Step back in time and discover the surprising truth behind birthdays! Dive into this eye-opening Christian teaching on the history of birthdays and uncover biblical insights that will transform how you view these yearly milestones.

Join us as we take a deep dive into the fascinating history of birthday celebrations, from ancient traditions to modern-day customs. We explore the foundations of this tradition and provide you with the tools to make an informed decision for yourself and your family.

You’ll learn how early Christians viewed birthdays, why Scripture rarely mentions them, and what wisdom we can draw for our lives today. This teaching is perfect for anyone curious about Christian history, biblical education, and understanding traditions through a God-centered lens.

This uplifting teaching will empower you to make informed, faith-based choices that glorify God. So join us as we learn the God Honest Truth about the history of birthdays.

#HistoryOfBirthdays #BirthdayOrigins #GodHonestTruth #ChristianBirthdays #BirthdayTraditions

Transcript

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Teaching Introduction

Every year you celebrate your birthday, but have you ever stopped to ask why? It’s time to pull back the curtain on this deeply ingrained tradition that we have. In this powerful teaching, we’re diving into the history and the scripture regarding the celebration of birthdays. Are you brave enough to challenge everything you’ve ever known? The history of birthdays is a journey that will take you from historical times all the way up into modern day. And what you’re about to learn might change the way you see your own birthday forever. So stay with us as we uncover the Godhonest truth about birthdays. You won’t want to miss a single moment of this study.

Video Start

So this teaching is going to be all about scripture and the Bible and what it says about or how we should really think in a biblical way about the celebration of birthdays. And this is could be a standalone episode all by itself, but it’s part of a larger series we’re doing on the entire concept of Christmas. So, if you want to see the full teaching series, go look at our playlist on either Rumble or YouTube, or go look at our website at godhonesttruth.com.

We have a bunch of notes that we’re going to be getting into during this teaching, but there’s a whole bunch more that we’ve got on our website at godhonesttruth.com. Click on the post for this particular episode, and there you’ll find the on demand video, the drash slide you see here on your screen. You also find the notes that we took for this episode as well as the transcript. And we’ve been putting AI to work and generating academic reports.

So there are three different academic reports on the history and of birthdays from Google Gemini Chat GPT and Grock. So go and check those out. They’re all right there on the article post. So, if you want to dive deeper into it, if you’re a nerd like I am and you want even more information, go check out the article post on our website at godhonesttruth.com or we made it even easier for you, go down below in the description and there’s a convenient link down there.

All you got to do is click on that link in the description and it’ll take you directly to that article post. So, go check it out. Should be there. Whether you’re watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform, should still be there all the same. Now, like I said earlier, this is part of a broader series on the concept and teaching about Christmas leading up to the end of the year.

So, you can be more informed and educated about everything surrounding Christmas and not just all bundled together and not easy to see the different parts of it. This is the birthday part obviously that’s going to get into it. It’s going to help you see the bigger picture about Christmas itself..

Exploring the Expected Elements

So, as we go through this, let’s go ahead and look at some of the elements that we’re going to be examining during this teaching. We’re going to be looking at first off, it’s going to be sort of road map, but first off, we’re going to summarize the things we’re going to be discussing. This is part of it.

Obviously, we’re going to be thinking about some criteria for when we judge and think about various traditions that we celebrate and believe in, such as Christmas and birthday celebrations and things like that. We’re going to go over what the scripture has to reveal to us about birthday celebrations. There’s a whole bunch there that we’re going to get into during this teaching, but there’s a whole lot more on the article post. So, make sure to have your notes ready.

We’re going to be looking at Yeshua and his birth and what the scriptures actually tell us. So, you definitely want to stay tuned for that. All of it, but definitely that. We’re going to be looking at birthday celebrations throughout history in various cultures around the world and throughout time.

Then we’re also going to be looking at I didn’t put it on here, but we’re also going to be looking at some of the early believers and their beliefs and what they thought about this whole celebration of birthdays. And this is immediately after the time of the apostles. That’s the kind of period we’re talking about.

And finally, we’re going to wrap it up with a summary of what we’ve learned through the entire teaching just to get a good refresher in your mind about all the facts and evidence that we are going to cover or at least that point will have covered. But the elements overview, there’s various things that go into the celebration of birthdays. It’s not just one thing and one and done.

And it’s a conglomeration of various things from various cultural ideas and practices from around the world and throughout history. Much like what we saw with the celebration or the observance of Easter. Just a quick recap, Easter started out in the very early centuries as a commemoration or memorialization every year of the death and resurrection of Yeshua. But then it got all kinds of screwed up. It got pagan name applied to it. It got pagan traditions applied to it. The date was changed.

All sorts of stuff that has absolutely ruined the memorialization of his resurrection. In a very similar fashion, you’ll see as we go through this, in a very similar fashion, birthday celebrations are pretty much like that. And it’s composed of various things from around the world and from around through time. Number one, the annual celebration itself, just the celebration and memorialization of someone’s birthday. That is one aspect.

Another aspect is the use of cake or cupcakes, candles, gifts, giving gifts on people’s birthdays. Well-wishes, blowing out candles, that’s something that also goes into it is a separate part all and of itself. But the main thing that we’re going to be focusing on tonight is just going to be the annual celebration because that’s something that was in place before all this other stuff kind of got added to it.

During this teaching, we’re going to be looking at just the concept of the annual celebration of birthdays. Now let’s think about what we should consider when thinking about a tradition or a custom and whether we should do it, shouldn’t do it, is it a gray area, things like that. So number one, the primary things we need to start thinking about when we think about various traditions and customs such as Easter or Christmas or birthday celebrations, etc., etc.

Number one, is it commanded in scripture? Are we told to do it? That’s one thing to consider. Number two, is it prohibited in scripture? Does the Bible tell us do not do this? Something else to consider. And finally, number three, does it originate from paganism? And is it a way the pagans used to worship their gods? Because we’re told specifically in scripture, do not worship Yahweh your Elohim in the way the pagans worshiped their gods.

So that’s a very important thing we have to consider when taking these things into account with uh various traditions and customs that we think about and want to examine. Some secondary criteria, this is of course my classification here, but some secondary criteria. Does it glorify Yahweh? Does it follow Messiah’s example? Does it edify the body? And that is your own personal body individually and the body of Messiah collectively.

Does it edify the body? Does it bear righteous fruit? Something definitely to think about. Part of my secondary classification there. Is it being done in faith? Are you being forced to do it? Are you feeling obligated? Things like that.

Does it lead to spiritual or moral compromise even if it is technically permitted? Even if even if it’s not technically a sin, does it lead to spiritual or moral compromise? And something else, definitely keep this in mind too as you go throughout any study of a custom or tradition or belief. Just because the pagans did it does not mean that it originated with paganism. A good example of this are the Hebrew letters.

There are satanic and demonic tarot cards out there that use the Hebrew letters that you commonly see in newspapers and TVs in Israel today. Those same Hebrew letters. That doesn’t mean that the Hebrew letters are pagan or demonic or satanic, but tarot and all that stuff is demonic and satanic. That’s one example. Just because it is done by pagans doesn’t mean it originated in paganism etc etc. And also just because pagans did it does not mean it was a method that was used to worship their gods.

Again going back to the example of the Hebrew letters just because pagans and the demons that do tarot and stuff like that just because they use it nowadays does not mean they originally invented that and came up with it as a way to worship their gods. So keep that in mind as well. And finally, let me leave you with this comment that I found during the study for this particular teaching. This comes from biblehub.com and they’re they had an article there about should Christians celebrate birthdays.

And this comment and I read quote Paul’s instruction here referring to Romans 14 points to the freedom believers have when it comes to the observance of particular days provided the attitude of the heart is aimed at honoring God. This I mean really that is their standard for judging traditions and stuff like that is if the heart is aimed at honoring God. No, it’s a lot more than that. A whole bunch more than that. Just because your heart’s in it doesn’t mean you should be doing it.

Just doesn’t mean it’s okay to do. For instance, the golden calf in scripture, their heart was in it. They had good feels about doing this golden calf thing, but it was a pagan way of worshiping the pagan gods. And therefore, they should not have been doing it. And it was not pleasing to God. But just because our hearts were in it doesn’t mean it was okay to do it. So where your heart is at is a lot of times inconsequential. It’s what it means to Yahweh.

What he tells us to do, what he tells us not to do, things like that. So just keep that in mind as we go throughout this teaching..

Investigating Inspired Insights Into Birthdays

So now let’s go ahead and look at some scripture and what it tells us or what kind of evidence we can get from scripture regarding the celebration of birthdays. Who did it? Why did they do it? Is it okay? Is it prohibited? All that kind of good stuff. The first occurrence we get of an explicit birthday celebration comes from Genesis 40. This is where Joseph has interpreted a dream for the baker and the chief cup bearer. And after he does the interpretation, 3 days later, Pharaoh has his birthday.

And this is the setting for that. So here it says, “And on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, it came to be that he made a feast for all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and of the chief baker among his servants. And he restored the chief cup bearer to his post of cup bearer again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.

But he hanged the chief baker as Yoseph had interpreted to them.” Here’s some things to keep in mind and to think about when examining passages like this. Number one is a it is a explicit description and recounting of Pharaoh having a birthday party, birthday celebration, whatever you want to call it. Pharaoh was a pagan. He was non-believer. They worshiped various multiple gods. That was Pharaoh. And it’s Pharaoh, this pagan that’s having a birthday party.

However, it’s just a recounting and a telling of Pharaoh having a birthday party. It’s not actually central or pivotal for what’s being taught here. And because what’s being illustrated and taught here is the fact that Yahweh was working through Joseph to interpret dreams and to prove that Yahweh was working through him. This is proof of those interpretations were true from Joseph. The fact that he was having a birthday, Pharaoh was having a birthday was just incidental.

It just so happened to be. So, make sure to take everything into context. It’s not saying birthdays are good. It’s not saying birthdays are bad. It’s just saying, “Hey, Pharaoh had a birthday.” So, again, take everything into context or it can get off the rails and lead to incorrect and bad doctrine. Here is an example of just such a thing that I have heard multiple times in more conservative and traditional kind of churchianity places.

But this is about the man spilling his seed and things like that. And of course, I’m sure you can understand where that doctrine or where the kind of doctrine that people come up with over that. You’ve probably heard that before, but anyways, this comes from Genesis 38:8-10. And Yehuda said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your brother.” And Onan knew that the offspring would not be his.

And it came to be when he went in to his brother’s wife that he spilled on the ground, lest he should give an offspring to his brother. But what he did displeased Yahweh, so he took his life, too. So what’s going on here? Well, in context, we can see that Onan had some older brothers or other brothers who had married this woman, Tamar, and they hadn’t had any male offspring.

So, when these previous brothers died, Onan was supposed to take this woman Tamar and get her pregnant so that she could produce a male offspring for her original husband. But he didn’t want to do that. This is called the Levitical marriage. I guess you that what the common term is? Anyways, it’s a commandment in scripture to raise up an heir for your brother. So, millennials continue and stuff like that. Onan did not want to do that.

So, he spilled his seed and so he she would not get pregnant and raise up a child under his brother’s name. This you got to take everything into context here. And the context is the whole marriage and raising up a child to your deceased brother. It’s not about the spilling of the seed. And so many people take that out of context to try and prohibit various things. We won’t get into explicit descriptions here, but I’m sure you can understand where that is going there.

But the point is take everything into context and what it’s really saying because when you take it out of context, it leads to incorrect bad doctrine. The same thing was looking at Pharaoh’s birthday. It was just a coincidence, an incidental that he was having a birthday and it happened to come up in the story and it but the in context is proven that Joseph had the ability to interpret dreams and that Yahweh was working through him. Another explicit example of a birthday party in scripture.

This comes from Matthew 14 6-11. is also found in the book of Mark chapter 6. But as Herod’s birthday was being held, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod Herod. So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. And she, being urged on by her mother, said, “Give me here the head of Yohanan the immerser on a dish.” And the sovereign was sad, but because of the oath and the guest, he commanded it to be given and sent and beheaded Yohanan in prison.

And his head was brought on a dish and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. So once again, this is a birthday party by Herod, who wasn’t really one of the righteous, wasn’t really one of the faithful or the believers, stuff like that. But again, it’s just coincidental that he’s having a birthday party and this story happened. And the context here is just to show how John the Baptist got his head taken off. And the surrounding context tells us why.

It’s because John had come against Herod for taking a woman he shouldn’t have. And eventually it wound up getting his head removed. But he done the right thing. He should have called it out like we all should do. But again, this story of a birthday party is just incidental. It’s just telling it, hey, this happened during this time. That is another just incidental just like Pharaoh’s birthday.

It just so happened to be that they were having a birthday party when these events occurred and it made it into the story in scripture. Now, that’s the only two direct explicit instances of birthday parties in scripture. And both of these come from a nonbelieving, nonrighteous person.

So that’s something to take into account, something to think about, put down in your notes, and to consider when you’re considering, hey, should we be celebrating birthdays or should we not? Now, here’s some more evidence from scripture that’s not as explicit, but I do think it’s evidence all the same. Let’s turn to the book of Job, and we look at Job chapter 1. And here it says in verses 1-2 and 4-5, there was a man in the land of Uts whose name was Eob or Job.

And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. And his sons went and had a feast in the house of each on his day and sent and invited their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. When the days of feasting had gone round, Eob or Job wrote would rise early in the morning and offer ascending offerings. For Eob said, “It might be that my sons have sinned and cursed Elohim in their hearts. This Eob always did.” So it doesn’t directly say that it was their birthdays.

However, it does say that they went around and they had a feast. Keep that in mind. Of each on his day. What do that term on his day mean? Well, several commentaries and people who study scripture think this is referring to their birthdays that each on their birthdays had a feast and they would invite their brothers and their sisters and they would have a festive and merry time on their birthday.

We look at the Albert Barnes commentary or notes on the Bible for Job 1:4 and it says here quote everyone his day perhaps it refers only to their birthdays where the word day is used to to denote a birthday in early times the birthday was observed with great solemnity and rejoicing end quote and also from the Adam Clark’s commentary on the Bible quote feasted in their house every one his day it is likely that a birthday festival is here intended when the birthday of one arrived rived.

He invited his brothers and sisters to feast with him and each observed the same custom. End quote. Now, keep this in mind because it’s not a direct and explicit story or evidence that they were keeping a birthday celebration, but it does kind of hit that way, or at least the way I think. Other people disagree, and that’s fine. Just note that it’s not definitive. There’s a lot of stuff that points to it. For instance, let’s go on and look in chapter three of the book of Job.

And here is where Job is actually speaking. And this gives us some more insight about what that phrase his day or on his day meant. This is from Job 3:1-16. After this, Eob or Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke and said, “Let the day perish on which I was born. Let that day be darkness. Let not eloah from above seek for it, nor let light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death buy it back. Let a cloud dwell on it.

Let all that blackens the day frighten it. Let it not be included among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. Why did I not die from the womb, come forth from the belly, and expire? For now I would have been lying in peace. I would have slept. then I would have been at rest with sovereigns and counselors of the earth. So, one quick note, this is another piece of evidence for what happens when we die.

And Job knows here that if he had been dead, if he had died from the womb, that he would be at sleep. He’ been lying in peace with everyone else who’s died before him in the earth. This is something a tangent that goes along with this. But look back at that very first part that we read. It says that after this job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. So here it directly says in the translation the day of his birth. However, in the Hebrew it actually says his day.

The same thing it says in the Hebrew for the sons of Job that we just read back in chapter 1. We look here at Job 1:4. And his sons went and had a feast in the house of each on his day. The word here in Hebrew is yomo. Yumo. His day. Yom is the word for day. Yumo is the conjugation or possessive conjugation saying his day. Yumo. But what does it actually mean? What does that his day or yomo mean? Well, if we go look at Job 3:1 again, after this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

Now, even though the translation says day of his birth, it’s actually the exact same wording in Hebrew. It says yomo. So if Job chapter 3 and Yumo is talking about the day of Job’s birth, then the same phrase back in the first chapter where it says his day for each of the feast that the brothers were having in context with the book of Job that would lead me to conclude that it was talking about the exact same concept.

If the concept in Job 3 is the day of his birth or birthday, then the concept in chapter 1 would also be the exact same thing. And therefore, it would lead you to conclude that the brothers and sisters were celebrating their birthdays. It’s something that you get the impression that happened on a regular basis. Now, just to be clear, the word for birth here is not in the Hebrew.

So every translation like the scriptures 2009, the English Standard Version, the Legacy Standard Bible, etc., etc., everyone that translates it as day of his birth or his birthday or whatever it is, they’re putting their own spin on the translation that putting there. They could be right, they could be wrong, but that’s their own spin because the word for birth is not here. It’s just yomo, his day, his special day.

Full disclosure, if you look at Yommo and various other verses around scripture, it can mean other things depending on the context. It could be the day of his death, etc., etc., depending on where it’s at. But here in Job, in my at least my opinion, his day is referring to a birthday when taking the context into account. You disagree, let us know down in the comments and why you disagree and maybe we can be able to add to our notes there. But let us know down in the comments.

Now, regarding Job chapter 1 and chapter 3, the Jewish Encyclopedia has this to say about that. Quote, “Birthdays might not have been celebrated by the common people with great solemnity, yet they did not pass wholly unnoticed and were remembered by congratulations. Jeremiah not only cursed the day of his birth, but wished that it should not be blessed, as though such had been the custom. It is said of Job, and he cursed his day.

This the emphatic and determining expression his day implies the idea that he like everybody else had a certain day of the year singled out for a certain purpose which we learn further was the anniversary of his birth. End quote. That’s from the Jewish Encyclopedia. So there is various circumstantial, granted, various evidence that leads one to conclude that maybe this was a celebration of the birthday, but it’s not definitive. Maybe not. Keep that in mind. Put it in your notes.

Make your own decision there. Another thing that we could examine and look for in scripture is what did people feast over? What kind of things did people hold a feast and a celebration for? Let’s look at that. Keep it in mind which tells us in Job chapter 1 about how his sons had a feast on his day. Keep that in mind. We look at Genesis 21:8. And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on that day that Yitshock was weaned.

So the day that Isaac was weaned, Abraham threw a feast, a celebration. We look at Luke 1 57-58. And a time was filled for Elisha to give birth, and she bore a son, and her neighbors and relatives heard how Yahweh had shown great compassion to her, and they rejoiced with her. So when Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist, there was a great celebration and a great rejoicing over the birth of Elizabeth’s son, John the Baptist.

One thing to note here though, real quick, is that this is that the initial birth and not really an annual celebration of the birth day 8, 10, 30 years later. So keep that in mind. We wanted to take everything into context again. This is just about the initial birth when he exited the womb. That’s what it’s talking about here. Then we look at Luke 22 15 and 19-20. And he said to them with desire I have desired to eat this Pesak with you before my suffering.

And and taking bread, giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood which is shed for you.” So, what’s going on here? Well, it tells us Yeshua tells them, “I have desired to eat this Pesak.” So, they’re having a feast and they’re having the Pesak feast, the Pascal feast. So there’s a commemoration.

There is a feast for just about every single one of the moedim. Once again, our teaching on yum kiparim revealed that yom kiparim is not a day of fasting. You can have a feast on yum kiparim if you’d like. However, get back to the teaching here. The moedim, the feast days, these were times to memorialize and have a feast every single year. going on. Look at some other things or other reasons why people would rejoice or have a great celebration or feast from scripture.

And this is wedding information here. Lots of celebrations over weddings. You probably already knew this, but here’s some quick examples. We look at Genesis 29, specifically verses 20- 22. And here, this is Jacob and Laban having a feast, a wedding feast for Jacob. And that’s when he’s marrying Rachel. In Judges 14:1-2 and 10, this is where Samson goes and he tells his father and his mother, “Hey, I want this woman.

Go arrange everything for me so I can marry her.” And he goes down and they he marries her and he has a great feast for the wedding as a wedding feast. Finally, we look at John chapter 2:1-2 and 8. And here, this is where Yeshua and his disciples are invited to a wedding in Canaan of Galilee. And they go to this wedding. And of course, that’s his first miracle where he turns water into wine. But they, it tells us in that story, they were having a feast, a wedding feast.

So that’s another event that we can see from scripture was a cause for celebration and feasting and stuff like that. some other examples. And here’s just a quick big list of examples for why people would have a feast or a celebration in scripture. We see here in Genesis chapter 26 where Isaac uh makes a feast in honor of making a covenant with Amilek. We already covered there’s a cause for feasting and joy and rejoicing due to the moadeem or the appointed times, the feast days.

2 Samuel chapter 6, David celebrates when he brings the ark back to Jerusalem. He celebrated with food and rejoicing, specifically giving out food to the people. Esther chapter 9, this is where Mordei and Esther establish the feast of Poreim and memorial annual memorial feast to celebrate what Yahweh done for them in delivering the Judeans from the Babylonians.

And we got the book of Maccabees and you got the feast of Hanukkah and the dedication rededication of the temple and the annual memorialization and celebration of that. Matthew 22 and Luke 15, parable of the wedding feast, the parable of the prodigal son, etc., etc. Examples of people having feast and rejoicing over these major events. And finally, we look at an example like Revelation chapter 19 and other examples in scripture where it talks about the marriage supper of the lamb.

Again, another wedding feast, but more of a symbolic one at this point. There’s various reasons for having a feast in scripture. And it’s usually a major milestone or a major life event that happens such as a birth, wedding, etc., etc., appointed time moedim all these kinds of things.

So they do have feast and the like we saw with the birth of John the Baptist the birth of a child was cause for rejoicing and having a feast sometimes but was it on an annual basis? That’s really the heart of what we’re getting at to here is the annual celebration of the day that one was born. We’re going to get into that as we go through this. Let’s keep that in mind. So far, we’ve covered that there’s lots of things to feast for that we find in scripture, and the initial birth was one of those.

Looking on some commentaries about feasting and joy from scripture, we look at the Anchor Yale Bible dictionary says, quote, “Joy does not always have religious connotations in the Old Testament. Good wine can bring joy, and also should a birthday in the years of one’s youth or old age.” end quote.

And from the concise encyclopedia of religious knowledge, quote, “Meals of a sumptuous order were customary on the great festival days and also in connection with birthdays, marriages, funerals, and all high occasions.” End quote. And we saw a lot of examples there. We saw it with festival days, the mod. We saw it with marriages. Don’t really see too much with funerals. I don’t know where they got that, especially within the scriptures. But there’s also the high occasions, mod, etc., etc.

But they put birthdays in here as well, which is interesting because we don’t really see any explicit clear-cut examples of annual birthday celebrations from scriptures. Do some see some hints like maybe from Job, but nothing clearcut and dry. However, one thing to take note of also is we know that they did keep track of people’s age in scripture.

Even way back in the time of the Exodus and before that look at the genealogies in Genesis, especially the first couple of chapters where it said so and so lived for this many years, whatnot. So, they kept track of their age. Question is, how did they do that? We look at Numbers 1:1-3. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sin in the tent of appointment on the first day to the second new moon.

In the second year, after they had come out of the land of Mistrayim, saying, “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their clans, by their father’s houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head, from 20 years old and above. Everyone going out to the army in Israel, number them by their divisions, you and Aaron. So here they’re told to take a census of every male 20 years old and above.

Keeps going on in the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 4, they take a census of the Levites, those who going to be serving within the priesthood and tells them to take a census of the males from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old. So, they knew how old people were. The question is, how did they keep track? What didn’t have to be an annual birthday celebration on the day in the year that the person was born? Doesn’t have to be that. It can be other things.

And we’ll see some examples of how other cultures and other societies kept track of the years. Some of the ways they could have kept track of the number of years that someone is is they could look at the moedim. Let’s say Passover for instance, the Passover happens in the first month and the Roshashana month, the actual Roshashana month. And they could think back and they say, “Well, as long as I’ve been alive, I have been through eight Passover seders, eight Passover remembrances.

Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume and conclude that person is about eight years old because Passover is an annual event happens every single year. Another event such as Sukkot be done the same way because all the moedim happen every single year. That’s one way. There’s various ways to keep track of someone’s age. It doesn’t have to be an annual birthday celebration on the day of the year that the person was born. So we know from scripture that somehow they were keeping score of someone’s age.

We look at the universal Jewish encyclopedia regarding this particular subject and quote neither the Bible nor the Talmudic writings contain any express mention of the celebration of birthday anniversaries.

While it is true that the ancient Israelites kept records of the ages of their male citizens, as is shown by the fact that the legislation speaks of classes determined by stated years of life, there’s no evidence that they kept an exact account of the day of birth or made any special celebration of its anniversary. The first definite account of any birthday celebration in Judea is that of the Herodian kings. End quote.

Herodian kings going back to Herod like we were examining earlier where his birthday party John the Baptist lost his head. So there’s various ways they could have kept track of their ages. It didn’t have to be an annual celebration of their birthday. So just keep that in mind. Doesn’t have to be that way, but it can be. We’re also told in scripture to number our days. But does that mean to have an annual celebration of our birthday the day we were born? Not necessarily. Let’s look at this.

Psalms chapter 90 verse 12. Teach us to number our days and let us bring the heart to wisdom. Now, just to clear this up real quick, this is not talking about celebration of birthdays. It’s not talking about that.

It would actually be anachronistic to insert the concept of birthdays into this verse because it’s almost but not quite almost unknown to the author and this is said I think it was written by Moses a psalm of Moses but anyways this is not talking about birthdays or having a birthday celebration. It would be anachronistic to think that way. So this verse is not about the annual birthdays, but if they were having annual birthdays like we are nowadays, that would be a way to number our days.

It would be a number an additional number every 365 days as it were. But what it really comes down to is to have a realization of how short life is, the brevity of life itself. And that’s what we’re supposed to be thinking about when we when it tells us to number our days. We’re to have a disciplined recognition of how brief life is in the grand scheme of things because let’s uh go ahead and grant that you’re going to live for 150 years. It’s a long time in today’s day and age.

Even with the advances in medicine, all that 150 years, even if you deadlift for 150 years, that would still be a small small drop in the bucket in the overall timeline of history. So, our life is very very short. Our life is very very brief and we have to make the most of it and honor Yahweh as much as we can during the short time that we are alive. Like I said, a birthday celebration would be by definition a way to number our days, but that’s not what this verse is trying to get across to us.

It’s telling us remember how brief life is and be good stewards of the time that you have here on earth..

Section Recap

But just to recap the section real quick, there are no positive commands about birthday celebration. What do we mean by that is there’s no command in scripture saying celebrate memorialize the day you were born every year. Nothing like that. We have commands about Pesak. We have commands about Shabbat, etc., etc., but there’s no positive commands about birthday celebrations. Likewise, there are no negative commands about birthday celebrations.

There’s nothing like do not celebrate your birthday or the day of your birth, such as we have with the Ten Commandments where it says do not commit adultery. So there’s no negative commands about birthday celebration in scripture. The two explicit mentions of birthday celebrations in scripture are the birthday parties of Pharaoh and then the birthday party of Herod. Job 1, remember talking about Job’s sons. Job one may or may not be talking about a feast for his son’s birthday.

Could be a birthday reference. Could not be. Major events and milestones were celebrated or memorialized with feasting. Think about the example we read and this is just a short list but we looked at the example of Abraham weaning Isaac. We looked at the initial birth of John the Baptist when they rejoice there. The Moadmir celebration and remembrances, memorializations and feasting. There’s weddings there where they have feasting and stuff like that.

Divine deliverance such as Hanukkah and Pareim, etc., etc. birth days and especially when a child is born. That is a major milestone. It’s a major life event. Why not feast and celebrate that? And it’s not uncommon in scripture to annually memorialize significant events. And these are usually events. I mean, full disclosure, these are usually events that last a long time and to be remembered long into the future, such as Passover and Yungareim and Kurim and Hanukkah etc etc doesn’t necessarily have to include the birthday of a singular person but it can and the common practice in scripture was to keep an accounting of a person’s age they did keep score they did keep track of how old a person was but it doesn’t have to be because they were celebrating a birthday every year there are other ways is to keep track of a person’s age.

Surveying Scripture About Our Savior’s Start

So now let’s go ahead and look that’s pretty much a lot of the Tanakh or the aka Old Testament. Let’s go ahead and look at the Brit Chadasha or the aka New Testament and specifically start getting down to it. Specifically verses that talk about the birth of our Messiah Yeshua. So here, let’s start and some things to keep in mind real quick as we go throughout these next verses. Keep this in mind as we go through each particular verse.

Number one, does each verse place an emphasis on the birth of Yeshua? Is it something that’s really getting to the an important point saying remember this, celebrate this when it comes to the birth or is it just mention it? Or do the verses together place an emphasis on the birth? So if one s one one singular verse doesn’t place an emphasis all the verses together kind of place an emphasis. Keep that in mind as we go throughout this. We’re going to be covering a lot of verses here but not all of them.

It’s not an exhaustive list. So again go forward from here and do your own research and study. Let’s start with Matthew the book of Matthew rather. We look in uh chapter 1 of the book of Matthew. And the book of the genealogy of Yeshua Messiah, son of Davided, son of Abraham. But the birth of Yeshua Messiah was as follows. After his mother Miriam was engaged to Yoseph, before they came together, she was found to be pregnant from the set apart spirit.

And all this came to be in order to fill what was spoken by Yahweh through the prophet saying, “But knew her not until she gave birth to her son, the firstborn, and he called his name Yeshua.” So is this placing a big emphasis on the birth of Yeshua? Yes and no.

They part I would say because it’s actually putting forth evidence by the birth and the events surrounding the birth that is fulfilling prophecy has to prove that the prophecy is coming true and that Yeshua is the actual Messiah and book of Matthew that’s pretty much all it’s saying in regards to the birth of Yeshua. We’re going to look at Matthew chapter 2. And coming into the house, they saw the child with Miriam his mother, and fell down and did reverence to him.

And opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrh. This is the magi, the wise men, as it were. But again, this is just the initial birth like it was with John the Baptist. going on looking at Luke chapter 1. It seemed good to me, having followed up all these matters exactly from the beginning, to write to you an orderly account. And the messenger said to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with Elohim.

And see, you shall conceive in your womb and shall give birth to a son, and call his name Yeshua. He shall be great, and shall be called the son of the most high. And he shall reign over the house of Yakob forever. and there shall be no end to his reign. And the messenger answering said to her, “The set apart spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the most high shall overshadow you.” And for that reason, the set apart one born of you shall be called son of Elohim.

So again, is this placing a big emphasis on the birth? Well, sort of, kind of, but it’s again, it’s not an annual observance or something like that. This is telling Miriam why it is that she has become pregnant without ever knowing a man and you know all these different reasons for why he’s going to be called the son of God, the son of Yahweh, the son of Elohim. And that’s because the set apart spirit, the holy spirit has come upon her and the power of the most high overshadowed her.

That’s why Yeshua is called the son of Elohim. But again, it’s not in any kind of establishment of a annual observance. Keep that in mind. Luke chapter 2. And it came to be the days were filled for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. And the messenger said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, for look, I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be to all people, because there was born to you a Savior who is Messiah, the Master. And this is the sign to you.

you shall find a baby wrapped up lying in a feeding trough. So, they’re basically telling the shepherds that great joy has come because the Messiah, the prophesied Messiah has come. He’s been born. Keep that in mind, too. Born of a woman. We’re getting some verses on that here in just a minute. But again, this whole birth part in this particular passage is just coincidental. Messiah could have come in various other ways but he was born just like we are. Keep that in mind as well.

Again nothing about an establishment of a annual memorialization or annual celebration. We look back in the Tanakh and when things are established such as Purim etc etc they say this is why we’re doing it. This is what we’re doing and we’re going to be doing it every single year on this particular day. Nothing like that with the birth of Yeshua. Going on, look at some other verses. Romans chapter 1:3 concerning his son who came of the seed of Dawid according to the flesh.

Not directly about birth, but it does have something to do tangentially with the birth because he came according to the flesh. Romans chapter 8:3 For the Torah being powerless in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim having sent his own son in the likeness of flesh of sin and concerning sin condemned sin in the flesh. Again, not a direct statement or reference to the birth, but still getting to that whole point of he was flesh and blood. He came in the flesh.

Romans chapter 9:5 whose are the fathers and from whom is the Messiah according to the flesh who is overall Elohim blessed forever. Amen. So again talking about Messiah Yeshua being in the flesh not really about his birth. The point here here is that he was flesh and blood contradicting some of the other heretical sex that tells us or tried to put forth that he did not actually exist in bodily form. He just appeared to be. No, the writers of scripture tells us he actually came in the flesh.

He was flesh and blood. He actually died. All that kind of stuff. Going on look at some other verses in Galatians chapter 4 verse4. But when the completion of the time came, Elohim sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under Torah. Here is actually talking about birth, but it it’s not really placing an emphasis on the birth. It’s just saying that he was born of a woman, born in the Torah. But the born of a woman, that’s getting back to the whole point of he was born of the flesh.

He actually had flesh and blood like the rest of us. 1 John 4:2-3. By this you know the spirit of Elohim. Every spirit that confesses that Yeshua Messiah has come in the flesh is of Elohim. And every spirit that does not confess that Yeshua Messiah has come in the flesh is not of Elohim. And this is the spirit of the anti- messiah which you heard is coming and now is already in the world. Again going back to the whole concept context here is about him being in the flesh. Second I’m sorry. Yeah.

2 John 1:7 because many who are leading astray went out into the world who do not confess Yeshua Messiah as coming in the flesh. This one is he who is leading astray and the anti- messiah. Again, the point here is to get the teaching through that he was flesh and blood. Does it have anything to do with birth? sort of coincidentally, but there’s really not a grand emphasis that’s placed after Matthew and Luke. There’s not a grand emphasis that’s placed on his birth.

What they’re trying to get across here is he came in the flesh. There’s lots of other verses you can look at. You can see those in our notes file or if you want to look them up, they are Philippians 2:7, Tim 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 2:14, chapter 2:1 17, 10:5, 1 John 1:1-2, etc., etc. Like we always encourage you, go forth and do your own study in addition to what you gather here. So if we’re not told to remember Messiah’s birth, we’re not told to celebrate it or commemorate it.

If the first Christians, if the first Messianics, those within the Hadesha did not celebrate or memorialize Yeshua’s birth, what are we told to remember in scripture? Pay attention. Luke 22 15 and 19-20. And he said to them, “With desire I have desired to eat this pesak with you before my suffering, and taking bread, giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood which is shed for you.” So what does Yeshua tell us to do in remembrance of him? Is it his birth to celebrate his birthday? Nope. He tells us this is what a lot of people consider to be the establishment of the Eucharist or communion, establishment of communion. But it tells us here in the passage, it’s talking about Pesak.

But he takes the bread and the bread is representing his body and he says to take this bread in remembrance of my body and do this in remembrance of me. And what is he actually alluding to now that we know the outcome of the story there? He’s actually alluding to his death, the crucifixion on the cross and him dying for our sins, stuff like that. We go on and look in 1 Corinthians 11 23- 26.

For I have received, for I received from the master that which I also delivered to you, that the master Yeshua in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread, and having given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the ma master until he comes. Let’s say that again. You proclaim the death of the master until he comes. So what are we told in scripture to remember, to memorialize, and to do often? And that’s to proclaim the death of Yeshua until he comes back the second time. We do the communion. We do the Pesak in remembrance of him. We take the bread and the wine and it’s all surrounding the concept of his death.

And it says, “You proclaim the death of the master until he comes.” Not the birth, the death. That is the scripture. And even other places in scripture, it doesn’t really talk about annual annual celebrations of the righteous and the celebration of their birthdays. Even though we do get hints that maybe it has, but what scripture tells us is that the day of death is better than the day of the birth. We look in Ecclesiastes 7:1.

A good name is better than precious oil in the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

Kind of odd, right? that we place so much emphasis today on our own birthdays and celebrations of our own birthdays and the celebration of quote unquote Jesus’s birthday that we don’t actually take time to read scripture and what it says and tells us in the to proclaim his death until he comes back and it tells us that the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth a lot of times contradictory to what we currently believe so that’s rather interesting and something for you to think about hopefully You’ve got all that in your notes so far..

Section Recap

But just to recap this section real quick, think about this in the verses we went over. And does each verse place an emphasis on the birth? We looked at those verses and there’s a bunch more you can look at, but pretty much the question, the answer is no. It does not place an emphasis on the birth except for the fact to prove that Yeshua is fulfilling prophecy. His birth fulfilled prophecy and to prove and show that he is the Messiah. Do the verses together play place an emphasis on the birth? No.

See the previous answer. Scripture recounts Yeshua’s birth to provide evidence of prophecy and to prove he is the Messiah and that he was flesh and blood. In contradiction to some Gnostics and other groups out that were out there. Well, gnostics still are around. But anyways, nowhere in scripture do we find a command to honor, exalt, or annually celebrate the day of Yeshua’s birth. We don’t see any evidence in scripture that anyone ever did that.

But we do see that we are to proclaim and I’m sorry, not celebrate, but uh remember Yeshua’s death in the body and the blood that was shed for us. And never and it’s never recorded in scripture that anyone ever memorialized his birth either annually or even as a one-off kind of event. and his birth is recorded for theological weight, not as an occasion for repeated festivity.

So that’s an examination of Yeshua, the verses in the Brit Chadasha that surround and speak about his birth, even tangentially. And it’s very eye opening when you get into the scriptures and look and see it for yourself. Nothing about an annual celebration of Yeshua’s birth..

Historical Happenings & Highlights

Let’s go on and look at some outside historical happenings about birthdays uh around the world through different cultures and throughout history. The earliest evidence that we have or that I was able to find comes from the Egyptians and the actual earliest evidence that I could find was in the book of Genesis that we started out reading in during this teaching. But here in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, “In ancient Egypt, the birthdays of the kings were celebrated with great pomp.

They were looked upon as holy. No business was done upon them, and all classes indulged in the festivities suitable to the occasion. Every Egyptian attached much importance to the day and even to the hour of his birth.” And it is probable that as in Persia, each individual kept his birthday with great rejoicings.” End quote.

And a lot of the evidence or information I found out about birthdays and the celebration of birthdays throughout history is that originally it started out with the kings and leaders of nations such as Pharaoh and those were the only ones that done it.

And then as time progressed it went down to the upper classes, people who were actually able to afford to have such celebrations and then it got down to the common folk but even then it was only men and later on it started becoming to women and children stuff like that. So there’s a progression here and here is talking about the birthdays of the kings. That’s what was celebrated and that was way back when starting with the Egyptians. It could have been before the Egyptians.

We just don’t have any record or evidence that it happened before the time of the Egyptians. Then looking at the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, we know nothing about the possible existence of ceremonies or rights in connection with the appearance of the first tooth, the first haircut, the first step, etc. And we have no mention of an anniversary, feast, a birthday, or dates of that kind.

There’s no notice at any time of any priestly intervention, meaning presentation in the temple, child purification, first prayer, or first participation in public or family worship.” End quote. And that’s talking about children within Egyptian society. That there’s no record or evidence that the children or the common people or anyone else other than the leader Pharaoh. No evidence of them ever having a sort of birthday celebration or whatnot.

The first evidence we found or first evidence that I could find comes from Egyptians. Moving on in history to the Greeks. This comes from Brill’s new Pauly. Quote, “And Greece birthday celebrations were closely connected with religious views. They were less concerned with the person himself than with the Agathos Damon Ganthlios, his personal tutelary divinity.

It was not considered that he had been born with him at that same time, but that he would pick him at birth and accompany him through his whole life. On your birthday, you directed prayers to him and the ancient gods of your house. You also believe that you were closely connected with the divinity whose birthday was celebrated on the same day. The Greeks are said to have adopted this view from the Egyptians.

Like the birthdays of the gods, the birthday of a person was also originally celebrated every month. The annual celebration did not become common until later. To the party were invited relatives and friends who brought with them congratulations and presents like flowers, jewelry, etc. And this was obviously already celebrated on the date of the birth. The birthday celebrations were even continued after death by the family members. End quote.

So one thing here that really stuck out to me going through this study about the history of birthday celebrations is that various cultures like the Greeks and I think also the Romans too. But once they a person was born a particular deity because they had multiple deities in Greeks Greece and Rome.

But when a person was born a particular deity was chosen and they was assumed or believed that that particular deity stayed with them throughout their life and everyone have their own particular deities according to when they were born and which deity was chosen. So that introduces a religious aspect to the celebration of birthdays. Another thing to note here is that it wasn’t always an annual observance.

Sometimes it was a monthly observance, which is kind of weird, but that’s just coming from my modern perspective. Moving on into the Romans. This comes from the Anchor Yell Bible dictionary. Quote, “Both Greek and Roman festival calendars could accommodate the addition of new festivals. local festivals in honor of the birthday of the emperor became a regular part of the religious life of the cities of the empire. End quote.

So here even in the Roman times they were still celebrating the birthday of the emperor. Another thing to note, another thing I found out is that sometimes what’s referred to as a leader’s birthday was actually the day or a commemoration of the ascension when they assumed power when they came to the throne as it were. That was sometimes referred to as their birthday. So keep that in mind too when we talk about emperors or leaders or pharaohs etc.

And from the Brill’s new Pauly quote as a result of a Senate decree the birthday of the emperor was celebrated publicly with sacrifices and prayers banquets distribution of donations military parades and games were organized and no trials were held on this day from the Hellenistic rulers the Roman emperors also took the custom of celebrating the commemoration day of the coming to power the natalis and perry birthday celebrations of temples cities and associations owing to the lack of clear genealogies of the gods in the Roman religion.

There were also no birthday celebrations for gods in the Greek sense. That is why people remember the dedication days of the temples, the natalis templorum with festive processions involving sacrifices, public meals, games, etc. End quote. So with the Romans, their gods, they didn’t have a good tracking or good information about the birthdays of their particular gods because these are pagan gods. And of course, they’re not eternal because they’re fake. They don’t actually exist.

They didn’t keep track or records of when their gods were actually born. So they didn’t have birthdays. So what they would do is when they built a temple and dedicated to that particular god, they would celebrate the anniversary of that temple of that god, not the birthday of the actual god itself. Hopefully that makes sense. They celebrate the birthday of the consecration or dedication of that particular temple, not the actual birthday of the god.

And there’s a whole lot more that goes into that too. I don’t think we put it in the slides here, but we got it in the notes talking about but it’s in the notes. Talks about perpetua, the diary of perpetual or martyr perpetual. And she’s talking about how they were being slaughtered and killed and stuff and why they couldn’t get some kind of relief because they were having to go through all this in celebration of the emperor’s birthday.

All these games, these gladiator fights, these whatever this atrocious thing they were doing was being done in honor of the emperor and celebrating his birthday. So moving on, looking at the Hindus and others from around the world, we look from the encyclopedia of society and culture in the ancient world. Quote, Diwali commemorate certain events associated with the goddess Shakti and Lord Krishna’s wife.

Other significant Indian festivals mark the birthdays of lords Ganesha, Krishna, Rama and Hanuman. End quote. So the Hindus celebrate the birthdays of their gods, particular gods anyways. I’m not really up on the Hindu religion. Don’t really care to be, but there’s a little bit of a tidbit about Hindus and celebration of birthdays of their gods. Then looking at the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote, “In the lower culture, what is reported of the Congo tribes applies generally.

No record is kept of birth or age. The Hoopas of California take no account of the lapse of time and consider it a ridiculous superfluity to keep a reckoning of age. They guess at a man’s years by examination of the teeth. the Omaha have a superstitious objection to counting and therefore never note a person’s age. End quote. So, lots of cultures around the world keep track of people’s ages, but as you can see here, some people don’t. And I kind of like that concept.

If someone you love and care about is in your life, it doesn’t really matter how old they are. It’s just that they are existing in your life. That’s my take on it. and different ways of looking at age and accounting of age from different societies and cultures of around the world. But going on looking at some other cultures and way of keeping age or celebrating birthdays etc etc. This is from China and this comes from the encyclopedia of religion and ethics.

Quote in China the hour and the day of birth are regarded as being very important. A child born between the hours of 9 and 11 will have a hard lot at first, but finally great riches. Regarding the Japanese, the 1st of January, the commencement of the new year, may be considered the universal birthday, but they do not wait till the actual anniversary of birth has come round to call a person a year older, but date the addition to his age from the new year. A child is born in December 1901.

By January 1902, they talk of the child as being two years old because it has lived through a part of two separate years. End quote. Which I found that to be rather, let’s go ahead and say odd or at least out of the norm anyways, how they count the years and consider how old someone is.

The example I give here, if someone’s born in on December 31st, when it gets to January 1st, they consider that person to be two years old, even though they’re less than a month old, which is again, it’s very out of the normal, but interesting all the same to learn about these different ways people keep track of the age of people or celebrate birthdays, etc., etc. This comes from the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.

Quote, “The Apache father makes a note of each moon that follows the birth of a child. The Mayas celebrated as the birthday of their children, the first step taken, the first word spoken, and the first thing made.” The Mayori had one name given at birth, a second at puberty, a third on his father’s death, and others whenever he performed some achievement.” End quote.

So, a common theme that I’m starting to see here from cultures all around the world and all throughout history is they mark and keep track of various milestones and life events a person goes through. And it’s different for each society, but it seems like major milestones and things like that, life events. They keep track of those and it’s memorable to them.

Whether it’s the new year counting as two years for a particular person or counting the teeth, looking at the teeth of a person, the various different ways that people go about marking age or determining age or celebrating birthdays, stuff like that. In the Hebrews, we’ve already looked at a bunch of information from scripture already.

Let’s look at some more information because this really gets to how we should think about it because our faith really comes from the way the Hebrews thought it was handed down to the Hebrews to the Israelites to be more correct. So the way the Israelites in the past saw it at least the righteous Israelites kind of guess shed some light on how we could probably think about it nowadays. This comes from the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Quote, “There are no positive data in the Bible or in rabbitical literature concerning birthday festivals among the ancient Israelites. This silence on the subject is however no warrant for the conclusion that the Israelites altogether abstained from following a custom which was general among the Egyptians, Persians, Syrians, and Greeks. even if not common among the people, yet kings and princes probably practiced it following the custom of their heathen contemporaries. End quote.

And here’s a quote from Fabius Josephus and this comes from the against Apon book that he wrote or I guess series of books. Anyways, he says, quote, “Nay, indeed the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess.” End quote. So apparently Josephus considered birthdays to be a kegger we say nowadays occasion to drink to excess as he puts it. But he does get one thing wrong.

He says that the law does not permit us to make festivals at the birth of our children. He’s dead wrong on that. And we saw from the scripture there is no prohibition against celebrating a birth, the initial birth. There’s no condemnation from scripture about celebrating the annual birth of a particular person. It’s just not recorded in scripture that any of the faithful, the righteous actually did it explicitly.

Anyways, that was what Josephus wrote about that and Josephus was writing back in the first century, the end of the first century. So that gives us a rather historic way of how the Israelites and Judeans like Josephus viewed birthdays. Then looking at the universal Jewish encyclopedia, quote, “During the Middle Ages, the Jews seem to have paid no special attention to birthdays.

It was only with the rise of the institution of bar mitzvah that sufficient luster was shed on the 13th birthday of a boy to make it occasion for celebration. bar mitzvah ceremony is as old as the 14th century and maybe older. The first reference to large parties in celebration of it comes from the 15th century. End quote.

So if you’re talking about this whole subject of birthdays, someone might bring up the fact that Jews or those within Judaism nowadays celebrate a bar mitzvah and a and bot mitzvah for girls, but bar mitzvah, this is a birthday celebration. But that’s no evidence at all when it comes to thinking about it scripturally, put it that way, or thinking about the time of Christmas. Again, that’s the series part that this episode is a part of.

And the reason it doesn’t apply there is because the bar mitzvah and the bot mitzvah, which came after that, even did not really get going until about the 14th century. It says here, it says it may be older, but really comes from about the 14th century. So 1,400 I’m sorry, 1300 years after the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Messiah. That’s when bar mitzvah started coming into play and being celebrated..

The Early Believers

So that is a look at we’ve looked at various things from scripture concerning birthdays. We’ve looked at things regarding Yeshua and the Bahadesha. We’ve looked at various cultures around the world. We looked at Israelites. We looked at the Jews and bar mitzvah, but now let’s go ahead and take a glimpse and a look at what the early believers in Messiah actually thought about and wrote about birthdays in the early years, the well up until 100 and then the 100s, 200s, and 300s.

First things first, we look at a quote from origin. and he’s writing probably somewhere around the middle of the 3rd century. So keep that in mind. As late as the 3rd century, this is what Origin has to say. Quote, “And on birthdays, when the lawless word reigns over them, they dance so that their movements please that word. The worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals. And I find nowhere in scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man.

For Herod was more unjust than that famous Pharaoh. For the latter killed a chief baker on his birthday feast, but the former killed John. End quote. So origin here has no love for birthdays. And he even says is the conceited or the arrogant person who keeps birthday festivals. And he also says that he finds nowhere in scripture that birthday was kept by a righteous man. It was just by Pharaoh and Herod. And again, he’s absolutely correct about that.

and he might have something going with the whole thing that only a worthless arrogant man keeps birthday festivals. That’s not entirely true. We know that. But it can lead to that sometimes. We’ve seen people get arrogant over such things. But yeah, origin had no love and no, I guess you could say consideration for the keeping of a birthday celebration by the righteous.

Anyways, but the first reference we really get to birthday might actually blow your mind because it’s not referring to birthday like we think of nowadays. Looking at the Catholic encyclopedia, quote, both the form natalis and natalysis were used by the Romans to denote what we call a birthday, i.e. the anniversary of the day when a man was born. In Latin, natalis apparently came at least sometimes to mean little more than anniversary.

And it was used of the accession day of the emperor as well as of his birthday. The Christians of Smyrna about AD 150 write to describe how they took up the bones of St. Polycarp which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold and laid them in a suitable place where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together as we are able in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom. end quote.

So, what are the followers of Polycarp celebrating here when they say they’re going to celebrate the birthday of Polycarp? It’s not the day he was born. It’s not the day of the year to celebrate his coming into the world from his mother’s womb. What they’re talking about here when they talk about Polycarp’s birthday is the birthday or the day that he died, his the day of his martyrdom. That is what they mean by birthday.

And a lot of the early believers, that’s what they would actually use that word natalis for is to mean the martyrdom or the death of a righteous person because they believed it was their birth into the new afterlife, the new eternal joy of heaven, etc., etc. That’s what they meant by birthday a lot of times back in the very very early stages of the church. went on looking at the Catholic encyclopedia again.

Quote, “A certain stress was often laid in Christian sermons and in mortuary inscriptions upon the idea that the day of a man’s death was his birthday to a new life.” Thus, St. Ambrose declares that the day of our burial is called our birthday because being set free from the prison of our crimes, we are born to the liberty of the Savior.

And he goes on, “Wherefore this day is observed as a great celebration, for it is in truth a festival of the highest order to be dead to our vices and to live to righteousness alone.” End quote. So this Latin word natalis, what we would think of as birthday nowadays, back then they weren’t really talking about the birth of someone, celebrating the annual birth of someone being born into the world.

They’re talking about the martyrdom or the death of a righteous person, being born into the new life that they would supposedly be receiving because of their righteous deeds, being born again, being washed in the blood, etc., etc. So that’s what they meant by the word natalis or birthday back in the early days.

But there unfortunately as time went on there was this concept this practice that went on with what I found to be with the Greeks first and then the Romans and then it crept into Christianity eventually as time went on and especially starting definitely in the 4th century if not earlier but definitely in the 4th century and this is the concept known as interpretatio christiana or if you look at the Romans interpretatio Romana or the Greeks interpret graeca but with interpretatio christiana this is the concept coming from Wikipedia and it states quote interpretatio christiana is adaptation of non-Christian elements of culture or historical facts to the worldview of Christianity the term is commonly applied to recasting of religious and cultural activities beliefs and imageries of pagan peoples into a Christianized form as a strategy for Christianization reformatting traditional religious and cultural activities and beliefs into a Christianized form was officially sanctioned.

And this is goes on to reference a letter from Pope Gregory the 1 to Militus quote to the end that while some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward constellations of the grace of God end quote and end quote. So what happened here? This is a lot of times what we refer to as syncretism. these what the Romans did and the Greeks too for the most part is that when the Romans went into a new place, they conquered new territory.

They took over a new people, they would a lot of times absorb the new pagan ways into the pagan ways they had already had established and already believed in. They would change some of the names, but pretty much the concepts would remain the same. They would just graft in one form of paganism into their current form of paganism. Unfortunately, this concept and this method also crept into the church with the hellenistic people coming into the faith.

They brought this with them, this whole form of syncretism and it was to convert or to bring in new converts. And what happened is that as Christianity and these missionaries and whoever it was went to these new areas and they would have pagan beliefs and stuff like that and pagan practices, they the church would adopt these pagan beliefs and these pagan practices and even these pagan days and slap a Christian sticker on it and say it’s good to go. That’s interpretatio christiana.

And it’s not right. It’s anti-scriptural and we’re told not to do that. To not take the ways the pagans worship their gods and do that towards Yahweh. Do not do that. So syncretism interpretatio Christristiana do not do it. This is why our whole ministry exists is to examine the things we believe, our traditions, our customs and really examine them in detail to find out if they are from a pagan source or if they are righteous.

They come from scripture, etc., etc., and to find out what it is we should actually be believing, what it is we should actually be doing and celebrating. So anyways, that’s a little bit of a soap box, but yeah, that’s interpretiana, what we commonly call as syncretism. Bringing in pagan elements that we shouldn’t be doing, bringing in pagan elements and calling it Christian for the purpose of converts. Again, something we should not be doing is anti-scriptural, so don’t do it.

But the unfortunate fact is it has happened in a there’s a whole pile of things we believe and customs and traditions that come from paganism that we should not be doing. But it came into Christianity and this led to the emergence of the celebration of the birth of Yeshua what we now know as Christmas.

But anyways, from the Brill’s new Pauly quote, initially rejected as a pagan custom, the practice of celebrating birthdays that was equally uncommon in Judaism was adopted by the church after a lengthy delay. And this is coming about in the fourth or fifth century. He goes on to say, decisive in this was probably the emergence of the birthday celebration of Christ and also of various saints. End quote.

But here we’ve got we look in the Sha Herzog encyclopedia of of religion and ethics and stuff like that and they say that there was uncertainty about the date of Messiah’s birth about the 3rd century or so. Well, if there was uncertainty about the date of Messiah’s birth, then that kind of tells us matter of factly that they were not celebrating Christmas before the 3rd century. Not even before the 4th century really.

because if they had, they would have known what day of the year that he was born on. They didn’t know. There’s all kinds of speculation that was floating around. And there was even one writer that wrote that there was not a month of the year that was not proposed by someone to be the birth of Messiah. So, they didn’t know in the third century. They really didn’t know in the 4th century, but they eventually settled on a particular date.

And the days kind of changed, too, but that’s because the calendars change, etc., etc. Anyways, what they finally ended up selecting was actually the birthday of the sun god. It’s not my opinion. This is historical fact. And let’s look at that real quick. This comes from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Quote, “The Romans identified Mithra with the sun god. December 25th was celebrated as his birthday. Its rivalry with Christianity may be explained by common external features.

Among the more prominent are December 25th, the God’s birthday, and Sunday, the holy day of the week. End quote. From the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, quote. In Christianity, the birthday of Christ is only less important than the passion and the resurrection. The date finally decided upon is that celebrated in paganism as the annual birthday of the sun.

Just as the weekly day of the sun, the Christian Sunday was the weekly birthday of the solar deity and in Hebrew mythology, the first day of creation. End quote. And here we go from the Holman Illustrated Bible dictionary again. Quote, in Rome, the feast of the incomparable sun celebrated the beginning of the return of the sun. The winter solstice seemed an appropriate time to celebrate Christ’s birth.

Thus, the festival of the sun, su n, became a festival of the sun, s o n, the light of the world. End quote. So, all kinds of evidence to show us that the they didn’t know the dates that Messiah was born because scripture does not tell us to remember or memorialize anything like that. They didn’t know the date, but they for some reason wanted to annually celebrate his birthday, probably due to syncretism. So, what date did they choose? They chose the birth date of a false pagan god.

But that’s just three pieces of evidence so far. We’ve got more. Let’s look at that. This comes from an encyclopedia of religions. Quote, “Under Bishop Liberius, she meaning Rome took the date, meaning December 25th, as a substitute for the heathen solstice festival, calculating it from the spring equinox of the old calendar in place of the birthday of the invincible sun god, she put that of Jesus Christ, the sun, in men’s hearts.

An official command was then sent to all places to observe the new festival. So gradually by the year 450 AD, the 25th of December came to be observed throughout the throughout the church except in Armenia. End quote. So we see this whole Christmas thing starting out in Rome in the western part back then, not in the east but in the western part. And then it spread by official decree saying you are going to celebrate this. That comes from the pope, from the church as it were, not from scripture.

And once again, another piece of evidence saying that the date was for the son god, his birthday, not the actual date of Messiah’s birth. going on looking at the Catholic encyclopedia. It says here, quote, “Rissostum who lived from about 347 to 407 says,” but our Lord too is born in the month of December, the 8th before the calendar of January, referring to 25th of December. But they call it the birthday of the unconquered.

Who indeed is so unconquered as our Lord? Or if they say that it is the birthday of the son, he is the son of justice. End quote. So here, Chrissum, a contemporary writer back in the day when this was really getting going back in the end of end of the 4th century when the whole what we know of Christmas now is really getting going.

He is saying and telling us verbatim almost that yes, we chose the birthday of this pagan god and he rationalizes it by calling who is so conquered as our lord and he is the son of justice. But it doesn’t matter. It’s still the birthday of a pagan god. And they chose to put our beloved and holy set apart Messiah. They chose to celebrate his birthday on the birthday of a pagan god. And they’re not hiding it.

This is from the Catholic encyclopedia from people of the time writing saying, “Yeah, we did this.” It’s absolutely amazing. When you get into history, it really opens your eyes. That’s a whole bunch of information. And like always, there’s a whole bunch more in the notes. Go look at the article post for the notes we took on this subject as well as the academic papers that was produced by three different AIs on this subject.

So, a lot of more information if you want more information on this particular subject..

Summary

But to wrap things up and to give a summary of what we’ve went through so far in this teaching, number one, modern birthday celebrations are a conglomeration of various practices from different peoples. We look at the concept of the annual celebration which is what we examined here tonight or during this particular teaching. There’s also elements like cakes and candles and gifts and etc etc. All we looked at during this episode was the annual celebration or memorialization of someone’s birthday.

Number two, the only explicit recountings of birthday celebrations in scripture are that of Pharaoh and Herod. They’re the only two explicit recountings of birthday celebrations. The story of Job and Job’s sons may or may not be a commemoration of the day his sons were born. Feasting and celebration commonly occurred for the moedim for weddings, births, winnings, etc. Pretty much in a nutshell, major life events or major milestones in someone’s life.

birth or the remembrance of someone’s birth could also be another one of those. The Israelites did keep an accounting of someone’s age, though probably not through the same method we use today. Again, there are various ways to account or keep a track of someone’s age. It doesn’t have to be an annual celebration of the day they were born. There are no positive or negative commands regarding annual birthday celebrations from scripture for believers either directly or indirectly.

The birth of Yeshua is told in the scriptures, but it’s really his death that we are to remember and it’s what we’re told to remember and proclaim and commemorate, not the birth. We’re told the events of his birth to prove that he is the Messiah, to prove that he came in the flesh, that was flesh and blood. and to prove prophecy that had foretold about him in the past. That is the purpose of recounting his birth in scripture, not to commemorate it on an annual basis.

Just about every culture of civilization had some way of commemorating major milestones in one’s life, including keeping track of the age of the person. The Israelites generally did not have a record of celebrating birthdays. We saw that from the verses we saw in scripture up to the information we got from Jewish sources, from Jewish writers and from Jewish encyclopedias and from Catholic encyclopedias etc etc. Bar and bot mitzvah did not come about until about the 14th century.

That doesn’t prove their validity or disprove it or anything else. It’s just something to take note of. Early believers in the first four centuries did not commemorate their own birthdays, nor the birthday of our Messiah. It wasn’t until about the middle of the 4th century a celebration of the birthday of Yeshua started becoming widespread. And even then, it wasn’t really commonly celebrated until about the middle of the fifth century.

The birthday of Yeshua was eventually decided to be the same birthday as that of the pagan sun god. And it all coincides with the whole Sunday first birthday of the week as Sabbath too. We got a little bit into that, but that really deserves its own teaching and some sort of Shabbat series or episode intent coming up next season..

Closing Remarks

Hey, but some closing thoughts real quick about what we’ve went over and about this whole subject. Why should we care about celebrating Yeshua’s birth at all? Christmas is a huge event nowadays, both secular and quote unquote religious within those in churchianity. Really comes down the basic question we should be asking ourselves is why should we even care about celebrating Yeshua’s birth at all? We’re not told to celebrate it in scripture.

There’s not a huge amount of emphasis placed on his birth other than to prove he was Messiah, prove prophecy, and to show he was flesh and blood like the rest of us. So why should we care about celebrating Yeshua’s birth at all? What more emphasis is there to celebrate his birth than just basic tradition, something we’ve always done, but does that mean we should continue doing it? Not really. That’s not something we get from scripture.

We should examine things according to scripture and what scripture tells us. There’s no commandment in scripture telling us to celebrate the birth of Yeshua. There is no evidence that anyone in scripture ever celebrated his birthday and there’s no record of his birthday being celebrated even within the first 300 years. So, it goes back to that first basic question. Why should we care about celebrating Yeshua’s birth at all? Answer that for yourself.

I’m all we want to do and really the heart of what we want to do is put forth the evidence so that you can make an informed decision about you and your family. We can’t make decisions for you, but you do your own there. So ask yourself, why should we care? Why should you care about celebrating Yeshua’s birth at all? Decide for yourself. But once again, we look at the scriptural evidence and scripture evidence tells us it’s not his birth that we are to commemorate and proclaim. It’s his death.

And I’ll leave you with this closing passage once again from 1 Corinthians 11 23- 26. This is the Apostle Paul writing. And he says, “For I received from the master that which I also delivered to you, that the master Yeshua in the night in which he was delivered up, took bread, and having given thanks, he broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant in my blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the master until he comes. You proclaim the death of Yeshua until he comes. Not the birth is we proclaim his death. And that’s just the God honest truth.