[OneVike]

I was going to post this to FR next week, but I'll give you the link to what I posted to my blog back in early November.

Look it over and then decide if you still believe December is the Month our Lord was born in.

As for me, the evidence is overwhelming that September is most likely the date.

When Was Jesus Really Born?

[Campion]

If Jesus was born around a major Jewish feast like Tabernacles, why do the Scriptures not mention that? Why do they go well out of their way to tell us that Joseph and Mary had to make a special trip to Jerusalem to enroll for a Roman census? If it was a major feast day, they could have just made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, like Jews do to this day, and enrolled as a side activity.

The traditional chronology would have Zechariah's encounter with the angel happening at or just after the High Holy Days in the fall. John would then be conceived at the middle or end of October, so Elizabeth would be "in the sixth month" at the end of March (March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation) and Jesus would be born 9 months later on December 25th.

Priestly courses served two weeks per year, but not consecutively. They also served during major festival periods. Abijah's normal course of service falls roughly in the spring and the fall. According to this link, if you work back from the timetable Josephus gives us, you get Abijah's fall course ending on our date October 9, 6 BC.

Is that conclusive evidence that the traditional chronology is correct? Of course not. But it is evidence that it is not unreasonable.