When Was The Lord Born?
Q. The different gospels don’t appear to agree on the birth of Jesus. I’m not talking about if it was in the fall or the winter. What I’m talking about was when? In the gospels you can read that it was during the rein of Herod in another during the rein of Augustus. I’ve had atheists bring this up to me as they tell me all about the contradictions in the bible. Several months ago I did see something on television that cleared this up. I believe they were saying that it had been discovered that Herod was actually in power twice or that Augustus’s rein was actually on a different date. It’s been a while and I’m sorry but I don’t remember all the facts. Now it’s come up again with a friend and I can’t find the answer anywhere. Can you shed any light on this?
A. Only Matthew and Luke recorded the events of the Lord’s birth. Three rulers whose terms of office are recorded in history help us pin down the approximate date. King Herod (the Great) reigned in Judea from 37 BC until his death in 4 BC. Then his son Archelaus took over and reigned from 4 BC- 6 AD. Quirinius was the governor of Syria and held office for two terms, 6-4 BC and 6-9 AD. (Caesar Augustus reigned in Rome from 31 BC to 14 AD, from well before the birth to well afterward.)
According to Luke 2:2 Quirinius ordered the census that took Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Matt. 2:1-2 tells of the Magi arriving and asking Herod about the Lord’s birth. An angel warned Joseph to take his family and flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill the baby. (Matt. 2:13) Since Herod died in 4 BC and in his first term Quirinius was only governor between 6-4 BC that’s the maximum window of time in which the Lord could have been born. Luke 2:22 says that when Joseph brought his family back from Egypt, he heard that Herod’s son Archelaus was reigning. That confirms the census had to have occurred during Quirinius’ first term, and that Herod the Great was King at the time of His birth.
No one knows how long after the Lord’s birth the Magi arrived or how long the family was in Egypt. But both gospels agree that Jesus had to have been born in Bethlehem, visited by the Magi, and taken to Egypt, all in the period between 6 and 4 BC.
