Jesus' Birth

[lemonbeam]

Why do none of the 4 Gospel writers or St. Paul inform us of even his birth (or death) year?
And why do Matthew and Mark seem to differ by many years re. his birth. ?

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Why do none of the 4 Gospel writers or St. Paul inform us of even his birth (or death) year?
And why do Matthew and Mark seem to differ by many years re. his birth. ?

They do. remember that they “year” was identified by the ruler at the time, not by a "number as we do.

 

[Spirithound]

Why do none of the 4 Gospel writers or St. Paul inform us of even his birth (or death) year?
And why do Matthew and Mark seem to differ by many years re. his birth. ?

To answer your second question first, Mark doesn’t give a birth narrative, so I’m sure you meant Matthew and Luke, and both of them say it happened when Herod was king of Judea.
In answer to your first question, that is as specific as Matthew gets, but Luke also tells us that Quirinius was governor of Syria and and Augustus was the Caesar. I understand this narrows the window significantly. This was the way they counted the years back then, the years of the king. It just so happens that our King has been ruling for a couple millenia
Furthermore, Luke tells us that the “annunciation of John” took place during the time the priestly division of Abijah was on duty at the Temple, which Zechariah was a part of, thus narrowing the actual time of year.

 

[rossum]

In answer to your first question, that is as specific as Matthew gets, but Luke also tells us that Quirinius was governor of Syria and and Augustus was the Caesar.

Augustus is not a problem. Herod and Quirinus are, and that may be what lemonbeam was referring to in the first post. From other contemporary sources we know that King Herod died in 4 BCE or possibly 5 BCE. From Josephus we know that Quirinus became governor of Syria in 6 CE. There is a ten year discrepancy that has to be explained. As far as I am aware the problem was first noticed by Schuerer in 1885 and has not yet been properly resolved.

There are also issues with the census ordered by Augustus.

rossum

 

[thistle]

Why do none of the 4 Gospel writers or St. Paul inform us of even his birth (or death) year?
And why do Matthew and Mark seem to differ by many years re. his birth. ?

His exact date of birth and death have no relevance to our faith.

 

[gzh]

** No it doesn’t but it is interesting stuff. I found a piece online and it is from a book by Earnest L. Martin, copyrighted in 1996. I quote it:

The Exact Day of Jesus’ Birth
The apostle John is presenting to his readers something of profound significance in a symbolic way. Revelation 12:1–3 shows a New Moon day that could only be observed from earth just after sunset, and the day was September 11th. This fits well with Luke’s description of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Recall that,
“there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over the flock by night … and the angel said … unto you is born this day [which began at sundown] in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
• Luke 2:8–11
Jesus was born in early evening, and Revelation 12 shows it was a New Moon day.
What New Moon could this have been? The answer is most amazing. It is almost too amazing! September 11, 3 B.C.E. was Tishri One on the Jewish calendar. To Jewish people this would have been a very profound occasion indeed. Tishri One is none other than the Jewish New Year’s day (Rosh ha-Shanah, or as the Bible calls it, The Day of Trumpets ― Leviticus 23:23–26). It was an important annual holy day of the Jews (but not one of the three annual festivals that required all Palestinian Jews to be in Jerusalem).
What a significant day for the appearance of the Messiah to arrive on earth from the Jewish point of view! And remarkably, no other day of the year could astronomically fit Revelation 12:1–3. The apostle John is certainly showing forth an astronomical sign which answers precisely with the Jewish New Year Day. John would have realized the significance of this astronomical scene that he was describing.

** So, like I said, it is interesting stuff. gzh

 

[gzh]

Also, and I forgot to say this, the actual write up is about 18 pages long, with documentations and reasonings and referrings. Remember: this was written 5 years before the 9/11 events of the Bush years. gzh