Herman Cumming
17:22 18/06/2015
In the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, an arc-angel appears
to Mary, announcing that she will shortly give birth to the Messiah.
This is Saturday, December 22nd of 4 BC, the last day of the
Feast of Lights. Since Mary knows that she won’t get married to (her
fiancée) Joseph until the following April, she asks “How can this be,
since I’m a virgin and won’t be married for months”? This is when
Gabriel reveals that the Spirit of Yehovah will quicken her womb, and
the child shall be called “the Son of Elohim”. As a sign that it shall
come to past, Gabriel reveals that her (much) older cousin Elizabeth,
who had been barren, is six months pregnant, and shall give birth to a
son.
Mary soon departs with her entourage and travels (four days?)
to the house of Zachariah and tells Elizabeth what Gabriel had told
her. It is at this time, December 29, 4 BC, that the baby in the womb
of Elizabeth is given the Spirit of God, and Mary is impregnated. Mary
stays with Elizabeth to assist with the birth, which occurs on the 15th day of Nisan, the first day of the moadim of Unleavened Bread, which was March 31, 3 BC. On the eighth day, April 7th,
Mary accompanied Elizabeth for the circumcision of the baby boy. The
child is called “John” (actually, “Yochanan”, for there is no “J” in
Hebrew). It is then that Zachariah could again hear and speak, and
confirmed the child’s name.
It
is important to note that I said that Zacharias’ home was near
Bethlehem. Remember this, because it becomes important later. If you
read Luke 1:67–79, you will see the prophesy that Zacharias speaks about
his son, Yochanan. This was conveyed about in the area, which would
later lead to the murder of Zacharias. The next day, Zacharias gives
his priestly garments to Mary to be used to wrap her coming child in
(swaddling clothes), and she departs and returns to Nazareth (Natzeret),
being three months pregnant. After being told in a dream whose child
it was, Joseph (the carpenter) goes through with the planned April
wedding, with Mary “beginning to show”. They became the victims of
gossip.
About five and a
half months later, a decree from Caesar Augustus stated that “all the
world should be taxed”. Joseph and Mary lived in Natzeret. They both
were of the lineage of King David, of which mostly had lived in the town
of Bethlehem. But because of political circumstances, many of the line
of David had to move, and they settled in a town which was called
“Natzeret”, which you may know in English, mistranslated as “Nazareth”.
A
“netzer” is a branch (“Branch”, Isaiah 1:11), that grows out of a
(apparently) dead olive tree trunk, and comes out of the ground several
feet away from the tree trunk that has been sawed off. Since the clan
of David moved away from Bethlehem, and established a new town, the name
of “Natzeret” was given. Also, since the people of Natzeret were
ostracized and ridiculed, the phrase “can anything good come out of
Natzeret” was often cited. Therefore, Matthew 2:23 should say “He shall
be called a Netzer”.
With his wife about nine months
pregnant, Joseph has to leave Natzeret and travel six days to Bethlehem,
arriving about Monday, September 23rd, 3 BC. Since the
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) was approaching, many men of the David
line had traveled to Bethlehem, and secured rooms for their wives at
inns while the men would build a sukkah (mistranslated as “manger”) to
eat and live in for the eight days of the feast. By the time that
Joseph arrived (he had to travel slowly), there were “no more rooms” for
Mary to stay in. So Joseph built his sukkah, which is a temporary hut
to commemorate Israel’s sojourn of forty years in the desert before
crossing the Jordan River. Both he and Mary had to stay in it.
Joseph
finished the hut in time for the feast of Sukkot. After sundown, on
Thursday, September 26th of 3 BC, Mary gives birth to Yeshua, which is
the 15th day of the seventh month (Tishri), fulfilling the
prophecy of Zechariah 14:16-19. Every year, after Yeshua sets up His
kingdom on Earth, all nations will send representatives to Jerusalem for
the Feast of Tabernacles, to celebrate His human birthday. If they
fail to do so, their nation shall have no rain for a year. If they fail
to do so the second year, their nation shall have the plague. In the
meantime, Yeshua was circumcised on the eighth day, on October 3rd, 3 BC. It was the 22nd day of Tishri, also known as “the Last Great Day”.
Remember
the prophecy spoken by Zacharias? People at the time mistakenly felt
that his son Yochanan, having a known miraculous birth, would probably
be the Messiah. It is now Sunday, December 21st of 2 BC. It’s the 23rd
day of the ninth month (Kislev). The band of astronomers (12?) from
Babylon finds the house of Joseph in Bethlehem. The guardian and the
parent of Yeshua had decided to stay in Bethlehem. The astronomers give
the bequeathed wealth of Daniel to the family, and return to Babylon by
another route, bypassing King Herod.
On the 24th day of Kislev, December 22nd,
Joseph is warned in a dream to flee to Egypt. The gospels fail to tell
us that Zacharias was also warned, but could not flee because he had to
report for duty in the Temple for Hanukkah, which started on the 25th
day of Kislev. Yochanan was about twenty months old, and Yeshua was
fourteen months. Elizabeth fled to the dessert with Yochanan, not
having enough money to live elsewhere. With the wealth supplied by
Daniel (the coming of the Messiah had been revealed to him), the “poor”
family of Joseph was able to live comfortably in Egypt. It also
supported Yeshua during His seventy week ministry.
Meanwhile,
during the start of Hanukkah, King Herod realizes that the astronomers
have forsook him, and he issues the order to kill all male infants two
years and under in the region of Bethlehem. This includes the house of
Zacharias. The Temple guards sent to kill the infants heard of the
account of Yochanan, and sought out to find him, but could not find
him. So since they knew that his father was serving in the Temple, they
seized Zacharias in the Temple and demanded to know where his son was.
Of course, he refused to tell them, so they murdered him right there
“between the Temple and the altar”. Yeshua later expounded concerning
Zacharias’ death (Matt 23:35).
Catholic (false) doctrine tries to
teach that Joseph had four sons and two daughters from a prior marriage
before he married Miriam (Mary). If so, where did they stay while
Joseph and Mary were in the sukkah? Mary probably had already given
birth to another child when Joseph was told to come back from Egypt.
Since their younger children were with them when they left Jerusalem
after Passover in 11 AD, Joseph and Mary thought Jesus was among them in
the caravan. No one said anything. But when Jesus could not be found
that first night, they returned to Jerusalem the next day and spent
three days searching for Jesus. They finally thought to look in the
Temple, and there they found Jesus, safe and sound, conversing with the
Temple scholars, and he was just 12 ½ at the time. Yeshua’s question to
his parents was “How did you look for me?”, not “Why did you look for
me?”. He was inferring that if they would have first
looked for Him in the Temple (His Father’s house), they would have
immediately found Him, instead of wasting three days looking elsewhere.
In the next chapter, pagan sun worship that is instilled in gentile Christianity.
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