Nativity in 12 BC

 I’ve been slightly off in the past when I mention saying that a Romans census took about 5 years.  I just went by the usual known Census dates and assumed they dated the start of that 5 year period, allowing the 8 BC Census to end in 4 or 3 BC.

In actuality the Monumentum Ancyranum inscription states that Augustus completed a Lustrum in 8 BC, the year Censorinus and Asinius were Consuls.  That would make the first year of that Lustrum 12 BC.  Some translations word this more vaguely, but I think the version identifying 8 BC as when it was completed may be correct.

Now I’ve made a big deal before about deconstructing the assumption that Luke mentions Quirinus, however it's interesting that 12 BC was the year Quirinus was Consul.  Again Luke 2 doesn’t use a word for Governor, but for governing.  The Legate of Syria at this time was Marcus Titius, but he was brand new in the office, it’s not difficult at all to imagine one of the Consuls was overseeing the East.  Especially since 12 BC was also the year Quirinus started his campaign against the Homonadenses.  He wasn't actively serving as Consul anymore by the year's end, but he was still one of the Consuls the year was named after. 

When exactly Marcus Titius was made governor is disputed exactly, 12 BC may have started with Marcus Agrippa still the Governor, but he was an absentee Governor who rarely actually resided in Syria.

Of course given the common interpretation of Luke 2:1-2 saying the Census began during the governing of Quirinus, and the Roman custom of naming years after the Consuls at it's start.  It could be this Lustrum was gonna be identified with Quirinus regardless of when during it Jesus was born.

Some before have argued for a 12 BC Birthdate for Jesus.  They get a lot of stuff wrong (including the common anti December 25th memes), starting with wanting to see Halley's Comet as the Star of Bethlehem.  Since I place the Star of Bethlehem a little under 2 years before Jesus was born, not at his birth, my model here would use the Star of Bethlehem candidate(s) usually favored by 15 or 14 BC theorists, when there were more Jupiter-Regulus conjunctions, and some interesting movements with Venus.  And that when Hanukkah would have happened in December of 12 BC, Venus was visible in Israel as an Evening Star according to Stellarium.  

But the previous year's Hanukkah had Venus visible as a Morning Star.  That year the 25th of Kislev would have began probably at sunset of December 23rd.  And then perhaps the magi arrived in Jerusalem when Jesus was born around Sunrise of December 24th, and arrived at Mary and Joseph's house exactly 24 hours later.  That model would put the beginning of Nisan of 13 BC around the 6th of 7th of April.

There could be more time between the family going to Egypt and Herod’s death then people usually assume.  The word for “young child” used at the time they return from Egypt, can simply mean not fully an adult yet, Mark 5:40-42 uses it of a 12 year old.

Now that goes against some of what I’ve argued before.  I do still believe the Magi arrived in Jerusalem when Jesus was born.  But it might be Herod didn’t give up on waiting for the Magi to return till after the 40 days.  Maybe he wasn’t in Jerusalem when Simeon and Anna gave their prophecies.  He was often not in Jerusalem, he may have been there for when the Magi arrived only because he was there to celebrate Hannukah.

Some think Simeon the Just of Luke 2 was probably a Priest and maybe even the High Priest.  That this date puts the nativity during the administration of Simon Beothus is pretty interesting then.   One of the more overlooked things Josephus said about the house of Simon Beothus is that they descended from Onais IV.

I believe Simeon the second Bishop of Jerusalem was the same person as Simon the half brother of Jesus (in-spite of the early Catholics wanting to call him a son of Clopas).  I believe all of his half siblings were younger, since I believe Mary was their mother and Jesus was obviously her first born.  Simeon’s death is dated to 117 AD, and he was apparently 120 years old when he died, according to Eusebius (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.xxxii.html).  That would place the birth of Simon in 5 or 4 BC.  Assuming they were named in the order they were born, James and Joses were also older than Simon.  So that is potential evidence against my past desire to place Jesus's Birth right before Herod died.

However that date for Simeon’s death may be too late.  Since it’s also said to be while Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes was Governor of Judea, which was from 99-102.  However the chronology of post Josephus governors of Judea isn't established as firmly.  The scenario presented makes most sense as being in the context of the Kitos War.

Update March 2024: So apparently most translations of  the Monumentum Ancyranum inscription do not support I asserted above.  So that weakens the thesis a bit.