While many believe birthday celebrations are harmless,
this is the exact opposite of what Scripture teaches. In fact, without exception, Scripture never celebrates birthdays.
While the Book of Iyov (Job) tells us that Iyov was a
righteous man, it also tells us that Iyov’s children celebrated their birthdays.
Iyov (Job) 1:4-5
4 And his sons went and held a feast
in the house of each one upon his day; and they sent and called for their three
sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of
their feasting were gone about, that Iyov sent and set them apart, and rose up
early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of
them all: for Iyov said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced
Elohim in their hearts.” Thus did Iyov
continually.
Notice that rather than telling us that these birthday
celebrations were a good thing, we see that Iyov took pains to sacrifice on his
children’s behalf, since he was concerned that their decision to celebrate
their own birthdays may have been a sin, and that it may also have served as an
indication that Iyov’s son’s had renounced Elohim in their hearts.
YHWH allowed Satan to take Iyov’s children’s lives.
Iyov (Job) 1:18-19
18 While he was yet speaking, there
came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and
drinking wine in their eldest brother's house;
19 And, behold, there came a great
wind (i.e., a great Spirit) from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of
the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am
escaped alone to tell you.”
Is it possible that the reason YHWH allowed Satan to take
Iyov’s children’s lives was precisely because the desire to celebrate birthdays
really does indicate a wrong spiritual condition? Is it possible that for one to celebrate
one’s birthday is really to exalt oneself in one’s heart, and that Iyov equated
exalting oneself in one’s heart with having renounced Elohim?
Mattai (Matthew) 22:37-40
37 Yahushua said to him, "'You
shall love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great
commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 On these two commandments hang all
the Torah and the Prophets."
The first and the great commandment is to love YHWH our
Elohim with all of our heart, soul, and mind; and the second is like unto it:
that we love our neighbors as ourselves.
However, if Iyov’s sons were truly dedicated towards loving and serving
YHWH, and building His kingdom with all of our hearts, souls and minds, then
why would they have wanted to take the time to celebrate their birthdays in the
first place? What does it do for YHWH? And how does it further His kingdom?
Pharaoh celebrated his own birthday.
B’reisheet (Genesis) 40:20
And it came to pass the third day,
which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and
he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among
his servants.
Pharaoh, however, is not our example; and we are not
supposed to walk like the Egyptians walk.
King Herod also celebrated his own day. However, once again, King Herod is not our
example, and this birthday celebration led to the death of Yochanan haMatbil
(John the Baptist).
Marqaus (Mark) 6:21-24
21 And when a convenient day was come,
that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains,
and the chief men of Galilee ;
22 And when the daughter of Herodias
herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with
him; and the king said unto the damsel, “Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I
will give it to you.”
23 And he swore unto her, “Whatsoever
you shall ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.”
24 And she went out, and said unto her
mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of Yochanan haMatbil (John
the Baptist).”
While he was still alive, Yochanan haMatbil told us
something very important. He told us
that in order for the Father’s will to be done, he had to decrease.
Yochanan (John) 3:30
30 He must increase, while I must
decrease.
What does it mean that in order for the Father’s will to
be done, Yochanan had to decrease? And
what does this mean to us? Do we have to
decrease as well, in order for YHWH will to be done in our lives? And if so, what does that look like?
Human nature is very prideful. It is the nature of man to want to think more
highly of himself than he ought, and this is why the Apostle Sha'ul warned us
that we should not think highly of ourselves.
Romim (Romans) 12:3
3 For I say, through the favor given
to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than
he ought to think, but to think soberly, as Elohim has dealt to each one a measure
of faith.
Shaul instructed us to have a lowly mind.
Philipim (Philippians) 2:3
3 Let nothing be done through selfish
ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better
than himself.
One reason most children like birthday celebrations so
much is that most children like to be the center of attention. The flesh finds it very pleasing to be
exalted. While we might think that the
best course of behavior is to let children go ahead and celebrate their
birthdays, in order to ‘get it out of their systems’, in truth, we need to
raise up our children in the way they should go, so that when they are older
they will not depart from the correct path.
Mishle (Proverbs) 22:6
6 Train up a child in the way he
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
One of the more difficult parts of parenting children
correctly is to teach them, gently, lovingly and over time, to focus less and
less upon what they want, and to focus more and more upon YHWH’s will for them,
and upon the needs of others. This
learning process can take years, but it is the quintessence of helping children
grow into mature, stable adults. Only
adults who are able to put away pride, ego and selfishness are able to enter
into the the kind of stable relationships that it takes to raise healthy
children in turn.
Anton LaVey, the modern day founder of the Church
of Satan
“THE highest of all holidays in the
Satanic religion is the date of one’s own birthday. This is in direct contradiction to the holy
of holy days of other religions, which deify a particular god who has been
created in an anthropomorphic form of their own image, thereby showing that the
ego is not really buried.”
The Satanic Bible (Anton Szandor
LaVey, [Air] Book of Lucifer – The Enlightenment, Avon Books, 1969, Ch XI,
Religious Holidays, p. 96).
LaVey asserts that the reason other religions’ deities
have a human form is that human beings like to project their traits upon their
deities, which he takes as proof that no one’s ego is ever really buried. According to his line of reasoning, since no
one’s ego is ever really buried, the logical thing is just to realize that it
is the nature of all flesh to want to worship the self (i.e., to be selfish),
and then just to give in to one’s urges.
We might turn this thought process around, and say that
while the desire to celebrate one’s own birthday does serve as an indicator
that one still wants to exalt one’s own self, and while this desire does
represent a victory for the Evil One, this does not serve as any kind of a
justification for giving in to one’s urges.
Rather, we should pray to YHWH for help in controlling our selfish
urges, and also in being set free from them (with His help).
Yahushua was probably born on the first day of the Feast
of Sukkot, but neither He nor any of His apostles are ever recorded as
having celebrated it as His birthday. Yahushua
and His apostles just continued to celebrate YHWH’s festival as they always
did, and thus the focus remained on keeping YHWH’s festivals, and not on
celebrating anyone’s birthday (not even Yahushua’s).
So while there is no clear-cut commandment not to
celebrate our birthdays, let us remember that the righteous man Iyob (Job)
feared that his son’s birthday celebrations were a sign that his sons had
sinned, and despised Elohim in their hearts.
Let us also bear in mind that King Solomon, who at least
at one time was the wisest man who had ever lived, tells us that not only is a
good name better than precious oil, but that the day of one’s death is better
than the day of one’s birth.
Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) 7:1
1 A good name is better than precious
oil; and the day of death (is better) than the day of one's birth.
If this is the case, then why should we celebrate our
birthdays? Or for that matter, why
should we celebrate any day that our Master has not commanded us to
celebrate? No matter what the excuse, we cannot justify adding days to His calendar or commandments to His word!
If we truly love our Husband, then why not spend all of
our time focusing on Him, and on His people, rather than on ourselves?
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