The Division of Abijah is the Key

John 10:22-23
22 At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

“Feast of the Dedication” etymology

The Greek word chosen for Feast of the Dedication has its roots in the Hebrew word "Hanukkah".  This means it would have been the remembrance of Hanukkah that was being celebrated at the time when Yeshua and His disciples were there. 

We need to be reminded of the fact that there are no idle words in the Bible.  Every single jot and tittle has a purpose and Elohim intends to use even the letters to teach us about Himself and His ways. 

No idle word in the Torah:

Deuteronomy 32:46-49

⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. ⁴⁷ For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

⁴⁸ The LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, ⁴⁹ “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. 

No idle word in the Scripture at all:

Isaiah 55:11

¹¹ So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

As a brother of mine said, “Show me in the Scripture that you can justify celebrating pagan festivals and I will change my view.” (Loosely Paraphrased)  The fact is, you can’t.  Nowhere in Scripture is it commanded to celebrate December 25^th as Yeshua’s birth.  His birth was at the Feast of Sukkot and this can be proven with Scripture

Here is the breakdown of when He was born:

Luke 1:5-13; 24-36

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

⁸ Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, ⁹ according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John… 

…²⁴ After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, ²⁵ “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

Jesus’ Birth Foretold

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 

You have to find out when John the Baptist was born and then you can see when the Messiah was born.  Zacharias was from the division of Abijah.  This was a division of the priesthood and they had certain times assigned to serve in the Temple.

Side note: John the Baptist was a Leviticus priest by birth and would have been fully qualified to declare Yeshua the Spotless Lamb as He did. 

So when was Zacharias serving in the Temple? 

1 Chronicles 24: 7-18

7 Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel, 17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

There, in verse 10, we can see that the division of Abijah was the eighth. Thus, by dividing the 12 months of the year by 24 (there were 24 divisions), we have 15 days assigned to each division.

Zechariah’s division, therefore, was the 8^th fortnight (1 fortnight = 15 days) of every year. When would the 8^th fortnight have fallen during the year?  You need to find out when the Hebrew year began to find this out. 

Exodus 12:1-2

The Passover Lamb

¹ Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 

Here you can see that the month of Passover would have been when God commands the year to begin so that would fall in the middle of March or the month of Nisan.

So, according to these calculations, Mid-March + 8 fortnights (1 fortnight = 15 days) = Mid-July = the end of the “division of Abijah” and the commencement of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.  Elizabeth was pregnant 5 months before Mary conceived.  Mid-July + 5 months = Mid-December when Mary conceived.  Yeshua would have been born 9 months later.  Mid-December + 9 months = Mid-September. 

Guess what falls in Mid-September to Beginning of October: The Feast of Sukkot. 

So would the Messiah be celebrating His birth on December 25^th?  I question it.  The Scripture clearly says He was celebrating Hanukkah and I have shown above when He was truly born according to the Scripture.  Now you decide.