Jesus’ Birth 54
Jesus’ Birth
Three data have been used to date Jesus’ birth: the involvement of Herod the Great (Matt. 2); the decree of Caesar Augustus, issued when "Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:1-2); and the appearance of the "star of Bethlehem” (Matt. 2:1-12). Herod the Great is undoubtedly the "king” of Matthew 2. It is almost certain that Herod died in late March or early April of 4 B.C. Jesus must therefore have been born before 4 B.C.—but probably not much before 4 B.C., since Herod slays children only two years old and younger (Matt. 2:16). Augustus ruled the Roman Empire from 31 B.C. to A.D. 14. Unfortunately, the census to which Luke refers cannot be identified from secular sources. Josephus refers to a local census that took place in A.D. 6, and some think that Luke has confused the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem with this one. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that we know of a Quirinius as a Syrian officeholder only in A.D. 6-8. But it is unlikely that Luke, proven so accurate in historical and geographic details in Acts, would have made so serious a blunder. We may surmise that Quirinius had held an earlier post in Syria, 101or that Luke 2:2 should not be translated "this was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governer of Syria” (NIV), but "this census was before the census taken when Quirinius was governer of Syria.” 102In any case, the census does not help us date the birth of Jesus. Nor does the appearance of the star give us much help. Several identifications of the star with known astronomical phenomena have been proposed—a comet reported in 5 B.C. or a conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars in 7-6 B.C.—but none is certain. Moreover, in light of Matthew’s statement that the star "went ahead of [the magi] until it stopped over the place where the child was” (Matt. 2:9), it is perhaps unlikely that the star can be identified with any natural astronomical phenomenon.
All things considered, then, we can only estimate that Jesus must have been born sometime during 6-4 B.C.