Reference: Birthday
Hastings
Birthday celebrations are mentioned only in connexion with royalty, viz. Pharaoh's birthday (Ge 40:20), the monthly celebration of that of Antiochus Epiphanes (2Ma 6:7), and the birthday feast given by Herod Antipas (Mt 14:6; Mr 6:21). The 'day of our king,' to which Hosea refers (Ho 7:5), may have been the anniversary either of the king's birth or of his accession. Some authorities (e.g. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, i. 672) regard Herod's feast as celebrating the anniversary of his accession
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Smith
The custom of observing birthdays is very ancient,
and in
etc., we read that Job's sons "feasted every one his day." In Persia birthdays were celebrated with peculiar honors and banquets, and in Egypt those of the king were kept with great pomp. It is very probable that in
the feast to commemorate Herod's accession is intended, for we know that such feasts were common, and were called "the day of the king."