I Hope the Evil Spirits Leave You Alone on The Anniversary of Your Day of Birth!!

"I Hope the Evil Spirits Leave You Alone on The Anniversary of Your Day of Birth!!"

...Whew!  That was a long one!!  If you're wondering where it came from, let me present you with the abbreviated form..."Happy Birthday!!"  I've recently discovered the not so kosher origins of Xmas, Valentine's Day, the word "church"...it only made sense that I would research birthdays next?  (And I'm sure boredom or the Ruach (preferably) will lead me to portray a synopsis of the aforementioned in due time.)

So let's start with the examples that Scripture has given us...

1. The actual dates of birth are not recorded for ANYONE IN THE BIBLE.
2.  No where does the Bible instruct us not to celebrate birthdays...

"A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."  - Ecclesiastes 7:1

...but we aren't exactly instructed to celebrate, either...

"And it came to pass the third day, Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants:  and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.  And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand:  But he hanged the chief baker:  as Joseph had interpreted to them."  - Genesis 40:20-22

...one man freed, one man slain, go on...

"But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.  Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.  And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John the Baptist's head in a platter.  And the king was sorry:  nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded to be given.  And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison."  -Matthew 14:6-10

...getting worse...

"And his sons feasted houses, every one his day; and send and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.  And it was so, when the days of feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings to the number of them all:  for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed Elohim in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."  - Job 1:4-5

...this is the last POTENTIAL example of birthdays that I was able to find in scripture.  It does not specify why Job's sons were feasting, but "every one his day" kinda makes it sound birthday-esque.  Job did not think their feasts were righteous and made offerings for them.  Coincidentally, all of his sons died later in the book, but since just about anyone who knew Job died in the book, I'm not really using that as weight in this specific argument.

"Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night it was said, There is a man child conceived." - Job 3:3

"Cursed the day wherein I was born:  let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed."  - Jeremiah 20:14

...While I was unable to find any verses praising a day of birth (aside from the birth of Christ, but that cannot be used in this argument because he was also a KING which leads to the discussion of other traditions and customs far from this one), Jeremiah and Job both cursed the days they were born.

Now let's look at some different facts about birthdays:

-It was difficult for people to celebrate birthdays in ancient times because there was not a calendar with which they could track dates from year to year.  With the emergence of said calendar, birthdays, astrology (Isaiah 47:13 warns against), and horoscopes (Leviticus 20:6 warns against) were born almost immediately.

-The first birthdays celebrated were those of Pagan gods, kings, and deitized kings (apollo, artemis, zeus, Pharaoh, Herod, Nimrod).

-Early Christian (a made up word, btw but that is also an a discussion for another day) theologists condemned birthdays in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. both because of the custom's pagan heritage and because it promoted self-indulgence, self-promotion, and the lifting up of a person rather than Yah.

- It was not until Romans and Greeks began integrating into the Catholic church that they became acceptable customs (Interestingly enough, this is also how the Sabbath got changed to Sunday and we began celebrating Xmas, Easter, and Halloween).

-The birthday cake was originally round in honor of the sun/moon and/or Artemis/Apollo (Pagan deities).

-Not only did candles further make the cake resemble the sun and moon, but they were believed to carry prayers (origin of the birthday wish) to the heavens and to the gods.

-People believed that you were more susceptible to interventions of evil spirits on your birthday and it was believed that cheer was the best deterrent.  So they would gather around the birthday boy/girl (origin of the birthday party), give them gifts to make them happier (origin of the gift giving), and wish them cheer (Happy Birthday!!) all in the name of fighting off said evil spirits.

SOOOO...In conclusion:

I could probably provide a valid argument against the celebration of birthdays, whereas it's more difficult to argue for them.  Though it is not condemned scripturally nor does it come from a specific deity-celebration (see: Lupercalia, i.e. Valentine's Day) nor is it a celebration unto Yah (which leads us back to the question, should it be celebrated if not commanded nor celebrated unto Yah?).  Within humble bounds, the tradition may not be a bad one, though I hesitate to call it good.

For myself personally, I will be leaving the final decision up to my headship (my husband; see 1 Corinthians 11:3), whom I'm sure will be deciding under the guidance of our Glorious Abba Father.

Shalom!