Establishing the Date of Jesus' Birth
The year, month and day of the birth of Jesus Christ has not been absolutely fixed, however an approximate week of the year, and a range of years consistent with Jesus' age and length of earthly ministry up to His crucifixion on April 3rd A.D. 30 has been ascertained.
As demonstrated below, the best fit approximate date for the birth of Jesus Christ is the week of August 13, in 5 B.C. (Julian).
Several bible passages provide information regarding when Jesus Christ was born, some of which can at present be synchronized with historical records:
Analysis (below) of the presently available evidence establishes that Jesus' birth was:
The week of August 13th 5 B.C. best reconciles Jesus' birth date (absent dating Luke's census of Quirinius) with all other conclusive date synchronizations, including;
Luk 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
Luk 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, ...
Luk 3:23 When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, ...
These date synchronisms are demonstrated in the following table:
<= BC AD => Tiberius' Years BC/AD Jesus' age
week of Aug 13
↑
←ministry→
1st is offset 10 months from 12 AD 3rd are offset 8 months from 14 AD
Tiberius' 15th year (reckoned factually) began in September of A.D. 26. If Jesus was born the week of August 13th in 5 B.C. (Julian), then His 30th birthday would have been the week of August 13 in A.D. 26, and commensurately had Jesus been baptized between September and October (at the beginning of Tiberius' 15th year), Jesus would have been "about thirty years of age" in the "fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar", exactly as Luke reported, beginning a 3 and 1/2 year ministry ending with Jesus' crucifixion on April 3rd of A.D. 30, approximately four months before His 34th birthday in August.
Two earlier birth date possibilities (during the week August 5, 7 B.C. or the week of August 25, 6 B.C., Julian) though valid computationally, are both discounted as they violate the synchronism in Luke's account that Jesus be "about 30" years old in Tiberius' 15th year (A.D. 26).
Not having dates for the "Star of Bethlehem" or Herod's massacre of the infants does not detract from the existing affirmative evidence and analysis. However, a confirmed date for Luke's census of Quirinus would be probative. The absence of such records does not disprove Luke's account, but like evidence for Belshazzar was unearthed 2500 years after Daniel identified him, perhaps someday Luke's census of Quirinius will be dated and further fix the year of Jesus birth.
Ambiguity of dates for Luke's census of Quirinius
The principal problem with precisely fixing the year of Jesus' birth involves Luke's synchronizing it with a Roman census taken while Quirinius governed Syria:
Luk 2:1-3 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.
The historical evidence to date does not conclusively identify to what Luke referred. There is some ambiguity in the phrase 'hegemoneúo of Syria' as it is neither a known title of Syria nor of Quirinius, and the historical records, monuments and artifacts do not precisely identify what 'apographo' (Roman census or registration) Jesus' parents were obeying, all consistent with Jesus' birth necessarily before the death of Herod the Great in early 4 B.C. While Luke referred to Pontius Pilate also as the hegemoneúo (and Matthew similarly referred to him as the 'hegemon'), we now now that Pilate's actual Roman title was "Prefect".
There were several Roman leaders in charge of Syria in differing capacities over the period in question, and resolving the ambiguity of Quirinius' responsibility and conflicts with other historical figures becomes important. As little new can be added to the analysis here at this time, see "The Census of Quirinius - The Historicity of Luke 2:1-5" by Ronald Marchant for a treatment of establishing a birth date based on a census of Quirinius, and see "The Honorand of the Titulus Tiburtinus" by Nikos Kokkinos and "C. Sentius Saturninus, Piso Pontifex, and the Titulus Tiburtinus, a reply" by C. Eilers for a discussion of a fragmented monument which possibly identifies either Quirinius, Piso, or Saturninus as having been legate twice, the second of which was of Syria. These sources are not offered to establish a date for Luke's census of Quirinius but rather to illustrate the issues and ambiguity of the historical record.
Month and week of Jesus' birth
A range of non-contradictory and likely dates can be established from passages in the Bible and Rabbinic writings, based on Jesus' birth relative to when John the Baptist was likely conceived. Luke reports (all cites NASB):
Luk 1:5, 8-9 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ... Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
Luk 1:13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.
Luk 1:24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,
(Note, the above passages establish that Elizabeth would conceive John shortly upon Zacharias' return from Temple service.)
As demonstrated in the table Priestly Divisions for Temple Service (below), Zacharias would be serving during Iyar 29th through Sivan 11th and Kislev 3rd through Kislev 9th. It is assumed that Zacharias returned home in the week following each ministration at which time Elizabeth conceived. Luke continues:
Luk 1:26-27, 36 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. ... "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
Luk 1:41-42 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
(Note, the above passages establish that Mary conceived of Jesus when Elizabeth was in her sixth month with John the Baptist.)
The Hebrew calendar used alternating 30 and 29 day months, so given that John the Baptist was conceived six months before Jesus, that puts the month of Jesus' birth at 443 days relative to John's conception (computed as 266 days for the average human pregnancy from conception to birth plus 177 days for 3 29-day months and 3 30-day months). Assuming then John is conceived upon Zacharias' return from Temple service in either the 3rd week of Sivan (12th - 18th) or the 2nd week of Kislev (10th - 16th), the dates for Jesus' birth relative to Zacharias' Temple service can be computed and are summarized in the following table:
Sivan 12, 3753 Av 10 August 3* Sivan 12, 3754 Kislev 10, 3754 Elul 11 August 23* Shevat 10 January 27* Sivan 12, 3755 Kislev 10, 3755 Elul 10 August 11* Adar 8 February 14* Kislev 10, 3756 Adar I 8 February 3* * these are Gregorian dates converted from the Hebrew dates using the Fourmilab Calendar Converter
Historically, the rainy season in Palestine begins with the early rains in the month of Heshvan (mid-October) and runs through Iyar (mid-May), with the heaviest rains mid season accounting for 70 percent of Bethlehem's annual rainfall and the latter rains in Nisan (see "Ancient Ecologies and the Biblical Perspective" by Edwin M. Yamauchi, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation 32.4, Dec. 1980, 193-202). Temperatures in Bethlehem during the coldest months of Tevet and Shevat (mid December through mid-February) average 11-14 degrees Celsius (55°F) and reach lows of 1 degree Celsius (33°F) (see Bethlehem Municipality - Climate).
Further opinion on shepherds not keeping their flocks in fields around Bethlehem during the "rainy season" (winter) is given by:
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, Luke 2:8:
Keeping watch - by night - Or, as in the margin, keeping the watches of the night, i.e. each one keeping a watch (which ordinarily consisted of three hours) in his turn. The reason why they watched them in the field appears to have been, either to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey, such as wolves, foxes, etc., or from freebooting banditti, with which all the land of Judea was at that time much infested. It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the passover, and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain: during the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the passover occurred in the spring, and the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could he have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light upon this disputed point. See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot.
Albert Barne's Notes on the Bible - Luke 2:8:
Abiding in the field - Remaining out of doors, under the open sky, with their flocks. This was commonly done. The climate was mild, and, to keep their flocks from straying, they spent the night with them. It is also a fact that the Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions during the summer months, and took them up in the latter part of October or the first of November, when the cold weather commenced. While away in these deserts and mountainous regions, it was proper that there should be someone to attend them to keep them from straying, and from the ravages of wolves and other wild beasts. It is probable from this that our Saviour was born before the 25th of December, or before what we call “Christmas.” At that time it is cold, and especially in the high and mountainous regions about Bethlehem.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Luke 2:8
watch . . . by night--or, night watches, taking their turn of watching. From about Passover time in April until autumn, the flocks pastured constantly in the open fields, the shepherds lodging there all that time. (From this it seems plain that the period of the year usually assigned to our Lord's birth is too late).
The coldest period with the greatest precipitation are the two months of Tevet and Shevat, followed by two more months of the "latter rains". It is implausible that shepherds would remain in (or return to) the fields in the hills with their flocks across these two worst months, and consequently the three "rainy season" (winter) birth dates in Shevat and Adar are discounted, leaving the three late-summer dates in the months of Av and Elul.
So, by the Gregorian calendar (extrapolated back to the B.C. era) relative to Zacharias' Temple ministrations and shepherds being in their fields before the rainy season, Jesus was possibly born during the weeks of August 3, 7 B.C., August 23, 6 B.C., or August 11, 5 B.C.
However, the earlier dates in the weeks of August 3, 7 B.C. and August 23, 6 B.C. are both discounted as they violate the synchronism that Jesus be "about 30" in 26 A.D., leaving the week of August 11, 5 B.C. (all Gregorian dates) as the best-fit for the birth of Jesus Christ.
Star of Bethlehem and Herod the Great's massacre of infants
A confirmed date (and corequisite identification of the astronomical phenomena) for the Star of Bethlehem, would establish two criteria for the birth date of Jesus:
- directly dates the birth after adjusting for travel time for the Magi to reach Bethlehem.
- indirectly dates a two year range within which Jesus would have been born among those male infants of Bethlehem slain by Herod the Great.
The "Star of Bethlehem" is what drew the Magi to seek the new born Jesus, as Matthew records:
Mat 2:1-2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."
Mat 2:9-10 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Several natural phenomena have been proposed as explanations for the star the Magi followed:
- David Hughes (1979) proposed it was when Jupiter and Saturn rose together opposite the setting sun, Tuesday, 15th September, 7 B.C.
- Colin Humphreys (1991) proposed it was a comet (from Chinese astronomical records) visible in the East for 70 days in 5 B.C. in the constellation Capricornus.
- Ernest Martin (1996) proposed it was when Jupiter was in conjunction with Regulus, 11th September, 3 B.C.
- A nova or supernova has been suggested.
None of these natural explanations are precise or detailed enough to offer a conclusive date. Though a comet's slow apparent motion makes it a plausible candidate, comets generally have tails, are recognizable and not described as "stars", and are usually bad omens not heralding a Messiah. Planetary conjuctions don't seem to have the proper duration or brightness, and don't fit the possible dates established by other evidence. The unmistakable sudden (and temporary) burst of light from a super nova is also a plausible candidate, but they wouldn't have an apparent motion (unless they were close enough to Earth to also do some notable damage).
Regardless, a natural explanation, though supportive if one actually fit, is not really required. There are many miraculous phenomena associated with Jesus Christ: virgin birth, miracles, transfiguration and resurrection, none of which have natural explanations, and the Star of Bethlehem may well be similar.
The evasion by the Magi (coincident with the Star of Bethlehem) precipitated Herod's slaying of male infants under two years of age (ostensibly intended to include Jesus):
Mat 2:16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
However, the evidence for dating both the Star of Bethlehem (aside from Humphreys' nonspecific suggestion of a comet in 5 B.C. which might correspond with a birth date of August 23, 5 B.C.) and Herod's massacre of the infants is at present inconclusive.
Dating the death of Herod the Great
As shown below, NASA's evidence of lunar eclipses reconciled with the reports of Josephus regarding Herod's death between a lunar eclipse (ostensibly visible from Jerusalem) and the following Passover, all indicate Herod the Great died prior to April 12th 4 B.C.
The date of Herod's death constrains the date of Jesus' birth, since Jesus could not have been born later than Herod's death. Matthew records that Jesus had already been born when Herod the Great sought to kill Him, and returned to Israel from Egypt upon Herod's death:
Mat 2:13-15 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." 14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
Mat 2:16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
Mat 2:19-20 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."
The currently accepted date for the death of Herod the Great is based on a synchronicity of a lunar eclipse reported by Josephus:
"Antiquities of the Jews", Josephus - Book XVII, Chapter 6:
4. But the people, on account of Herod's barbarous temper, and for fear he should be so cruel and to inflict punishment on them, said what was done was done without their approbation, and that it seemed to them that the actors might well be punished for what they had done. But as for Herod, he dealt more mildly with others [of the assembly] but he deprived Matthias of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action, and made Joazar, who was Matthias's wife's brother, high priest in his stead. Now it happened, that during the time of the high priesthood of this Matthias, there was another person made high priest for a single day, that very day which the Jews observed as a fast.
The occasion was this: This Matthias the high priest, on the night before that day when the fast was to be celebrated, seemed, in a dream, to have conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate himself on that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in that sacred office.
But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.
But which fast and what eclipse did Josephus mean?
The eclipse occurred at night, hence it was a lunar eclipse (either a partial or total lunar eclipse as Josephus doesn't distinguish). So it would seem Josephus was reporting a lunar eclipse occurred the same night of a fast observance; a fast involving the High Priest and a fast in which "conversation with his wife" alludes to a pleasure (if not marital relations) causing the High Priest to disqualify himself. This would seem to describe the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) fast on Tishri 10, in which according to Halakhah, five forms of pleasures must be abstained:
Eating and drinking
Washing and bathing
Applying lotions or perfume
Wearing leather shoes (a sign of luxury)
Marital relationsA further constraint on interpreting Josephus' statement is a lunar eclipse is only possible on the night of a full moon or conjunction of the Sun, Earth and Moon. This means that regardless of what Josephus intended to report, because a lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon in the middle of a 29.5 day lunar month, no eclipse was possible or happened on the 10th day of Tishri. Conversely, a lunar eclipse is possible on Nisan 15th (Passover) and the day before Passover the fast known as Ta’anit Bechorim (Fast of the Firstborn) is observed on Nisan 14th, and a lunar eclipse is also possible on Adar 15th and the day before the fast known as Ta’anit Esther (Fast of Esther) is observed on Adar 13th.
Some scholars construe Josephus to have meant that Herod killed the High Priest some days later after the fast and then on the night of their being killed the eclipse happened, i.e. the killing of the priests and the eclipse may not have been the same night as the fast. This could explain an eclipse in 5 B.C. on Tishri 14th a few days after Yom Kippur (Tishri 10).
So Josephus either meant a lunar eclipse the night after the fasts of Ta’anit Bechorim or Ta’anit Esther, or possibly he meant an eclipse a few days after a fast on Yom Kippur.
Fred Espenak at NASA has compiled a Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 3000, and also an online lunar eclipse calculator. Using the Javascript Lunar Eclipse Explorer - for Asia and Asia Minor and selecting the city "Jerusalem", "all eclipses" and clicking on century button "-0099 to -0000" generates a table of all lunar eclipses visible and at times specific to Jerusalem from 100 to 1 B.C. The entries from that generated table are shown below with a few revisions:
- columns for penumbral eclipse start and end times have been removed (because penumbral eclipses were not visible to ancient observers without telescopes), and;
- Julian dates have been adjusted from negative years to years B.C., and;
- using the Fourmilab Calendar Converter, those Julian dates have been converted to Hebrew dates and inserted in their own column.
- lastly, eclipse rows for years earlier than 10 B.C. were removed, and still showing all eclipses for 10 B.C. to 1 B.C.
Lunar Eclipses from -0099 to 0000 Jerusalem, ISRAEL Latitude: 31° 46' 00" N Longitude: 35° 14' 00" E Altitude: 808.9m Time Zone: 02:00 E ---------- Date --------- --------------------------- Eclipse ---------------------------- Julian Hebrew Type Partial Alt Total Alt Mid. Alt Total Alt Partial Alt B.C. A.M. yt Begins Begins Ends Ends 10 Jan-19 3751 EC She 15 N - - - - 02:33 +53 - - - - 10 Jun-15 3751 EC Siv 14 N - - - - 23:57 +35 - - - - 10 Dec-10 3752 CR Kis 15 P 05:25 +12 - - 06:47 -03 - - 08:09 -17 9 Jun-03 3752 CR Siv 14 T 23:15 +36 00:39 +33 01:01 +32 01:24 +29 02:48 +19 9 Nov-28 3753 CC Kis 14 T 19:02 +30 20:01 +42 20:51 +52 21:41 +63 22:39 +74 8 Nov-18 3754 ED Kis 15 P 03:50 +29 - - 05:04 +14 - - 06:19 +00 7 May-13 3754 ED Iya 14 N - - - - 21:15 +29 - - - - 7 Nov-07 3755 CR Hes 15 N - - - - 06:15 -02 - - - - 6 Apr-04 3755 CR Nis 16 P 05:41 -03 - - 06:58 -19 - - 08:15 -34 5 Mar-23 3756 CC Nis 15 T 18:30 +09 19:30 +21 20:21 +31 21:12 +40 22:12 +49 5 Sep-15 3757 EC Tis 14 T 20:23 +32 21:22 +42 22:12 +49 23:01 +53 00:00 +54 4 Mar-13 3757 EC Ad2 14 P 01:32 +52 - - 02:41 +40 - - 03:50 +26 3 Mar-02 3758 CD Ada 15 N - - - - 03:06 +38 - - - - 3 Jul-27 3758 CD Av 15 N - - - - 20:45 +21 - - - - 3 Aug-26 3758 CD Elu 15 N - - - - 05:33 -06 - - - - 2 Jul-17 3759 CR Av 16 P 05:38 -13 - - 07:14 -31 - - 08:49 -51 1 Jan-09 3760 EC She 14 T 23:22 +79 00:20 +78 01:09 +70 01:58 +60 02:56 +48 1 Dec-29 3761 CC Tev 13 P 15:17 -16 - - 16:32 -03 - - 17:48 +11See Understanding Visible Phases of Lunar Eclipses for an explanation of the above data and which lunar eclipses are visible.
For the period 7 B.C. through 2 B.C., there are only three visible lunar eclipses, 2 total lunar eclipses on 5 B.C. March 23 and 5 B.C. September 15, and a partial lunar eclipse on 4 B.C. March 13 (all Julian dates) as shown in the above table. The eclipse of 6 B.C. April 4 was a partial with only the beginning penumbral phase (P1) "visible" (distinguishable using light-sensitive telescopes which ancient observers did not have), but the other phases were not visible at all from Jerusalem, and hence this particular eclipse is discounted.
Other eclipses are too late or too early to satisfy the synchronism of Jesus' age being "about 30" in A.D. 26.
There are Seven Fast Days of the Jewish Year. Here is a table showing their proximity to the selected visible lunar eclipses:
Ta’anit Esther 3756 Adar 13 -5 February 21 -5 February 21 Ta’anit Bechorim 3756 Nisan 14 -5 March 22 -5 March 22 Tzom Tammuz 3756 Tammuz 17 -5 June 22 -5 June 22 Tishah B’Av 3756 Av 9 -5 July 13 -5 July 13 Tzom Gedaliah 3757 Tishri 3 -5 September 4 -5 September 4 Yom Kippur 3757 Tishri 10 -5 September 11 -5 September 11 Asarah B’Tevet 3757 Tevet 10 -5 December 10 -5 December 10 Ta’anit Esther 3757 Adar I 13 -4 February 10 Ta’anit Bechorim 3757 Nisan 14 -4 April 11 Tzom Tammuz 3757 Tammuz 17 -4 July 12 Tishah B’Av 3757 Av 9 -4 August 2 Julian dates in the above table were converted from the Jewish fast dates using the Fourmilab Calendar Converter. Note that while Jewish fasts are normally ordered by the Hebrew sacred calendar (running from Nisan to Adar) the converter increments the Hebrew year at Tishri because it computes dates on the Hebrew civil calendar running from Tishri to Elul).
The two lunar eclipses that best fit (neither being perfect) Josephus' criteria are those of:
- March 23, 5 B.C. occurring the night after the fast of Ta’anit Bechorim on Nisan 14th (the date fits closest but not the characteristics of the fast)
- September 15, 5 B.C. occurring four nights after the fast of Yom Kippur on Tishri 10th (the characteristics of the fast fits closest but not the date)
Both eclipses are total, entirely visible from Jerusalem, and would be unmistakable assuming clouds did not obscure the night sky. Both eclipses are in 5 B.C. allow several months for Herod the Great to grow ill, kill his son Antipater, die, and then for his other son Archelaus to be named king and proclaim Herod's mourning, all prior to the next Passover on April 12, 4 B.C.
Moreover, Hebrew year 3757 A.M. (approximately 4 B.C.) was an embolismic complete year. An extra month, Adar II, was added at the end of the Hebrew calendar for year 3757 A.M. which effectively pushed the next Passover out another month giving additional time in early 4 B.C. (because the intercalated month fell between February and April on the Julian calendar) for Herod to die in early 4 B.C., before the Passover at which Archelaus had to quell an uprising consequent to Herod's death, also as reported by Josephus:
"The Wars of the Jews", Josephus - Book I, Chapter 33:
8. So Herod, having survived the slaughter of his son five days, died, having reigned thirty-four years since he had caused Antigonus to be slain, and obtained his kingdom; but thirty-seven years since he had been made king by the Romans. Now as for his fortune, it was prosperous in all other respects, if ever any other man could be so, since, from a private man, he obtained the kingdom, and kept it so long, and left it to his own sons; but still in his domestic affairs he was a most unfortunate man. Now, before the soldiers knew of his death, Salome and her husband came out and dismissed those that were in bonds, whom the king had commanded to be slain, and told them that he had altered his mind, and would have every one of them sent to their own homes. When these men were gone, Salome, told the soldiers [the king was dead], and got them and the rest of the multitude together to an assembly, in the amphitheater at Jericho, where Ptolemy, who was intrusted by the king with his signet ring, came before them, and spake of the happiness the king had attained, and comforted the multitude, and read the epistle which had been left for the soldiers, wherein he earnestly exhorted them to bear good-will to his successor; and after he had read the epistle, he opened and read his testament, wherein Philip was to inherit Trachonitis, and the neighboring countries, and Antipas was to be tetrarch, as we said before, and Archelaus was made king. He had also been commanded to carry Herod's ring to Caesar, and the settlements he had made, sealed up, because Caesar was to be lord of all the settlements he had made, and was to confirm his testament; and he ordered that the dispositions he had made were to be kept as they were in his former testament.
"Antiquities of the Jews", Josephus - Book XVII, Chapter 9:
3. Now, upon the approach of that feast of unleavened bread, which the law of their fathers had appointed for the Jews at this time, which feast is called the Passover13 and is a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, when they offer sacrifices with great alacrity; and when they are required to slay more sacrifices in number than at any other festival; and when an innumerable multitude came thither out of the country, nay, from beyond its limits also, in order to worship God, the seditious lamented Judas and Matthias, those teachers of the laws, and kept together in the temple, and had plenty of food, because these seditious persons were not ashamed to beg it. And as Archelaus was afraid lest some terrible thing should spring up by means of these men's madness, he sent a regiment of armed men, and with them a captain of a thousand, to suppress the violent efforts of the seditious before the whole multitude should be infected with the like madness; and gave them this charge, that if they found any much more openly seditious than others, and more busy in tumultuous practices, they should bring them to him. But those that were seditious on account of those teachers of the law, irritated the people by the noise and clamors they used to encourage the people in their designs; so they made an assault upon the soldiers, and came up to them, and stoned the greatest part of them, although some of them ran away wounded, and their captain among them; and when they had thus done, they returned to the sacrifices which were already in their hands. Now Archelaus thought there was no way to preserve the entire government but by cutting off those who made this attempt upon it; so he sent out the whole army upon them, and sent the horsemen to prevent those that had their tents without the temple from assisting those that were within the temple, and to kill such as ran away from the footmen when they thought themselves out of danger; which horsemen slew three thousand men, while the rest went to the neighboring mountains. Then did Archelaus order proclamation to be made to them all, that they should retire to their own homes; so they went away, and left the festival, out of fear of somewhat worse which would follow, although they had been so bold by reason of their want of instruction. So Archelaus went down to the sea with his mother, and took with him Nicolaus and Ptolemy, and many others of his friends, and left Philip his brother as governor of all things belonging both to his own family and to the public.
13 This passover, when the sedition here mentioned was moved against Archelaus, was not one, but thirteen months after the eclipse of the moon already mentioned.
"The Wars of the Jews", Josephus - Book II, Chapter 1:
1. NOW the necessity which Archelaus was under of taking a journey to Rome was the occasion of new disturbances; for when he had mourned for his father seven days, (1) and had given a very expensive funeral feast to the multitude, (which custom is the occasion of poverty to many of the Jews, because they are forced to feast the multitude; for if any one omits it, he is not esteemed a holy person,) he put on a white garment, and went up to the temple, where the people accosted him with various acclamations. He also spake kindly to the multitude from an elevated seat and a throne of gold, and returned them thanks for the zeal they had shown about his father's funeral, and the submission they had made to him, as if he were already settled in the kingdom; but he told them withal, that he would not at present take upon him either the authority of a king, or the names thereto belonging, until Caesar, who is made lord of this whole affair by the testament, confirm the succession; for that when the soldiers would have set the diadem on his head at Jericho, he would not accept of it; but that he would make abundant requitals, not to the soldiers only, but to the people, for their alacrity and good-will to him, when the superior lords [the Romans] should have given him a complete title to the kingdom; for that it should be his study to appear in all things better than his father.
2. Upon this the multitude were pleased, and presently made a trial of what he intended, by asking great things of him; for some made a clamor that he would ease them in their taxes; others, that he would take off the duties upon commodities; and some, that he would loose those that were in prison; in all which cases he answered readily to their satisfaction, in order to get the good-will of the multitude; after which he offered [the proper] sacrifices, and feasted with his friends. And here it was that a great many of those that desired innovations came in crowds towards the evening, and began then to mourn on their own account, when the public mourning for the king was over. These lamented those that were put to death by Herod, because they had cut down the golden eagle that had been over the gate of the temple. Nor was this mourning of a private nature, but the lamentations were very great, the mourning solemn, and the weeping such as was loudly heard all over the city, as being for those men who had perished for the laws of their country, and for the temple. They cried out that a punishment ought to be inflicted for these men upon those that were honored by Herod; and that, in the first place, the man whom he had made high priest should be deprived; and that it was fit to choose a person of greater piety and purity than he was.
3. At these clamors Archelaus was provoked, but restrained himself from taking vengeance on the authors, on account of the haste he was in of going to Rome, as fearing lest, upon his making war on the multitude, such an action might detain him at home. Accordingly, he made trial to quiet the innovators by persuasion, rather than by force, and sent his general in a private way to them, and by him exhorted them to be quiet. But the seditious threw stones at him, and drove him away, as he came into the temple, and before he could say any thing to them. The like treatment they showed to others, who came to them after him, many of which were sent by Archelaus, in order to reduce them to sobriety, and these answered still on all occasions after a passionate manner; and it openly appeared that they would not be quiet, if their numbers were but considerable. And indeed, at the feast of unleavened bread, which was now at hand, and is by the Jews called the Passover, and used to he celebrated with a great number of sacrifices, an innumerable multitude of the people came out of the country to worship; some of these stood in the temple bewailing the Rabbins [that had been put to death], and procured their sustenance by begging, in order to support their sedition. At this Archclaus was aftrighted, and privately sent a tribune, with his cohort of soldiers, upon them, before the disease should spread over the whole multitude, and gave orders that they should constrain those that began the tumult, by force, to be quiet. At these the whole multitude were irritated, and threw stones at many of the soldiers, and killed them; but the tribune fled away wounded, and had much ado to escape so. After which they betook themselves to their sacrifices, as if they had done no mischief; nor did it appear to Archelaus that the multitude could be restrained without bloodshed; so he sent his whole army upon them, the footmen in great multitudes, by the way of the city, and the horsemen by the way of the plain, who, falling upon them on the sudden, as they were offering their sacrifices, destroyed about three thousand of them; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed upon the adjoining mountains: these were followed by Archelaus's heralds, who commanded every one to retire to their own homes, whither they all went, and left the festival.
Even if the least fit lunar eclipse of March 13, 4 B.C. is construed to be the eclipse to which Josephus referred prior to Herod's death, while it greatly compresses the time available to satisfy events consequent to Herod's death by the Passover of Nisan 15th 3757 A.M. (April 12th 4 B.C.) over which Archelaus presided, Herod had nonetheless died in early 4. B.C.
Date of Jesus' birth relative to Zacharias' Temple service
Assuming Mary gave birth to Jesus 443 days after Elizabeth (and Zacharias) likely conceived with John the Baptist, the following table demonstrates the intercalated days and months of the Hebrew civil calendar for those four years during which Jesus was most likely born: 7, 6, 5 or 4 B.C., relative to Zacharias' return from his Temple ministration:
Dates later than 4 B.C. are not considered because Herod the Great had died in early 4 B.C. and ostensibly the future 'King of the Jews' whom the Magi sought to visit, and Herod sought to kill, had already been born. Dates earlier than 7 B.C. are not considered because such put the age of Jesus at His crucifixion in A.D. 30 beyond 37 years following a 3.5 year earthly ministry beginning when He was "about 30" years of age (Luke 3:23) in A.D. 26, Tiberius' 15th year.
Note the following months are ordered by the Hebrew civil calendar running Tishri through Elul because it is the civil calendar that is intercalated and postponement rules applied to then determine the sacred calendar.
30 Tishri 30 Heshvan (common complete) 30 Kislev 29 Tevet 30 Shevat 29 Adar 30 Nisan 29 Iyar 30 Sivan 29 Tammuz 30 Av 29 Elul 30 Tishri 29 Heshvan 29 Kislev (embolismic deficient) 29 Tevet 30 Shevat 30 Adar I (embolismic deficient) 29 Adar II (embolismic deficient) 30 Nisan 29 Iyar 30 Sivan 29 Tammuz 30 Av 29 Elul 30 Tishri 29 Heshvan 30 Kislev 29 Tevet 30 Shevat 29 Adar 30 Nisan 29 Iyar 30 Sivan 29 Tammuz 30 Av 29 Elul 30 Tishri 30 Heshvan (common complete) 30 Kislev 29 Tevet 30 Shevat 29 Adar 30 Nisan 29 Iyar 30 Sivan 29 Tammuz 30 Av 29 Elul 30 Tishri 30 Heshvan (embolismic complete) 30 Kislev 29 Tevet 30 Shevat 30 Adar I (embolismic complete) 29 Adar II (embolismic complete) 30 Nisan 29 Iyar 30 Sivan 29 Tammuz 30 Av 29 Elul
Priestly divisions or courses for Temple service
The scriptural support to convert Zacharias' being in the division of Abijah to a date range comes from 1 Chronicles 24. As the divisions are for daily and festival service in the Temple, the division dating is reckoned by the Hebrew sacred calendar running Nisan through Adar. The table below shows the week of the Hebrew sacred calendar in which each division is assigned for service (ministration):
1Ch 24:4-19 Since more chief men were found from the descendants of Eleazar than the descendants of Ithamar, they divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of fathers' households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar, according to their fathers' households. 5 Thus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, both from the descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar. 6 Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers' households of the priests and of the Levites; one father's household taken for Eleazar and one taken for Ithamar.
7 Now the first lot came out for Jehoiarib, the second for Jedaiah,
8 the third for Harim, the fourth for Seorim,
9 the fifth for Malchijah, the sixth for Mijamin,
10 the seventh for Hakkoz, the eighth for Abijah,
11 the ninth for Jeshua, the tenth for Shecaniah,
12 the eleventh for Eliashib, the twelfth for Jakim,
13 the thirteenth for Huppah, the fourteenth for Jeshebeab,
14 the fifteenth for Bilgah, the sixteenth for Immer,
15 the seventeenth for Hezir, the eighteenth for Happizzez,
16 the nineteenth for Pethahiah, the twentieth for Jehezkel,
17 the twenty-first for Jachin, the twenty-second for Gamul,
18 the twenty-third for Delaiah, the twenty-fourth for Maaziah.
19 These were their offices for their ministry when they came in to the house of the LORD according to the ordinance given to them through Aaron their father, just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.Note the following months are ordered by the Hebrew sacred calendar running Nisan through Adar:
Month
MonthNisan (30) March (31) Nisan 1 - Nisan 7 first lot for Jehoiarib (1st ministration) Nisan 8 - Nisan 14 second for Jedaiah, (1st ministration) April (30) Nisan 15 - Nisan 21 All 24 divisions at Passover & Unleavened Bread
Nisan 22 - Nisan 28 third for Harim, (1st ministration) Nisan 29 - Iyar 5 fourth for Seorim, (1st ministration) Iyar (29) Iyar 6 - Iyar 12 fifth for Malchijah, (1st ministration) May (31) Iyar 13 - Iyar 19 sixth for Mijamin, (1st ministration) Iyar 20 - Iyar 26 seventh for Hakkoz, (1st ministration) Iyar 29 - Sivan 4 eighth for Abijah, (1st ministration) Sivan (30) Sivan 5 - Sivan 11 All 24 divisions serve for Pentecost Sivan 12 - Sivan 18 ninth for Jeshua, (1st ministration) June (30) Sivan 19 - Sivan 25 tenth for Shecaniah, (1st ministration) Sivan 26 - Tammuz 2 eleventh for Eliashib, (1st ministration) Tammuz (29) Tammuz 3 - Tammuz 9 twelfth for Jakim, (1st ministration) Tammuz 10 - Tammuz 16 thirteenth for Huppah, (1st ministration) July (31) Tammuz 17 - Tammuz 23 fourteenth for Jeshebeab, (1st ministration) Tammuz 24 - Av 1 fifteenth for Bilgah, (1st ministration) Av (30) Av 2 - Av 8 sixteenth for Immer, (1st ministration) Av 9 - Av 15 seventeenth for Hezir, (1st ministration) Av 16 - Av 22 eighteenth for Happizzez, (1st ministration) August (31) Av 23 - Av 29 nineteenth for Pethahiah, (1st ministration) Av 30- Elul 6 twentieth for Jehezkel, (1st ministration) Elul (29) Elul 7 - Elul 13 twenty-first for Jachin, (1st ministration) Elul 14 - Elul 20 twenty-second for Gamul, (1st ministration) September (30) Elul 21 - Elul 27 twenty-third for Delaiah, (1st ministration) Elul 28 - Tishri 5 twenty-fourth for Maaziah. (1st ministration) Tishri (30) Tishri 6 - Tishri 12 first lot for Jehoiarib (2nd ministration) Tishri 13 - Tishri 19 All 24 divisions at Tabernacles (or Succoth) October (31) Tishri 20 - Tishri 26 second for Jedaiah, (2nd ministration) Tishri 27 - Heshvan 3 third for Harim, (2nd ministration) Heshvan (29) Heshvan 4 - Heshvan 10 fourth for Seorim, (2nd ministration) Heshvan 11 - Heshvan 17 fifth for Malchijah, (2nd ministration) Heshvan 18 - Heshvan 24 sixth for Mijamin, (2nd ministration) November (30) Heshvan 25 - Kislev 2 seventh for Hakkoz, (2nd ministration) Kislev (30) Kislev 3 - Kislev 9 eighth for Abijah, (2nd ministration) Kislev 10 - Kislev 16 ninth for Jeshua, (2nd ministration) Kislev 17 - Kislev 23 tenth for Shecaniah, (2nd ministration) December (31) Kislev 24 - Kislev 30 eleventh for Eliashib, (2nd ministration) Tevet (29) Tevet 1 - Tevet 7 twelfth for Jakim, (2nd ministration) Tevet 8 - Tevet 14 thirteenth for Huppah, (2nd ministration) Tevet 15 - Tevet 21 fourteenth for Jeshebeab, (2nd ministration) January (31) Tevet 22 - Tevet 28 fifteenth for Bilgah, (2nd ministration) Tevet 29 - Shevat 6 sixteenth for Immer, (2nd ministration) Shevat (30) Shevat 7 - Shevat 13 seventeenth for Hezir, (2nd ministration) Shevat 14 - Shevat 20 eighteenth for Happizzez, (2nd ministration) Shevat 21 - Shevat 27 nineteenth for Pethahiah, (2nd ministration) February (28) Shevat 28 - Adar 4 twentieth for Jehezkel, (2nd ministration) Adar (29) Adar 5 - Adar 11 twenty-first for Jachin, (2nd ministration) Adar 12 - Adar 18 twenty-second for Gamul, (2nd ministration) Adar 19 - Adar 25 twenty-third for Delaiah, (2nd ministration) March (31) Adar 26 - ? twenty-fourth for Maaziah. (2nd ministration)
Each division ministers twice during the year and all divisions minister on each of the festivals of Passover & Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (or Succoth):
That each division (also "course", "watch" or "guard") served twice is implied in that were they only to serve once, then 24 weeks out of the year there would be no priests in the Temple to offer the daily sacrifices, which omission didn't happen during any of the Temple periods. That all divisions served on Passover & Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles is stated in Tractates Sukkah and Taanith:
"Sukkah, Mishna and Tosefta", translated by A.W. Greenup, Macmillan, 1925, p60 (digitized at Internet Archive):
The Mishna, 2nd division "Moed" (Festival), 6th Tractate "Sukkah" (Tabernacle), chapter V:
7. At three periods of the year1 all the twenty-four orders of priests shared equally in the offerings of the festivals and in the distribution of the shewbread.
1 On the three great festivals, Exod. xxiii. 14-16.
"The Mishna Tractate Taanith" (Public Fasts), translated by A.W. Greenup, 1921, p28 (digitized at Internet Archive):
2. This is the origin of the ma'amadoth.1 It is written, Command the children of Israel and say unto them, My offering, my bread. But how can a man's offering be presented if he stand not by it? So the former prophets3 instituted twenty-four guards (mishmaroth); and corresponding to each guard was a post (ma'amad) of priests, Levites, and Israelites stationed in Jerusalem. When the time came that a guard should go up to Jerusalem, the priests and Levites belonging to it went up, whilst the Israelites who belonged to that guard assembled themselves in their cities to read the story of creation.
1 "stations," or "posts." The people, like the priests and the Levites, were divided into twenty-four courses, representatives of which took their turn every day for a week to stand by whilst the daily sacrifice was being offered. See Tos. IV. 2. In Tamid V.6 it is assumed that the "head of the station" was always present in Jerusalem.
3 David and Samuel.
Each division ministration began and ended on a sabbath, running eight days with incoming and outgoing divisions overlapping on the sabbath, as alluded to in Tractate Tamid, 2nd Kings 11:9, 2nd Chronicles 23:8, and Josephus:
The Mishna, 3rd division "Kedoshim", Tractate Tamid, chapter V:
1. The superintendent now said to them, "Recite one blessing." They did so; they read the Ten Commandments, Shema, Ve-haya Im Shamo'a, Va-yomer. They recited together with the people three Blessings: Emet ve-Yatziv, Avodah and Birkat Kohanim. On Shabbat they would add a fourth Blessing for the outgoing watch.
2Ki 11:9 So the captains of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
2Ch 23:8 So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And each one of them took his men who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, for Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss any of the divisions.
"Antiquities of the Jews", Josephus - Book VII, Chapter 14:
[David] had prepared, as we have said already. He divided them also into courses: and when he had separated the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses, sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of that of Ithamar; and he ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from sabbath to sabbath. And thus were the courses distributed by lot, in the presence of David, and Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the rulers; and that course which came up first was written down as the first, and accordingly the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this partition hath remained to this day.
"The Temple: Its Ministry and Services", Alfred Edersheim, Chapter 4 The Officiating Priesthood (at Philologos Religious Online Books):
The Twenty-four Courses
This much it seemed necessary to state for the general understanding of the matter. Full details belong to the exposition of the meaning and object of the Levitical priesthood, as instituted by God, while our present task rather is to trace its further development to what it was at the time when Jesus was in the Temple. The first peculiarity of post-Mosaic times which we here meet, is the arrangement of the priesthood into 'twenty-four courses,' which undoubtedly dates from the times of David. But Jewish tradition would make it even much older. For, according to the Talmud, it should be traced up to Moses, who is variously supposed to have arranged the sons of Aaron into either or else sixteen courses (four, or else eight, of Eleazar; and the other four, or else eight, of Ithamar), to which, on the one supposition, Samuel and David each added other eight 'courses,' or, on the other, Samuel and David, in conjunction, the eight needed to make up the twenty-four mentioned in 1 Chronicles 24. It need scarcely be told that, like many similar statements, this also is simply an attempt to trace up every arrangement to the fountain-head of Jewish history, in order to establish its absolute authority.
The Courses After the Captivity
The institution of David and of Solomon continued till the Babylonish captivity. Thence, however, only four out of the twenty-four 'courses' returned: those of Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim (Ezra 2:36-39), the course of 'Jedaiah' being placed first because it was of the high-priest's family, 'of the house of Jeshua,' 'the son of Jozadak' (Ezra 3:2; Hagg 1:1; 1 Chron 6:15). To restore the original number, each of these four families was directed to draw five lots for those which had not returned, so as to form once more twenty-four courses, which were to bear the ancient names. Thus, for example, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, did not really belong to the family of Abijah (1 Chron 24:10), which had not returned from Babylon, but to the 'course of Abia,' which had been formed out of some other family, and only bore the ancient name (Luke 1:5). Like the priests, the Levites had at the time of King David been arranged into twenty-four 'courses,' which were to act as 'priests' assistance' (1 Chron 23:4,28), as 'singers and musicians' (1 Chron 25:6), as 'gate-keepers and guards' (1 Chron 26:6 and following), and as 'officers and judges.' Of these various classes, that of the 'priests' assistants' was by far the most numerous, * and to them the charge of the Temple had been committed in subordination to the priests.
The Week's Service
Each 'course' of priests and of Levites (as has already been stated) came on duty for a week, from one Sabbath to another. The service of the week was subdivided among the various families which constituted a 'course'; so that if it consisted of five 'houses of fathers,' three served each one day, and two each two days; if of six families, five served each one day, and one two days; if of eight families, six served each one day, and the other two in conjunction on one day; or, lastly, if of nine families, five served each one day, and the other four took it two in conjunction for two days. These divisions and arrangements were made by 'the chiefs' or 'heads of the houses of their fathers.' On Sabbaths the whole 'course' was on duty; on feast-days any priest might come up and join in the ministrations of the sanctuary; and at the Feast of Tabernacles all the twenty-four courses were bound to be present and officiate. While actually engaged on service in the Temple, the priests were not allowed to drink wine, either by day or by night. The other 'families' or 'houses' also of the 'course' who were in attendance at Jerusalem, though not on actual duty, were, during their week of ministry, prohibited the use of wine, except at night, because they might have to be called in to assist their brethren of the officiating 'family,' which they could not do if they had partaken of strong drink. The law even made (a somewhat curious) provision to secure that the priests should come up to Jerusalem properly trimmed, washed, and attired, so as to secure the decorum of the service.
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(last updated March 24, 2009)
