What historical events happened when Jesus was born?

Answer 1

We only have two accounts of the birth of Jesus and each tells of quite different events.

In Matthew's Gospel, Bethlehem was the home town of Mary and Joseph, but they had to flee for safety to Egypt soem time after the birth, out of fear of King Herod. Herod ordered all the baby boys to be slaughtered, an event now known as the 'Slaughter of the Innocents'. Whether this was a historical event is questioned, as there is no extra-biblical evidence of it, and even the author of Luke's Gospel seems to have been unaware of it. Ian Wilson (Jesus: The Evidence) says, "Josephus [the first-century Jewish historian], who never shrank from cataloguing Herod's crimes, has no mention of such an atrocity, yet had anything like it occurred it would surely have rated among the best-remembered of Herod's misdeeds."

In Matthew's Gospel, Nazareth was the home town of Mary and Joseph, but they had to travel to Bethlehem for a census called by the Roman governor of Syria, Quirinius. Whether this census was a historical event is questioned, as there is no extra-biblical evidence of it, and Quirinius only became governor of Syria in 6 CE, ten years after the death of Herod. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) say the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately.

Answer 2

A:

Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel both say that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod the Great in Palestine, who died in April 4 BCE, and the reign of Emperor Augustus in Rome. Luke's Gospel also says that Jesus was born during the census conducted by Quirinius in 6 CE, ten years after Herod died. However, John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus), says that neither of the nativity stories contains any historical truth, in which case we can not be sure just when Jesus was born. As for the confusion in Luke's Gospel placing his birth at the time of two events separated by at least ten years, Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately.