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Was Jesus Born On Christmas Day?
Current-day Israeli lambing season and the Gospel of Luke make a compelling case
I had always heard that Jesus must have been born in the springtime, because the Bible says, in Luke 2:8, that: there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
The assumption was that it would be too cold for the shepherds to be out at night in late December.
However, Jesus was not born in Europe or North America. What is the climate like in December in Israel?
According to this, wintertime temperatures in the Holy Land are in the low 40s Fahrenheit. Cold but not below freezing. But wouldn’t shepherds (and sheep) prefer warmer weather to be out at night?
However, according to this, lambing season in Israel as well as in Lebanon and Syria occurs from December to January. In Iraq, it occurs in November.
And, this article claims that the climate today is not significantly different than it was in Jesus’ day.
Based on these articles, it would make sense that in Jesus’ time, lambs were also born in the same timeframe.
This is in agreement with the Gospel of Luke, which also indicates Jesus was born in late December.
