For People Who Think There Was No Historical Jesus

[Confused Ape]

Have found a possible reason why the year of Jesus's birth ended up earlier than Quirinius's census in Matthew's gospel.

The Star Prophecy

is a Messianic reading applied by radical Jews and early Christians to Numbers 24:17:
"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

The star has been externalized as an actual star in the sky, the Star of Bethlehem, in the narration of the Gospel of Matthew.

I found this article about the Star of Bethlehem on the Royal Museums Greenwich site. I think one of the suggestions is particularly interesting.

In the year 5 BC when many scholars believe Jesus was born, a combination of a bright nova and a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces was seen. Ancient Chinese astronomers recorded this as an unusually bright star that appeared in the eastern sky for 70 days. This was a rare sight

If you're going to invent a biography where prophecies are fulfilled, getting your divine Messiah born when an unusually bright star was seen would be a good way to go. Herod the Great died in 4 BC so he was the ideal candidate for the 'baddie who tries to kill the special child' myth. You can then add the escape to Egypt - a useful alternative if you don't have a river to sail the baby on.

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped into Egypt, ¹⁵and was there until the death of Herod, in order that the thing spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, which says: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Well, that's what the writers of Matthew might have thought but nobody told the writers of Luke who decided to use Quirinius's census as an explanation for why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They also borrowed Mithras's shepherds so had angels announcing the birth.

The writers of Mark's and John's gospel didn't bother with the childhood stuff because they wanted to start with John the Baptist. Maybe it's just as well otherwise Tertullian might have had even bigger problems trying to reconcile everything.