obviously just the sun and the moon, but the woman and the dragon are referring to constellations.
The woman with 12 stars around her head can logically be deduced to be Virgo, or the virgin. This woman after all is representing Mary and the virgin birth, and we know the Virgo has 12 stars around its head. If we take being clothed by the sun to mean that the sun is in the midst of Virgo’s body, then place the moon at it’s feet we begin to build a very real picture of what the sky looked like that night. Further, we have the dragon which could refer to a few different things. The two most reasonable constellations would be Hydra and Scorpio. Above Hydra sets Corax and Crater which have seven and ten stars each which would make perfect sense of Revelation 12. However, some opt for Scorpio because of its better placement to Virgo. Truly, either one fits the description well enough.
If we place all these constellations in the sky as they are described and include Jupiter in retrograde motion, then we can begin to narrow down the number of possible nights for Jesus birth. If we further include a couple symbolic constellations, we can narrow this to a 90 minute period on one night. The symbol of tribe of Judah is the lion, represented by the constellation Leo. In that constellation is the king star Regulus which on one night was overlapping with the retrograde Jupiter and all these other signs. That night was September 11, 3 B.C. This might all seem a little convoluted and unnecessary, but that date actually makes a lot of sense.
September 11, 3 B.C. also happens to be Tishri 1st of the Jewish calendar. This is the first day of the Jewish new year which had been used in the past as the inauguration day of Jewish kings such as Solomon. This day also represented the renewal of Creation and was the day of the Feast of Trumpets. For me, there are simply too many coincidences to not mean something. There is even more evidence in the works of Heiser and Martin, so I highly recommend you check them out, but I hope I have laid out a persuasive or at least interesting argument for this idea.
Happy Birthday Jesus!
