History of Christmas: The Year – How Could Jesus be born 4 B.C.?

denys_le_petit

Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: THE YEAR t’s common knowledge that Jesus was born on December 25, A.D. 1, Right? Well, not so fast.   OK then, was it in Year Zero? No, there wasn’t a Year 0; the calendar went from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1.   We know that Herod the Great (who killed all…

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History of Christmas: The Year – How Could Jesus be born 4 B.C.?

denys_le_petit

Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: THE YEAR It’s obvious that Jesus was born on December 25, A.D. 1 (Anno Domine, “the year of our Lord”), right? Not so fast. OK, was it in Year Zero? No, there wasn’t a Year 0; the calendar went from 1 B.C. to A.D. 1. We know that Herod the Great (who…

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History of King Herod: Why was he called Great?

Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF HEROD THE KING When the wise men asked Herod the King “Where is he who is born king of the Jews?” their question was not really spoken in a vacuum, for even the Roman author Suetonius wrote, “There had spread all over the East an old and established belief that it was fated…

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History of the Magi: The Wise Men

Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THE WISE MEN You’re familiar with the song that begins “We Three Kings of Orient Are…” but it is inaccurate in at least three ways. We don’t know how many there were, but we know they weren’t kings. They did not originate in the Orient, meaning the Far East. How could they have…

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History of Christmas: The Year – How could Jesus be born 4 B.C.?

Reading Time: < 1 minuteHISTORY OF CHRISTMAS: THE YEAR It’s obvious that Jesus was born on December 25, A.D. 1 , right? Wrong. What we do know is that Herod the Great (who killed all the babies in Bethlehem younger than 2 years of age) died in the Spring of 4 B.C. according to the Jewish historian Josephus, and…

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History of Christmas: The Wise Men

Reading Time: 2 minutesHISTORY OF THE WISE MEN You’re familiar with the song that begins “We Three Kings of Orient Are…” but it is inaccurate in at least three ways. We don’t know how many there were, but we know they weren’t kings. They did not originate in the Orient, meaning the Far East. How could they have…

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History of Christmas: King Herod

herod the great

Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF KING HEROD: WHY WAS HE CALLED GREAT The Wise men asked Herod the King: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” While this seems an unlikely question to ask a client king of the great Roman Empire, they were not asking in a complete vacuum. During the century around…

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