The First Noel

Traditionally, the word "Noel" has come to be a synonym for "Christmas", and many dictionaries define the word "Noel" as such. It is also given the meaning by tradition: "Born on Christmas". However, the word literally means "Birth of God", based on the traditional idea that God Almighty Himself was in the womb of Mary, and was born as the child of Mary. By extension it has come to mean birthday of God, and has become, as we stated, a synonym for Christmas. While most Christians do not usually speak of the birth of God, this expression is often used by many theologians, especially at Christmas time.

Usually dictionaries ignore the EL in Noel when giving the etymology of the word, and thus link it only to the Latin word natalis, which means "nativity." Again, by tradition, the Latin word "natalis", being associated with Christmas, has also been given the meaning of "birthday."

We have also found references to the pagan "noel log", "noel" being used almost as a synonym for "yule".
http://tinyurl.com/8ofs4h

It is not uncommon to hear trinitarians speak of the "birth of God," or even "God's birthday", thus giving more reason to be suspect of the etymological meaning behind the word "Noel" to be in reference to "God-birth". Many Spanish-speaking people may speak of the celebration as "God's birthday", based on the how the Christmas celebration is sometimes called "Navidad de Dios" (or sometimes simply "Navidad Dios), that is, "God's birth[day]".

Of the Almighty Jehovah, we read:

1 Chronicles 16:36 - Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah.

Psalms 41:13 - Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, From everlasting and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

Thus the Almighty Jehovah has never been conceived, begotten, or brought into existence, nor does he ever die. The Bible never says anything to the effect that Jehovah, the Most High has ever been born as a human being, as is often imagined by trinitarians, as well as some others.

Let us then examine the lyrics of one the popular songs often sung as Christmas time entitled, "The First Noel." We do not know for a certainty who originally wrote this song. Of the nineteenth century, we find it appear in three different versions. We will examine the most popular version.

The first verse:

The First Noel, the Angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel
Born is the King of Israel!

While we cannot be certain what meaning was originally given to the word NOEL as used in this song, we can say that to many, it is referring to the birthday of God. Of course, the Bible says nothing about a birth or birthday of God Almighty, but we do find in the Bible that an angel proclaimed the birth of one whom Jehovah anointed to be the King of Israel:

Coutesy
The Edge Group and Lion Hudson Ltd

Luke 2:8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
Luke 2:9 Behold, an angel of Jehovah stood by them, and the glory of Jehovah shone around them, and they were terrified.
Luke 2:10 The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.
Luke 2:11 For there is born to you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:12 This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough."
Luke 2:13 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, On earth peace, good will toward men."

The word "christ" means one anointed; the one who anointed Jesus is Jehovah. Prophetically, Jesus is depicted as saying: "Jehovah ...  anointed me." -- Isaiah 61:1.

"Noel" could only scripturally apply to the one sent by Jehovah if one also recognizes that EL can also be used in a general sense to denote a mighty person. As such the word Noel would mean "Birth of a mighty one." As a babe, one may have difficulty thinking of Jesus as a mighty one, although it could be applied prophetically to his birth as the one promised who was to become the mighty everlasting King on the throne of David. Such a designation, however, would not mean that Jesus is Jehovah. Of course, we doubt that the author(s) of this hymn had any concept of using EL related to Jesus to mean a mighty one other than the Supreme Being.

Taking this further, if "no" is used to correspond with the Greek forms of the word often transliterated as gennao (Strong's Greek #1080), it could take on the meaning of begettal, conception, as in Matthew 1:20. Indeed, Jesus conception would have taken place sometime around December 25, as many Bible Students have noted. Again, we note, however, the author(s) of this song probably did not have this in mind at all.

The lyrics continue:

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the East beyond them far
And to the earth it gave great light
And so it continued both day and night.

There is nothing in the Bible that says that the shepherds saw a star shining in the East, much less that this star gave a great light. There was a light that appeared to the astrologers from the East, but the Bible does not say that this light* appeared to them on the night that Jesus was born, although that is a possibility. Nor is there any record in the Bible that this light was seen by others than the astrologers; the scriptures record only states that the astrologers saw this light, which led them first -- not to where Jesus was, but to Jerusalem, and evidently disappeared, since Matthew 2:9,10 relates that they again saw this light after they had spoken with Herod, and thus they rejoiced that they again saw this light.
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*called "star" in most translations, although the Greek word for "star" has a greater application than what we today call "star". We highly doubt that what these astrologers actually saw was a "star" in the sense that "star" is defined by modern science.

The lyrics of "The First Noel" continues:

And by the light of that same star
Three Wise men came from country far
To seek for a King was their intent
And to follow the star wherever it went.

The Bible says nothing about "three wise men." The astrologers indeed could be called "wise men", but the Bible does not relate how many astrologers came to see Jesus. They did indeed come from a "far country". As indicated by Matthew 2:7 and Matthew 2:16, this trip may have extended over many months, up to two years.

The lyrics continue:

This star drew nigh to the northwest
O'er Bethlehem it took its rest
And there it did both Pause and stay
Right o'er the place where Jesus lay.

This light did lead eventually these astrologers to Jesus, but only after it had first led them to Jerusalem and Herod. The Bible does not say that this light led these astrologers to "where Jesus lay," but rather "they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary." (Matthew 2:11) By the time these astrologers found Jesus, Jesus was not laying in the manger, but was in a house as a young child, a young boy, possibly about two years old.

Continuing with the lyrics:

Then entered in those Wise men three
Full reverently upon their knee
And offered there in His presence
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.

The scriptural evidence is that this offering by the astrologers was many months after Jesus was born.

The last verse reads:

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made Heaven and earth of nought
And with his blood mankind has bought.

This, at least, appears to proclaim Jesus as as being Jehovah, who made the physical heaven and earth from "nothing", at least, not from anything that we might think of as "material". (The Bible does not actually say that God created the physical universe from "nought/nothing.") It is possbile that Jehovah was alone with he created the material universe (Isaiah 44:24); if so, Jesus was not there with Jehovah at that time.
See our studies under the topic:
Jesus and Creation

Nevertheless, the glory of the Almighty Jehovah has never been the glory of flesh and blood, and thus he could never buy mankind with His blood, since His spiritual "body" has never had any flesh or blood to offer to Himself for mankind. Paul distinctly keeps the celestial and terrestrial glories entirely separate.-- 1 Corinthians 15:39-41

Of course, the life that Jesus had as a human was life that Jehovah, the God and Father of Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:31; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3), had given to Jesus. Jesus said: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father." -- John 6:57.

Jesus speaks of the glory that his God and Father had given to him as a human, which is probably the glory Jesus said he had given (reckonedly -- Romans 4:3,5,9,17,22-24) to his followers. -- John 17:22; Hebrews 2:9.

Hebrews 10:5 shows that Jesus' body of flesh, was prepared by his God and Father.

Only in this sense could Jesus' blood also be spoken of as the blood of his God and Father, although I doubt that the writers of the lyrics had this mind. It appears that their thought was that Jesus was the Almighty Jehovah Himself.
https://jesusnotyhwh.blogspot.com/p/posts.html

Conclusion: Very evidently the lyrics to this popular "Christmas" hymn is full of errors and and is supportive of a false doctrine.

See also our study:
Trinity and Christmas

Comments and Our Replies:

Comment:

Since the word first is used in the verse it would indicate a second and more.

Yes, as we stated, the authors of the song probably used "Noel" in the traditional sense of the birthday of the one they believed to be "God", that is Jesus, which event is usually observed my many annually on December 25. We admit that there is some dispute over the etymology of the word. After study many different opinion of its etymology, we have come to the conclusion that the word is indeed a borrowing from heathen worship of the birthday of the sun-god, whatever "name" may have been given to the sun-god, thus forming the word no(birth)-el(god), that is, "birth of God".


"The French Noë is a name concerning whose origin there has been considerable dispute; there can, however, be little doubt that it is the same word as the Provencal Nadau or Nadal,the Italian Natale, and the Welsh Nadolig, all obviously derived from the Latin natalis, and meaning "birthday." One naturally takes this as referring to the Birth of Christ, but it may at any rate remind us of another birthday celebrated on the same date by the Romans of the Empire, that of the unconquered Sun, who on December 25, the winter solstice according to the Julian calendar, began to rise to new vigor after his autumnal decline."
https://www.scribd.com/document/14761837/MustardSeed-v1

Comment:

The most trusted dictionary, The Oxford Dictionary gives noel no such meaning.
The Oxford dictionary traces the definition to 1811 and relates the meaning to the Christmas season.]]

Yes, as we said, the dictionaries give the common traditional meanings attached to the word, and do not actually examine the "el" part of the word. Every dictionary we have examined, if they give any etymology at all, fails to examine the last syllable. One has to do some serious study to try to understand why we come to the conclusion that Noel refers to the "birth of god." The etymologies usually given seem to try to conform the etymology to the traditional usage, and do this by ignoring the last syllable. Some simply point to the Latin *natus*, while others, based on the traditional usage of the word, would have it based on "natalis" (birthday), while still ignoring the ending "el". Some associate "Noel" with the "Deis Natalis", "day of birth" or "birth day", which some also associated with the "Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, "the birthday of the unconquered sun," a term used in connection with sun-god worship. This would tend to support the borrowing of the term No-el from heathen worship of a deity, born into this world, as has been claimed for many heathen deities ever since Nimrod.

The dictionaries' treatment of Noel appears to be similar the name "Jesus" (a form of "Joshua"); many dictionaries give the meaning simply as "savior", and ignore that the short form of the holy name is represented by the "Je". Some others give the meaning of Jesus is "The Lord is Savior", thereby replacing the holy name with "The Lord". Others would replace the holy name with "God", making the name Jesus/Joshua seem to mean "God is savior". Very few dictionaries or sites give the meaning in some actual form of the holy name.

Some claim that the "no" in "Noel" comes from from the Gaulish word "noio" or "neu" meaning "new" and and the the "el" comes from the Gaulish word "helle" meaning "light" referring to the winter solstice when sunlight begins overtaking darkness. So far this is the only suggested etymology, aside from those few that give "God", that I have seen that actually examines both syllables. Nevertheless, even this proposed etymology goes back to the worship of the sun-god, and would seem to give the Christmas celebration an even closer connection with the celebration of the "Dies Natalis Solis Invicti", "the birthday of the unconquered sun." However, in most of the meanings given, the "el" has been corresponded with something in the Latin that would in some way reflect a meaning for which cannot be actually traced to the Latin.

Traditionally, in English, most have avoided giving "el" in Noel the meaning of which would correspond with the Latin "Deus", which would correspond with the ancient word EL - "God", but some other languages reveal that Noel, when translated into that language, does have that meaning.

Some claim that "Noel" comes from the French phrase "les bonnes nouvelles", and thus claim that Noel means "the good news."

Nevertheless, this diversity does demonstrate that there is a lot of guesswork involved in trying to determine the true etymology of the word "Noel."

At any rate, the association of Christmas/Noel with the worship of the sun-god is unmistakable, which leads us to conclude that the "el" in Noel does refer to the birth of a god.

It is difficult to find a site that actually discusses the meaning of the last syllable of "Noel". Most that give "el" the meaning of "God" would extend the meaning of 'No" to "birthday", thus giving "God's birthday."

Some sites, although not directly stating that "el" is a reference to God, do end up saying that the word does relate to the birth of the "God-child". This is the meaning given as related, by tradition, in Columbian Spanish: "El Nino Dios" ("God Child/Baby"). As mentioned earlier, many who speak Spanish often refer to Christmas as "Navidad de Dios" -- "Birth of God" (or sometimes simply "Navidad Dios), that is, "God's birth[day]".

In Polish, "Noel" is called "Boze Narodzenie", meaning "God's birth". I suspect that one can find similar expressions in other languages.

Even in English, those born on December 25 have been spoken of as a a "God-Child", sometimes related to giving a child a form of the name "Noel".

Most however, while they connect "noel" to the Latin natus, or to the Latin natilis, or some other word related to birth or birthday, fail to give any explanation concening the last syllable. Many, evidently due to the belief that "el" is the same as "Christ" (trinitarian doctrine), thus equating "Christ" to mean "God", thus they simply give the meaning as "birth of Christ", and thus, by tradition, birthday of Christ, associating the word only with the Latin natalis. Some associate "Noel" with the Latin "natalis dies Domini", literally meaning "birth day of our Lord." Nevertheless, we have found nothing that gives any indication as to how "dies Domini" comes to be "el" in the word "noel". We can see how the Latin "Deus" could be understood as related the ancient word "El".