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 AN ESSAY 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 THOMAS LEWIN, ESQ., 
 
 OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, M.A., AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL.' 
 
 OXFOED, 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER; 
 
 AND 377, STRAND, LONDON. 
 M DCCCLIV.
 
 PRINTBD BT MESSRS PABKBB, COBH-MARKKT, OXFORD.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 HAD the present attempt to illustrate the Chronology 
 of the New Testament been of sufficient importance to 
 justify a dedication, the author would have inscribed it 
 to one whose public services need no comment, but from 
 whom the author personally has ever, through life, re- 
 ceived the most disinterested kindness, 
 
 THE RIGHT HONBLE. LOKD ST. LEONARDS, 
 
 2000222
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following pages will be found occasional de- 
 viations from the chronology adopted in the Life of 
 St. Paul. A more matured consideration of the subject, 
 and a perusal of some of the German writers, parti- 
 cularly Anger and Wieseler, have enabled the author, 
 it is hoped, to attain a nearer approximation to the 
 truth. 
 
 13, UPPEE HABLEY-STBEET, 
 MAT 18, 1864.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The time of the Birth of Christ 1 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 The time of Commencement and Duration of our Saviour's 
 
 Ministry 29 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 The time of St. Paul's first Arrival at Corinth ... 94 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 The date of St. Paul's Conversion 103 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The time of the Visit of St. Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, 
 when they were sent up with the Alms from the Church 
 of Antioch 109 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 The date of St. Paul's Visit to Jerusalem when he was arrested 
 in the Temple ... . . . . .114 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 The date of St. Paul's Release from Imprisonment at Rome . 128
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE TIME OF THE BIETH OP CHEIST. 
 
 THE year A.D. 1 was adopted as the commencement 
 of the Christian era by Dionysius Exiguus, a monk 
 of the sixth century. That the birth of Christ was 
 thus considerably post-dated, or placed too late, is now 
 universally admitted ; and for the purpose of correcting 
 the error we must carry our inquiry back from A.D. 1 
 into the previous period. 
 
 The birth of Christ was not long before the death 
 of Herod the Great. The murder of the Innocents 
 must stamp this fact upon every one's recollection. Our 
 first object therefore will be to determine, if we can, the 
 exact year in which the death of Herod occurred. 
 
 Josephus, besides other indicia of less importance, 
 furnishes us with two distinct and independent tests for 
 the discovery of the year in question. In the first place, 
 shortly before the death of Herod an eclipse of the moon 
 was observed at Jerusalem at night* ; and secondly, 
 about Midsummer of the same year, Archelaus a candi- 
 
 * Kat i) o-f\r)VT) e rfi airy VVKTI e\i7rej/. Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, 4. 
 B
 
 2 THE TIME OF 
 
 date for the kingdom of Judaea pleaded his case be- 
 fore Augustus at Rome, when Caius the grandson, and 
 adopted son of Augustus, was present, and took pre- 
 cedence of the other assessors b . 
 
 1. First, then, was the death of Herod in the year 
 B.C. 1 ? We answer, No ; for neither was there an 
 eclipse of the moon at Jerusalem during that year, nor 
 was Caius then at Rome ; for he had sailed from Italy 
 toward the close of the preceding year, or at the latest 
 in the spring of this year, and was now occupied 
 somewhere in the East, from which indeed he never 
 returned. 
 
 2. Can the death of Herod be referred to the year 
 B.C. 2 ? We may safely assume that Caius at this time 
 was present in Rome, but then there was no eclipse of 
 the moon that year at Jerusalem at night, though one 
 actually occurred at Jerusalem in the day, viz., on 
 January the 20th, at half-past two in the afternoon. We 
 must also reject this year on another account. Josephus 
 tells us that Archelaus reigned ten years c , and we learn 
 from Dion Cassiusi, that he was deposed in A.D. 6. 
 He could not then have begun to reign, on the demise of 
 his father, so late as B.C. 2, and, a fortiori, not so late as 
 B.C. 1, for, on the former supposition, Archelaus in A.D. 6 
 
 Sw of? Kai Taiov TOV '\ypiTnrov ftiv Kai 'lovXias rrjs avrov Qvyarpot 
 vibv, TTOITJTOV 8e aura> ytyovora, irpcarov re Kadtbov^tvov 7rapcXa/3e. Jos. 
 Ant. xvii. 9, 5. 
 
 c Affcarct) 5e eVfi rf)s npxfjs, &c. Jos. Ant. xvii. 13, 2. BaatXeuojao? 
 'Ap\\dov TO SfKarov. Vita, S. 1 . 
 
 ' Under the consulship of .^Emilius Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius, 
 (A.D. 6,) is the following occurrence ; o, re 'Hpo>8rjs 6 naXaia-rlvos alrLav 
 TWO. dnb rS>v ddf\(pu>v Xa/Swy inrep ras *A\ireis vir(pa>pi(r6r). Dion. lv. 27.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 3 
 
 would have reigned only eight years, and on the latter 
 only seven. 
 
 3. Can we assign the death of Herod to the year 
 B.C. 3 ? The objections to this again are insuperable, 
 for during this year there was no eclipse of the moon 
 at all at Jerusalem ; and again, if Archelaus succeeded 
 Herod in B.C. 3, he could not be said to have reigned 
 ten years when he was deposed in A.D. 6. The latter 
 argument is met by those who advocate the year B.C. 3, 
 by the counter-statement that in the Wars Josephus 
 speaks of Archelaus as banished not in his tenth, but in 
 his ninth year e . This no doubt is so, but the Wars was 
 Josephus's earliest production, and when he had not made 
 himself perfectly master of the previous history. In the 
 subsequent and more accurate work of the Antiquities f , 
 and also in the Life of himself &, written at a later period 
 still, he computes the reign of Archelaus at ten years, 
 and assuming this to be so, Archelaus could not have 
 begun to reign in B.C. 3, if, as Dion states, he was de- 
 posed in A.D. 6. 
 
 We may add that coins of Herod Antipas have been 
 found struck in the forty-third year, and some even in 
 the forty-fourth year of his reign. The genuineness of the 
 former has never been doubted, and there are no suffi- 
 cient grounds for questioning that of the latter. Now 
 Antipas was certainly deposed in the year A.D. 40, and if 
 so he could not at that time have reached his forty-fourth 
 year on the supposition that his reign commenced at 
 the death of Herod in B.C. 3 ; a fortiori, he could not 
 
 * "Em TTJS apxns ivvarfp. Bell. ii. 7, 3. ' Ant. xvii. 13, 1. 
 
 * Vita, s. 1. 
 
 B2
 
 4 THE TIME OF 
 
 have begun to reign in B.C. 2; and a fortiori still, not in 
 B.C. 1. 
 
 4. We come next to the year B.C. 4, and several 
 arguments, derived from independent sources, lead us to 
 the conclusion that the death of Herod must be referred 
 to this, and cannot be assigned to any other year. 
 
 1. An eclipse of the moon did actually occur at 
 Jerusalem on the night of March 12 13, B.C. 4, 
 lasting from 1.48 a.m. to 4.12 a.m. h If we ex- 
 amine the events related by Josephus as happening 
 between the eclipse recorded by him and the following 
 Passover, we shall find that they are just such as would 
 occupy, without exceeding, the interval between the 
 eclipse that took place on March the 12th, B.C. 4, and 
 the ensuing Passover on April the 10th, B.C. 4. 
 
 This will appear from the following table, in which 
 the events are adjusted according to their respective dates 
 as nearly as a balance of probabilities will allow 1 . 
 
 March 
 The Babbins are burnt alive by Herod . . . 12 
 
 An eclipse of the moon the same n'.ght . . 12 13 
 
 The disorder of Herod increases, which is construed 
 
 as a judgment for the death of the Rabbins . 13 
 
 Herod is conveyed to Jericho, 150 stades, apparently 
 on his road to Callirhoe, and without staying at 
 Jericho 15 
 
 " Wieseler, 56. 
 
 1 All the particulars here mentioned will be found either in the Wars 
 or the Antiquities. The author has set them out at greater length in 
 order to give all the weight possible to the objection made by many that 
 the events could not have occurred within the interval between the eclipse 
 and the Passover.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 5 
 
 March 
 
 He proceeds to Callirhoe on the eastern coast of the 
 Dead Sea, where he tries the effect of the warm 
 baths 17 
 
 He is plunged into a vessel 01 oil, and is almost 
 
 killed by it ". ' '" . 19 
 
 He despairs of life, and distributes a donation to the 
 
 army, and returns to Jericho . . . . 21 
 
 He summons by dispatches the chiefs of the nation 
 from all Judaea, and they are imprisoned in the 
 hippodrome from time to time as they arrive. 
 Letters come from Home, and Herod revives a 
 little * /: . * '. . ' *''.' . . . . 22 
 
 He relapses and makes an attempt upon his life. 
 Antipater at the news of it tries to bribe the 
 jailor to release him, but the jailor gives informa- 
 tion to Herod, and Herod puts Antipater to death. 23 
 
 Death of Herod five days after, that is, on the fifth 
 
 day inclusive . . . . . . . 27 
 
 His death concealed until the prisoners in the hippo- 
 drome have been released and sent home 
 
 Herod's death announced to the people convened in 
 the amphitheatre and preparations made for a 
 splendid funeral 28 
 
 Burial of Herod. (N.B. The usual time of burial was 
 on the same day as the death, as in the instance 
 of our Saviour. The preparations on this occasion 
 were probably not long) . . . .';.'. April 2 
 
 Mourning of seven days ends. (N.B. If the mourning 
 began from the death, and not from the burial, it 
 would have ended some days before) ... 8 
 
 Archelaus addresses the people in the temple . . 9 
 
 The Passover. A stir in the city by the friends of 
 the Rabbins mourning for their death now that the 
 mourning for Herod had ceased. Archelaus sends
 
 6 THE TIME OF 
 
 April 
 
 an officer to appease them by soft words. He is 
 pelted. Others are sent, but with no better 
 success. A band of soldiers is sent against them, 
 and on their being driven back the whole army is 
 sent, and three thousand of the people slain. At 
 this time they were sacrificing at the Passover . 10 
 
 In this table different persons may entertain different 
 opinions as to the exact time to be allowed to any par- 
 ticular event, but the reader will see that the occurrences 
 upon the whole adapt themselves very well to the 
 actual interval between the eclipse on March the 12th 
 and the Passover on April the 10th. Should any part 
 seem to demand larger space, it may be conceded, for 
 the suppression of the public emeute on account of the 
 Rabbins is placed in the above table on the first day of 
 the Passover, whereas Josephus mentions only by way 
 of accounting for the multitudes assembled, that it was 
 during the celebration of the Passover ; and as this feast 
 lasted eight days, viz., from April the 10th (inclusive) 
 to April the 17th (inclusive), the disturbance may have 
 been quelled on any day not later than the 17th, so that 
 seven days more, if necessary, may be allowed to the 
 foregoing series of events. 
 
 2. Another argument for placing the death of Herod 
 in B.C. 4 is this. Josephus relates that Herod in B.C. 
 47 had completed his 15th year k . It is agreed, as 
 is evident enough, that 15 is a mistake, and most likely 
 for 25 l , and if so Herod was then in his 26th year, and 
 
 ^ HtvTtKatSeKa yap ai/ra> tytyovti p.6va err). Jos. Ant., xiv. 9, 2. 
 
 1 A similar error occurs in the reign of Hyrcanus ; for it is clear that 
 Tfo-o-dpaKovra in Ant. xv. 6, 4 is written for TeWa/>a KOI eiKocn, as appears 
 from Ant. xx. 10. '
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 7 
 
 in B.C. 4 would be in his 69th year. Accordingly Jose- 
 phus mentions that Herod was at the time of his death 
 " well nigh of the age of 70 m ." 
 
 3. We have before mentioned that at' the hearing of 
 Archelaus at Rome, in the midsummer of the year in 
 which Herod died, Caius, the adopted son of Augustus, 
 was present. And it will be observed that no allusion 
 is made by Josephus to Lucius, the brother of Caius, 
 and the other adopted son of Augustus. All this agrees 
 with the year B.C. 4, for Caius had assumed the tor/a 
 virilis the preceding year, B.C. 5, and Lucius did not 
 assume the toga virilis till the year B.C. 2. Caius there- 
 fore would naturally be present at an important public 
 discussion in B.C. 4, while Lucius would not. 
 
 4. Archelaus, as we have seen, was banished in the 
 10th year of his reign, and, as we are informed by Dion 
 Cassius that this event occurred in A.D. 6, we must 
 conclude that Archelaus succeeded his father Herod at 
 the latest in B.C. 4, and could not have done so in B.C. 3 
 or any subsequent year. 
 
 5. Philip, another of the sons of Herod, and the tetrarch 
 of Trachonitis, is said to have reigned 37 years, and he 
 died in the 20th year of Tiberius, i. e. between Aug. 19 
 A.D. 33 and Aug. 19 A.D. 34 n . If, as we have supposed, 
 Herod died a little before the Passover, B.C. 4, the 37th 
 year of Philip would be complete a little before the Pass- 
 over A.D. 34, and if so, part of the 37th year of Philip 
 would coincide with part of the 20th year of Tiberius. 
 
 'Hr p.V yap fj8r) trxe^av IrStv J38op.r)Kovra. Jos. Bell. i. 33, 1. 
 EtKoema p,i> iviavrtf Ttjs Ti/3epi'ou dpxr)S> yyrjtruptvos 8 avrbs tirra KOI 
 Kovra. Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 6.
 
 8 THE TIME OF 
 
 6. We have before referred to certain coins of Herod 
 Antipas. Some of these were struck in his 43rd year , 
 and some, according to Vaillantius and Gallandus, were 
 struck in his 44th year. Eckhel indeed suggests that 
 Vaillantius and Gallandus may have been mistaken, but 
 this is mere hypothesis 1 *. Now if Herod died before the 
 Passover B.C. 4, the 43rd year of Antipas would com- 
 mence in the spring of A.D. 39, and the 44th year in 
 the spring of A.D. 40. What then was the exact time 
 when Herod Antipas was deposed? We learn from 
 Josephus that it was in the 4th year of the reign of 
 King Agrippa over the tetrarchy of Trachonitis, which 
 had been conferred upon him by Caligula in March A.D. 
 37 q . The deprivation of Herod Antipas would therefore be 
 after March A.D. 40, (when the 4th year of Agrippa 
 began,) and not long after March A.D. 40, for Caligula 
 returned to Rome from his Germanic expedition on 
 August the 31st of the same year, and in Agrippa's 
 letter to the emperor, written shortly afterwards, on the 
 subject of the erection of the statue in the temple at 
 Jerusalem, allusion is made to the banishment of An- 
 tipas as having already taken place r . Assuming there- 
 fore that Antipas was banished some time between March 
 and August A.D. 40, the coins of the 43rd year might 
 
 Tai<o. Kar. Tepp.. Cffi. HpcoSqj. Terpapx?;?. L. Mr. Eckhel doct. num. 
 vol. iii. 486. 
 
 f See Eckhel ubi supra. 
 
 q (Agrippa) rf/r <J>tAiWou pev rerpnp^iay t Is rpivrlav apgas, ra> rerdpru) 
 St KOI rr\v 'HpwSou (Antipas) 7rpo(reiAT7<pa~. Ant. xix. 8, 2. 
 
 r Avrir 8e KOI crtpas p.ftovos (xpa? f3a<n\dai> e^apiVeo) rr)v Tpa^ca- 
 VITIV KOI rfjv TaXiXaiaj/ (rvvtyas. Phil. Leg. 41 : that is, Caligula had 
 added the dominions of Antipas to those which Agrippa had before pos-
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHEIST. 9 
 
 very well have been struck by Antipas in the spring 
 of A.D. 39 before he sailed to Rome, and those in the 
 44th year in the spring of A.D. 40 before he was exiled, 
 and a fortiori before the news of his disgrace could have 
 reached Judasa. 
 
 We shall now consider some objections that may be 
 advanced against the hypothesis that Herod's death 
 occurred in B.C. 4. 
 
 1. It may be said that John the Baptist, according to 
 St. Luke, opened his ministry in the 15th year of 
 Tiberius 8 , i.e. after Aug. 19, A.D. 28, and that Jesus, 
 who followed John, could not have begun to preach 
 until toward the close of A.D. 28 at the earliest; that 
 Luke tells us that Jesus was " at the beginning (viz. of 
 His ministry) of about 30 years 4 ;" and if so His birth 
 would be referrible to the close of the year B.C. 3, and 
 then Herod, it is argued, could not, as supposed, have 
 died in B.C. 4, as Christ was certainly born in the life- 
 time of Herod. 
 
 Such is the objection, but it may be shewn to be 
 untenable. The argument assumes the meaning of 
 Luke to be that Jesus when He began was just about 
 30 years old, that is, within a few days, or weeks, or 
 months of that exact age. But this interpretation can- 
 not be maintained, for if Christ was 30 years old in 
 the 15th year of Tiberius, i. e. at the close of A.D. 28, 
 He was born at the close of B.C. 3, and Herod must 
 have died at the earliest in the spring of B.C. 2. But 
 
 8 'Ej> erei Se TrevTeKaideKaTCp TTJS fjyefjiovias Ti|3epiou Kctarapos K.r.X. 
 Luke iii. 1. 
 
 * Kat avTos TIV 6 'irjpovs waVi irS>v TpiaKovra apxoptvos. Luke iii. 23.
 
 10 THE TIME OP 
 
 the latter fact may be pronounced absolutely impos- 
 sible ; for in the first place there was no eclipse of the 
 moon in that year; and secondly, Archelaus, who was 
 banished in A.D. 6, could not have reigned either 9 or 
 10 years, as Josephus states was the case ; and thirdly, 
 Herod Philip, who died in the 20th year of Tiberius, 
 could not have reigned 37 years; and lastly, Herod 
 Antipas, who was deposed in A.D. 40, could not have 
 struck coins in the 43rd and 44th years of his reign. 
 
 But in fact Luke does not state that Jesus was 30 
 years old, but only in round numbers that He was " of 
 about 30 years." The Evangelist might fix on the 
 number of 30 not only from the common usage of 
 mankind in reckoning by decads, omitting the units, 
 but also from the circumstance that the Levites, the 
 Jewish priests, commenced their office at the age of 30 U . 
 Luke then might mean only that Jesus was nearer 30 
 than 40 or 20, as the expression "about 300" might 
 signify nearer 300 than 400 or 200. If Herod died in 
 the year B.C. 4 and Christ was born six months before, 
 say in Sept. B.C. 5, He would in Oct. A.D. 29, when as 
 we shall see He began His ministry, be just about 33 : 
 and the expression of Luke, which is in round numbers, 
 is not inconsistent with this supposition. From the 
 language of Luke on other occasions we should rather 
 infer that in this place he employs the words " of about 
 30" with some degree of latitude. Thus Luke tells us 
 that Jesus, when taken by His parents to Jerusalem at 
 the Feast of the Passover, was "12 years old*," not "of 
 about 12;" so that when he speaks of Jesus as "of 
 
 Numbers iv. 3. * ore <' yeVero fVwi/ 8w5ea. Luke ii. 42.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 11 
 
 about 30," he intends something different from 30 ex- 
 actly. Again, he represents the transfiguration as oc- 
 curring " about 8 days" (oxret rj^epai o/cro), Luke ix. 
 28) after the acknowledgment by Peter that Jesus was 
 the Christ ; but both Matthew, xvii. 1, and Mark, ix. 2, 
 say it was " 6 days after." Here therefore Luke, in 
 calling 6 days " about 8 days/* uses the same laxity 
 of language as in stating Jesus to be about 30 when 
 He was just about 33. It is not improbable that Luke 
 at the time he was writing did not know what the pre- 
 cise age of Christ at the commencement of His ministry 
 really was, and therefore purposely expressed himself in 
 general terms. 
 
 We may also hazard the conjecture that the difficulty, 
 if any, in the passage of St. Luke, has arisen from the 
 error of a transcriber. Jesus began His ministry in the 
 autumn of A.D. 29, when He was of the age of 33, and 
 Luke perhaps wrote that Jesus was then rpiwv TpiaKovra 
 or 33, and in the MS. the reduplication of the rpia was 
 not observed (TPIQNTPIAKONTA), and, one of the 
 two rpta being accidentally omitted, the copyist wrote 
 " about 30" instead of " about 33." 
 
 2. Another objection that may be urged against placing 
 the death of Herod in the year B.C. 4 arises from the state- 
 ment of Josephus that Herod reigned 37 years from his 
 appointment to the kingdom of Judrea by the Romans, 
 and 34 years from the death of Antigonus, the last of 
 the Maccabean princes 7 j whereas it is said that if Herod 
 
 J Bao-iXevo-av ptd' o ptv dvflXfV 'Avriyovov err) Ttsrvapa Kai Tftro-apd- 
 novra, p.fd' o 8f VTTO 'Papaiiov dnodt&fiKTo eirra KOI Tpianovra. Jos. Ant. 
 xvii. 8, 1.
 
 12 THE TIME OF 
 
 died B.C. 4 he had not reigned 36 years from the one 
 event or 33 years from the other. 
 
 In order to deal with this argument, and to under- 
 stand what force is due to it, we must endeavour in 
 limine to ascertain with some degree of precision, First, at 
 what time Herod was declared king by the Romans, 
 from which is to be dated what may be designated his 
 nominal reign ; and Secondly, at what time occurred the 
 death of Antigonus, from which began what may be called 
 Herod's actual reign. We shall then proceed to deter- 
 mine as well as we can in what sense Josephus is 
 to be understood when he ascribes 37 years in the one 
 case and 34 years in the other to the reign of Herod. 
 
 1. As to the nominal reign of this king, all chrono- 
 logers agree in assigning the commencement of it to 
 the year B.C. 40, and we can arrive at the exact period 
 of the year without much difficulty. 
 
 Early in the year (B.C. 40) Pacorus and Barzaphernes 
 at the head of two divisions of Parthians invaded Juda?a, 
 the former proceeding along the coast and the latter 
 through Galilee. Pacorus advanced against Herod and 
 Phasaelus, who were then in Jerusalem, about the time 
 of the Pentecost, which was on May the 10th z . 
 
 After the Pentecost, or May the 10th, occurred the fol- 
 lowing events : 
 
 Herod engages in battle with Antigonus and his ad- 
 herents, and shuts them up in the temple and in their 
 entrenchments, Bell. i. 13, 3 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 
 
 Pacorus and the Parthians, under pretext of recon- 
 
 ' A.Vfj.evov ot TroXe/iiot TOV eV TTJS Reaper? o^\ov fls rrjv Ka\ovfjifvr)v 
 Ufi>TT]Ko<TTr]v. Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 'EvcrrdcrT)s 5' eoprrjs fj TreiTJjKoarij KaAerrat. 
 Bell. i. 13, 3.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 13 
 
 tiling differences, are admitted into the city, Bell. i. 13, 
 3 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 
 
 Hyrcanus and Phasaelus go on an embassy to Bar- 
 zaphernes in Galilee, and appearances of friendship are 
 for some time kept up, but eventually Barzaphernes 
 makes them prisoners, Bell. i. 13, 4 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 5. 
 
 Secret intelligence of the treachery is brought to 
 Herod, and he and his adherents (9000 in all) quit 
 Jerusalem at night, Bell. i. 13, 7 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 7. 
 
 The next day the Parthians are masters of the city, 
 and make Antigonus king, Bell. i. 13, 9 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 
 10. (This was about July the 5th, for at the fast on 
 Oct. the 5th B.C. 37 Antigonus had reigned 3 years and 
 3 months*, and if so he had been declared king by the 
 Parthians about July the 5th, B.C. 40.) 
 
 Herod fights with his pursuers at Herodium, at some 
 distance from Jerusalem, Bell. i. 13, 8 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 9. 
 
 He meets his brother Joseph at Thressa and commits 
 his family to him, and posts him with a garrison at 
 Masada in Idumaea, a place well stored for a siege, and 
 proceeds himself to Petra, Bell. i. 13, 8 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 9. 
 
 Herod is repulsed by Malchus, king of Petra, and retires 
 towards Egypt. He sleeps the first night in a temple, 
 and the next night reaches Rhinocolura, on the borders 
 of Egypt, where he hears of the death of Phasaelus, 
 Bell. i. 14, 2 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 2. 
 
 Herod cannot procure a passage from Rhinocolura to 
 Alexandria by sea, but is at length allowed to pass 
 thither by land, Bell. i. 14, 2 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 2. 
 
 Bapa(pepvT)s 8e Kai HaKopos . . . '\vriyovov KaTfa-nja-av /SatrtXca. Tpi'a 
 Se err) Kal rptls ^rjvas apt-aVTa TOVTOV 2d(ro-tdy T KOI 'Hpatys (t-ciroXiop- 
 Ant. xx. 10-
 
 14 THE TIME OP 
 
 At Alexandria Cleopatra detains him and tries to pre- 
 vent his farther progress, Ant. xiv. 13, 2 ; Bell. i. 14, 2. 
 
 He sets sail for Rome, though he would have to 
 encounter the winter on his voyage /^re TTJV OLK^V 
 XiiJLa>i>o? vTroScio-as, Bell. i. 14, 2; and see Ant. xiv. 
 14, 2. 
 
 He sails by way of Pamphylia and is overtaken by 
 a storm, and reaches Rhodes with difficulty, Bell. i. 14, 
 3 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 3. 
 
 At Rhodes he fits out another ship and sails to Brun- 
 disium and then proceeds to Rome, which he reaches in 
 due time, Bell, i. 14, 3 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 3. 
 
 During his absence his kinsfolk are distressed for 
 water at Masada but are relieved by the rains which 
 usually occur about a month after the Feast of Taber- 
 nacles, and therefore late in October, Bell. i. 15, 1; 
 Ant. xiv. 14, 6. 
 
 The summary may be thus stated. Herod was at 
 Jerusalem at the Pentecost on May the 10th. His flight 
 from Jerusalem was about July the 5th. After settling the 
 garrison at Masada and a detention for some time at 
 Alexandria he may have set sail from Egypt about Aug. 
 the 1st. He would arrive at Rhodes about the middle of 
 August. After fitting out a ship he would again set sail 
 about the end of September. He would arrive at Rome 
 some time in November. He remained at Rome 7 days 
 only, and it was during this brief interval that by a 
 decree of the senate he was declared king of Judsea b . 
 
 2. We have to fix the commencement of Herod's 
 actual reign, i.e. from the death of Antigonus. 
 
 b Jos. Ant. xiv. 14, 4 and 5.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 15 
 
 The capture of Jerusalem by Herod was in the year 
 B.C. 37. Dion Cassius indeed places it in B.C. 38, but 
 Josephus, in a matter peculiarly affecting his own people, 
 is entitled to greater credit, and the series of events 
 related by Josephus shews conclusively that Jerusalem 
 could not have fallen before the year B.C. 37. Assuming 
 this to be so, the capture of the city was on the day of 
 the Fast A.D. 37, that is, on Oct. the 5th d . Antigonus was 
 then made a prisoner, and shortly afterwards sent by 
 Herod to Mark Antony at Antioch 6 . Here, though the 
 interval must have been brief, but how soon after is 
 not mentioned, Antigonus was beheaded. This closed 
 the line of the Maccabean princes f . The execution of 
 Antigonus may be placed therefore in November B.C. 37, 
 and from this event commenced what we have called 
 the actual reign of Herod. 
 
 Having ascertained with sufficient exactness the two 
 termini from which the nominal reign and the actual 
 reign of Herod are respectively to be dated, we proceed 
 to inquire in what sense Josephus, when he attributes 37 
 years to the nominal, and 34 years to the actual reign of 
 Herod, is to be understood. 
 
 We may observe in the. first place that Josephus pro- 
 fesses generally to write with extreme accuracy. We 
 should therefore expect that where the duration of a 
 
 c 'ETTI fiev 817 TOW re KXavS/ov rov re Ncopfidvov rovff OVTVS iytvc-ro. 
 Dion, xlix. 22. But Dion in these words may be referring, not to the 
 capture of Jerusalem, but to the siege of Samosata by Antony, with which 
 he had begun the chapter, and which was in B.C. 38. 
 
 d TII (opry TT/S vr)(TTfias. Ant. xiv. 16, 4. 
 
 e Ant. xv. 1, 2. 
 
 HavfTcu ovrwf 17 row 'A(ra/x<ai'ajou op^tj /nera trr) fxarov KOI tinoo'i f. 
 Ant. xiv. 16, 1.
 
 16 THE TIME OF 
 
 reign could be ascertained with precision, the historian 
 would not express himself in ambiguous terms, but 
 would state the limits definitely, not only in years, but 
 also in months, or even in days. Accordingly we find 
 that in the case of the Roman emperors, Josephus gives 
 us the exact length in the most particular manner. Thus 
 he tells us that Augustus reigned 57 years 6 months and 
 
 2 days g , Tiberius 22 years 5 months and 3 days h , Cali- 
 gula 3 years and 8 months l , Claudius 13 years 5 months 
 and 20 days k , Nero 13 years and 8 daysi, Galba 7 
 months and 7 days m , Otho 3 months and 2 days", 
 Vitellius 8 months and 5 days . Josephus may or may 
 not be correct in his calculations, but this manifests at 
 all events a desire, where he had the means, of marking 
 the duration of the imperial reigns, even to the minutest 
 fraction. 
 
 The Jewish kings were comparatively insignificant, and 
 the world at large cared little for the time of their accession 
 or demise. The historian therefore with respect to them 
 had not the same sources of information, and could not 
 descend into the same details. However Josephus where 
 it was practicable distinguishes the parts of a year even 
 in their reigns. Thus Aristobulus is said to have reigned 
 
 3 years and 3 months P, and Antigonus, a like period of 
 3 years and 3 months q . Now if Josephus were precise 
 in the reign of any Jewish king, one would expect to 
 find him so in the instance of Herod, the greatest of 
 
 8 Ant. xviii. 2, 2. Bell. ii. 9, 1. 
 
 h Ant. xviii. 6, 10, but according to the Wars 22 years 6 months and 3 
 
 days. Bell. ii. 9, 5. i Ant. xix. 2, 5. Bell. ii. 11, 1. 
 
 k Ant. xx. 8, 1. 'Bell. ii. 12, 8. 1 Bell. iv. 9, 2. m Bell. iv. 9, 2. 
 
 Bell. iv. 9, 9. o Bell. iv. 11, 4. P Ant. xx. 10. 
 
 9 Ant. xx. 10.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 17 
 
 the Jewish princes, and whom Josephus loses no oppor- 
 tunity of magnifying. As to the commencement indeed 
 of Herod's reign, we are furnished by Josephus with 
 sufficient particulars \ for as to the nominal reign we are 
 informed that he was appointed king by the Romans in 
 the consulship of C. Domitius Calvinus, and C. Asinius 
 Pollio, i.e. B.C. 40 r , and as to the actual reign, that the 
 capture of Jerusalem, (which led to the death of Anti- 
 gonus, the date of Herod's accession,) was in the consul- 
 ship of M. Agrippa and Caninius Gallus, i.e. B.C. 37 8 ; 
 and in either case we can collect from the narrative at 
 what period or season of the year the events occurred. 
 But when we come to the death of Herod, no mention is 
 made of the consulship or Olympiad, nor is there any 
 other direct indication of the year. It would seem there- 
 fore that in the records from which Josephus drew his 
 materials the time of the death of Herod was not given 
 with precision, so that he could only tell us in general 
 terms that Herod reigned 37 years from his elevation to 
 the crown by the Romans, and 34 years from the death 
 of Antigonus. 
 
 We shall now endeavour to ascertain, as far as we can, 
 what must be understood by the statement in round 
 numbers that Herod's nominal reign was 37 years, and 
 his actual reign 34 years. The result will shew us 
 whether this testimony of Josephus is or is not consistent 
 with the hypothesis that Herod died in the year B.C. 4. 
 
 The inquiry involves the investigation of two questions, 
 
 which we must consider in order. First, Did Josephus 
 
 intend 34 or 37 years complete or 34 or 37 years current? 
 
 And secondly, From what terminus or part of the year 
 
 Ant. xir. 14, 5, At. xiv. r u 16, 4.
 
 18 THE TIME OF 
 
 did Josephus begin to count the years, whether complete 
 or current? 
 
 First, Did Josephus mean years complete or years cur- 
 rent ? In other words, did he mean that Herod reigned 
 34 or 37 years and some months over, or 34 or 37 years 
 wanting some months ? The usage of the Jewish historian 
 in this respect is not uniform, but it may be assumed that 
 although occasionally he speaks of years as complete years, 
 yet generally he refers to years as current. We shall give 
 an instance of each mode of computation, from which the 
 reader will see that the reign of Herod may be reckoned 
 in either of the two ways, as circumstances require. 
 
 The reign of Hyrcanus commenced on the day of the 
 Fast, or the 22nd of September, B.C. 63 *, and terminated 
 three months before the Fast, and therefore about Mid- 
 summer B.C. 40 u , and Josephus tells us that Hyrcauus 
 reigned 24 years*. We shall discuss presently from 
 what terminus or part of the year Josephus usually com- 
 putes the commencement of a reign j but whether from 
 the Fast B.C. 63, or from the 1st of Nisan preceding, or 
 from the 1st of January preceding, in either case it is 
 obvious that Josephus addresses himself to 44 years cur- 
 rent, and not to 44 years complete. 
 
 On the other hand Agrippa the Great was made 
 king by Caligula in the month of March A.D. 37, and 
 he died a little after the passover (March 31) of A.D. 
 44, and is said to have reigned seven years. Here 
 
 Ant. adv. 4, 3. Bell. i. 7. 4 ; v. 9, 4. 
 
 Ant. xiv. 13, 10 ; xx. 10. Bell. i. 13, 9. Antigonus *ho succeeded 
 Hyrcanus had reigned at the Fast of B.C. 37, when he was deposed, three 
 years and three months. He had therefore begun to reign three months 
 before the Fast of B.C. 40. 
 
 x Ant. xx. 10.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 19 
 
 therefore the historian intends seven complete years 
 with a month or two over y . 
 
 Secondly, From what terminus or part of the year 
 does Josephus begin to reckon the years of Herod's 
 reign? for assuming that we have found the year and 
 time of year when Herod became king, Josephus might 
 compute the reign in three different modes : 1, Josephus 
 might reckon the years from the commencement of the 
 reign in fact, viz., from November to November, being 
 the month in which Herod was king nominally in B.C. 
 40, and actually in B.C. 37 : or 2, Josephus might regu- 
 late the years by the Jewish ecclesiastical year, which 
 began on the 1st of Nisan, and so compute the first year 
 of Herod from the 1st of Nisan that preceded the com- 
 mencement of the reign, and the second year from the 
 1st of Nisan that followed the commencement, though 
 only a few months had then elapsed; or 3, Josephus 
 might adapt the years of the reign to the Roman year, 
 which began on the 1st of January, and so reckon the 
 first year of Herod from the 1st of January that preceded 
 the commencement of the reign, and the 2nd year from 
 the 1st of January that followed the commencement, 
 though Herod had then been only a few months on the 
 throne. We shall examine each of these modes of 
 computation in order. 
 
 1st. The natural supposition would be that Josephus 
 computed the years from the commencement of the reign 
 in fact, viz. from November to November, and there are 
 numerous instances in which Josephus reckons the reign of 
 a prince in this way, viz., from the very time of the actual 
 
 y 'ATTO yevecrfus aya>v jrfVTT]KO(TTov eros Ktu rtrapTOV, rfjs /3a<riXei'as 8e 
 e/3So/ioi>. Ant. xix. 8, 2. 
 
 c2
 
 20 THE TIME OF 
 
 accession. Thus the Jewish war, which broke out in the 
 month of Artemisius, or May, A.D. 66, is said to have com- 
 menced in the \Zth year of Nero z , that is, in the 12th 
 year, as current from the 13th of October, A.D. 65, to 
 the 13th of October, A.D. 66, Nero having succeeded 
 Claudius on the 13th of October, A.D. 54. So Jotapata, 
 which was taken in the month of Panemus, or July, A.D. 67, 
 is said to have fallen in the 13th year of Nero a , that is, as 
 current from the 13th of October, A.D. 66, to the 13th of 
 October, A.D. 67. And again, the temple, which was 
 burnt in the month of Lous, or August, A.D. 70, is said 
 to have been thus destroyed in the second year of Ves- 
 pasian, that is, in the second year as current from the 
 1st of July A.D. 70 to the 1st of July A.D. 71, Vespasian 
 having been declared emperor on July the 1st, je.' 69 b . 
 The above instances have reference to the Roman empe- 
 rors, whose reigns were well known, but similar examples, 
 though more rare, may be found in the history of Jewish 
 kings. Thus Josephus, speaking of Herod himself, re- 
 lates that the spring of B.C. 37 was in the third year of 
 his reign from the time of his appointment by the Ro- 
 mans in B.C. 40, that is, in the third year as current from 
 November B.C. 38 to November B.C. 37 . So Herod is 
 said to have completed the building of Caesarea in the 
 28th year of his reign, in the 192nd Olympiad ^. The 
 192nd Olympiad comprised the latter half of B.C. 12 and 
 the first half of B.C. 11. Neither of these years could be 
 
 fj.ev erei Tys Nepwi/os fiyepovias. Bell. ii. 14, 4. 
 Bell. iii. 7, 36. 
 
 "Eret SfVTfpu TTJS Oveo-iraaidvov riytpovias. Bell. vi. 4, 8. 
 Bell. i. 17, 8. Ant. xiv. 15, 14. 
 
 Ets oyftoov KOI etKooroi> eros rrjs /3a(rtAetar rl 'OAv/iTTiafioy 
 fai (vfvi]KO(rri]s irpos rais CKUTOV. Ant. xvi. 5 ? 1.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 21 
 
 the 28th of Herod's reign from November B.C. 37, when 
 he became king de facto. The reign intended therefore is 
 that from November B.C. 40, when Herod was proclaimed 
 king by the Romans, and the 28th year, as computed from 
 the actual time of commencement, would be current from 
 November B.C. 13 to November B.C. 12, and at Midsum- 
 mer of the latter year would occur the 192nd Olympiad. 
 2. Josephus may have computed the reign of Herod 
 by reference to the Jewish ecclesiastical year, which began 
 on the 1st of Nisan. In fact the Jews are stated in the 
 Rabbinical writings to have reckoned the years of their 
 princes in this way, not from the actual day of accession, 
 but from the 1st of Nisan preceding, and then to have 
 attributed an additional year for every subsequent 1st of 
 Nisan, or New Year's day, that occurred during the 
 reign 6 . So the Egyptians are said to have calculated 
 the years of a king, not from the time of his assuming 
 the crown, but from their month of Thoth f . To apply 
 this mode of computation to the case in hand, if Herod 
 began to reign nominally in November B.C. 40, and ac- 
 tually in November B.C. 37, the first year would be dated 
 in the one case from the 1st of Nisan B.C. 40, and in the 
 other from the 1st of Nisan B.C. 37, and the second year 
 would be said to commence in the one case from the 1st 
 of Nisan next after November B.C. 40, and in the other 
 from the 1st of Nisan next after November B.C. 37. In this 
 way, if Herod lived but a day beyond the 1st of Nisan 
 
 Non numerant in regibus nisi a Nisano. Gemara. Bab. Nisanus 
 initium anni regibus ac dies quidem unus in anno (viz. post calendas 
 Nisani) instar anni computatur. Ib. Unus dies in anni fine pro anno nu- 
 meratur. Ib. see Anger, p. 9, note (x). Wieseler, 62, note 1. 
 
 1 See Anger, 15.
 
 22 THE TIME OF 
 
 B.C. 4, a new year would have begun, and then Herod 
 would be considered to have reigned 37 years from his 
 accession in November B.'C. 40, and 34 years from his 
 accession in B.C. 37. 
 
 There appear, however, to be some objections to this 
 hypothesis ; for as Josephus was writing at Rome and 
 for Gentiles, he was more likely to adopt the Roman than 
 the Jewish mode of measuring time ; and accordingly it 
 is worthy of remark, that in his works he furnishes the 
 dates of important public events, not by reference to the 
 Jewish year at all, but to the Roman consulships, and 
 occasionally to the Greek Olympiads. 
 
 As regards the reign of Herod in particular, it is at 
 least doubtful whether this mode of computation would 
 harmonize, as contended by Wieseler and others, with 
 the hypothesis that Herod's death occurred in B.C. 4 ; 
 for it will be seen from the table in a former page, that 
 Herod probably died on the very day (March 27) on 
 the evening of which the 1st of Nisan was to commence ; 
 and if the death of Herod at all preceded, even by a few 
 hours, the 1st of Nisan, then this method of reckoning 
 would not account for the 37 or 34 years attributed by 
 Josephus to the reign of Herod. 
 
 3rdly. Another and less objectionable hypothesis is, 
 that Josephus writing at Rome and for the readers of 
 the Roman empire, had in his mind, when speaking of a 
 prince's reign in round numbers, the commencement of 
 the Eoman year, known universally to begin from the 
 1st of January. Thus if Herod was made king by the 
 Romans in November B.C. 40, Josephus might naturally 
 antedate the first year of the reign as from the 1st of Jan.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 23 
 
 B.C. 40, and consider the 1st of Jan. B.C. 39 as the com- 
 mencement of the second year. So if Herod became king 
 de facto by the death of Antigonus in Nov. B.C. 37, the 
 first year of Herod's actual reign might be referred back 
 to the 1st of Jan. B.C. 37, and the 1st of Jan. B.C. 36, 
 might be taken as the second year. Assuming that Herod 
 died at the end of March B.C. 4, the year from the 1st of 
 Jan. B.C. 4 would thus be reckoned as another year, 
 though only three months of it had elapsed ; and in this 
 way Herod would be said at the time of his death, in 
 the spring of B.C. 4, to have reigned 37 consular years 
 from his appointment by the Romans in B.C. 40, and 34 
 consular years from the death of Antigonus in B.C. 37. 
 
 We shall produce a succession of instances in which 
 Josephus has computed the years in this manner. 
 
 1. The reign of Hyrcanus commenced, as before stated, 
 on the day of the Fast, or 22nd of Sep. B.C. 63 d , and 
 terminated three months before the Fast, or about Mid- 
 summer B.C. 40 e . Thus Hyrcanus did not actually reign 
 
 23 years complete, and yet Josephus attributes to him 
 
 24 years f , that is, the consular year B.C. 63 was reckoned 
 as one year, and the consular year B.C. 40 as another year. 
 
 2. The capture of Jerusalem at the Fast in B.C. 37, is 
 said to have occurred at an interval of 27 years from the 
 capture of Jerusalem at the Fast in B.C. 63 K ; that is, 
 the space between the two events embraced 27 consul- 
 ships, as reckoned from the 1st of Jan. in each year. 
 
 d Ant. xiv. 4, 3. Bell, i. 7, 4 ; v. 9, 4. 
 
 e Ant. xiv. 13, 10 ; xx. 10. Bell. i. 13, 9. 
 
 t "Hpe 8e . . . 6 'YpKavbs T(<rcrapa KOI fucoeri. Ant. XX. 10. 
 
 K Mtra (rrj tinoai (cat fTrra. Ant. xiv. 16, 4.
 
 24 THE TIME OF 
 
 3. The battle of Actium, which was on the 2nd of 
 Sep. B.C. 31, is placed by Josephus in the 7th year 
 of the reign of Herod, from the death of Antigonus, in 
 Nov. B.C. 37 h . In fact Herod had not completed his 
 6t/i year, but the period from Nov. B.C. 37 to Sep. B.C. 
 31, included 7 successive consular years. 
 
 4. We read in Josephus, " Now in this year, being the 
 \tli of Herod, the greatest calamities overtook the coun- 
 try 1 ." Of what year is the historian speaking? Of the 
 consular year B.C. 25, as may be thus clearly shewn. 
 Josephus proceeds to relate that a dreadful famine arose 
 in this year from the failure of the crops, from the want 
 of rain in the past Autumn and the present Spring ; and 
 that from the dearth arose plagues amongst the people ; 
 but that nevertheless the seed was sown as usual, in the 
 hope of better success at the next harvest. So ended 
 the first year of the famine. But in the next year there 
 was a failure of the crops for the second time, (prjSe TO 
 Sevrepov aveicrris rrjs yr]s. Ant. xv. 9, 1,) and Herod 
 now became the subject of invective from the people, 
 who, of course, attributed their distress to the want of 
 foresight in their ruler. In this emergency Herod sent 
 for corn into Egypt. The Romans were very jealous of 
 the exportation of corn from this quarter to any country 
 but Rome itself; but it happened fortunately that just 
 at this juncture Petronius assumed the prefecture of 
 Egypt; (llerpcoviov TTJV tTrapyiav airoKaio-apoy el\rj(f)6- 
 rof. Ant. xv. 9, 2 ;) and Petronius was a personal friend 
 
 h 'E^So/xou OVTOS 'HpwSi? TTJS (SacnXftas trovs. Ant. xv. 5, 2- KOT' 
 eras fJ.fi> rrjs /Sao-iXet'ar e)38o/*oj/. Bell. i. 19, 3. 
 1 Jos. Ant. xv. 9, 1.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 25 
 
 of Herod, so that the latter had no difficulty in obtaining 
 leave from him to export corn into Judaea. Herod now 
 regained the good will of his subjects by supplying their 
 present necessities, and by furnishing the Syrians with 
 seed, which the following year produced an abundant 
 harvest. About the same time with these importations 
 from Egypt, (irtpi 8e rov \povov tKtivov, Ant. xv. 9, 3,) 
 .^Elius Gallus, whom Petronius had succeeded as gover- 
 nor of Egypt, made an expedition into Arabia by com- 
 mand of the emperor, and Herod sent him 500 auxilia- 
 ries. Here we have a clue to the exact period of which 
 Josephus is speaking. ^Elius Gallus made his campaign 
 in Arabia, and Petronius took his place as governor of 
 Egypt, in the year B.C. 24 k . This then was the year in 
 which Herod, by favour of his friend Petronius, procured 
 corn from Egypt ; and if so, the preceding year, the first 
 of the famine and the 13th of Herod, was the year B.C. 
 25. It follows that Josephus computed the first year of 
 Herod from the 1st of Jan. B.C. 37, though Herod did not 
 actually become king until the following November ; for 
 in this way only could the 13th year of Herod be made 
 to comprise the harvest of B.C. 25, when the famine 
 began. 
 
 5. Augustus visited Syria at Midsummer B.C. 20, and 
 at this time it is said that the 17th year of the reign of 
 Herod from the death of Antigonus in Nov. B.C. 37 was 
 past, and consequently that the 18th year was current 1 . 
 In fact, Herod had not completed his 17th year, but Jo- 
 
 k See Clinton's Fasti Hellenici. 
 
 ^HfijjS' O.VTOV TTJS jSacriXeiar eTrraKaiSfKarov irapf\6ovros fTovs Kaurap 
 (Is "Zvpiav cK^'iKfTo. Ant. xv. 10, 3.
 
 26 THE TIME OP 
 
 sephus evidently reckons by consular years, and 17 con- 
 sulships had expired since the death of Antigonus. 
 
 6. The capture of Jerusalem, on the 8th of Gorpiaeus, 
 or September, A.D. 70, is said to have occurred 107 years 
 after the accession of Herod in Nov. B.C. 37 m , which 
 would be correct on one hypothesis, and one only, viz., 
 that Josephus meant consular years, and reckoned from 
 every 1st of January, and that fragments of consular 
 years were counted as whole years. 
 
 After these repeated instances of Josephus's computa- 
 tion by consular years, we can have no difficulty in con- 
 cluding that Josephus, in speaking of the duration of 
 Herod's reign, measured it by the number of consulships 
 embraced within its compass. And then if Herod was 
 king nominally in Nov. B.C. 40, and died in March B.C. 
 4, he would be said to have reigned 37 years ; and if he 
 became king actually in Nov. B.C. 37, and died in March 
 B.C. 4, he would be said to have reigned 34 years. 
 
 The result of the foregoing discussion is, that the 
 death of Herod the Great must be placed in the month 
 of March B.C. 4 ; and having laid this foundation, we 
 come next to the inquiry in what year and at what 
 season of the year was the birth of Christ, which a little 
 preceded the death of Herod. 
 
 The events that happened between the birth of Christ 
 and the death of Herod are briefly these : the circum- 
 cision on the 8th day, the presentation in the temple 
 on the 40th day from the birth, the visit of the 
 magi, the flight into Egypt, and the slaughter of 
 the innocents. These occurrences demand an inter- 
 
 Kpovos de Tovrav tri) npos rots etarrov rra. Ant. xx. 10.
 
 THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 27 
 
 val of about six months, which would carry us back, as 
 Herod died in March B.C. 4, to the month of Septem- 
 ber, B.C. 5. We can ascertain the exact time with some 
 degree of precision as follows. The birth of Christ 
 was six months later than that of John the Baptist , 
 and we have therefore only to determine at what 
 period happened the birth of the latter. This we can 
 do from the circumstance that the conception of John 
 was at the time when his father Zacharias was minister- 
 ing in his turn according to the usual rota in the 
 temple. The priests of the Jews, as is well known, 
 were distributed into twenty-four courses, each course 
 discharging the office for a week at a time, so that every 
 course served twice in the year with a six months' in- 
 termission. The first course began on the first sabbath 
 after the Feast of Tabernacles, (called perhaps from this 
 the irpaJTQv aafifiaTovJ) and again on the first sabbath 
 after the Feast of the Passover, (hence possibly called 
 the o-dpfiarov devrepoTrpaTov.) Zacharias was of the 
 course of Abia, that is, the 8th course, which began its 
 half-yearly ministrations on the 12th of Chisleu and the 
 17th of Sivan . In the year B.C. 6 the 12th of Chisleu 
 was the 21st of Nov. and the 17th of Sivan was the 2nd 
 of June p . The conception of John must have been 
 at the latter time, on the supposition that Christ was 
 born about six months before the death of Herod, and 
 then Christ would be born in September and John would 
 be born six months before in March, and the concep- 
 
 n 'Ei> fie TW fjirivl rw T<5 aTrearoAj; K.r.X. Luke i. 26. Kat OVTO 
 tKTos fcrrlv K.T.\. Luke i. 36. 
 See Lightfoot. " See Greswell's Prolegomena.
 
 28 THE TIME OP THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 
 
 tion of John would be nine months before that, or in June 
 of the preceding year. Thus the birth of John would be 
 about the 2nd of March B.C. 5, and the birth of Christ 
 six months later, or about the 2nd of September B.C. 5. 
 It may be added in confirmation of this hypothesis that 
 our Saviour was born at a time when the shepherds and 
 their flocks were still in the open fields' 1 , and the custom 
 in Judaea was to turn out the cattle for the summer after 
 the Passover, and to bring them back for the winter in 
 the month of October r . 
 
 i Luke ii. 8. r Anger, p. 12-
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT JLND DERATION OF OUB, 1 
 SAYIOTTR'S MINISTRY. 
 
 THE ministry of John the Baptist preceded that of 
 Christ, and we shall therefore begin with the inquiry 
 at what period John the Baptist first opened his mission. 
 Fortunately upon this point we are not left to conjecture, 
 as Luke, apparently considering the call of John an 
 important epoch as being the first promulgation of the 
 Christian revelation, has marked its commencement in 
 the most solemn and emphatic manner. His words are, 
 " Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius 
 Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and 
 Herod (Antipas) being tetrarch of Galilee, and his 
 brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of 
 Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 
 Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word of 
 God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilder- 
 ness 8 ." The fifteenth year of Tiberius began on the 19th 
 of Aug. A.D. 28, and therefore John entered upon his 
 office sometime between the 19th of Aug. A.D. 28, and 
 the 19th of Aug. A.D. 29, during which period, as stated 
 by Luke, Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judaea, 
 Luke iii. 1.
 
 30 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Herod Antipas was tetrarch of Galilee, and Herod 
 Philip was tetrarch of Trachonitis, and Caiaphas, with 
 Annas his father-in-law, was high priest. 
 
 One would suppose that here no door was open to 
 controversy, and yet some chronologers, labouring under 
 the impression that the mission of John in A.D. 28 29 
 cannot be reconciled with the statement of Luke that 
 Jesus when He began, soon after John, was of about 
 30 years, (whereas Jesus, if born B.C. 5, would in A.D. 
 28 29 be about 33,) have endeavoured to overthrow the 
 express testimony of Luke as to the fifteenth year of 
 Tiberius by the assertion that the reign of Tiberius 
 was computed by him not in the ordinary mode from 
 the 19th of Aug. A.D. 14, the death of Augustus, but 
 from some point of time two years earlier, in A.D. 12. 
 They rely upon the passages in Tacitus, Suetonius, and 
 Veil. Paterculus, which will be found in the note 1 , but 
 which, when taken together, shew only that in A.D. 12 
 large powers were conferred on Tiberius, but not that he 
 was then emperor jointly with Augustus, or that his 
 reign was ever thought to commence from that period. 
 
 Other chronologers, as Burton, admit that the fifteenth 
 year of Tiberius must begin in A.D. 14, but then they 
 maintain that instead of being computed from the 19th 
 
 * Nero solus e privignis erat : illuc cuncta vergere : filius, collega im- 
 perii, consors tribuniciae potestatis adsumitur. Tac. Ann. i. 3. Ac non 
 multo post lege per consules lata ut provincias cum Augusto communiter 
 administraret simulque censum ageret, condito lustro in Illyricum pro- 
 fectus esfc. Suet. Tib. 21. Senatus populusque Romanus, postulante patre 
 ejus, ut aequum ei jus in omnibus provinciis exercitibusque esset quam 
 erafc ipsi, decreto complexus est ; etenim absurdum erat non esse sub illo 
 quae ab illo vindicabantur, et qui ad opera ferendam primus erat, ad vin- 
 dicandum honorem non judicari parem. Veil. Pat. ii. 121.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 31 
 
 of Aug. of that year it must be referred back to the 
 first of January of the same year; for as the Romans 
 reckoned their year from the first of January to the 
 first of January, the whole year within these limits was 
 called the fifteenth year of Tiberius. 
 
 To these hypotheses a satisfactory answer can be 
 given, viz., that the reign of Tiberius as beginning 
 from the 19th of Aug., A.D. 14, was as well known a 
 date in the time of Luke as the reign of Queen Victoria 
 in our own day, and that no single case can be pro- 
 duced in which the years of Tiberius were reckoned 
 in any other manner. It would be needless to adduce 
 all the instances, but we shall select a few from the 
 historians of greatest credit. 
 
 Tacitus .opens the fourth book of his Annals with 
 these words, " C. Asinius and C. Antistius being 
 consuls it was the ninth year of Tiberius"." Thus 
 he makes the 1st of Jan. A.D. 23, (the year of this 
 consulship,) coincide with the ninth year of Tiberius, 
 which could only be the case on the assumption that the 
 ninth year commenced on the 19th of Aug. A.D. 22, and 
 ended, not on the 31st of Dec. A.D. 22, but on the 19th of 
 Aug. A.D. 23. So Pliny the Elder refers the same consul- 
 ship to the same year of Tiberius : " In the 9th year of the 
 reign of Tiberius, in the consulship of C. Asinius Pollio 
 and C. Antistius Vetus x ." That is, the consulship of 
 Asinius Pollio and Antistius Vetus, reckoned from the 1st 
 of Jan. A.D. 23, fell in the ninth year of Tiberius up to 
 
 n C. Asinio, C. Antistio consulibus nonus Tiberius annus erat. 
 x Tiberii domum principatus novo anno. . . . C. Asinio Pollione, C. 
 Antistio Vetere consulibus. Plin. N. H. xxxiii. 8.
 
 32 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 the 19th of Aug. A.D. 23, when the tenth year would 
 commence. Dion Cassius again reckons in the same 
 way, for in speaking of the year A.D. 24, he mentions, 
 that in the course of it (viz. on the 19th of Aug.) " ten 
 years of the reign of Tiberius expired*." There can be 
 no higher authority upon this subject than that of Jo- 
 sephus, a Jew, and a contemporary of Luke. And evi- 
 dently Josephus computes the reign of Tiberius from the 
 19th of Aug. A.D. 14 ; for he assigns the death of Herod 
 Philip in A.D. 34, to the 20th year of Tiberius, which 
 the year A.D. 34 was up to the 19th of Aug. of that 
 year 2 . And again, he computes the reign of Tiberius 
 at 22 years, 5 months, and 3 days 3 ; or in another place, 
 at 22 years, 6 months, and 3 days b ; and as the death of 
 Tiberius occurred on the 16th of March A.D. 37, Jose- 
 phus of course refers the commencement of the reign 
 to the 19th of Aug. A.D. 14. 
 
 There are two coins of Antioch, the domicile, if not the 
 native place of Luke, which may be thought to bear upon 
 this question. One has the head of Tiberius, with the 
 inscription, KAI2AP 2EBA2TO2 TM. i.e. "Caesar 
 Augustus, the 43rd year," i.e. of the Actian era, commenc- 
 ing from the 2nd of Sep., B.C. 31, and therefore struck in 
 A.D. 12 is. The title of DEBA2TO2 or Augustus, here 
 applied to Tiberius, confirms the statement of Tacitus, Sue- 
 tonius, and Paterculus, that Tiberius, so early as A.D. 12, 
 
 7 AieX&jj/Twi' 8e TU>V 8a ITQ>V rrjs apx*l s ovrov. Dion. Ivii. 24. 
 
 * Tore 8e Ka\ &i\nnros ('HpwSou 8f TIV a8eX<oy) T(\tvra rov fiiov f'tKOcrrS) 
 fiiv fvtavrai rr/s Ti^cpiou apx^s, fiyrjardptvos 8e avrbs frrra KOI rpianovra 
 Tjf TpaxwiriSos KOI TavXaviViSos- /cat TOV Earavaiav f&vovs npbs avrats. 
 Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 6. 
 
 Ant. xviii. 6, 10. b Bell. ii. 9, 5.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 33 
 
 was invested with large powers. On the other hand we 
 have another coin of Antioch, with the head of Tiberius, 
 and the letter A, and the date of the Actian era, EM 
 or 45, equivalent to A.D. 14 15. Here the letter A 
 denotes the first year of the reign of Tiberius, as other 
 coins with the Actian date ZM or 47, equivalent to A.D. 
 16 17, have the letter F, denoting the third year of his 
 reign c . 
 
 We shall not multiply examples to prove what we 
 think must be plain, that as in the time of Luke the 
 reign of Tiberius was a well-known date, computed from 
 Aug. the 19th, A.D. 14, the Evangelist, in fixing the 
 epoch of the commencement of John's ministry in the 
 most formal manner, could not possibly have used a dif- 
 ferent and unheard-of mode of reckoning without some 
 notice to the reader. 
 
 We shall assume, therefore, that John began to raise 
 his voice in the wilderness some time between Aug. 
 the 19th, A.D. 28, and Aug. the 19th, A.D. 29. It re- 
 mains for us to ascertain at what precise period of this 
 fifteenth year of Tiberius his ministry commenced, and 
 how soon afterwards it was followed by the preaching 
 of our Lord. After much hesitation upon the subject 
 we think that John probably opened his mission about 
 the Passover, or the middle of April, A.D. 29 ; and that 
 as Christ was born six months later than John, so 
 Christ succeeded John in the ministry at about the 
 same interval of time, viz. in the month of October of 
 the same year. The correctness of these dates will mainly 
 depend on the harmony of the subsequent chronology ; 
 
 See Eckhel. 
 D
 
 34 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 but we shall here adduce two passages from the New 
 Testament which seem to furnish a confirmation of these 
 hypotheses. We must premise that if John began at the 
 Passover A.D. 29, and Christ was crucified (as we shall 
 see was the case) at the Passover A.D. 33, the doctrine 
 of repentance promulgated by John would have been 
 preached to the Jews up to the time of our Lord's death 
 for four years complete ; and if Jesus began his ministry 
 in October A.D. 29, the duration of it up to the Passover 
 A.D. 33, would be just three years and six months. 
 
 The first of the passages alluded to is contained in the 
 parable, recorded by St. Luke, of the fig-tree, the type 
 of Jerusalem. God is represented as saying, "Behold, 
 these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree 
 and find none : cut it down ; why cumbereth it the 
 ground c ?" The vine-dresser (who must be understood 
 to be Christ Himself) answers, " Lord, let it alone this 
 year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it : and if it 
 bear fruit, well : and if not, then after that Thou shalt cut 
 it down d ." This parable was delivered in the last year 
 of Christ's ministry, and during which Christ did more 
 particularly dig about the fig-tree, by attending all the 
 great feasts at Jerusalem, which previously from circum- 
 stances He had been generally obliged to forego. We 
 have then four years here distinctly mentioned, during 
 which the Jews, from the preaching of John and of Christ, 
 ought to have borne fruits of repentance ; and if we carry 
 back these four years, from the Passover A.D. 33, which 
 was the close, we arrive at the Passover A.D. 29 as the 
 commencement. It was, therefore, at the latter period, 
 c Luke xiii. 7. * j^ x jji t 8} 9.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 35 
 
 that John first raised his warning voice, "Bring forth 
 fruits meet for repentance 6 ." " Now is the axe laid unto 
 the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth 
 not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the 
 fire'." 
 
 The other passage is also in St. Luke, and occurs 
 during our Saviour's visit to His own city Nazareth. 
 They would not receive Him ; and Christ tells them that 
 He was not sent to all, but only to a few ; and He illus- 
 trates His own mission by that of Elias, who in the time 
 of the famine was commissioned only to relieve the poor 
 widow of Sarepta. But the manner in which Christ ex- 
 presses Himself is remarkable ; " Many widows were in 
 Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up 
 three years and six months, when great famine was 
 .throughout all the land; but unto none of them was 
 Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a 
 woman that was a widow 8 ." Here it is difficult to say 
 why such stress should have been laid upon the three 
 years and six months, unless the mission of Elias during 
 that time were a type of the period of our Lord's own 
 ministry. According to our hypothesis, if Christ began 
 in October A.D. 29, He did bring relief to Israel for three 
 years and six months, viz., until the Passover A.D. 33 ; 
 and if the words of our Saviour have a reference to this 
 circumstance, they are full of meaning. 
 
 We shall therefore start upon the basis that Jesus was 
 baptized by John in the month of October A.D. 29. 
 Jesus after His baptism returned into the wilderness and 
 
 e Matt. iii. 8. f Matt. iii. 10. B Luke iv. 25. 
 
 D2
 
 36 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 was tempted forty days, and then returned to John at 
 Bethabara, when John seeing Him coming, gave his 
 testimony, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
 away the sins of the worldV " And John bare record, 
 saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a 
 dove, and it abode upon Him 1 ." This therefore would 
 take place in the month of November. 
 
 We have here in the narrative of John a note of time 
 to which we must advert. The very day before the 
 arrival of Jesus an embassy from the Sanhedrim con- 
 sisting of Pharisees had come to John to inquire into his 
 pretensions as the Messiah. The Pharisees it will be 
 remembered were the religious sect of the Jews, and 
 devoted themselves to the study of the Scriptures with 
 the glosses and traditions, and they were strongly im- 
 pressed with the idea at this time, as appears from 
 Josephus, that the Messiah was about to declare Him- 
 self k . Pretenders to the character had not unfrequently 
 stepped forth, and had again sunk into the insignificance 
 from which they had sprung. At last came John the 
 Baptist preaching in the wilderness, and when after a 
 time, instead of losing ground as previous impostors had 
 done, he was notoriously advancing, so that multitudes 
 from the surrounding country nocked to his baptism, 
 and "all men mused in their hearts whether he were 
 the Christ or not 1 /' the Pharisees, as the conservators 
 of the Jewish religion, assembled the Sanhedrim upon so 
 serious a matter, and procured the dispatch of a commis- 
 sion composed of Priests and Levites of the Pharisaic sect m 
 
 h John i. 29. John i. 32. k Jos. Ant. xvii. 2, 4. 
 
 i Luke iii. 15. John i. 19, 24.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 37 
 
 to Bethabara to investigate the claims of the Baptist. 
 All this agrees very well with the dates we have sup- 
 posed, for if John began his ministry in April A.D. 29, 
 and Christ returned to Bethabara in November, there 
 was an interval of seven months, during which John 
 might easily have attracted converts in sufficient numbers 
 to excite attention and jealousy from the authorities at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 After a few intervening days, during which Philip 
 was called to be a disciple, Jesus arrived at Cana in 
 Galilee , where apparently His mother Mary (Joseph 
 being dead) and his brethren were then residing. Here 
 was a marriage feast, probably of some relative, and Mary 
 and Jesus, and from courtesy His disciples also, (not many 
 perhaps at that period,) were invited. On this occasion 
 Jesus performed His first miracle by changing the water 
 into wine. It would seem that this was also the only 
 miracle performed at this time in Galilee, " His hour not 
 being yet come p ," for when in the following year He 
 healed the nobleman's son at Capernaum, John surprises 
 us by the remark that it was only His second miracle in 
 Galilee q . 
 
 Jesus remained at Cana till the close of the year 
 A.D. 29, and during the early part of the following year 
 A.D. 30, and then a short time before the Passover went 
 down with His mother and brethren to Capernaum. 
 This was after some interval from His arrival at Cana, 
 for John prefaces the journey to Capernaum with the 
 words "After this," (pera rovro\} equivalent to the 
 
 John ii. 1. p John ii. 4. 
 
 1 John iv. 54. ' John ii. 12.
 
 38 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 expression " After these things," (/xera ravra,') in other 
 places 9 , and indicating a break in the narrative. We 
 may remark by the way that the Gospel of St. John is 
 clearly fragmentary, and not intended to be a full history 
 of our Saviour's ministry. It is supplementary only to 
 the other Gospels, as indeed appears from a passage 
 already referred to, "And John bare record, saying, 
 / saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, 
 and it abode upon Him ;" for reference is here made to 
 the descent of the Spirit upon Christ at His baptism, a 
 circumstance not found in St. John at all, but only in 
 the Gospel of St. Luke*. 
 
 The sojourn of Jesus at Capernaum was brief, " Not 
 many days," (ov TroAAay yfiepaf*.) The Passover was 
 nigh, and Jesus and His disciples went up to Jerusalem 
 to celebrate the feast, which this year, A.D. 30, was March 
 the 22nd. x 
 
 At Jerusalem Jesus opened His public ministry by 
 clearing the temple of the cattle-dealers and money- 
 changers and other defilements; and the indignation 
 of the Jews at this proceeding furnishes us with a chro- 
 nological premiss of some importance. They asked Him 
 for a sign or miracle in justification. Jesus said, " De- 
 stroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." 
 They answered, " Forty and six years has this temple 
 (6 vao? ovroy) been building, and wilt Thou rear it up in 
 three days y ?" To understand this we must bear in mind 
 
 John v. 1 ; vi. 1 ; iii. 22, ' Luke iii. 21. John ii. 12. 
 
 * Kal tyyvs rfv TO Tratr^a T>V 'lovSeuW KOI dvi^r) tls 'ifpoa-oXvpa 6 ' 
 John ii. 12 ; and that His disciples went with Him, see v. 17, 22. 
 
 7 Tfo-a-apaKovra Kal ! ere<rti> (OKoSofiTjdr) 6 vabs OVTOS. John ii. 20.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 39 
 
 that Herod the Great had begun the restoration of the 
 temple, and that the fabric was not fully completed 
 until the year which preceded the Jewish war, viz. 
 A.D. 65 z . At the time when these words were spoken 
 46 years had elapsed since the commencement, and if 
 we can ascertain in what year Herod first began the 
 structure we shall be able to deduce the year of the 
 Passover when the expression was used. 
 
 The circumstances under which Herod undertook to 
 rebuild the temple were these. In the latter part of the 
 year B.C. 20, Augustus arrived at Antioch, and Herod 
 shortly afterwards visited him there and established him- 
 self highly in the emperor's favour*. Before winter set in 
 Augustus sailed to Samos b , and Herod returned to Jeru- 
 salem ; and in order to conciliate the Jews, remitted to 
 them one third of their taxes c . He next erected a temple 
 to Augustus in the neighbourhood of Paneas, afterwards 
 Caesarea Philippi d . He then for the first time unfolded 
 to his countrymen the grand design of taking down the 
 temple of God and restoring it on a much more magni- 
 ficent scale. What induced him to undertake so vast a 
 work was, as we learn from Josephus, the distinguished 
 favour in which he now stood with the Romans 6 ; so 
 that the conception was certainly posterior to the meeting 
 of Herod with Augustus at Antioch in A.D. 20. In the 
 Antiquities Josephus refers the undertaking to the nine- 
 
 1 Jos. Ant. xx. 9, 7. Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 3. b Dion, liv. 9. 
 
 e Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 4. d Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 3. 
 
 e *Ei>6(j> fjrl TrAeurrop p.*v evSaipovias npovKo^ev, (is /ielfoi; 8e f&pdi) 
 <f>povrjfjui leal TO TrXeoj/ TTJS peyaXovoias (Trerfivfv etr ev<r/3aj. Jos. Bell. 
 L 20, 4. To 8f piyurrov, (p!\oi KOI 6Y fvvoias ol irdvruv as tiros flirdv 
 KparovvTts 'Pw/xatot. Jos. Ant. XV. 11, 1.
 
 40 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 teenth year of Herod's reign, or B.C. 19 f ; and in the 
 Wars the expression is ne^re/ccuSe/carca yovv eret g , 
 clearly a mistake, and probably mis written for another 
 word much resembling it, viz. eWea/ca^e/carw, or with 
 the aspirate HENNEAKAIAEKATQ, i. e. the nine- 
 teenth year, as stated in the Antiquities. Be this as 
 it may, Josephus is here speaking of the laying the 
 foundations, and not the commencement of the holy 
 edifice itself, or vaos as opposed to the platform on 
 which it stood. Herod had first of all some difficulty in 
 obtaining the consent of the people, who were naturally 
 apprehensive that the structure might be taken down 
 and never restored at all. At last it was agreed that 
 Herod should not remove a stone of the temple until 
 all should be in readiness for the erection of the new 
 fabric. Herod now employed himself in collecting the 
 most costly materials for the work from various quarters, 
 and a thousand wagons were made ready for the trans- 
 port. He also procured 10,000 skilful artisans for laying 
 the foundations and constructing the cloisters ; but as 
 to the vaos or temple itself, it could only be built by 
 the priests, and for -this purpose 1,000 priests were 
 apprenticed as masons and carpenters to learn the ne- 
 cessary handicrafts 11 . As the temple was remarkable for 
 its exquisite workmanship, these priests must have been 
 occupied some time in learning their trades. Now we 
 may fairly allow two years for the full preparations 
 
 ou rijs 'Hpwdov jSacriAeia? ytyovoros (viavrov. Ant. XV. 11, 1 ; 
 where ytyovoros seems equivalent to napeXdovros in Ant. xv. 10, 3 ; viz- 
 " being passed." 
 e Jos. Bell. i. 21, 1. h Jos. Ant. xv. 1 1, 1, 2.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 41 
 
 of the materials, the completion of the foundations and 
 cloisters, and for the training of the priests. Tf we sup- 
 pose that Herod first entered upon his design about the 
 Passover of B.C. 19 (six months after his intimacy with 
 Augustus at Antioch), the temple itself or vaos would be 
 commenced about the Passover of B.C. 17. And if we 
 reckon forward 46 years from this date it will bring us 
 to the Passover of A.D. 30. It is not a little remarkable 
 that Josephus, in speaking of the building of the vaos 
 or temple itself as distinct from the foundations and 
 cloisters, uses the expression, u>Ko8ofjL^07j 5e 6 vaos, &c.\ 
 corresponding word for word with the language of the 
 Evangelist, Teo-o-apaKOvra KOLL ef ereaLV WKO^o^rjO-rj 
 6 vaos ovros. St. John and Josephus are manifestly 
 speaking of the same subject-matter. 
 
 Jesus then went up to Jerusalem at the Passover 
 A.D. 30, but at the conclusion of the feast He did not 
 return to Galilee, but intended, if the Jews would suffer 
 Him, to continue the prosecution of His public ministry 
 at the capital of the nation. We are expressly informed 
 that He worked wonderful miracles at Jerusalem, and 
 that many believed on Him k . The large majority how- 
 ever were offended at Him, and plotted against His life, 
 so that while He still remained at Jerusalem He was 
 obliged to withdraw into privacy 1 . And it was during 
 this seclusion that Nicodemus, a member of the San- 
 hedrim, came to Him by nigU for fear of the Jews m . 
 
 Not long after, Jesus was apparently compelled by the 
 machinations of His enemies to quit Jerusalem, but He 
 
 1 Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 3. k John ii. 23. 
 
 1 John ii. 24. m John iii. 1.
 
 42 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 retired no farther than was necessary, and opened His 
 ministry in some part of Judsea n , perhaps the neighbour- 
 hood of Ephraim, which was again visited by Him at a 
 later period . Here He continued preaching and mak- 
 ing converts for some time, (KOU e/ce? Sierpifie, John iii. 
 22,) say for seven or eight months. That His sojourn 
 there was of some duration is evident, from the manner 
 in which John's disciples were affected by it. John at 
 this time was baptizing at ^Enon near Salim, for the con- 
 venience of the water there p , the summer droughts still 
 continuing and the November rains not having yet com- 
 menced. John's disciples therefore came to the Baptist, 
 and said, " Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, 
 to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, 
 and all men come to Him V Jesus therefore had been 
 long enough at Ephraim to have collected a multitude of 
 converts, and yet not so long but that the disciples of 
 John could refer to the Baptist's testimony at Bethabara 
 as a recent event. This agrees with the foregoing dates, 
 for Jesus, after His baptism and temptation, had returned 
 to John at Bethabara in November, A.D. 29, and He 
 was now baptizing in Juda3a in the Summer or Autumn 
 of the following year, A.D. 30. 
 
 When Jesus had exercised His ministry for seven 
 months in Juda3a, He withdrew from thence into Galilee 
 by way of Sychar, a city on the road to Galilee through 
 Samaria. At noon He was weary, and sat upon the well 
 near the city, while His disciples went to purchase pro- 
 visions in Sychar itself. During their absence, a woman 
 of Sychar (and therefore of Samaria, or a Samaritan, 
 
 " John iii. 1. John xi. 54. P John iii. 23. 1 John iii. 26.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOURS MINISTRY. 43 
 
 K rrjf ^,a/jLapLaf, John iv. 7,) came to the well, and the 
 discourse of Jesus which followed, and must be familiar 
 to the reader, made such an impression on her that she 
 left her pitcher and ran to the city, and published every- 
 where that she had found the Messiah. Upon this a 
 multitude poured forth from the city and were hastening 
 to Jesus (rlpyovro irpos avrov, John iv. 30). As they 
 were on the way (eV TW /jLera^v, John iv. 31) the dis- 
 ciples returned, and Jesus seeing the crowd approaching 
 from the city, pointed them out to His disciples and re- 
 marked how rapidly the harvest had grown up from the 
 word that He had only just before sown : " Say not ye, 
 There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest ? 
 behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the 
 fields ; for they are white already to harvest 1 ." Presently 
 the people of Sychar arrived (rjXOov Trpos avrov, John 
 iv. 40) and intreated Him to remain with them, which 
 He did for two days. Now it will be observed that the 
 expression is not general, "Say not ye there are four 
 months, (viz., from seed-time,) and then cometh the har- 
 vest," but " Say not ye, there are yet (m) four months, 
 and then cometh the harvest ;" so that at the time when 
 this was spoken there was an interval of four months 
 before the usual season of gathering in the crops. In 
 Judaea the harvest was ready in March, about the time 
 of the Passover. Jesus therefore was at Sychar four 
 months before, or about November A.D. 30. This re- 
 ceives some confirmation from the circumstance that 
 Jesus was journeying at mid-day, which at the height of 
 summer would be at least unusual. 
 
 John assigns as the reason for this retreat of Jesus 
 
 r John iv. 35.
 
 44 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 into Galilee, that the Pharisees, who had forced Him to 
 retire from Jerusalem, were again jealous of His success, 
 and that Jesus withdrew to avoid their conspiracies : 
 " when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that 
 Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, He 
 left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee 8 ." But in 
 Matthew we read, " Now when Jesus had heard (a/co v- 
 <ra?} that John icas cast into prison, He departed into 
 Galilee 1 ." Perhaps the two causes were connected to- 
 gether. John was favoured by Herod Antipas himself, 
 and would never have been cast into prison had it not 
 been for the machinations of others. It is likely that 
 the Pharisees, from religious jealousy, co-operated with 
 Herodias, the personal enemy of John, in working his 
 ruin. Unless we understand something of this kind, the 
 passage in St. Matthew is scarcely intelligible, for the im- 
 prisonment of John by Herod would by itself be anything 
 but a reason for Christ retiring into the jurisdiction of 
 Herod, but if Herod himself was friendly to John, and 
 John's imprisonment was brought about, at least in part, 
 by the intrigues of the Pharisees, we perceive at once 
 why Jesus should avoid the jurisdiction of the hostile 
 Pharisees and seek shelter in the tetrarchy of Herod. 
 
 Whatever may have been the immediate occasion 
 of Jesus's departure into Galilee, it is clear that the 
 event was contemporaneous or nearly so with the im- 
 prisonment of John; for not only Matthew, but also 
 Mark u connects the commencement of Christ's ministry 
 in Galilee with the preceding imprisonment of the 
 Baptist. As the persecution of John arose, at least in 
 .part, from the spite against him of Herodias, formerly 
 
 John iv. 1, 3. Matt. iv. 12. u Mark i. 14.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 45 
 
 the wife of Philip (not the tetrarch) and now of Herod 
 Antipas, and whose second marriage had been rebuked 
 by John, it will be necessary to shew that Herod Antipas 
 at this time (the end of A. D. 30) was living with Herodias, 
 and that his marriage to her was still a recent event. 
 
 The circumstances were as follows. Antipas (called by 
 our Saviour " that fox,") was a crafty monarch, and had 
 contrived by fawning flatteries, and the meanest artifices, 
 to insinuate himself into the favour of the Emperor Tibe- 
 rius. In A.D. 29 died Livia, or Julia, the wife of Augus- 
 tus, and mother of Tiberius 7 . Caligula, then a youth, 
 delivered her funeral oration", and she was interred in 
 the tomb of Augustus, and at the same time the ladies 
 of Rome were decreed to wear mourning for a whole 
 year a . Addresses of condolence waited on the emperor 
 from all quarters, and Antipas, amongst others, made a 
 voyage to Rome for the purpose. Livia, or Julia, had 
 held some valuable possessions in Judaea, viz., Jamnia, 
 and the palm-groves of Phasaelis b ; and perhaps the artful 
 tetrarch may have cherished the hope of obtaining a 
 grant of them from the emperor, his patron, for Herod 
 had built two cities in honour of the imperial family, 
 Tiberias, after the name of the emperor, and Julias, after 
 the name of Livia herself . Antipas, on his way from 
 Galilee to the sea-side, paid a visit to his brother Philip, 
 when he became enamoured of Philip's wife Herodias. 
 Antipas had been married for some years to a daughter 
 of Aretas, king of Petra, and as Philip had a daughter 
 Salome by Herodias, her marriage to a brother of Philip 
 
 7 Tac. Ann. v. 1. z Ibid. Dion, Iviii. 2. 
 
 b Jos. Bell. ii. 9, 1. c Ant. xviii. 2, 1, 3. Bell. ii. 9, 1.
 
 46 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 would be a most heinous infraction of the Jewish law. 
 The unprincipled Antipas, however, cast aside all scru- 
 ples, and Herodias was induced to enter into a compact 
 with him, that on his return from Rome she should elope 
 from Philip and become the wife of Antipas. This of 
 course would embroil Antipas with the king of Petra; and 
 possibly now, in anticipation of such a result, Antipas 
 conceived the idea of procuring from Tiberius the cession 
 of the castle of Machserus, the key of Herod's kingdom, 
 on the side of Petra, but which at that time was tributary 
 to Aretas d . Antipas sailed to Rome in A.D. 29, and was 
 probably detained there till after the winter, during 
 which navigation ceased, and did not start for Judsea 
 until the spring of the following year A.D. 30. It was 
 during this sojourn at Rome that Antipas was on such a 
 footing of intimacy with Sejanus, whose power, by the 
 death of Livia, the only check to it, had become un- 
 bounded, that Agrippa, who apparently was himself also 
 at Rome at this time, and privy to all Antipas's proceed- 
 ings, afterwards accused him of having actually entered 
 into a conspiracy with Sejanus against the emperor 6 . 
 Antipas no doubt, from his general character, was very 
 assiduous in his attentions to Sejanus as the court fa- 
 vourite, and perhaps through his means obtained, not 
 indeed all he had come for, but one important point, 
 viz., the cession of the castle of Machaerus. At least, 
 we find this fortress shortly afterwards in the possession 
 of Antipas, and cannot account for the transfer of it to 
 him from Aretas in any more plausible way f . Antipas 
 
 d Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 1. e Jos. Ant. xviii. 7, 2. 
 
 f Joa. Ant. xviii. 5, 2.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 47 
 
 then would return to Judaea about the Midsummer of 
 A.D. 30, and would immediately proceed to carry out his 
 compact with Herodias. The wounded feelings of his 
 brother Philip were of course utterly disregarded by the 
 heartless tetrarch, and Antipas's own wife had saved him 
 the trouble of a divorce, as during his absence she had 
 discovered the plot against her, and had taken refuge 
 with her father at Petra. Antipas then would consum- 
 mate his marriage with Herodias shortly after the Mid- 
 summer of A.D. 30 ; and as soon as publicity was given to 
 the fact, John would openly rebuke him for this gross 
 breach of morality and open violation of the Jewish law. 
 Antipas himself had a respect for the Baptist, and might 
 have overlooked the affront, but the malice of Herodias, 
 coupled with the influence of the Pharisees on religious 
 grounds, at length prevailed, and an order was issued 
 for John's apprehension. John, like our Saviour, was 
 betrayed. Perhaps his virtuous conduct and character 
 as a prophet had so established him in the favour of the 
 people, that Antipas did not dare to arrest him publicly, 
 but waited for some opportunity of laying hold of him 
 by stealth. John, who may have escaped his pursuers 
 for some time, was at length delivered by treachery into 
 their hands, and was conveyed to the castle of Machae- 
 rus g . The historical facts, therefore, attending the im- 
 prisonment of John, warrant us in placing it as we have 
 done, about the time of our Saviour's departure from 
 Judaea into Galilee, viz., on November the 9th, A.D. 30. 
 
 We shall here notice an objection that has been, and 
 may again be urged, against this date of John's impri- 
 
 Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 2.
 
 48 THE TJME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 sonment. It is said that Drusus, the son of Tiberius, 
 died in A.D. 23 b , and that Agrippa was obliged shortly 
 afterwards to leave Rome, as Tiberius, from grief at his 
 son's loss, could not endure the sight of Agrippa, the 
 friend of Drusus 1 ; and that Agrippa, therefore, in A.D. 
 23, or A.D. 24 at the latest, sailed to Judaea, and resided 
 at Malatha, and that his sister Herodias, as expressly 
 mentioned by Josephus, was then living with Herod the 
 tetrarch, and exerted her influence with him to procure 
 some relief for Agrippa k . If so, it is argued, the impri- 
 sonment of John, which arose from his rebuke of Herod's 
 marriage with Herodias, must have followed soon after, 
 and cannot be placed so late as A.D. 30. Now this ob- 
 jection (as the German critics have well pointed out, and 
 in this have done great service) is founded upon a mis- 
 take of the historical facts. True, Drusus died in A.D. 23, 
 but so far was Tiberius from being overcome with sorrow 
 upon the occasion, that he affected the utmost indiffer- 
 ence at it, and even made a jest of it. When the Ilians or 
 Trojans, for instance, offered their condolence for the loss 
 of Drusus, the emperor begged to condole with them in 
 return for the death of Hector 1 . Agrippa then could not 
 
 h Tac. Ann. iv. 7 12. Dion, Ivii. 22. Jos. Ant. xviii. 6, 1. 
 
 k 'HpcoSi? TO) "Tfrpdpxr) cruvoiKovcrav. Ant. xviii. 6, 2. 
 
 1 Filiorum neque naturalem Drusum, neque adoptivum Germanicum 
 patria caritate amavit, alterius vitiis offensus. Itaque ne mortuo quidem 
 perinde affectus est, sed tantum non statim a funere ad negotiorum consue- 
 tudinem rediit, justitio longiore inhibito. Quin et Iliensium legatis paullo 
 serins consolantibus " Se quoque respondit vicem eorum dolere quod egre- 
 gium civem Hectorem amisissent." Suet. Tib. 52. Tiberius per omnes vali- 
 tudinis ejus dies, nullo metu, an ut finnitudinem animi ostentaret, etiam 
 defuncto, necdum sepulto, curiam ingressus est. Tac. Ann. IT. 8 ; see iv. 
 13; and Senec. consol. ad Marciam 15.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 49 
 
 have been obliged to quit Rome at this time, as it would 
 have been a direct contradiction to the emperor's other 
 demeanour. Indeed, we have reason to believe that 
 Agrippa was still sojourning at Rome in A.D. 29, when 
 Antipas was there. But it was in A.D. 31, and not before, 
 that the necessity for Agrippa's departure arose, under 
 the following circumstances. Sejanus was put to death 
 Oct. the 18th, A.D. 31 ; and a few days after, from an 
 examination of his wife, Apicata, it came to light, for the 
 first time, that Drusus in A.D. 23 had not died, as before 
 supposed, from his own excesses, but that he had been 
 poisoned by Sejanus, to make room for that courtier's 
 own ambitious views m . Now it was that Tiberius, 
 finding his son to have been the victim, not of de- 
 bauchery, but of conspiracy, gave way to the deepest 
 grief for his loss, and displayed a spirit of fretfulness 
 and exasperation against all about him n . It was at 
 this juncture that Agrippa, as reviving the memory of 
 Drusus, was banished from the emperor's presence, and 
 sailed to Judaea. He would on this supposition reach 
 Malatha, in Idumaea, either at the close of A.D. 31, or 
 the beginning of A.D. 32 ; and in either case he would 
 find his sister Herodias living with Antipas, as the mar- 
 riage between them had been consummated, as we have 
 seen, about the Midsummer of A.D. 30. 
 
 To proceed with our Saviour's ministry in chrono- 
 logical order, we read that after two days' abode at 
 
 m Dion, Iviii. 11. 
 
 11 Auxit intenditque saevitiam, exacerbatus indicio de morte filii sui 
 Drusi, quern quum morbo et intemperantia periisse existimaret, ut tandem 
 veneno interemptum fraude Livillae uxoris atque Sejani cognovit, neque 
 tormentis neque supplicio cujusque pepercit. Suet. Tib. 62. 
 E
 
 50 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Sychar, He took His way towards Galilee, and passing 
 by His own city, Nazareth, which lay on or near His 
 road, (for a prophet is not without honour save in his 
 own country,) He arrived at Cana. This closed His 
 public ministry in Judsea, after He had preached there 
 with little effect for about eight months. The Pharisees 
 could not admit Him to be the Messiah, and their in- 
 fluence in that province was so great, that Christ could 
 no longer safely remain there, but was compelled to seek 
 an asylum in the tetrarchy of Antipas. From this period 
 Jesus visited Jerusalem only at the public festivals, and 
 was often absent even from them. It is remarkable that 
 Christ's ministry in Judaea is recorded by St. John only, 
 while the other evangelists confine themselves to His 
 ministry in Galilee. It would seem that John, though 
 we know not under what circumstances, possessed some 
 means of information as to the transactions in Judaea 
 beyond the other evangelists. It corroborates this view, 
 that at the last Passover, when Jesus was led into the 
 house of Caiaphas, John, as personally known to the 
 high-priest, was admitted also, and he afterwards exerted 
 his interest with the domestics to bring in Peter, who 
 had followed our Saviour to the door, but had been 
 excluded p . 
 
 We now enter upon our Lord's ministry in Galilee, 
 the subject of the three first Gospels. It is not our 
 intention to harmonize the several narratives by fol- 
 lowing the occurrences in detail, but to notice only such 
 striking features as may serve to illustrate the chronology, 
 and in doing so we shall follow the arrangement of Mark 
 
 John iv. 46. p John xviii. 15.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 51 
 
 and Luke (who agree together), and consider the Gospel 
 of St. Matthew as a collection of the memorable sayings 
 and doings of our Lord, without reference (more parti- 
 cularly in the earlier part of the history) to the regular 
 sequence of events. Even the notices of time that do 
 occasionally appear in St. Matthew, as " In those days," 
 " In that day," " Then," &c. (eV TOLLS rj/jicpais eKeivai?, iv 
 rfj r)iJ.pa tKCLirr), rore, &c.) will be found upon examina- 
 tion to be mere connectives. Thus the expression " In 
 those days," (iv TO.LS fjfjLtpais' eKeivais,) Matt. iii. 1, is ap- 
 plied to the preaching of John the Baptist, whereas the 
 circumstance immediately preceding was the return of 
 Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus from Egypt 32 
 years before. 
 
 Jesus then arrived at Cana in Galilee in Nov. A.D. 30, 
 about eight months after His presence at Jerusalem, at 
 the Passover, in the preceding March. That He reached 
 Cana at least before the recurrence of the next Passover, 
 is implied by the account of His reception at Cana, for 
 " the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things 
 that He did at Jerusalem at the feast* ;" that is, at the 
 last Passover which had been attended by the Galileans. 
 
 At Cana, Jesus healed the son of the nobleman of 
 Capernaum, His second miracle at Galilee'; and then 
 removed to Capernaum, where He both preached 9 and 
 performed miracles'. Capernaum thenceforth was His 
 ordinary abode, and this perhaps out of regard to His 
 safety. The Pharisees had driven Him from Jerusalem, 
 
 1 *E8'aJTo airav 01 FaXtXatot -iravra fcapanorfs & tiroiTjcrev iv 'lepocroXv- 
 fiots iv Trj (opTTj. John iv. 45. 
 
 r The miracle at Cana at the marriage feast stood by itself, and was 
 irdpepyov n, His hour for ministering in Galilee not being yet fully come. 
 
 Matt. iv. 17 ; Mark i. 14. * Luke iv. 23. 
 
 E2
 
 52 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 and again from Judaea, and if Herod Antipas should be 
 induced by them to persecute Jesus, as might be ex- 
 pected from his arrest of John the Baptist, Capernaum 
 lay on the lake of Galilee, and Jesus (more particularly as 
 many of His disciples were fishermen) could easily take 
 ship and cross over to the dominions of Herod Philip. 
 
 From Capernaum Jesus made His first circuit in 
 Galilee, Luke iv. 15, Mark i. 14, and in the course of it 
 Peter and Andrew were called, Mark i. 16, Matt. iv. 18, 
 and Jesus visited His own city of Nazareth, Luke iv. 16. 
 He completed this His first circuit either at the close of 
 the year A.D. 30, or early in the following year, A.D. 31, 
 Mark i. 21, Luke iv. 31. On His return to Capernaum, 
 He cured a demoniac on the Sabbath day, but which 
 at the time elicited only astonishment, without any 
 observation as to the breach of the Sabbath, Mark i. 23, 
 Luke iv. 33. 
 
 In A.D. 31 Jesus made a second circuit through the 
 whole of Galilee, ely oA?^ rr]v YaXiXalav, Mark i. 39, 
 Luke iv. 44, in the course of which occurred the miracle 
 of the draught of fishes, Luke v. 1, and the sermon on the 
 mount, Matt. v. 1, and the cure of the leper " in one of 
 the cities," (eV /JLIOL rwv iroXewv,} Luke v. 12, Matt. viii. 1, 
 which last miracle, from the noise it made, obliged Him 
 to withdraw from places teeming with population. " He 
 was without in desert places," (eo> ev eprj/jioi? TOTTOLS 
 r)v,} Mark i. 45, Luke v. 16. After an absence of some 
 time He returned to Capernaum, (/cat iraXiv eiarjXOev 
 ety Kairepvaov/jL 81' ?}/>ie/ja)^,) Mark ii. 1. 
 
 Shortly after, Jesus commenced His third circuit in 
 Galilee, in the course of which Matthew was called, Mark 
 i. 14, Matt. ix. 9, and Jesus and His disciples passed
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 53 
 
 through the corn-fields " on the second-first Sabbath," 
 (ev o-aftparco devrepOTrpcoTW,) Luke vi. Here we have 
 intimation of another Passover, both distinct from that 
 in which Jesus had visited Jerusalem when He dis- 
 coursed with Nicodemus, (for John Baptist was then at 
 liberty, whereas he was now in prison,) and also distinct 
 from the two other Passovers which will be mentioned 
 hereafter, so that altogether we have clearly and indis- 
 putably four successive Passovers in the course of our 
 Saviour's ministry. 
 
 The exact meaning of the word SevrfpoirpcorcD has 
 been much disputed 11 . But, whatever may be the real 
 
 u Some of the best interpretations are the following: 1. The Jewish 
 civil year commencing in autumn, and the ecclesiastical year in the spring, 
 the first Sabbath of the civil year was called the trpvrov vafifiaTov, and the 
 first Sabbath of the ecclesiastical year, which commenced a fortnight be- 
 fore the Passover, was called the devrtpoTrpfoTov <rafi$a.Tov, or second-first 
 Sabbath. 2. The Jews measured their time by weeks of years, and the 
 first Sabbath of the first year of the seven might be called emphatically 
 the Trpurov o-dppaTov, or first Sabbath, and the 1st Sabbath of the 2nd year 
 might be known as the SeurepoTT/j&Jroi/ <ra/3/3cn-oc, or second-first Sabbath ; 
 but this interpretation, as the sabbatic year was A.D. 27, would place the 
 SfVTfpGirpS>Tov crdfifiaTov, or first Sabbath of the 2nd year, in A.D. 29, which 
 could not be reconciled with the other dates of our Saviour's life. 3. The 
 2nd day of the Passover was, as St. John calls it, a high day, John xix. 31, 
 being that from which the Jews reckoned the 50 days terminated by the 
 Pentecost, and ihejirsi Sabbath after this second day of the Passover might 
 be called the 8evTfponpa>Toi> <ra|3j3aroi/, or second-first Sabbath, but this 
 meaning also is from conjecture. 4. The Jews divided their priests into 24 
 courses, and each course served for a week at a time, so that the ministra- 
 tion in the temple passed through each of the courses twice a-year, with a 
 six months' interval. (See Lightfoot.) The first course began on the 
 first Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles, designated from this emphati- 
 cally as the first Sabbath ; and again the first course assumed office when 
 its turn came round at the expiration of six months, on the first Sabbath 
 after the feast of the Passover, known in common parlance as the favrtpo- 
 irpZ>Tov, or second-first Sabbath. The last interpretation is new, but perhaps 
 as probable as any.
 
 54 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 meaning of the expression, all the interpretations neces- 
 sarily concur in this, that the Sabbath intended was 
 about the time of a Passover, for as the disciples rubbed 
 the ears of corn in their hands, it was manifestly the 
 season of harvest, which began at the Passover. We 
 should even surmise, though it is not so stated by the 
 three first evangelists, that Jesus had this year, before 
 the incident of passing through the corn-fields, actually 
 attended the Passover at Jerusalem, and that this Pass- 
 over of A.D. 31, is the feast alluded to by St. John, 
 when our Saviour wrought the cure of the cripple at 
 the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day x , at which 
 the Jews were so offended, that they sought to take 
 His life. This would explain a circumstance not other- 
 wise very intelligible, viz., that when Jesus had, on return- 
 ing from His first circuit, cured the demoniac at Caper- 
 naum on the Sabbath, there were no murmurs at the 
 breach of the law; but now that the disciples merely 
 rubbed the ears of corn on the Sabbath, the Pharisees 
 pretended to be horror-struck at the impiety. If during 
 the interval our Lord had attended the Passover at Jeru- 
 salem, and healed the cripple at the pool of Bethesda on 
 a Sabbath day, which had so exasperated the Pharisees 
 that they conspired against His life, we can readily 
 understand how the Pharisees might have sent their 
 emissaries into Galilee to watch the steps of our Lord 
 as a Sabbath-breaker, for the purpose of bringing an 
 accusation against Him before the Sanhedrim at Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 To proceed, Jesus having put the Pharisees to silence 
 
 x Mera raCra rjv fopTrj r>v 'lovSaiav. John V. 1.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 55 
 
 in the corn-fields, afterwards, on another Sabbath, again 
 wrought a miracle in the cure of a man with a withered 
 hand. The Pharisees upon this formed a cabal with 
 the Herodians to take His life, Mark iii. 6, when Jesus, 
 to escape from their plots, retired to the sea-side, (o<5e 
 Irjaovf yvQvs ave^wprjO'ev eAcei$ei>,) Matt. xii. 15, Mark 
 iii. 7. After this, Jesus having passed the previous night 
 in prayer, Luke vi. 12, ordained the twelve apostles, Luke 
 vi. 14, Mark iii. 13, and delivered to them a charge, Luke 
 vi. 20, a discourse resembling, but not to be confounded 
 with, the sermon on the mount, which had been in- 
 tended for the multitude generally. At the conclusion 
 Jesus entered Capernaum, and so closed His third cir- 
 cuit, Luke vii. 1. 
 
 The following day, (ry cfijy,) Luke vii. 11, Jesus 
 (attended with the twelve apostles, Luke viii. 2,) com- 
 menced His fourth circuit and visited Nain ; and now 
 John the Baptist, who was still living, sent two of His 
 disciples to Jesus for information, Luke vii. 18. Jesus 
 then made a progress through the cities and villages of 
 Galilee in order, (KaQe^rjs Kara TroXw KCLL Kw^rjv^ Luke 
 viii. 1,) and again returned to Capernaum, Mark iii. 20. 
 
 Jesus at this time taught the people by the sea-side 
 from a boat, Matt. xiii. 1, Mark iv. 1, Luke viii. 4 ; and 
 the same evening, after dark, being oppressed by the 
 crowd, ida)v <5e o 'lrj(rou? TroXXov? oxXov? Trepl avrov, 
 Matt. viii. 18, He entered on a fifth circuit, and crossed 
 the sea to Gadara, Mark iv. 35 ; see Luke viii. 26. 
 Shortly afterwards He returned to Capernaum, Matt, 
 ix. 1 ; see Mark v. 21, Luke viii. 40 ; and here we may 
 close the year A.D. 31, though the exact point where
 
 66 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 one year ends and the other begins is of course in part 
 conjectural. 
 
 In A.D. 32 Jesus made a sixth circuit, and in the 
 course of it again visited Nazareth, Mark vi. 1, Matt, 
 xiii. 54, and the neighbouring villages, Mark vi. 6, and 
 traversed all Galilee, Matt. ix. 35. During His pro- 
 gress He sent the twelve apostles, two and two, to 
 preach in Galilee, Matt. x. 1, Mark vi. 7, Luke ix. 1, 
 which they did accordingly, Luke ix. 6. John the 
 Baptist, during this mission of the apostles, was put 
 to death by Herod, after a year and a half's im- 
 prisonment, Matt. xiv. 1, Mark vi. 14, Luke ix. 7. And 
 now Herod, hearing the fame of Jesus, took Him for 
 John risen from the dead, Matt. xiv. 1, Mark vi. 14, 
 Luke ix. 8. And we may here remark, that from this 
 time the attention of Herod was particularly directed 
 to the proceedings of Jesus, so that our Lord could 
 not exercise His ministry in Galilee as freely as be- 
 fore, but was under the necessity of transferring His 
 labours to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and to Cae- 
 sarea Philippi and Decapolis, and even to Judrea, from 
 which the persecution of the Pharisees had before driven 
 Him. The twelve apostles returned to Jesus, and ren- 
 dered an account of their mission, Luke ix. 10, Mark vi. 
 30 ; and intelligence at the same time reaching Jesus of 
 the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew from the 
 dominions of Herod Antipas, and retired to a desert 
 place near Bethsaida or Julias, a city in Philip's tetrar- 
 chy, Luke ix. 10, Mark vi. 31, Matt. xiv. 12, where He 
 wrought the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves 
 and two fishes. This was shortly before the Passover,
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 57 
 
 (March 25,) rjv dt eyyup TO irda-ya rj eoprr) TG>V 'lou- 
 Baiwv, John vi. 4. Jesus after this returned to the land 
 of Gennesaret, Matt. xiv. 34, Mark vi. 53, and to Caper- 
 naum, John vi. 24. 
 
 Jesus now made a seventh circuit, and passed through 
 Galilee, John vii. 1, and visited the confines of Tyre and 
 Sidon, Mark vii. 24, Matt. xv. 21, and returned to the 
 sea of Galilee by way of Decapolis, Mark vii. 31, Matt. 
 xv. 29, and thence passed to Dalmanutha, Mark viii. 10, 
 and the borders of Magdala, Matt. xv. 39, and thence to 
 Bethsaida, not the iroXis, or city, of Philip's tetrarchy, 
 but the Ka>fj.r), or village, of Herod's tetrarchy, and near 
 Capernaum, Mark viii. 22, 23. 
 
 Jesus was this year at Jerusalem, at the feast of 
 Tabernacles, (15 October,) r)v 8e eyyw 77 eoprr) ra>v 'lou- 
 Sai&v 7} o-KTjvoTnyyia, John vii. 2, and apparently he had 
 not been at Jerusalem since the miracle at the pool of 
 Bethesda, in the preceding year, for He thus refers to 
 it, " I have done one work, and ye all marvel," *Ei> 
 epyov 7roirjo-a, KGU iravres #ai>juaere, John vii. 21. 
 The Pharisees now sought to arrest Jesus, but the officers 
 were afraid to execute the warrant, John vii. 32, 45. 
 
 Jesus was again at Jerusalem at the feast of Encaenia 
 in the winter, 'EyeWro TO, eyKaivia tv TOL? 'lepoa-o- 
 XV/JLOI? K.CU xeifjicov T)V, John x. 22 ; after which He re- 
 tired to Bethabara beyond Jordan, and abode there 
 some time, /ecu l/^eij/e^ e'/ceF, John x. 40. He passed from 
 thence to Bethany, where He raised Lazarus from the 
 dead, John xi. 1. The chief priests and Pharisees seeing 
 the success of Jesus from this miracle, called a Sanhe- 
 drim, and a resolution was passed that Jesus should be
 
 58 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 put to death, and He was proclaimed an outlaw, John 
 xi. 47, 53, 57. Jesus, to escape His enemies, retired to 
 Ephraim, near the desert, and remained there, Aca/cet 
 dicTplfiev, John xi. 54. 
 
 Early in A.D. 33 Jesus quitted Ephraim, and visited 
 Cassarea Philippi, the capital of Herod Philip's tetrarchy, 
 Matt. xvi. 13, Mark viii. 27. He then returned to Gali- 
 lee, but kept His journey secret, commanding the dis- 
 ciples not to publish His name, Mark viii. 30. From 
 this time Jesus began to foreshew to His followers that 
 He must suffer at Jerusalem, Matt. xvi. 21, Mark viii. 
 31. He returned to Capernaum, KOL rjXOev elf Kcnrep- 
 vaovfji, Mark ix. 33, Matt. xvii. 24, where, as an inha- 
 bitant, he paid the poll-tax to the temple, Matt. 
 xvii. 24. 
 
 Jesus now announced His intention of proceeding 
 through Samaria to Jerusalem, and sent messengers be- 
 fore Him to prepare the way, Luke ix. 51. The Sama- 
 ritans opposed his passage through Samaria, Luke ix. 53, 
 when He changed His route, and prepared to cross the 
 Jordan, with a view of descending down the left bank of 
 the river, and then pursuing the road through Jericho to 
 Jerusalem. Jesus sent the seventy disciples, two and 
 two, to the cities and villages through which He was 
 to pass, Luke x. 1, and visited various cities and villages 
 on his way to Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 22, travelling along 
 the border-country of Samaria and Galilee towards the 
 Jordan, 8ia fjiecrov Sa/xa^etW KOU FaAiAa/ay, Luke xvii. 
 ]1. Jesus crossed the Jordan, and journeyed through 
 Peraea along the left bank till He reached Juda?a, /jLerrj- 
 pv a-jro rip FaAtAa/ay KCU rjXdev ds ra opia rrjf 'lov-
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 59 
 
 data? irepav rov 'lopddvov, Matt. xix. 1, Mark x. 1. 
 He then crossed the Jordan, and passed through Jericho 
 on His way to Jerusalem, Matt. xx. 17, 29, Mark x. 32, 
 46, Luke xviii. 35. 
 
 The Passover was this year on Thursday, the 2nd of 
 April, and Jesus arrived at Bethany the sixth day be- 
 fore the Passover, and therefore on Saturday, the 2Sth 
 of March, either after 6 p.m., that He might not travel 
 on the Sabbath, or perhaps He came from the neigh- 
 bourhood, so that the distance did not exceed a Sab- 
 bath day's journey ; or possibly our Saviour might not 
 regard a journey on the Sabbath under the circumstances 
 as a breach of the law, as we find Him on another occasion 
 walking with His disciples through the corn-fields on a 
 Sabbath day. 6 ovv 'Irjcrov? irpo e r)/jLpa>i> TOV Trdcr^a 
 r)X6ev el? "Brjdavlav, John xii. 1. The sixth day in this 
 passage must be reckoned both inclusive, as the sixth day 
 before the calends of January (ante diem sextum kalend. 
 Januar.) is the 27th December. 
 
 The next day, rfj tTravpiov, John xii. 12, (Sunday, the 
 29th March, and since called Palm-Sunday,) Jesus rode 
 triumphantly from Bethany or Bethphage (both lying to- 
 gether) into Jerusalem, the multitudes strewing branches 
 of palm by the way, Matt. xxi. 1, Mark xi. 1, Luke 
 xix. 29, and surveyed the temple, and in the evening 
 returned to Bethany, Mark xi. 11, Matt. xxi. 17. 
 
 The next day, rrj tirdvpiov, (Monday, the 30th March,) 
 Jesus blighted the fig-tree, Matt. xxi. 18, and expelled 
 the money-changers, &c. from the temple, Mark xi. 15, 
 Matt. xxi. 12, Luke xix. 45 ; and in the evening, ov//-e, 
 returned to Bethany, Mark xi. 19, Matt. xxi. 17.
 
 60 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 The next day, Trpai, (Tuesday, the 31st March,) Jesus 
 returned to Jerusalem, and taught in the temple, Luke 
 xix. 47 ; and the Sanhedrim (it being two days before 
 the Passover) concerted His death, Matt. xxvi. 2, Mark 
 xiv. 1, Luke xxii. 1, 2. 
 
 The next day (Wednesday, the 1st April) Jesus re- 
 mained in privacy, to avoid the machinations of the Jews, 
 but the Hellenists ("EAA^yey) sought an interview with 
 Him through the intervention of Philip and Andrew, 
 and Jesus held a discourse with them, John xii. 20. 
 
 The next day, Thursday, the 2nd April, being the first 
 of the eight days of the Passover, and on which, between 
 noon and sunset, the paschal sacrifices were to be killed, 
 and the paschal supper was to be eaten in the evening, 
 Jesus sent Peter and John to Jerusalem, to prepare the 
 Passover, Matt. xxvi. 17, Luke xxii. 7, Mark xiv. 12. 
 And at the usual hour in the evening (ore iyevero 77 wpa) 
 Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples, and instituted 
 the Eucharist, Luke xxii. 14, Matt. xxvi. 20, Mark xiv. 17. 
 At night, rjv de vv^, John xiii. 30, Jesus retired to the 
 garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of 
 Olives, and was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, John xviii. 1, 
 Luke xxii. 39, Mark xiv. 32, Matt. xxvi. 30, and led to 
 the house of Annas, John xviii. 13, and then of Caiaphas, 
 Matt. xxvi. 57, Mark xiv. 53, Luke xxii. 54, John xviii. 24. 
 
 At break of day, on Friday, the 3rd April, ws- e'yeV- 
 TO ly/Afpa, Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrim for 
 blasphemy, Luke xxii. 66, Matt, xxvii. 1, Mark xv. 1, 
 and was conducted to Pilate, who came out of the 
 Prsetoriuni to hear the Jews, who during the eight 
 days of the Passover could not enter the house of
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 61 
 
 a heathen, lest they should be defiled, John xviii. 28, 
 Matt, xxvii. 2, Luke xxiii. 1, Mark xv. 1. Pilate 
 returned into the Prsetorium and examined Jesus, 
 John xviii. 33 ; and as the charge hitherto had been 
 that of blasphemy, Pilate came forth declaring that he 
 could find no fault in him, and offered to release him, 
 John xviii. 39. On the Jews raising a clamour against 
 this, Pilate entered again into the Praetormm, when Jesus 
 was scourged and mocked by the soldiers, John xix. 1. 
 Pilate now appeared again with Jesus wearing a crown 
 of thorns, John xix. 4, when, hearing that Jesus assumed 
 to be the Son of God, he became alarmed, and returned 
 into the Praetorium, and interrogated Jesus, John xix. 8. 
 Pilate again came forth, when the Jews shifted their 
 ground and charged Jesus with high treason, as claiming 
 to be a king, John xix. 12. Pilate then sat on the judg- 
 ment-seat or Gabbatha, a platform of tessellated pave- 
 ment, and heard the charge. It was now 6 a.m. a>pa Se 
 axrei eKrrj, John xix. 13. Pilate, after this, finding that 
 Jesus was a Galilean, sent Him to Herod Antipas, as 
 within the tetrarch's jurisdiction, when Herod also ex- 
 amined Jesus and mocked him, and then sent Him 
 back to Pilate, Luke xxiii. 7. Pilate, being unable to 
 induce the Jews to spare Jesus, and afraid of being 
 accused himself for releasing one charged with treason, 
 at length condemned Jesus to death, Luke xxiii. 24, 
 Mark xv. 15, Matt, xxvii. 26, John xix. 16, when Jesus 
 was led into the Prsetorium and made sport of by the 
 soldiers, Matt. xxvi. 27, Mark xv. 16, and was then 
 crucified at Golgotha, at 9 o'clock, &pa rpirr) (Jewish 
 reckoning), Mark xv. 25, Matt, xxvii. 33, John xix. 17,
 
 62 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Luke xxiii. 33. From 12 o'clock at noon to 3 p.m., 
 occurred a supernatural darkness, Matt, xxvii. 45, Mark 
 xv. 33, Luke xxiii. 44. At 3 p.m., rf) >pa. rfj twdrr), 
 Jesus expired, Mark xv. 34. 
 
 One thing to the author's mind is perfectly clear from 
 the foregoing statement, viz., that during our Lord's 
 ministry there occurred four distinct consecutive Pass- 
 overs, and assuming as a basis that, as Luke tells us, 
 John the Baptist began in the 15th year of Tiberius, i. e. 
 some time between 19 Aug. A.D. 28, and 19 Aug. A.D. 
 29, the only question is whether the first of the four 
 Passovers of our Saviour's ministry was that of A.D. 29, 
 or that of A.D. 30. Now the former supposition would 
 :rowd into the short period of eight months, viz., from 
 19 Aug. A.D. 28, to 16 April (the day of the Passover) 
 A.D. 29, events that seem to require a much larger space ; 
 for during this interval John commenced his ministry, 
 (certainly not before, but possibly some months after, the 
 19 Aug. A.D. 28,) Jesus was baptized, was tempted forty 
 days in the wilderness, the preaching of John continued 
 long enough to attract the notice of the Sanhedrim, some 
 Pharisees were sent on a mission to inquire into his 
 pretensions, Jesus returned to John, and was pointed 
 out by him as the Messiah, Jesus passed into Galilee 
 and resided at Cana, He then went down to Capernaum 
 and remained there some days, and finally opened His 
 ministry at Jerusalem at the first of the four Passovers. 
 We have therefore (for this amongst other reasons) fixed 
 the first of the four Passovers not in A.D. 29, but in 
 A.D. 30, and if so, it follows of course that the last of 
 the four was in A.D. 33. Thus the Gospel dispensation
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 63 
 
 beginning, as we have supposed, with the preaching 
 of John at the Passover A.D. 29, and ending at the 
 Passover A.D. 33, would be just four years, the duration 
 implied in the parable of the fig-tree y ; and the ministry 
 of our Saviour from October A.D. 29, to the Passover 
 A.D. 33, would be three years and six months, the 
 period of the mission of Elias during the famine, and 
 apparently referred to by our Saviour Himself as ana- 
 logous to the length of His own ministry *. 
 
 That the last of the four Passovers, when our Saviour 
 was crucified, was in the year A.D. 33, not only results 
 from the harmony of the foregoing narrative, but is also 
 evidenced by other and wholly independent arguments, 
 which we now proceed to consider. 
 
 That our Saviour was crucified on a Friday is a fact 
 familiar to all. Now if we can shew from the Gospels 
 that the Jews did actually celebrate their Passover on 
 the evening that preceded the Crucifixion, that is, on the 
 Thursday, and that the Passover, by the rules which re- 
 gulated it, would fall on a Thursday in the year A.D. 33, 
 but would not so fall in any year either before or after 
 A.D. 33, for a considerable period, it will necessarily follow 
 that the crucifixion of our Lord must be assigned to the 
 year A.D. 33, and cannot be referred to any earlier or 
 later year. We have therefore to establish these two 
 propositions : 1. That the Jewish Passover was eaten by 
 the Jews on the evening next before our Lord's cruci- 
 fixion ; and 2. That in the year A.D. 33, the paschal 
 feast fell on -a Thursday. 
 
 1. That the Passover was eaten by the Jews on the 
 
 y Luke xiii. 6. * Luke iv. 24.
 
 64 T.HE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 evening which preceded the Crucifixion, is a point upon 
 which there is the most perfect harmony amongst the 
 three first evangelists. It is indeed so clearly stated by 
 them, that one would think not a doubt could be raised 
 about it. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind that the only question 
 in dispute amongst the learned, is whether the paschal 
 feast of the Jews was eaten by them on the evening 
 before, or on the evening after, the Crucifixion. What 
 does our Saviour Himself foretell as to this ? We find 
 the following passage in Matthew ; " Ye know that after 
 two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of 
 Man is betrayed to be crucified"." Is it not to be 
 plainly understood from these words, that the Passover 
 was to begin before the Son of Man should be betrayed ? 
 If so, as Christ was betrayed on the Thursday night, and 
 was crucified on Friday morning, the Passover could not 
 commence on the Friday evening, but must have begun 
 the day before. 
 
 Again, what account do the three first evangelists 
 give of the Last Supper ? do they call it the Passover ? 
 and if so, do they imply that our Saviour ate the Pass- 
 over with His disciples at the usual time, or proleptically, 
 as it is called, i. e. by anticipation, and that while He ate 
 the Passover on the Thursday, the Jews generally ate the 
 Passover on the Friday. 
 
 What says St. Matthew? "Now thejirst day of the 
 
 feast of unleavened bread (rfj 8e Trpwrrj r&v 'AfJ/xcof), 
 
 the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where 
 
 wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover ? 
 
 Matt. xxvi. 2.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 65 
 
 And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say 
 unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand ; I will 
 keep the Passover at thy house, with My disciples. And 
 the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them ; and they 
 made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, 
 He sat down with the twelve 5 ." Here we have not the 
 most distant hint that our Saviour ate the Passover a 
 day before the usual time. On the contrary, it was 
 manifestly at the ordinary season, for the question where 
 He was to eat it was put to Jesus by the disciples them- 
 selves, who, of course, would reckon the Passover as 
 their countrymen did. The very day too in which the 
 inquiry is made is called the first day of unleavened 
 bread, i. e. the day of the paschal sacrifices, in the 
 evening of which the paschal supper was eaten. An 
 attempt indeed is made to explain this away by the sug- 
 gestion that rf) <5e Trpcory TWV 'Atyfj-cov means the day 
 before the feast ; but this cannot be, for both Mark and 
 Luke, as we shall see, call it the day of the paschal 
 sacrifices. The supper, too, is repeatedly designated by 
 Matthew as the Passover, without anything in the con- 
 text to indicate that it was not the ordinary feast, eaten 
 at the accustomed time. "Where wilt Thou that we 
 prepare the Passover ?" " I will keep the Passover." 
 " They made ready the Passover." 
 
 Mark gives the same relation, and in very similar 
 
 terms, as Matthew , but to the words rrj Trpwrrj rj^pa 
 
 TWV *Ay/>aoj>, " on the first day of unleavened bread," he 
 
 adds, "when they killed the Passover," which is very, 
 
 observable, as denoting the same day on which the 
 
 b Matt. xxvi. 1720. e Mark xiv. 12. 
 
 P
 
 66 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 supper was eaten, for the paschal lamb was killed be- 
 tween noon and eventide, (and generally between 3 and 
 5 o'clock,) on the day in the evening of which the paschal 
 feast was celebrated. 
 
 If any doubt could remain as to the meaning of the 
 expression rfj 8e irpcorr) TU>V 'Afyfjuov, it is removed by 
 the narrative of St. Luke, for he tells us in the correspond- 
 ing passage 4 , " Then came the day of unleavened bread, 
 when the Passover must be killed," (r)X0e 8e TJ y/jLepa TCOV 
 'Aty/jicov ez> 77 e'Sei 6vea6aL TO TracT^a). Here we are 
 told expressly that the day (that is, the first day) of 
 unleavened bread was come. It was not the day before, 
 but the very day on which the Passover was slain in the 
 afternoon and was eaten in the evening. And Luke 
 implies also, that our Saviour ate the Passover at the 
 usual hour, for he adds, when " the hour," i. e. the cus- 
 tomary hour, " was come, (ore eyeVero 77 wpa,} He sat 
 down 6 ." 
 
 We shall now advert to the objections that have been 
 urged against the hypothesis, that the Passover of the Jews 
 preceded the Crucifixion. It is said, that if the Passover 
 began on the Thursday, Christ was arrested by the rulers 
 of the Jews during the feast ; whereas, at the Sanhedrim 
 previously held by them, they had come to the reso- 
 lution of not apprehending Him " on the feast day, (eV TT} 
 eopTTJ,} lest there should be an uproar among the peo- 
 ple'." And not only so, but the Crucifixion, it is said, 
 would then be during a feast, and it was not lawful 
 amongst the Jews to put any man to death during a 
 
 d Luke xxii. 7. Luke xxii. 14. 
 
 1 Matt. xxvi. 5 ; Mark xiv. 1.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 67 
 
 festival. To the first of these objections we answer, that 
 the rulers of the Jews had come to the resolution re- 
 ferred to, when they supposed that the apprehension of 
 Jesus would be conducted openly and by force. But 
 very unexpectedly Judas Iscariot presented himself 
 to the rulers, and offered to betray Jesus, when their 
 counsels were at once altered, for by means of the 
 proffered treachery, which they accepted with eagerness, 
 they were enabled, as they did, to arrest Jesus without 
 the least public disturbance. As to the objection, that 
 the Jews would not have put our Lord to death during 
 a festival, the answer is, that the Jews did not put Him 
 to death. If they had done so for blasphemy, the first 
 accusation, our Lord would have been stoned, and then 
 His prediction would not have been verified, that He 
 should be " lifted up ;" but the rulers of the Jews ad- 
 mitted themselves before Pilate, "It is not lawful for 
 us to put any man to death 8 ," viz. during the feast ; but 
 by accusing Jesus of setting Himself up as king, they 
 made it a Roman offence, no less a charge than a vio- 
 lation of the Julian laws, or high treason ; and it was 
 upon this count that Jesus was eventually tried before 
 Pilate, and condemned, and then crucified, the Roman 
 mode of execution. Now whatever scruples the Jews 
 might have of profaning the festival by capital punish- 
 ment, the Romans had none, but, on the contrary, 
 considered the feasts, when such multitudes were con- 
 gregated together, as the fittest occasion for making a 
 public example. Accordingly we find, that at the same 
 time with our Saviour there were also crucified two 
 
 * John xviii. 31. , 
 
 F 2
 
 68 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 notable bandits. Even the Jews, however, occasionally, 
 and under special circumstances, appear to have had re- 
 course to capital punishment during their feasts, otherwise 
 Hegesippus, in his account of the martyrdom of James 
 the Just, would not have stated it to have occurred at 
 the time of a Passover h . The fact may or not have 
 been as related, but at all events it is evident, that in 
 the writer's opinion, there was no absurdity in the 
 supposition. 
 
 But in support of the hypothesis that the Passover 
 was eaten, not before, as we have assumed, but after ', the 
 Crucifixion, reliance is principally placed upon certain 
 ambiguous expressions used in the Gospel of St. John, 
 and which we shall now examine. 
 
 The first passage is the following : " Now before the 
 feast of the Passover, (irpo de rfjs eoprrjs TOV ird(T\a,} 
 Jesus, knowing that His hour was come that He should 
 depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved 
 His own which were in the world, He loved them unto 
 the end 1 ;" and the evangelist then recounts the in- 
 stance of love to which he alluded, viz., the washing of 
 the disciples' feet, and begins his narrative with the 
 words, " And supper being ended," &c., " He riseth from 
 supper," &c. Here it is said the washing of the disciples' 
 feet is expressly stated to be after the supper, and yet 
 before the Passover, so that the supper of our Lord on 
 the Thursday could not have been the celebration of the 
 Passover itself. What are the facts ? John had stated 
 in the previous chapter, that Jesus came to Bethany, in 
 the suburbs of Jerusalem, "six days before the Passover V 
 
 L Euseb., 1. ii. c. 23. ' John xiii. 1. k John xii. 1.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 69 
 
 By the expression irpb loprrjs' TOV TTOLO-^OL, he does not 
 mean the day before the arrival of the Passover, or he 
 would have used words to that effect, this evangelist 
 being remarkably particular in the sequence of the days, 
 as any one must observe on a perusal of the first chapter 
 of his Gospel ; but the import of the phrase is, " now 
 immediately before the feast of the Passover, or paschal 
 supper," Jesus testified His love by washing the disciples' 
 feet, which was a preliminary ceremony before eating the 
 lamb. Philo tells us, that before the guests presumed to 
 eat the Passover they purified themselves by ablution, 
 that is, by washing the head, and hands, and feet 1 . Jesus 
 discharged the most menial of these offices by washing, 
 not the hands or head, but the feet of the disciples. 
 Peter asked that his hands and his head also might be 
 washed, but Jesus rebuked him, as He had intended 
 only to give a lesson of humility. The paschal supper 
 then had not yet begun, and if we follow the narrative 
 we shall find this to be the case. The words translated 
 " and supper being ended," " He riseth from supper," 
 are KOLL dcrrvou yez/o/zeVou . . cyeiperai e/c TOV Seiirvov, 
 and should be rendered, " and when it was supper m ," &c., 
 "He riseth from table," &c. For that the supper 
 
 8e alula KOT (Ktlvov TOV xpovov a^rj/jia lepov Kai (rep.v6rr)ra 
 , TOV o~(j)ayi.ao-dfVTos ttpeiov irpbs rfjv apfiorrova-av evco^tav 
 fVTpf7rio[j.ei'ov, Kai TU>V 67ri Ta <rv(ro~iria trwtAfffMVUlt ayvevTiKols Trepip- 
 pavrrjpiois KKadapp.(i><0v. Philo de Septenario, s. 18. Indeed, generally, 
 the Jews, before a banquet, were wont to wash their feet, as we may learn 
 from the words of Christ when He supped with Simon the Pharisee, " I 
 entered into thy house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet." Luke 
 vii. 44. 
 
 m As TfvnfjifvTjs 8e c<T7re'pas, Philo in Flacc. s. 13, is " when evening was 
 come," and not " when evening was passed."
 
 70 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 had not yet taken place is evident from the sequel. 
 After Jesus had concluded the ceremony of washing the 
 disciples' feet, He sat down again (avairco-av iraXiv^ 
 John xiii. 12), and the supper commenced. This is 
 shewn by the subsequent introduction of our Lord's 
 declaration, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of 
 you shall betray Me m ;" for both Matthew (xxvi. 21), and 
 Mark (xiv. 18), who relate the same words, expressly say 
 that they were uttered while Jesus and His disciples 
 were eating the Passover, tvOiovrav avrcov. The same 
 thing is also implied in the Gospel of John himself; for 
 when John asked Jesus who it was who should betray 
 Him, Jesus said, " He it is to whom I shall give a sop," 
 for no doubt the sop was given so as not to excite ob- 
 servation in the course of the supper. 
 
 There are still three other passages of St. John which 
 have been relied upon as proving that Christ was cruci- 
 fied before the Passover ; one of them is connected with 
 the subject just discussed. When Judas, after the sop, 
 left the room and went out, with an intimation from 
 Jesus not to tarry, " what thou doest do quickly," the 
 disciples surmised either that he had been directed to 
 " buy those things that they had need of against the feast," 
 (o>z> xp ^ av ^XP^JXv elf rrjv eoprrjv,^ or to "give some- 
 thing to the poor"." The former supposition, it is said, 
 assumes that the feast had not yet begun. However, 
 though the paschal lamb had been eaten, yet some 
 ceremonies might still remain, and it is much more 
 likely that Judas, at that unseasonable hour, should have 
 quitted the table abruptly to purchase something needed 
 
 m John xiii. 21. " John xiii. 29.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR*S MINISTRY. 71 
 
 immediately for the due observance of the feast which 
 they were then celebrating, than to procure provisions 
 for a feast to begin the following afternoon. But 
 even supposing that Judas's object was to buy pro- 
 visions for a feast which was to be observed the next 
 day, it by no means follows that such feast was the 
 Passover. The feast of unleavened bread continued, 
 after the day of the paschal sacrifice, an entire week, 
 and during the whole of that time unleavened cakes 
 were eaten and sacrifices made ; and not only so, but the 
 feast of the Passover on the first day was followed by 
 the feast of the sheaf-offering on the second day, so that 
 Judas might very naturally be thought to be engaged in 
 making purchases either against the remaining days of 
 unleavened bread, or the feast of the sheaf-offering in 
 particular. 
 
 Another passage is, that when the Jews conducted 
 Jesus to the Praetorium they would not enter in, " lest 
 they should be defiled, but that they might eat the 
 Passover ;" and these words have been cited as a proof 
 that the Passover had not then been celebrated. But 
 how is this language at variance with the hypothesis 
 that the paschal lamb had been eaten the evening before ? 
 If, as is supposed on the other side, the Jews would not 
 pollute themselves the morning before a feast, a fortiori 
 they would not do so when the feast had actually begun, 
 and was in the course of celebration. The words, " that 
 they might eat the Passover," do not necessarily have 
 any reference to the Passover, in the strict sense, for the 
 whole seven days of unleavened bread were called the 
 
 John xviii 28.
 
 72 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Passover, and as they were distinguished by the eating 
 of unleavened cakes, " to eat the Passover," was a synon- 
 ymous expression with keeping the feast p . The Jews 
 therefore would not enter into the Praetorium, not that 
 they might eat the paschal lamb in the evening (by which 
 time possibly they might have purified themselves again q ), 
 but that they might " eat the Passover," i. e. keep the 
 remaining days of the feast without defilement. 
 
 The only other objection drawn from St. John's Gospel 
 is the passage, that when Pilate took his seat on the tri- 
 bunal, upon the Gabbatha or tessellated pavement, John 
 remarks that " It was the Preparation of the Passover* " 
 words which have been accepted as equivalent to " the 
 preparation for the Passover," and indicating that the 
 Passover had not yet arrived. Now the expression Pre- 
 paration (irapao-Kdvr]} had amongst the Jews a purely 
 technical import, being used without either article or 
 adjunct, and signifying the day before the Sabbath. Thus 
 Mark writing for Roman converts, who might not be 
 acquainted with the term, and speaking of the Friday 
 after the Crucifixion, observes, " It was the Preparation, 
 that is, the day before the Sabbath," (rjv TrapaaKevr) o ea-ri 
 irpocrafSfiaTov,') Mark xvi. 42. Both Matthew and Luke, 
 and even John himself, use it in the same sense 8 . The 
 Passover (by which name the feast of unleavened bread 
 was commonly known) lasted seven days, besides the day 
 of the paschal sacrifices, and of course a Sabbath oc- 
 
 P " They ate throughout the feast, seven days." 2 Chron. xxx. 22. 
 
 i In general, however, a purification required a whole day. 
 
 1 John xix. 14. 
 
 Matt, xxvii. 62 ; Luke xxiii. 54 ; John xix. 31.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 73 
 
 curred during the week. This Sabbath was called the 
 Sabbath of the Passover, and the preceding day, or Pre- 
 paration, (Trapao-Kevrj,) was known as the Preparation of 
 the Passover. Thus the expression of John, instead of 
 proving that the Passover was still future, indicates ex- 
 actly the reverse, inasmuch as this Preparation is called 
 the paschal Preparation, or that which occurred in the 
 paschal week. 
 
 Perhaps the ambiguous phrases found in the Gospel 
 of St. John, and which we have just discussed, might 
 at first sight, and taken by themselves, suggest the 
 notion that the evangelist assumed the day of the Pass- 
 over to be still future ; but even in John we meet with 
 other expressions implying as clearly that the Passover 
 had already commenced. The words, " The Preparation 
 of (not for) the Passover," tend to this conclusion : and 
 again we read, " The Jews therefore, because it was the 
 Preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the 
 cross on the Sabbath day, (which began at 6 p.m. on 
 Friday,) for that day was a high day, besought Pilate," 
 &C.* Here the evangelist speaks of the Sabbath com- 
 mencing on Friday at 6 p.m. as a " high day ;" but if, 
 as supposed by those whose opinion we are impugning, 
 the Passover itself was to take place on Friday, John 
 would have called it the Passover, or the high day, and 
 not merely a high day. But if, on the contrary, as we 
 contend, the paschal supper had been eaten the previous 
 evening (Thursday), the language is most appropriate, 
 for the day after the Passover, or second day of the feast 
 of unleavened bread, viz. from Friday at 6 p.m. to Satur- 
 
 ' John xix. 31.
 
 74 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 day at 6 p.m., though not tie high day, was a high day, 
 being the feast of the sheaf-offering u . Again, Pilate is de- 
 scribed in St. John as saying to the people on the Friday 
 morning, " Ye have a custom, that I should release unto 
 you one at the Passover," eV rut 7rd<T\a*, i. e. " during," 
 or "in the course of," the Passover; does it not then 
 follow that at the time when these words were uttered, 
 the Passover had already commenced. 
 
 The result of the whole argument is that Matthew, 
 Mark, and Luke state most positively that the paschal 
 supper was eaten the evening before the Crucifixion, while 
 all the passages in St. John having a contrary tendency 
 are capable of explanation. We must therefore conclude 
 that the paschal supper was eaten by the Jews on the 
 evening of the Thursday next preceding our Lord's 
 crucifixion. 
 
 2. We have now to establish that the Passover, or 
 supper of the paschal lamb, in the year A.D. 33 fell on a 
 Thursday, and did not fall on that day in any other year 
 either before or after, for a period of many years. 
 
 Before we enter upon a discussion of the authorities as 
 to the rule by which the Passover was regulated, we must 
 premise some general observations, without which the 
 disjointed passages which will be cited can scarcely be 
 understood. 
 
 The Passover, (iraa-^a,} or feast of Unleavened bread, 
 (affjua,) (for both terms were used,) in their ordinary 
 and common acceptation comprised three distinct feasts 
 that fell together at the same season of the year, viz. the 
 
 " Philo de Septenario, sect. 20. " John xviii. 39.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 75 
 
 Passover, properly so called, the feast of Unleavened 
 bread, and the feast of the Sheaf-offering. The Passover 
 was always on the 14th Nisan, reckoned from 6 p.m. to 
 6 p.m., the paschal sacrifices being killed on the 14th 
 Nisan, between noon and eventide, and the paschal supper 
 being eaten the same evening. The feast of unleavened 
 bread began with the 15th Nisan, at 6 p.m., and ended 
 at 6 p.m. on that day week, during all which time certain 
 sacrifices were killed, and unleavened cakes were eaten. 
 The feast of the sheaf-offering began with the second 
 day of the feast of unleavened bread, and lasted one 
 day, the sheaf being offered in the morning. Thus, 
 supposing the feast of the Passover to begin on Wed- 
 nesday, the 14th Nisan, at 6 p.m., the paschal sacrifices 
 would be killed on Thursday in the afternoon, and 
 the paschal supper would be eaten the same evening. 
 The feast of unleavened bread would begin at 6 p.m. on 
 the same Thursday, and expire at 6 p.m. on the Thurs- 
 day following. The feast of the sheaf-offering would 
 begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, and the sheaf would be 
 offered on Saturday morning, and the feast would end at 
 6 p.m. on Saturday. The Sabbath and the sheaf-offering 
 in this case falling together, would more particularly make 
 the day what St. John calls " a high day." We may 
 further remark, that the sacrifices for the Passover were 
 killed, according to Philo y , from 12 at noon till eventide, 
 or, according to Josephus z , between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. 
 on the 14th Nisan. But both agree that this 14th of 
 Nisan was reckoned the first day of the feast, so that the 
 
 T 'Apd/uej/oi Kara pfvwfipiav eas toTrepas. Philo de Septen., sect. 18. 
 Qvovfri p,(v cmo fwdrtjs a>pas p-*XP l *"8eKanjf. Jos. Bell. vi. 9, 3.
 
 76 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Passover, or feast of unleavened bread, (in the larger 
 signification of those terms,) was said to last eight days, 
 beginning on the 14th Nisan, and ending on the 21st 
 Nisan. The writers of the New Testament speak of the 
 feast in the same way. Thus Matthew writes, " On the 
 first day of unleavened bread*," (which evidently, from 
 the context, was the day of the paschal sacrifices,) the 
 disciples asked Jesus where He would eat the Pass- 
 over, which was to be celebrated the same evening. 
 So Mark in similar terms, " On the first day of un- 
 leavened bread, when they killed the Passover*;" and 
 Luke, " Then came the day of unleavened bread, when 
 the Passover must be killed*." 
 
 What we have to ascertain in the first place is, by 
 what rule from year to year the recurrence of the pas- 
 chal festival was determined. The pivot of the whole 
 year was the 15th Nisan, or the first day of unleavened 
 bread. The 14th day (exclusive) before it was the 1st 
 Nisan, or the commencement of the Jewish ecclesiastical 
 year, and all the other feasts followed at certain regular 
 intervals. 
 
 The 15th Nisan then was that day (reckoned by the 
 Jews from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m.) on which occurred the first 
 full moon after the vernal equinox. The Passover was 
 the day before, or the 14th Nisan, and therefore always 
 preceded the full moon. In strictness, the paschal sacri- 
 fices were to be both killed and eaten on the 14th Nisan, 
 viz. before 6 p.m., but as the sacrifices were usually killed 
 between the hours of 3 and 5, it is probable that the pas- 
 
 * Tt) 8( TTparrri r>v 'Afv/zwi'. Matt. xxvi. 17. 
 b Mark xiv. 17. * Luke xxii. 7.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR* S MINISTRY. 77 
 
 dial supper often extended itself into the 15th Nisan, i.e. 
 was celebrated after 6 p.m. 
 
 According to the law of Moses, the lamb was to be 
 chosen on the 10th Nisan, and was to be killed on the 
 14th Nisan, between the evenings, that is, in the after- 
 noon, and was to be eaten the same evening* 1 , with 
 bitter herbs and unleavened bread e . 
 
 We cannot have any higher authority, after holy Writ, 
 than Philo, who was living at the time of our Saviour's 
 crucifixion, and was the most learned Jew of the day, and 
 composed a tract upon the nature of the Jewish feasts. 
 Philo then tells us that the sacrifices for the Passover 
 were killed from noon to eventide on the 14th Nisan f , 
 and were eaten the same day with the saying of prayer 
 and the singing of hymns. And he then informs us that 
 the feast of unleavened bread, in its proper and confined 
 sense, joined on to the feast of the Passover, and he pro- 
 ceeds thus : " This feast (of unleavened bread) begins 
 on the 15th Nisan, the day that divides the month, 
 and on which the moon arrives at the full, in order that 
 on that day there may be no darkness at all 8 /' The 
 15th Nisan then, which began at 6 p.m. of the day on 
 which the paschal sacrifices were killed, and in the even- 
 ing of which the paschal supper was eaten, was that day 
 reckoned from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. on which the moon 
 
 d Levit. xxiii. 5. Numb. ix. 3 ; xxviii. 16. 
 
 Exodus xii. 6. 
 
 ' "Ayfrat Se 17 ir<ii>br]fj.os Qva-ia (the Passover) Tea-a-apecrnaiSfKaTr} TOV 
 MVOS (Nisan). Philo de Septen., s. 18, 19. 
 
 g Trjs 8e eoprris ('Av/za>i>) 8ix6pr)vos ap%ti f/ irevreKai^fKarrj Kad' fjv 
 <r(\r)vr) jr\rjcri(pafis ylvfTai, irpovoiq TOV /iTjSei/ emu <TKOTOS Kar' 
 fKfivrjv TTJV fofpav. Philo de Septen., 8. 19.
 
 78 THE TIME OP COMMENCEMENT 
 
 arrived at the full, and for the reason assigned by Philo, 
 viz. that there might be no darkness. 
 
 In a subsequent passage he is still more decided, for 
 he explains the reason why the feast of unleavened 
 bread was observed on the 15th Nisan, thus : " That not 
 only by day, but by night also, the world may be full of 
 the all-glorious light of the sun and moon, which on 
 that day rise in exact opposition to each other with in- 
 discriminate beams, so as to leave no interval of dark- 
 ness 11 ." The 15th Nisan, therefore, was the day on 
 which the sun and moon were in direct opposition, that 
 is, when the moon was at the full. 
 
 In another passage Philo observes: "Moses writes, 
 that the first month should begin after the vernal 
 equinox. And in that month, on the \kth day, when 
 the moon's orb is just about to be full, the Passover, 
 a notable festival, called in Chaldee Pascha, is cele- 
 brated 1 ." This exactly accords with his previous state- 
 ment, viz. that the paschal sacrifices were killed on the 
 14th Nisan, and that on the 14th Nisan the moon was 
 not full, but just about to be full, (jJLtXXovros yivtvOai 
 TrXeo-Kpaov?,) i. e. it would be full a few hours after on 
 the 15th Nisan. 
 
 We cannot part from Philo without adverting to 
 
 fc "iva P.TJ lifff 1 rjiLfpav povov oXXa KOI vvicrtop TrAqptjr 6 Kotrpos r/ rov 
 TrayAcaXou (paras, ^Xiov fcai (Tf\f)VT)s K.ar tKftvrjv TTJV qptpav czXXij- 
 \ois (vavaTf\\6vT(av avyals dSiacrTtKTois dig fttBopiov ov 
 8iaK.pi.vei O-KOTOS, Philo de Septen., s. 24. 
 
 * Tt)v apxtjv TTJS (apivf]s loypeplas TrpSrrov dvaypdfai fjLTjva Mavoys. 
 T<5 8e f<"7'' Tovra) Trept Tfa-a-aptcrKaiSfKdTrjv qptpav /zeXXoi/ros ToC 
 <rt\T)viaKov KVK\OV yfVf<rdat ir\r](ri(j)aovs aytrai TO. Sia^anjpta 
 8r)fio<pavris eopTT) TO XaXSmari Xtyopevov Hda\a. Phil. Vit. Moys. iii. 68/
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 79 
 
 another remarkable passage, in which he states that the 
 feast of the New moon was celebrated as being thefrst 
 day of the month, oipxn wvos, and also as the day on 
 which the new moon became visible to the eye ; in other 
 words, that on the first day of the month occurred, not 
 the actual new moon, or the change, but the phnsis j . 
 The explanation is as follows. The interval between the 
 actual new moon, or change, and the full moon, being 
 14 days and 18 hours, and the full moon always falling 
 on the 15th Nisan, the change of the moon would not 
 necessarily be on the 1st Nisan, but would sometimes 
 take place as much as 18 hours before. Thus, if the full 
 moon occurred at the first instant of the 15th Nisan, the 
 new moon would at the beginning of the 1st Nisan be 18 
 hours old ; while, as the opposite extreme, if the full moon 
 occurred at the last instant of the 15th Nisan, the actual 
 new moon would take place about six hours after the 
 commencement of the 1st Nisan. On the other hand, 
 the moon not being visible until 18 hours after the 
 change, and again disappearing 18 hours before the next 
 change, (making together 36 hours, or a day and a half,) 
 the whole lunation of the visible moon was just 28 days, 
 and the interval between the phasis or first appearance 
 of the moon and the full was exactly 14 days, and thus 
 if the full moon was always on the 15th Nisan, the phasis 
 would be always on the 1st Nisan, and vice versa. The 
 
 j TpiTTjv fopTTjv dvaypd<popfi> n)i/ Kara o-f\f)vr]s v(op.r)viav. TIpcoTov fjitv 
 on dp%r) fiTjvos, fTTftra 8e on KCIT* avrrjv ovfiei/ d(pa>Ti<TTov ev ovpavtp- Tpirov 
 Se, on TO) e'Xarroi/i KCU d&devta'Tfpa KOK eKtivov rov %p6vov TO tcpflrrov Kai 
 SwaTcarepov d><pf\fias dvayicaias /Ta8i'8a>cri. fiov/j.rjv'ta yap ap^trai <pa>- 
 rifciv alardr}T(p (peyyei a-e\r]vr}v 77X10?, 17 8 ro i8(o/ KuXXos dvcHpaivfi rols 
 opwo-t. Philo de Septen., sect. 17.
 
 80 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 Jews, therefore, regulated their ecclesiastical year, not by 
 the change, but by the phasis of the moon, and thus, as 
 Philo remarks, the full moon was always on the 15th 
 Nisan, and the new moon was always on the 1st Nisan. 
 
 Turn we now to Josephus, who being himself a priest, 
 and acquainted with Jewish ceremonies, and living at 
 the same time with Philo, though somewhat junior to 
 him, must rank next to him in authority. We read in 
 the Antiquities, " But Moses made it a law, that in the 
 month Xanthicus, called by us Nisan, and which is the 
 beginning of the year, on the fourteenth day, according 
 to the moon, (i.e. according to the moon's phasis j ,) we 
 should every year kill the sacrifice called the Passover. 
 But on the \5th Nisan } the feast of unleavened bread, 
 which lasts seven days, succeeds the Passover, and on 
 the 2nd day of the feast of unleavened bread, being the 
 16M Nisan, we offer the first-fruits of the barley, (i.e. 
 the sheaf-offering k )." Here we have a statement that 
 the Passover was on the 14th Nisan, and since the his- 
 torian mentions in another place that the sacrifices were 
 between 3 and 5 p.m., it follows that the paschal supper 
 was eaten in the evening of the day on which began the 
 15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. Again, he 
 tells us, as Philo had done before, that the feast of un- 
 
 1 It cannot be from the moon's change, for then the 1 5th Nisan would 
 not always be the day of the full moon, which it invariably was. 
 
 T<5 $f ftf??' TtS 3avdiK& ts Nicrcti' trap rjfjilv KaXelrat, KOI TOV trovs (<TT\V 
 apxf), TfarcrapeffKaiSfKaTrj Kara tr(\f)vrjv, . . . TTJV 6v(riav Ildcr^a 
 \cyop.evT)v 8C (Tovs tudcrrov Qvfiv fvopKrtv. Ilf'/iTTTT; 8e Kai 8fK<irr) SiaS/^tra* 
 TTJV TOV I3a<r^a 77 rS>i> 'Afu^iwj/ eoprf) (irra. fifjifpas ovtra. TTJ 8e dfvrf'pa 
 rSt>v AvfjL(ov (jj/ie'pa (KTT) 8' early /cat 8e/caT^) ras anap\as avrw rrjs KpiSf/s 
 firt<pepov<ri. Ant. iii. 10, 5.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 81 
 
 leavened bread commenced with the 15th Nisan, and 
 that the sheaf-offering was on the second day of that 
 feast, viz. on the 16th Nisan. Thus the Passover was 
 on the day before the full moon, the feast of unleavened 
 bread began on the day o/*the full moon, and the feast of 
 the sheaf-offering was on the day after the full moon. 
 
 In another passage is this : " Having performed 
 the sacrifice called the Passover on the 14<th day of 
 the same month, (Nisan,) they feasted seven days*." 
 Here again the paschal sacrifices are placed on the 
 14th Nisan, i. e. in the afternoon of that day, (the pas- 
 chal supper therefore being in the evening,) and after 
 that, and exclusively, follow the seven days of unleavened 
 bread, making together, for the whole festival, eight days, 
 the duration reckoned by Josephus in an earlier page 
 of the same work m . In the Wars we read, " The feast 
 of unleavened bread (*A<^u,a) being in the course of 
 celebration on the 14th day of the month Xanthicus ;" 
 which is consistent \\^th his former accounts, for the 
 feast of unleavened bread ("Afiy*a) here means the whole 
 festival, called indifferently Hda^a and "Afy/jLa, com- 
 mencing with the paschal sacrifices on the 14th Nisan, 
 and making, with the seven days of unleavened bread, 
 the eight days allowed by him for the entire festival. 
 
 Eusebius furnishes us with the additional testimony 
 of Agristobulus, who was an ancient master in Israel, 
 and is said to have assisted in translating the Septua- 
 
 1 1r)V Traced Trpoaayopfvonevrjv 6wiav TTJ rerdprr) Kat 8fKarj] TOV aiirov 
 fj.ru/as (Nisan) iirvriKftTavrtt Ka.Ttvwxfidrjo'av fiii yfitpas frrra. Ant. xi. 4, 8. 
 
 m Ant. ii. 15, 1. 
 
 " ffjs Ta>v 'A^v/iov fVffTacrrjs ypfpas TeacrapfcrKaiStKarj? AUV&IKOV 
 (Nisan). Bell. v. 3, 1. 
 
 G
 
 82 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 gint. It runs as follows : " The day of the Passover 
 being appointed for the 14th day of the month (Nisan), 
 after eventide, the moon will be in diametrical opposition 
 to the sun, &c.;" from which we collect the same re- 
 sults as before, viz. that the paschal sacrifices commenced 
 on the 14th Nisan, and that the paschal supper was eaten 
 the same evening ; and that just about that time, viz. 
 between the sunset of that day and the sunset of the 
 following, that is, on the 15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 
 p.m. to 6 p.m., the sun and moon were in direct oppo- 
 sition, and consequently the moon was at the full. 
 
 The citations which have been adduced appear to 
 justify the following conclusions, viz. That the Pass- 
 over, including the paschal sacrifices and the paschal 
 supper, was observed on the 14th Nisan, the day next 
 before the full of the moon ; that the feast of unleavened 
 bread began on the 15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 p.m. to 
 6 p.m., and was the very day of the first full moon after 
 the vernal equinox j and that the feast of the sheaf- 
 offering was on the second day of the feast of un- 
 leavened bread, and therefore on the day after the full 
 of the moon. 
 
 Let us test the accuracy of these deductions by 
 taking a particular instance. The Jewish historian will 
 fortunately supply us with the materials. Josephus 
 mentions, that when Antiochus Sidetes, toward the close 
 
 S TU>V Ata/ar77pio)> [j.(pas rfi Tfcr&aptcrKaieKTr) TOV 
 Wvos fifff fffirtpav, (CTTri^fTai ptv arikrjvr) TTJV tvavriav rat (lege KOTO) 
 SidptTpov rw ^Xi'a> vraffiv caa-irfp ovv eeani/ eV rats iravo-(\T)vois opav' 
 tffovTai 8e 6 p.ev Kara TO tapivov l<rr)ij,fpivoi> 6 tfXios Tprjua, 17 fie e' avayKrjs 
 Kara TO <f>6ivoTto>pivov loi)fiifH90f y o-eXijj/i?. Eccles. Hist. via. 32.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 83 
 
 of his life, made a campaign against the Parthians, he 
 was accompanied by Hyrcanus the high-priest; and 
 Josephus appeals, in confirmation of this statement, to 
 Nicolaus of Damascus, who recorded the anecdote, that 
 Antiochus, after a victory over In dates, the Parthian 
 general, halted two days on the banks of the Lycus, in 
 deference to Hyrcanus, as a Jewish festival then oc- 
 curred, during which the Jews were prohibited by their 
 law from marching; and Josephus adds, that Nicolaus 
 was perfectly right, for that, as it happened, the feast of 
 the Pentecost followed in that year next after a Jewish 
 Sabbath, so that the Jews could not move from their 
 quarters during those two days p . Of what year then 
 is the historian speaking ? Livy tells us that the cam- 
 paign against the Parthians was in the consulship of 
 C. Claudius and M. Perperna q , i. e. in B.C. 130. There 
 is some conflict of authority as to the details of the 
 war, but the fullest account of it is to be found in Justin, 
 viz. that Antiochus advanced boldly into the enemy's 
 country, and fought three battles successfully, and then 
 dispersed his troops into winter quarters in different 
 parts of Babylonia. This division of his forces em- 
 boldened the king of Parthia to resume the offensive, and 
 Antiochus was slain, according to Justin, in the winter', 
 
 * Tporratoj* aTtjcras 6 'Ai/rio^cs iiri T<a AVKO> rrora/iw, vi/cijcr 
 TOV Hdp6a>v (TTparrjyov, avTodi fpeivtv qptpas 8vo, derjdevTos 'YpKavov TOV 
 'lovStuou Std TIVO. (oprrjv trdrpiov tv 17 OVK r\v vuy.iy.ov fo8fi>eiv' Kal ravra 
 ptv (Josephus adds) ov ^/euSercu Xe'ycoi', fVfO~n) -yap 17 H(vrrjKocrTr) fjitra TO 
 o-a$3aroj/, OVK eori 8e T/^IC cure fv rois <ra/3j3ao-ti/, ovre V rjj foprjj odfvfiv. 
 Jos. Ant. xiii. 3, 4. 
 
 i Liv. Epit., lib. 59. 
 
 r Auxilium proximis laturus cum ea manu quse secum hiemabat progre- 
 ditur. In itiuere . . metu suorum desertus occiditur. Justin, xxxviii. 10. 
 
 G2
 
 84 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 or, according to Diodorus, in the following spring 3 . The 
 death of Antiochus was therefore in the winter of B.C. 
 130, or the spring of B.C. 129. This agrees with the 
 other dates in the life of Antiochus, for he canae to the 
 throne in the 174th year of the Seleucian era', i.e. some 
 time between the autumn of B.C. 139 and the autumn of 
 B.C. 138, (as is confirmed by the coins of this king, which 
 begin with that Seleucian year u ,) and Eusebius, citing 
 Porphyry, tells us that Antiochus reigned nine years 1 , 
 which he would thus have done if he perished at the 
 close of B.C. 130, or the beginning of B.C. 129. Again, 
 Antiochus was succeeded by Demetrius, who died in the 
 187th year of the Seleucian era, i.e. some time between 
 the autumn of B.C. 126 and the autumn of B.C. 125, (as 
 appears from the fact that coins both of Demetrius and 
 of Grypus, his successor, are found with the stamp of 
 that year y ,) and Eusebius tells us that Demetrius reigned 
 four years from the death of Antiochus 2 , which again 
 answers to the hypothesis that Antiochus died at the 
 close of B.C. 130, or in the spring of B.C. 129. We can- 
 not doubt, therefore, that the victory over Indates, men- 
 tioned by Josephus, was the first of the three battles 
 fought in B.C. 130, and that the Pentecost alluded to 
 was the feast of that year. 
 
 On what day, then, did the feast of Pentecost fall in 
 the year B.C. 130 ? 
 
 The hinge upon which the whole Jewish year turned 
 
 1 'O orparrjybs 'Avru'xv 'A.6r]vaios jrXficrra fv TCUS eViorafyu'aty 
 vos KdKa, rfjs <f>vyr)S Kardp^as Kai TOV ' Avrio^ov eyKaraXiTrciav Trjs TTpocrrjKov- 
 a-rjt KaraorTpo(pfjs erv^f. Diod. xxiv., and see further fragments in Clin- 
 ton's F. H. '1 Maccab. xv. 10. " Eckhel on Coins. 
 
 E Euseb. Chronic. 7 Eckhel on Coins. ' Euseb. Chronic.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOURS MINISTRY. 85 
 
 was, as we have said, the 15th Nisan, which was always 
 the day of the first full moon after the vernal equinox 
 i. e. when the sun entered into the first point of 
 Aries 4 . In the time of Julius Caesar, the vernal equi- 
 nox was computed (whether correctly or not) to fall 
 upon the 25th of March 5 , and in the century before 
 it was still later . In B.C. 130, therefore, the first full 
 moon after the vernal equinox would be that which 
 occurred at Jerusalem on the 24th of April, about 10 
 a.m. d The 15th Nisan, then, was from the 23rd of 
 April, 6 p.m., to the 24th of April, 6 p.m., and the 16th 
 Nisan, the sheaf-offering, was from the 24th of April, 
 6 p.m., to the 25th of April, 6 p.m. From the 16th 
 Nisan (exclusive) were reckoned 7 weeks, or 49 days, 
 and the next day was the feast of weeks, or Pentecost, 
 i. e. the 50th day from the 16th Nisan, exclusive. That 
 the Pentecost was computed in this way is evident 
 enough. In Leviticus xxiii. 15, we read, "And ye shall 
 count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath 
 (meaning by the Sabbath the 15th Nisan). From the 
 day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, 
 (the 16th Nisan,) seven Sabbaths (or weeks) shall be 
 complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sab- 
 bath (or week) shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall 
 offer a new meat-offering," &c. (viz. the Pentecost). So 
 Philo tells us that the 16th Nisan, or second day of un- 
 leavened bread, was called the sheaf, (Spay^a,') and " from 
 that day forward is reckoned the Pentecost, or 50th day, 
 
 Jos. Ant. iii. 10, 5. b See Greswell's Proleg., p. 28. 
 
 c The rate of the precession of the equinoxes is one day in 130 years. 
 d See Auger, 36 ; and this is confirmed by the eclipses, as calculated by 
 Pingre, for the year B.C. 130.
 
 86 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 the odd day setting the seal to the sacred number of seven 
 weeh e ." And Joseplms uses very similar terms'. Indeed, 
 Maimonides expressly tells us that the Pentecost was the 
 50th day from the 16th Nisan, exclusive*. Our Church, 
 therefore, has from the earliest ages celebrated Whit- 
 Sunday, which corresponds to the Jewish Pentecost, on 
 the right day ; for our Saviour was crucified, as we shall 
 see, on Friday, the 15th Nisan, so that Saturday was 
 the 16th Nisan; and Whit-Sunday is always the 50th 
 day from the Saturday next before Easter, exclusive. 
 
 The 15th Nisan, then, was in the year B.C. 130, on the 
 24th of April, reckoned from 6 p.m. of the preceding 
 evening ; and the 16th Nisan, or the sheaf-offering, was 
 on the 25th of April, reckoned from 6 p.m. of the pre- 
 ceding evening ; and the 50th day from that, exclusive, or 
 the 14th of June, was the Pentecost ; and according to 
 Josephus, in explanation of Nicolaus of Damascus, this 
 Pentecost followed next after a Jewish Sabbath, and 
 therefore fell on a Sunday, We turn to De Morgan's 
 Book of Almanacks, (which I assume to be accurate, not 
 only from the established reputation of the writer, but 
 also from its harmonizing with the German computations,) 
 and we find that the 14th of June, B.C. 130, did actually 
 fall on a Sunday, and that the day before, or the 13th of 
 June, was a Saturday, i. e. the Jewish Sabbath. Thus 
 two feasts fell together, as Josephus remarks, and the 
 
 'ATTO yap raiiTijs TTJS fipepas HtvTT)KO<rrr) aptdfielrai, firra 
 lepav apidfj-uv tmcrf^payi^ojjitv^s p,ovd8os. Philo de Septen. sect. 21. 
 
 f 'E/3o/i77S 8' e/SSo/iuSo? bi.ayeyvT)fj.fvr]s fjura ravrrjv TTJV dvcriav (avrat 8' 
 flaiv ai raic e/38o/i8a>i> r^upai Tfaa-apaKovra KOI evvea), TTJ Tievrrjuotrrfi, rfv 
 'E/3oaIoi 'Ao-ap&i KaXoCcrti/ . . . Trpo<rdyov<n r<p 9f<i) nprov. Ant. iii. 10. 
 
 6 See Jennings' Jewish Antiq. on the subject of the Pentecost.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 87 
 
 two days for which Antiochus Sidetes halted, out of com- 
 pliment to Hyrcanus, were the 13th and 14th of June, 
 B.C. 130. 
 
 We have now only to apply the same principles to 
 A.D. 33, the year which we have assigned to the Cru- 
 cifixion. 
 
 In A.D. 33, the first full moon after the vernal equinox 
 was on the 3rd of April, at Jerusalem, at 5.12 p.m. This 
 is the calculation adopted by Greswell h , and is no doubt 
 correct. The 15th Nisan then was from 6 p.m. on the 
 2nd of April to 6 p.m. on the 3rd of April. The paschal 
 sacrifices were killed between noon and eventide on the 
 2nd of April, and the paschal supper was eaten the same 
 evening. On what day of the week, then, did the 2nd of 
 April fall in A.D. 33 ? We turn to the Book of Alma- 
 nacks, and we there learn that the 2nd of April was on 
 a Thursday. This, then, agrees with the narratives of the 
 New Testament, for the evangelists tell us that the Cru- 
 cifixion occurred on a Friday, and that the paschal sup- 
 per was eaten the evening before, that is, on a Thursday. 
 According to the foregoing rules, the Passover did ac- 
 tually fall in A.D. 33 upon a Thursday. It is stated by 
 Mr. Mann 1 , in his Essay on the time of our Saviour's 
 Passion, (and the assertion, so far as I am aware, is 
 correct,) that the paschal feast did not fall on a Thurs- 
 day from A.D. 26 (exclusive) to A.D. 35 (inclusive), 
 except in the year A.D. 33. What is the result ? That 
 
 k 1 Diss. 357, first Ed. De Morgan, in his Book of Almanacks, appears 
 to make the full moon at Jerusalem occur two hours later ; but the latter 
 work does not profess to give the exact time within a couple of hours. 
 
 ' De anno emortuali, &c.
 
 88 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 the year A.D. 33> and no other, was the year in which 
 our Saviour was crucified. 
 
 Our Lord's crucifixion has thus been referred to the 
 Passover of A.D. 33, from a careful comparison of histo- 
 rical data, without the least reference to the fulfilment 
 of prophecy, which of course could not be allowed to 
 accomplish itself by influencing our view of the current 
 of events. Having arrived, however, at the above con- 
 clusion, upon perfectly independent principles, we may 
 confirm the result by pointing out in how striking a 
 manner the prediction of the seventy weeks in the 
 book of Daniel is fulfilled upon this hypothesis. The 
 prophecy is one of the most remarkable in holy Scrip- 
 ture, both from the definite manner in which the periods 
 of years are marked, and the certainty with which the 
 point from which they commence can be ascertained. 
 The words of the prophet are as follows : - 
 
 1. " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 
 and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and 
 to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for 
 iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and 
 to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the 
 most Holy. 
 
 2. " Know therefore and understand, that from the 
 going forth of the commandment to restore and to 
 build Jerusalem unto Messiah tlie Prince shall be seven 
 weeks and 62 weeks. 
 
 3. " (In the seven weeks) the street shall be built 
 again, and the wall, even in perilous times. 
 
 4. " And after the 62 weeks shall Messiah be cut 
 off, but not for Himself; and .(thereafter) the people of
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 89 
 
 the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the 
 sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and 
 unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 
 
 5. " And the one week shall confirm, the covenant 
 with many k , and in the midst of the week, (or in the 
 half of the week, 'E*/ TW rj/nio-ei eftdo/jidSo?, Septuagint,) 
 he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. 
 
 6. " And (thenceforth) for the overspreading of abo- 
 minations he shall make it desolate, even until the con- 
 summation, and that determined shall be poured upon 
 the desolate 1 ." 
 
 The weeks are of course weeks of years, and thus we 
 have 7 weeks, or 49 years, for the rebuilding of the city ; 
 then an interval of 62 weeks, or 434 years ; and then the 
 last week, or a compass of 7 years, during which the 
 prophet tells us, 1. That the new covenant should be 
 introduced; 2. That in the middle of the week, or, 
 according to the Septuagint, in the half, i. e. the latter 
 half of the week, the Messiah should cause the ceremonial 
 law of Moses to cease j and 3. That at the end of Ihs 
 week-, being the end also of the 70 weeks, the Messiah 
 should be cut off, not for Himself, but as an atonement 
 for the sins of mankind. 
 
 It will be observed that the decree from which the 70 
 weeks, or 490 years, are to be reckoned, is not the decree 
 to rebuild the sanctuary, but to restore the street and wall 
 of Jerusalem. The decree of Cyrus to the Jews was to 
 rebuild the temple m , and the decree of Darius the Mede 
 was to the same effect , and the temple was rebuilt and 
 
 k Kal Svva/idxm StadrjKijv TroXXoIs ejSSo/iaf pia. Sept. 
 
 i ]) an . i x . 24. m Ezra i. 2. " Ezra vi. 1.
 
 90 THE TIME OP COMMENCEMENT 
 
 finished accordingly . But after this, Artaxerxes, in the 
 7th year of his reign, issued a decree to Ezra to esta- 
 blish Jerusalem as a city, by appointing magistrates and 
 judges, with the power of inflicting capital punishment 1 " ; 
 and this included the rebuilding of the street, and also of 
 the wall, for Ezra tells us that God had " extended mercy 
 unto them in the sight of the kings of Persia ... to give 
 them a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem 11 ." The decree, 
 therefore, to which the prophet refers is that of Artaxerxes, 
 (as indeed all commentators agree,) and we have now to 
 investigate the precise time at which it was issued. Ezra 
 tells us that " the first day of the first month (Nisan) was 
 the foundation of the going up r from Babylon 8 ," and that 
 this was in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes*. 
 When, then, did Artaxerxes begin to reign ? We have 
 some light upon this from Scripture itself, and we shall 
 refer to it before we cite the heathen writers. We have 
 seen that the Nisan in question was in the seventh year 
 of Artaxerxes ; and Ezra tells us in another place u that 
 the fifth month or Ab was also in the seventh year, so 
 that he did not ascend the throne at any time between 
 Nisan and Ab, that is, between April and August. 
 Again, Nehemiah informs us that Chisleu, or December, 
 was in the 20th year of Artaxerxes*, and that the month* 
 of Nisan was also in the 20th year?, so that Artaxerxes 
 did not commence his reign at any time during the 
 interval between Nisan or April, and Chisleu or Decem- 
 ber ; and putting the testimonies of Ezra and Nehe- 
 
 o Ezra vi. 15. ' Ezra vii. 25. q Ezra ix. 9 ; and see Nehem. i. 3. 
 
 r Marginal reading for " began to go up," in the text. 
 
 Ezra vii. 9. ' Ezra viL 7. 
 
 u Ezra vii. 8. x Nehem. i. 1. ' Nehem. ii. 1
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 91 
 
 miah together, Artaxerxes could only have come to the 
 throne some time between Ab and Chisleu, i. e. between 
 August and December. 
 
 But in what year did this occur ? Thucydides, the 
 most accurate of historians, and the contemporary of 
 Artaxerxes himself, states in his immortal work, the 
 Peloponnesian War, that when the summer half of the 
 seventh year of the war, i. e. B.C. 425, was ended*, and 
 the winter half had set in*, an envoy from Persia was 
 intercepted and brought to Athens, and that the Athe- 
 nians thereupon sent an embassy to Ephesus, where they 
 heard that Artaxerxes was just dead b . From this account 
 it is evident that the Athenian envoys heard the news at 
 Ephesus about December, so that the death of Artaxerxes 
 had occurred about the month of November. Now Dio- 
 dorus Siculus states that Artaxerxes reigned 40 years , 
 and he afterwards repeats the same thing without any 
 variation* 1 ; and as all history harmonizes with the fact, 
 we may safely assume it. If we reckon back these 40 
 years from November B.C. 425, it will carry us to No- 
 vember B.C. 465, as the commencement of the reign of 
 Artaxerxes, which agrees with the inferences from the 
 passages noticed in Scripture, that he mounted the throne 
 some time between August and December. The seventh 
 
 I Kal TO depos tVeXevra. iv. 49. 
 
 ToCS* tniyiyifofifvov ^et/icovo?. iv. 50. 
 
 II Ot rrvduptvoi avrodi /3ao-iX<-'a 'Apra^tpgriv TOV 3fpov veaxrTi TfQvrjKora 
 (/cara yap TOVTOV TOV xpovov (Tf\eiiTr]<rev,) eir ouot dvexuprjarav. iv. 60. 
 
 " TTJV be apxyv 8ia8(dfjL(vos 6 'Apraepr]s t/3a<Tt\(v<rev trrj TfwapaKovTa. 
 xi. 69. 
 
 d 'A.prafpgr]s 8' 6 TQ>V Tlepa-Stv 0a<ri\(vs tTt\fVTT)<rtv apas err] 
 Kovra. xii. 64.
 
 92 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 
 
 year of the reign would therefore be from November 
 B.C. 459, to November B.C. 458. The decree conse- 
 quently would be dated the 1st Nisan, B.C. 458, that day 
 being stated as " the foundation of the going up from 
 Babylon 6 ." The prophet therefore predicts that during 
 7 weeks, or 49 years, from Nisan, B.C. 458, the street and 
 wall of Jerusalem should be built (as it was) in troublous 
 times ; that an interval of 62 weeks, or 434 years, should 
 then intervene ; and after that should commence the last 
 week, which should bring in the covenant, set aside 
 the law of Moses, and witness the cutting off of the Mes- 
 siah. The 7 weeks and 62 weeks make together 483 
 years, and reckoning them from the month of Nisan B.C. 
 458, we come to the month of Nisan A.D. 26, as the 
 commencement of the last week. Was then the prophecy 
 fulfilled ? In the course of that week, viz. from Nisan 
 A.D. 26, to Nisan A.D. 33, the covenant was confirmed to 
 many, first by John the Baptist, and then by our Saviour. 
 " In the midst of the week," i. e. in October, A.D. 29, 
 being just three years and six months from the com- 
 mencement of the week, or seven years, Jesus began to 
 preach the new dispensation, which was to supersede the 
 sacrifices and oblations, and this ministry of Christ was 
 continued throughout the half, i.e. the latter half of the 
 week, viz. for three years and six months, measured from 
 October, A.D. 29, to the Passover, A.D. 33, And lastly 
 and chiefly, at the Passover of A.D. 33, being the end 
 of this half-week, and also the expiration exactly of the 
 70 weeks, or 490 years, the Messiah was cut off, and the 
 typical sacrifices of the law were concluded and deter- 
 
 e Ezra vii 9.
 
 AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 93 
 
 mined by the real sacrifice of Christ, once offered for the 
 sins of the whole world. 
 
 From that time forth the Jews were from year to year 
 oppressed more and more by the Romans, until they 
 were driven to arms against their masters, and even- 
 tually "the abomination of desolation," spoken of by 
 Daniel the prophet, stood in the holy sanctuary, and 
 the city was destroyed.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TlilE OF ST. PATTl's FIEST AHBIYAL AT COBflTTH. 
 
 WE now propose to investigate some of the leading 
 dates in the life of St. Paul, as 1. The year of the con- 
 version ; 2. The time of his visit to Jerusalem, at the 
 martyrdom of James, the brother of John, Acts xi. 30 ; 
 3. The date of his arrival at Corinth on the first occasion, 
 Acts xviii. 1 ; 4. The time of his visit to Jerusalem, 
 when he was arrested in the temple ; and 5. The date 
 of his release from imprisonment at Rome. 
 
 This is the order in which the events followed each 
 other, but it will be necessary in our discussion to com- 
 mence with the third question, viz. What was the date of 
 Paul's arrival at Corinth at his first visit ? as on the re- 
 sult of this will depend the year to which the conversion 
 must be referred. 
 
 When all our inquiries have been answered, the har- 
 mony of the whole will be the strongest argument in 
 support of each particular part ; but at present, as we 
 cannot shew the probability of Paul's arrival at Corinth 
 at a certain time by assuming any given date of his his- 
 tory anterior or subsequent, we must break ground by
 
 TIME OF ST. PAUL S FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 95 
 
 an appeal to independent circumstances, peculiarly and 
 exclusively applicable to the arrival itself. 
 
 We have two notes of time in the account of Paul's 
 visit to Corinth, which may furnish us with a clue to the 
 period of its occurrence. First, when Paul reached 
 Corinth, he found there Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, "just 
 (Trpoo-^arcof) come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, 
 because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to de- 
 part from Rome p ;" and Secondly, towards the end of 
 Paul's sojourn at Corinth (which was a year and a half q ), 
 Gallio was appointed proconsul of Achaia. 
 
 1. Expulsion from Rome was generally resorted to as 
 a measure of security, and was enforced against a parti- 
 cular class of inhabitants when the nation to which they 
 belonged was either in open rebellion, or was under 
 grievous suspicion. Thus, when Varus lost his legions 
 in Gaul, Augustus immediately issued a proclamation 
 that all Gauls should depart from Rome r . As the edict 
 against the Jews was promulgated by Claudius, whose 
 reign was from A.D. 41 to A.D. 54, we have then to look 
 for some outbreak of the Jews against the Roman autho- 
 rity during this interval, and such we find in the histories 
 of both Josephus and Tacitus. The former tells us that 
 during the procuratorship of Cumanus, some Galileans, 
 in passing through Samaria, on their way to the feast at 
 Jerusalem, were intercepted by the Samaritans and slain. 
 The Galileans flew to Cumanus for justice, but the pro- 
 curator, having been bribed by the Samaritans, slighted 
 their remonstrances. Upon this the multitudes assem- 
 bled at Jerusalem for the feast, determined on taking 
 
 Acts xviii. 2. 1 Acts xviii. 11. r Dion, Ivi. 23.
 
 96 THE TIME OF ST. PAUI/S 
 
 reprisals into their own hands, and marching down into 
 Samaria and joining their bands to Eleazar, a noted 
 bandit, who had been proscribed by the Romans, sacked 
 and burnt some of the Samaritan villages. Cumanus 
 hastened down with horse and foot, and an engagement 
 took place. Some of the Romans were slain 8 , but in the 
 end the Jews were defeated, many killed, and more taken 
 prisoners. Judaea, if not now in open rebellion, was ex- 
 pected momentarily to be so. Josephus calls it " a re- 
 volt" (aTroo-racrfy), Ant. xx. 6, 3 ; and Tacitus says it 
 was a miracle that the whole province was not in flames, 
 Tac. Ann. xii. 54. Quadratus, the prefect of Syria, 
 marched with his forces to Samaria, where he summoned 
 the Jews and Samaritans before him, and investigated 
 the cause of the disturbance, executed those whom Cu- 
 manus had taken, and then adjourned the hearing till he 
 should reach Juda3a. Some time after he proceeded to 
 Lydda, where the trial was resumed, and the result was 
 that further executions took place, and Cumanus, and 
 Celer his tribune, were sent in chains to Rome, to plead 
 before Claudius. After this, Quadratus marched to 
 Jerusalem, to check any similar outbreak, and was pre- 
 sent at the feast of the Passover 1 . It is evident from 
 this narrative, that the feast at which the Jews had 
 marched into Samaria, and joined their forces to the 
 bandit Eleazar, was the preceding feast, and therefore 
 the feast of Tabernacles. In what year then did this 
 occur ? Josephus informs us that Cumanus and Celer, 
 who had been sent to Rome by Quadratus, were con- 
 
 8 Caesi milites, Tac. Ann. xii. 54. 
 1 Jos. Bell. ii. 12, 6 ; Ant. xx. 6, 1.
 
 FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. ^7 
 
 demned, after trial, the one to banishment, and the other 
 to death, and then subjoins, " and Claudius also sends 
 Felix, the brother of Pallas (vice Cumanus), to take the 
 command of affairs in Judaea ; and having now completed 
 his 12M year, he invests Agrippa with the tetrarchy," 
 &C. 1 The banishment of Cumanus, and the appoint- 
 ment of Felix, was therefore a little before the completion 
 of Claudius's 12th year. But the 12th year of his reign 
 expired on the 25th January A.D. 53. Cumanus and 
 Celer, therefore, had been sent by Quadratus to Rome 
 in A.D. 52, and at the Passover of that year Quadratus 
 had been at Jerusalem, and the outbreak of the Jews 
 had occurred at the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 51. This 
 inference from the account of Josephus is fully con- 
 firmed by the narrative of Tacitus, who places the trial 
 of Cumanus before Claudius, and the pacification of the 
 province by the intervention of Quadratus, in the con- 
 sulship of Faustus Sulla and Salvius Otho, that is, in 
 the year A.D. 52 m ; and if so, the revolt of Judaea must 
 be referred to the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 51. Upon 
 the concurrent testimony, therefore, of Josephus and 
 Tacitus, we may place the disturbances in Judaea at the 
 feast of Tabernacles A.D. 51, i. e. on the 8th day of 
 October of that year ; and assuming this to be so, intelli- 
 gence of the rebellion would reach Rome in December, 
 and Claudius, whose timidity of character is notorious, 
 
 ' n</i7rfi e KOI K.\av8ios *ijXi/ca UaXXaiToy d8(\(pbv (vice Cumani) T>V 
 Kara rrjv 'lovftaiav irpo<rrr](r6iJ.(vov Trpayp-druv' T?}? 8e ap^fjf SajS/Karoj/ ro? 
 rjSij 7rfn\rjpa>Kas 8a>petTai TOV 'AypiTnrav rfj 4>tXt7r7rou T(Tpap\iq, &c. 
 Ant. xx. 7, 1. 
 
 m Tac. Ann. xii. 54. 
 
 H
 
 98 THE TIME OF ST. PAUL S 
 
 would follow up the news by a summary order for the 
 expulsion of the Jews from Rome. 
 
 Josephus, out of tenderness, perhaps, to his country- 
 men, has passed over this edict in silence, but, if we mis- 
 take not, there are some traces of it to be found in Tacitus. 
 In the very first chapter relating to the events of A.D. 52, 
 occurs the following passage : " A decree was passed (as 
 violent as it was nugatory] for the expulsion of the Chal- 
 deans (Mathematici) from Italy"." And if the Jews were 
 connected with the Chaldeans by Tacitus, whose igno- 
 rance, at least on this part of the Jewish history, is very 
 remarkable , the expulsion referred to by St. Luke, in 
 the Acts, is confirmed by the heathen historian. It is 
 singular that the two edicts, unless they were identical, 
 should both have been issued at the same moment. 
 They both also agree in this particular, that Tacitus 
 calls the decree, mentioned by him, " nugatory," and we 
 know that the order of Claudius, referred to by Luke, 
 was not long in force, for the Jews soon returned to the 
 capital, and lived there in the same freedom as before. 
 
 The edict, then, against the Jews was promulgated 
 about December A.D. 51 ; and if so, Aquila would reach 
 Corinth about the end of January A.D. 52, and as Paul 
 came thither just after him, we may place his arrival 
 (to name a particular day) about the 1st of February 
 A.D. 52. 
 
 2. Let us now examine how far 'this date is consistent 
 with the other note of time, viz. the proconsulship of 
 
 . * De Mathematicis Italia pellendis factum senatus-consultum atrox 
 et irritum. Tac. Ann. xii. 52. See Suet. Tib. 36. 
 
 Compare Tac, Ann. xii. 54, with Jos. Bell. ii. 12, 3 ; Ant. xx, 6. 1.
 
 FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 99 
 
 Gallic. The sojourn of Paul at Corinth, altogether, was 
 a year and six months p , so that if he arrived at Corinth 
 the 1st of February A.D. 52, his departure would be 
 about the 1st of August A.D. 53, which would allow 
 quite time enough for reaching Jerusalem at the feast of 
 Tabernacles (as he intended) on the 16th September of 
 that year 9 . Gallic had been some little time (^epay 
 LKavas, Acts xviii. 18) in office when Paul left, so that 
 Gallic would probably come to Corinth a little before 
 midsummer A.D. 53, which would be the usual season 
 of a proconsul's entrance into his province, the order 
 being that the proconsuls should leave Rome by the 15th 
 of April'. Can we then collect from the few facts 
 known of Gallic, the probability of his holding a pro- 
 vince in A.D. 53, or, at least, can we shew that such an 
 event has no improbability attached to it? The ad- 
 vancement of Gallic must be ascribed to the influence 
 of his brother Seneca. In the very first year of the reign 
 of Claudius, A.D. 41, Seneca was banished 8 , and remained 
 in disgrace until A.D. 49, and it is unlikely that during 
 this interval Gallic would have enjoyed the imperial 
 favour, while his brother was in exile. But in A.D. 49, 
 Agrippina, who had just married Claudius, endeavoured 
 to make herself popular by the recall of Seneca, and 
 procured also at the same time his nomination to 
 
 P 'EKaQio-e Tf fviavrov Kal firjvas ! Si8uo-Ka>> tV avrols rov \ayov row 
 Qeov. Acts xviii. 11. 
 
 q Paul sailed from Philippi after the expiration of the Passover, for the 
 purpose of reaching Jerusalem at the Pentecost, the 50th day from the 2nd 
 day of the seven days of unleavened bread. He thus allowed himself only 
 forty-four days from Philippi to Jerusalem ; and twice ou the road, viz. at 
 Troas and Tyre, he tarried a whole week. 
 
 ' Dion, Ix. 17. ' Dion, Ix. 8. 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE TIME OP ST. PAUL'S 
 
 the praetorship, Veniain exilii pro Annaeo Seneca, simul 
 Praeturam impetrat, Tac. Ann. xii. 8. The elections 
 for the praetorship were in the autumn, and the praetors 
 entered upon office the 1st of January following. Now 
 if Gallic, as well as Seneca, had been nominated to the 
 praetorship at Seneca's return, it is scarcely possible 
 that Tacitus should not have mentioned it. Neither is 
 it likely that Seneca, immediately on his own recall, and 
 before he had established his influence at court, should 
 have exerted himself to obtain the praetorship for his 
 brother. It is improbable, therefore, that Gallio was 
 amongst those elected in A.D. 49, and if so, he would 
 not be in actual office as praetor for the year A.D. 50. 
 But there is no objection to the hypothesis that Seneca's 
 influence led to the nomination of Gallio to the praetor- 
 ship in the autumn of A.D. 50, so that he might be 
 actual praetor for the year A.D. 51. It was an in- 
 flexible rule of Claudius, and founded on the justest 
 principles, that no two offices should be held consecu- 
 tively, but that, on the expiration of any magistracy, 
 there should at least be an interval of a year, during 
 which the functus ojjicio should be at Rome, and ready 
 to answer any accusations that might be brought against 
 him for maladministration 1 . If Gallio then was praetor 
 in A.D. 51, he was at Rome during A.D. 52, but in A.D. 
 53 he was capable of taking a province, and his brother 
 Seneca, being then at the height of his popularity, might, 
 with every probability in its favour, have secured for him 
 the proconsulship of Achaia. It is clear that Gallio in 
 the following year, A.D. 54, was not in Achaia, but 
 
 . Dion, Ix. 25.
 
 FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 101 
 
 at Rome, as we find him exerting his wit there on the 
 subject of the death of Claudius 11 . Assuming, then, that 
 Gallio was proconsul for the year A.D. 53, he would 
 leave Rome about the middle of April, and arrive at 
 Corinth, as we have supposed, a little before midsummer 
 A.D. 53, a month or two before Paul's departure. 
 
 Having thus fixed the arrival of Paul at Corinth in 
 A.D. 52, let us trace forward the apostle's history, to see 
 the bearings of this hypothesis upon the date of his visit 
 to Jerusalem, when he was arrested in the temple, and 
 which in a future discussion will be referred to the 
 time of the Pentecost in A.D. 58. If Paul came to 
 Corinth on the 1st of February A.D. 52, it follows 
 that he quitted it, after a year and six months, on the 
 1st of August A.D. 53, and was at Jerusalem at the feast 
 of Tabernacles, the 16th of September in the same year. 
 He then went down to Antioch, and, after staying a little 
 time there, ypovov riva, Acts xviii. 23, passed through 
 Galatia and Phrygia to Ephesus. On his way to Jerusalem, 
 he had promised the Ephesians to return to them after 
 the feast of Tabernacles, so that he would probably arrive 
 at Ephesus in the spring of A.D. 54. He sojourned there 
 three years, Tpieriav, Acts xx. 31, and left, sometime be- 
 tween the Passover and Pentecost, 1 Cor. v. 7, xvi. 8, 
 in the year A.D. 57, and remained during the winter at 
 Corinth, for the space of three months, firjvas r/oety, 
 Acts xx. 3. At the Passover of the following year, A.D. 
 58, he was at Philippi, Acts xx. 6 : so that if we can 
 establish, on independent grounds, that Paul was at 
 Corinth the first time in A.D. 52, it results that he was 
 
 Dion, Ix. 35.
 
 102 TIME OF ST. PAULAS FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 
 
 at Philippi at the Passover of A.D. 58 ; and that Paul was 
 at Philippi in A.D. 58, we shall shew hereafter, by a per- 
 fectly different chain of reasoning. On the other hand, 
 if we can prove, as we shall, that Paul was at Philippi at 
 the Passover of A.D. 58, we have only to reckon back- 
 wards to arrive at the conclusion that Paul reached 
 Corinth, on the first occasion, early in A.D. 52. Thus 
 either date supports the other, and one being conceded, 
 the other will follow.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DATE OF ST. PATTL's CONVEESIOff. 
 
 THIS question depends altogether on a passage in the 
 Galatians. St. Paul, in speaking of the great mercy of 
 God in having wrought his miraculous conversion, tells 
 us, that immediately afterwards he went into Arabia, and 
 returned to Damascus: "Then," he proceeds, "after 
 three years, I went up to Jerusalem," erretra //.era try 
 rpia dvr)\6ov elf 'lepooroXvpa, i. 18 ; " Then, fourteen 
 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem," eTreira dia 
 ^eKareaadpCDV CTMV iraXiv dveftrjv els t \epocroXvfJia } ii. 1. 
 We have here, then, two consecutive periods of three 
 years and fourteen years, making together seventeen 
 years, between the conversion and fhis second visit to 
 Jerusalem. Now this second visit, which fell after an 
 interval of seventeen years from his conversion, can be 
 no other than that which we have placed at the feast of 
 Tabernacles A.D. 53, and if so, then, reckoning back- 
 ward the seventeen years, we shall arrive at the feast 
 of Tabernacles A.D. 36 ; about which period, then, we 
 should place the martyrdom of Stephen, and the per- 
 secution of the Christians at Jerusalem, and then the 
 conversion of St. Paul on his way to Damascus.
 
 104 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 
 
 The circumstances of the time presented a most fa- 
 vourable opportunity for the exercise of these severities 
 against the Church. Pilate, in A.D. 36, had made a 
 merciless massacre of the Samaritans, and a complaint 
 had been lodged against him before Vitellius, the go- 
 vernor of Syria, who was now at Antioch, having just 
 arrived from the Euphrates, where he had concluded 
 peace with the Parthians. Pilate was ordered by Vi- 
 tellius to meet the charge, and probably, for this pur- 
 pose, quitted Jerusalem to defend himself personally at 
 Antioch. The result was, that Pilate was deposed by 
 Vitellius, and ordered to Rome, and Marcellus, a friend 
 of Vitellius, was commissioned to superintend the affairs 
 of Juda3a until a successor should be appointed. Pilate 
 appears to have set sail in the winter of A.D. 36, for 
 he did not reach Rome until after the death of Ti- 
 berius, which occurred on the 16th March A.D. 37 x . 
 The Jews were always on the watch for an occasion of 
 escaping from the pressure of the Roman yoke, and more 
 particularly of exercising their independence by religious 
 persecution for any,supposed breach of their law, and 
 what more convenient juncture could be expected to offer 
 itself than the present ? Pilate was in trouble about him- 
 self, and not likely to interfere in matters of a religious, 
 and not a political, character, and there is no improbabi- 
 lity in the conjecture that Pilate was even absent from 
 Jerusalem in attendance upon the governor of Syria, and 
 that Marcellus, the locum tenens, had not yet arrived at 
 the Jewish capital. It was just such an opportunity 
 
 * Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 2.
 
 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 105 
 
 when an outbreak of popular feeling would hurry Ste- 
 phen to the death enacted by the law for blasphemy, 
 and when the zeal of Saul, unchecked by the civil power, 
 would pour out the vials of wrath upon the detested but 
 unoffending followers of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
 Some chronologers, as Greswell, have referred the 
 martyrdom of Stephen to the feast of Pentecost A.D. 37, 
 at which time the Jews were again under great tempta- 
 tions to commit a similar outrage. Vitellius had visited 
 Jerusalem at the Passover of that year, and was return- 
 ing thence to Antioch, when he very unexpectedly re- 
 ceived Orders from Tiberius, the patron of Herod Antipas, 
 the tetrarch of Galilee, to march against Aretas, king of 
 Petra, who had lately declared war against Antipas, and 
 defeated him or his general in a pitched battle. Vitellius, 
 on receipt of this despatch, led back his forces on his way 
 to Petra, and went up with Antipas to Jerusalem, and was 
 there at the feast of Pentecost, on the 9th of May. Four 
 days after the feast came the news of the death of Tibe- 
 rius, when Vitellius, whose heart rankled with revenge 
 against Antipas, for an affront offered him the year be- 
 fore on the Euphrates, turned his back on the tetrarch 
 and retired to Antioch. The Jews were now left to 
 themselves. Marcellus may have been still the locum 
 tenens, but no regular successor to Pilate had yet arrived. 
 The prefect of Syria was at Antioch, and Tiberius, whose 
 severity they had dreaded, was dead y . Under such a 
 fortunate combination of circumstances, the Jews might 
 well rush upon their prey, and vent their smothered fury 
 upon Stephen, the most zealous of their enemies. 
 
 T Jos. Anfc. xviii. 6, 3.
 
 106 THE DATE OF ST. PATJI/S CONVERSION. 
 
 If this hypothesis appear the more probable, it may be 
 adopted. Whether Stephen suffered at the Tabernacles 
 of A.D. 36, or at the Pentecost of A.D. 37, cannot, in the 
 author's judgment, be determined with any degree of 
 certainty, but that the martyrdom occurred within these 
 limits can hardly be questioned. Either hypothesis will 
 harmonize with the conclusion established in the preced- 
 ing chapter, viz. that Paul's return to Jerusalem, after 
 his first visit to Corinth, was at the feast of Tabernacles 
 A.D. 53. If, indeed, we assume the three years and the 
 fourteen years, mentioned in the Galatians, and making 
 together 17 years, to mean 17 complete years, then, if 
 Paul arrived at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 
 53, his conversion would be 17 years before Christ, at 
 the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 36. But this construction 
 of the apostle's words, " then after three years" (eireira 
 fiera 7-77 r/)/a, Gal. i. 18), is by no means necessary; for, 
 according to the Greek idiom, /iera errj rpla, " after 
 three years," may mean, not after the expiration of three 
 full years, but in the course of the third year current. 
 Thus, "after 40 days," /nera reo-a-apaKovra rjfjiepa?, 
 in Bell. i. 16, 2, is rendered by Josephus in the Anti- 
 quities, " on the 40th day," elf Tea-a-apaKoa-rrjv rf^epav, 
 Ant. xiv. 15, 4. So " after two years," pera err) Svo, 
 Bell. i. 13, 1, is rendered in the Antiquities, " and in the 
 second year," Aeurepw 8e era, &c., Ant. xiv. 13, 3. The 
 17th year from the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 53, reckoned 
 backward, would be from the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 
 36, to the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 37, and whether 
 Stephen suffered at the close of A.D. 36, or in the first 
 half of A.D. 37, the arrival of Paul at Jerusalem at the
 
 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S CONVERSION. 107 
 
 feast of Tabernacles A.D. 53, would equally be said to 
 occur after 17 years. 
 
 It is not an uncommon opinion, and therefore we 
 notice it, that not only the three years, but also the four- 
 teen years, are to be dated from the time of St. Paul's con- 
 version ; but this is not the natural sense, and cannot be 
 adopted without absolute necessity. Supposing, how- 
 ever, that the language itself offered no objection, the 
 assumption could not be made to harmonize with the 
 facts. Thus, if the voyage from Corinth to Jerusalem 
 be placed, as it must be, at the feast of Tabernacles A.D. 
 53, 14 years before that would carry us to the feast of 
 Tabernacles A.D. 39, as the time of the conversion. Paul 
 visited Jerusalem three years after his conversion, Gal. 
 i. 18, which would therefore be in A.D. 42, and we shall 
 shew presently, as a date to be received without the 
 least question, that he was again at Jerusalem at the 
 Passover of A.D. 44. Now in this interval of two years, 
 from A.D. 42 to A.D. 44, occurred the following events. 
 Paul, after attempting to preach at Jerusalem, was 
 obliged to leave it, and was sent by the disciples to 
 Tarsus, where he sojourned, Acts ix. 30 ; the Churches 
 had an interval of rest, Acts ix. 31 ; Peter made a 
 general circuit, (8ia Trdvrwv,} Acts ix. 32; Cornelius 
 was called at Caesarea, Acts x. ; Peter returned to 
 Jerusalem, and a council was held on the subject of the 
 admission of the Gentiles, Acts xi. 1 ; the gospel was 
 preached to the Greeks at Antioch, Acts xi. 19; the 
 Church of Jerusalem heard of it, and sent Barnabas thither, 
 Acts xi. 22 ; Barnabas went on to Tarsus, and brought 
 Saul back with him, Acts xi. 25 ; Saul and Barnabas
 
 108 THE DATJB OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 
 
 remained at Antioch a whole year, cviavrov o\ov t Acts 
 xi. 26 ; Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem before 
 the Passover, A.D. 44. Now these events are far too 
 numerous to be compressed within the space of two 
 years only, and if so, Paul's first visit to Jerusalem, 
 after his conversion, could not have been in the year 
 A.D. 42 ; that is, his conversion could not have been 
 three years before, in A.D. 89 ; in which year however 
 it must be placed if the 14 years before his visit in 
 A.D. 53 were dated from the conversion, and not from 
 the expiration of the three years. 
 
 It follows that the three years and the 14 years of the 
 Galatians must be distinct and consecutive periods, and, 
 the first visit to Jerusalem after the conversion being in 
 A.D. 39, the conversion itself must be carried back three 
 years earlier, viz. to the feast of Tabernacles, A.D. 36, or 
 the feast of Pentecost, A.D. 37.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE TIME OF THE TISIT OF PAtTL AltD BABSTABAS TO JEHTJSA1EM, WHEK 
 THEY -WTEEE SENT TIP WITH THE ALMS FEOM THE ANTIOCHIAH CHTTECH. 
 
 THE circumstances of this visit are familiar to all. 
 Agabus, a member of the Jerusalem Church, and who had 
 lately come down with some others to Antioch, predicted 
 that a general famine was at hand, and therefore the 
 Antiochian converts made a charitable collection amongst 
 themselves for the relief of their poorer brethren at Jeru- 
 salem, and forwarded it by the hands of Paul and Bar- 
 nabas. The two envoys arrived at Jerusalem just before 
 a Passover. Herod Agrippa, probably while Paul and 
 Barnabas were at Jerusalem, slew James the brother of 
 John, and furthermore cast Peter into prison, with the 
 view of putting him also to death, after the Passover. 
 Agrippa, when the feast was ended, went down to Cae- 
 sarea, and there abode, Sierpifiev, Acts xii. 19, and not 
 long after died suddenly in the theatre. 
 
 We have here two notes of time in connection with the 
 journey of Paul and Barnabas, first, the famine ; and 
 secondly, the death of Agrippa. Luke tells us that the 
 famine came to pass in the reign of Claudius, Acts xi. 
 28, and therefore after the 24th of January A.D. 41, when
 
 110 THE TIME OF PAUL AND BARNABAs's 
 
 Claudius ascended the throne, and before the 13th of 
 October A.D. 54, when Claudius died. Josephus speaks 
 of the same famine, and states that it occurred under 
 the procuratorships of Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alex- 
 ander 1 . Cuspius Fadus was appointed in the latter half 
 of A.D. 44, and was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander in 
 A.D. 46. The famine, therefore, may have commenced, 
 according to Josephus, in the latter part of A.D. 44; but 
 apparently it had begun to be felt somewhat earlier, 
 for Cuspius Fadus was sent to Judaea in the latter half 
 of A.D. 44, in the place of Agrippa, who had lately died; 
 and in the lifetime of Agrippa, and therefore probably 
 not later than midsummer A.D. 44, the Syrians and 
 Sidonians had arrived at Csesarea, to make peace with 
 Agrippa, " because their country was nourished by the 
 king's country*." They were evidently straitened at 
 this time for provisions from the prevailing scarcity. 
 These notices of the famine therefore would lead us to 
 the conclusion, that, as Paul and Barnabas came up from 
 Antioch to Jerusalem in anticipation of a famine, and 
 just before a certain Passover, this Passover could be 
 none other than that of A.D. 44. 
 
 But we shall arrive at this date with greater certainty 
 by adverting to the other circumstance connected with 
 the apostle's visit, viz. the death of Agrippa. 
 
 The account in the Acts runs : "And he (Agrippa) went 
 down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode, (KOL e'/cet 
 8ierpif3v). And Herod was highly displeased with them 
 
 1 'ETT! rovrois 8^ (Fadus and Alexander) KOI TOV ptyav \ifiov Kara TTJV 
 'lovSalav (rvvf^tj ytvevOai, Ant. XX. 5, 2. 
 Acts xii. 20.
 
 VISIT TO JERUSALEM. Ill 
 
 of Tyre and Sidon," &c., when follow the particulars of 
 his death in the theatre 5 . The awful circumstances related 
 by St. Luke were evidently so close after the Passover, as 
 to force themselves from their proximity into the sacred 
 narrative, though the writer had been treating of dif- 
 ferent matters. The words CKC* 8iTpij3tv, do not imply 
 any length of time, and should more properly have been 
 rendered " was sojourning there," when the Tyrians and 
 Sidonians implored his clemency, &c. 
 
 Agrippa, it is manifest, never returned again to Jeru- 
 salem, so that he could not have long survived the Pass- 
 over, for he was a rigid observer of the law of Moses, 
 and would have deemed it a heinous sin not to attend 
 the regular festivals. Accident or illness might lead to 
 his absence from some one of the feasts, as the next 
 Pentecost, but he must have worshipped again at Jeru- 
 salem before the Passover of the following year. His 
 death, then, may probably be placed after an interval of 
 two or three months, at the most, from the Passover 
 when Paul and Barnabas were present with him at Jeru- 
 salem. In what year, then, did this occur ? The an- 
 swer will be found in Josephus. He mentions that 
 Agrippa, at his death, had completed the third year of 
 his reign over all Judaea : rpirov eras avrw TTJ? b\rjs 
 'lovSata? Tr7r\rjpcoTO, Ant. xix. 8, 2 ; /3e/3acriAei;/ca>y 
 fjiev errj rpia, Bell. ii. 11, 6 ; and that he had reigned 
 seven years, reckoned from the time of his appointment 
 as king of Trachonitis, aywv rrjy /3aaYAe/a? e/3<5oyuoi>' 
 ev ov 7rt Fcuou KatVa/ooy e/3acrt'Aeu(rey 
 vf, rfj? yu,ez> QiXiinrov Terpap^ias elf Tpieria.v 
 b Acts xii, 19.
 
 112 THE TIME OF PAUL AND BARNABAs's 
 
 TW rerdpTO) 8e KCU rrjv 'Hpcodov 7rpoo-i\r)(f)a>?, 
 Ant. xix. 8, 2. Now Agrippa was made king of all 
 Judcea by Claudius not long after his accession, and as 
 Claudius succeeded Caligula on the 24th of January 
 A.D. 41, the appointment of Agrippa may have taken 
 place in February or March, and three years from that 
 time would bring us to February or March A.D. 44 ; but 
 as at his death Agrippa had completed three years, he 
 lived somewhat longer. Again, Agrippa was made king 
 of Trachonitis by Caligula, soon after the latter came to 
 the throne. Tiberius died either on the 16th of March, 
 A.D. 37, Tac. Ann. vi. 50, or on the 26th of March, A.D. 
 37, Dion. Iviii. 28. Caligula was then in Campania, but 
 he celebrated the funeral at Rome, Just. Calig. 13 j and 
 a few days after the ceremony, and therefore some 
 time in April, he created Agrippa king of Trachonitis c . 
 Counting, then, seven years from April A.D. 37, as the 
 commencement of Agrippa's reign, we arrive at April 
 A.D. 44 as the completion of the 7th year. There can 
 be no doubt, therefore, that the death of Agrippa must 
 be placed in A.D. 44, and not long after the Passover, 
 which was on the 31st of March. 
 
 This conclusion is confirmed by a circumstance men- 
 tioned by Josephus. Agrippa, the Jewish historian tells 
 us, died during the celebration of some games "in hon- 
 our of Claudius, for his safety," els rrjv Kaio-apo? 
 VTrep Trjs acoTTjpidf avTov, Ant. xix. 8, 2. I know 
 
 c Tatos 8' a>s eVt 'PcafjLrjv irap^v, ayezv TOV Tifiepiov TO (rcapa, rafpds re 
 avroO noiflrai TroAureAely vop,ois Trarpiois' ' Aypiirirav 8e avGrjpfpiv Avfiv 
 ovra Trp60vp.ov, Ko>\vfjia 'Avrcwia r\v. &if\6ov(ra>i> \tivroi ov Tro\\ 
 .... /SacrtAta Kadiorrfcri ai/rov. Ant. xviii. 6, 10.
 
 VISIT TO JERUSALEM. 113 
 
 not what this can refer to but the safe return of Clau- 
 dius from Britain to Rome, in January A.D. 44, after a 
 six months' absence. Great festivities were everywhere 
 celebrated on the occasion, and no doubt when the news 
 reached Judaea, which would be about April, the same 
 mark of respect would be paid to him by Agrippa. 
 Claudius being not only a patron of the Jews generally, 
 but of Agrippa in particular, upon whom he had con- 
 ferred the kingdom of Judaea, what more likely than 
 that Agrippa, when he heard of the emperor's return, 
 should be present at games "in honour of the Caesar, 
 for his safety," els rrjv Kato-apo? TL^V VTrep rfjf 
 o-coTrjpiaf avrov. The death of Agrippa, on this hy- 
 pothesis, and allowing some time for the preparations 
 for the festival, would be about May, A.D. 44, and if 
 so, the visit of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem would 
 be, as we have stated, a little before the Passover of 
 the same year.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DATEJJF ST. PATTI/S VISIT TO JERUSALEM WHEN HE "WAS 
 ARRESTED U? THE TEMPLE. 
 
 WE refer this visit to the year A.D. 58, and we shall 
 endeavour to establish this by shewing, first, That the 
 visit cannot be placed in any earlier year than A.D. 58 ; 
 2. That it cannot be placed in any later year; and 3. 
 That there are certain particulars belonging to this visit 
 which characterize the year A.D. 58, but no other year. 
 
 First. This visit of Paul cannot be placed in any year 
 earlier than A.D. 58. 
 
 It is clear that the arrival of Paul at the Jewish capital 
 was subsequent to the rise of the Sicarii, and even to 
 the later event of the disturbance caused by the Egyptian 
 prophet. Lysias, in his hurried conversation with Paul 
 on the stairs of Fort Antonia, alludes both to the Sicarii 
 and the Egyptian : " Art not thou that Egyptian which, 
 before these days, madest an uproar, and leddest out in 
 the wilderness four thousand men of the Sicarii? (TO>V 
 ." At what period, then, did the emeute of the 
 
 .OiiK apa (rii el 6 AiyvTTTtos 6 npo TOVTCOV T>V fjfj.epS)v ezyacrraTaxrar Kal 
 tgayayuv (Is TTJV epr]fi.ov TOVS TfrpaKKrxiXiovff avSpas TUV StKaptW. Acts 
 XXL38.
 
 DATE OF ST. PAUI/S VISIT TO JERUSALEM, &C. 115 
 
 Egyptian impostor occur ? We learn from Josephus that 
 it was in the time of Nero, and if we examine the events 
 recorded by that historian under the reign of Nero, and 
 preceding the appearance of the Egyptian prophet, we 
 shall find that this impostor could not have made his 
 attempt before the year A.D. 57. Nero began to reign 
 on the 13th of October, A.D. 54, and the transactions 
 in Judaea and the East during the time of Nero, (TO, 
 'lovdaloi? KO.T avrov yevo/jieva, Bell. ii. 13, 1 ; and 
 see Ant. xx. 8, 4), are enumerated in the following 
 order : 
 
 1. Nero makes Soemus king of Emesa, and gives the 
 Lesser Armenia to Aristobulus, and extends the domi- 
 nions of Agrippa, Ant. xx. 8, 4, Bell. ii. 13, 2. 
 
 2. Juda3a is filled with bandits, and Felix is busy in 
 extirpating them, TroXXov? ptv Kaff eKaa-Trjv ^epav 
 
 , Ant. xx. 8, 4, till the country is cleared, 
 TTJS ^wpas, Bell. ii. 13, 3. Eleazar, the 
 arch-robber, who had defied the governors for 20 years, 
 is captured and sent to Rome, Ant. x. 8, 5, Bell. ii. 13, 2. 
 (The tranquillity thus produced is the peace for which 
 Tertullus compliments Eelix: TroAA^s 1 eiprjvrjs rvyya.- 
 vovres dta aov, Acts xxiv. 3.) 
 
 3. The rise of the Sicarii, or secret assassins, erepov 
 eldos X-qa-T&v, Bell ii. 13, 3, chiefly at the great feasts. 
 Jonathan, the high-priest, is their first victim, and as 
 this passed over with impunity, the evil spreads. Ant. 
 xx. 8, 5, Bell. ii. 13, 3. Observe, also, that Lysias speaks 
 of 4,000 Sicarii, TerpaKLO-\iXiovs aivSpas TWV *2iKapia>v, 
 Acts xxi. 38. Some interval, therefore, had elapsed be- 
 tween the murder of Jonathan and the arrival of Paul, 
 
 i2
 
 1] 6 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 
 
 or the name of Sicarii would not have been so familiar, 
 or their number so great. 
 
 4. Religious impostors, ort^oy erepov irov^pwv, Bell, 
 ii. 13, 4, lead multitudes of followers into the desert, and 
 Felix sends a force against them and disperses them, 
 Ant. xx. 8, 6, Bell. ii. 13, 4. 
 
 5. The Egyptian prophet, /Lte/fovt TO.VTT]? TrA^y?}, 
 Bell. ii. 13, 5, arises and leads 4,000 followers (Acts xxi. 
 38) from Jerusalem into the desert, and afterwards re- 
 turns at the head of 30,000 men to the Mount of Olives, 
 to make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but Felix 
 attacks them and kills many, but the Egyptian himself 
 escapes, Ant. xx. 8, 6, Bell. ii. 13, 5. Lysias had not, 
 improbably, been sent by Felix against the Egyptian, and 
 this would account for his having the Egyptian so much 
 in his thoughts, Acts xxi. 38. 
 
 The above events were not contemporaneous, but had 
 followed each other, as in a broken constitution, no sooner 
 was one disease cured than another shewed itself, Kare- 
 aTa\/j.evct)v 8e KOI rovrcav cocnrep eV vocrovvn orw^aTL 
 iraXiv tTtpov fJtepos tyheyfiuiivev, Bell. ii. 13, 6. 
 
 A less space than three years cannot be allowed for 
 this series of transactions, and this will bring us to the 
 13th of October, A.D. 57. But Paul's arrival at Jeru- 
 salem was some time, say several months, after the 
 attempt of the Egyptian, for Lysias speaks of it as hav- 
 ing occurred "before these days," trpo TOVTWV TWV 
 rjjjLcpaJv, Acts xxi. 38. The arrival of the apostle, there- 
 fore, cannot be placed earlier than some time in the 
 year A.D. 58.
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 117 
 
 t. We shall shew that Paul's arrival at Jeru- 
 salem could not have been later than in A.D. 58. 
 
 Paul had been two years a prisoner at Csesarea when 
 Felix was succeeded by Festus, Acts xxiv. 27. The 
 question then is, when was Felix recalled? 
 
 On Felix's return to Rome he was followed by an 
 embassy of the Jews, to accuse him to the emperor, and 
 he escaped condign punishment through the influence 
 only of his brother Pallas, Ant. xx. 8, 9. But Pallas 
 was taken off by poison in A.D. 62, Tac. Ann. xiv. 64, 
 Dion. Ixii. 14. The recall of Felix therefore, at least, 
 could not have been later than the summer of A.D. 61, 
 for Felix was certainly succeeded by Festus in some 
 summer, and if it was the summer of A.D. 62, and not 
 of A.D. 61, he could not have reached Rome in the life- 
 time of Pallas. 
 
 Neither could Felix have been recalled in the summer 
 of A.D. 61, for if so, Paul also must have been sent by 
 Festus from Caesarea to Rome in the autumn of that 
 year, and have reached Rome in the spring of A.D. 62. 
 But when Paul arrived at Rome he was delivered to a 
 single prefect of the Prsetorium, rw o-rpaTOTredapxi)) 
 Acts xxviii. 16, and not to prefects, in the plural. Now 
 Burrhus had been the single prefect for ten years and 
 upwards, but at the very beginning of A.D. 62 Burrhus 
 died, and from that time two prefects were appointed in 
 his place. Paul, therefore, must have reached Rome 
 in an earlier year than A.D. 62 ; and if so, he must have 
 sailed from Csesarea in an earlier year than A.D. 61. 
 Consequently, Felix also, who was succeeded by Festus 
 in the summer of the year in which Paul sailed, must 
 have been recalled before the year A.D. 61.
 
 118 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 
 
 Felix then must have been displaced in A.D. 60 ; and 
 if so, as Paul was a prisoner for two years, he could 
 not have been apprehended in the temple later than in 
 A.D. 58. 
 
 We have assumed that Burrhus died at the very 
 beginning of A.D. 62, and this will appear from the 
 detail of events related by Tacitus, as occurring between 
 the 1st of January and the 9th of June of that year. 
 
 The only facts recorded by Tacitus before the death 
 of Burrhus, are the accusations against Antistius and 
 Veiento, Tac. Ann. xiv. 48 51. But the occurrences 
 between the death of Burrhus, and the death of Octavia 
 on the 9th of June of the same year, are such as to re- 
 quire all the space that can be allowed them, even on the 
 supposition that Burrhus died some time in the month 
 of January. The events of this year up to the 9th of 
 June are thus given : 
 
 Antistius and Yeiento are accused, Tac. Ann. xiv. \ 
 
 48,50. Jan. 
 
 The death of Burrhus ) 
 
 Seneca loses his power in consequence, xiv. 51, 52. j 
 He is accused before Nero, and defends himself, [ -p G ]j 
 xiv. 53. 
 
 Rufus Fenius falls into disgrace, xiv. 57. 
 
 Tigellinus, his colleague, urges the death of Sulla 
 in Gaul, and Plautus in Asia, xiv. 57. 
 
 Sulla is executed in Gaul, and his head brought to 
 Rome, xiv. 57; and Plautus is put to death in 
 Asia, and his head also brought to Rome, xiv. 59. 
 This voyage from Rome to Asia and back must 
 have occupied a considerable time, the more so, as 
 the report of the plot against Plautus reached 
 him, in Asia, before his executioners arrived. 
 
 The Senate pass a vote of thanks to Nero, xiv. 59. ^ 
 
 Mar. 
 
 and 
 
 April.
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 119 
 
 Divorce of Octavia, xiv. 60. 
 
 Nero's marriage with Poppcea, xiv. 60, 12 days after 
 the divorce, Suet. Nero, 35. 
 
 Murmurs of the people at the usage of Octavia, 
 
 Tac. Ann. xiv. 60. 
 
 Octavia recalled from Campania, xiv. 60. 
 Rejoicings of the people, xiv. 60. 
 
 Octavia banished to Pandateria, xiv. 61. 
 
 Some days after (paucis interjectis diebus) Octavia 
 
 is put to death, xiv. 62. 
 This was on the same day as the death of Nero, and 
 
 therefore on the 9th of June, Suet. Nero, 57. 
 
 May. 
 
 June. 
 
 We leave the reader to judge from this table, whether 
 Burrhus could have survived the month of January, 
 and have been still alive when Paul reached Rome, at 
 the end of February. 
 
 Thirdly. There are arguments which will evince that 
 Paul arrived at Jerusalem in the year A.D. 58, and not 
 in any other year. Let the reader attend to the follow- 
 ing remarkable coincidence. Paul had originally purposed 
 to sail direct from Corinth to Judaea, but an ambush 
 was laid against him, and he was obliged to go round 
 by Macedonia. This circuit caused considerable delay, 
 and he was under the necessity of making all haste, in 
 order to reach Jerusalem at the Pentecost, " if it were 
 possible" (d Svvarov r)v avrw,) Acts xx. 16. He arrived 
 at Philippi just before the Passover, and stayed till it 
 was over. He then sailed for Troas, which he reached on 
 the 5th day. He tarried there seven days, and the last 
 was a Sunday, on which he preached, before departing 
 on the Monday. 'H/xeto-Se efeTrAeJcra/xei/ ftera ray 
 rj/jLepaf T(ov dty/jLCov GLTTO QiXiTTTrcov, KCU rj\0ojjiei> irpos 
 avrovf ely rrjv Tpcodda axpi? rj^epmv TreWe, ov di-
 
 120 THE DATE OF ST. PATJI/S VISIT TO, JERUSALEM 
 
 'Ei> 5e 777 JJLLO. T&V (rap/Barons, 
 &c., Acts xx. 6. Now in A.D. 58, the day of the paschal 
 sacrifices and supper, the first of the eight days' feast, 
 fell on Monday the 27th of March, (beginning at 6 p.m. 
 of the evening before), and the last day of the feast was 
 Monday the 3rd of April. Paul, therefore, started on 
 Tuesday, the 4th of April, and reached Troas on Sunday, 
 the 9th of April, and stayed a week there, and preached 
 at Troas on Sunday the 16th of April. 
 
 Now every year about this time, except the year 
 A.D. 58, presents features at variance with the fact men- 
 tioned by Luke, that Paul spent the Sunday, being the 
 loth day after leaving Philippi, in Troas. To have done 
 this, Paul must have sailed from Philippi on a Tuesday, 
 and this Tuesday must have been at the conclusion of 
 a Passover. The following table will shew how little 
 any year but A.D. 58 will answer the requisitions : 
 
 A.D. Passover begins. Passover ends. 
 
 53 March 22, Thursday. March 29, Thursday. 
 
 54 April 10, Wednesday. April 17, Wednesday. 
 
 55 March 30, Sunday. April 6, Sunday. 
 
 56 March 19, Friday. March 26, Friday. 
 
 57 April 7, Thursday. April 14, Thursday. 
 
 58 March 27, Monday. April 3, Monday. 
 
 59 April 15, Sunday. April 22, Sunday. 
 
 60 April 4, Friday. April 11, Friday*. 
 
 The years that agree best after A.D. 58 are the years 
 A.D. 55 and A.D. 59, in which the Passover ended on a 
 Sunday, and then, if Paul remained one day at Philippi, 
 and started on the following day, viz. Tuesday, he would 
 
 e For the feast-days in this table, see Greswell's Prolegomena ; and for 
 the week-days, see De Morgan's Book of Almanacks ; and see upon the 
 subject generally, Wieseler's Chronology, which the author in this chapter 
 has, with little variation, adopted.
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 121 
 
 still be at Troas on Sunday, the 13th day after. But 
 Paul could not have been at Philippi in A.D. 55, for then 
 he would have reached Jerusalem at the Pentecost of the 
 same year ; but this could not have been the case, for the 
 outbreak of the Egyptian had occurred, upon this hypo- 
 thesis, some time, say six months, before, which is utterly 
 at variance with the narrative of Josephus. Neither could 
 Paul have started from Philippi in A.D. 59, for then he 
 must have sailed from Caesarea in A.D. 61, and have been 
 delivered over in February, A.D. 62, to Burrhus, rw arpa- 
 TOTredapxu, Acts xxviii. 16, but who had died the pre- 
 ceding month. We must conclude, therefore, upon the 
 whole, that Paul's departure from Philippi, and arrival 
 at Jerusalem, was in A.D. 58, and could have been in no 
 other year. 
 
 There is also a further argument connected with the 
 same subject, which is this. The apostle started from 
 Philippi after the Passover, and arrived at Jerusalem 
 before the day of Pentecost. What space of time then 
 was consumed in the journey ? The Pentecost was the 
 50th day from the second day (exclusively) of the feast of 
 unleavened bread. We must deduct then the five last 
 days of the feast of unleavened bread, during which 
 Paul was still at Philippi, and the day of Pentecost 
 itself, and we have remaining 44 days only. The ene- 
 mies of Christianity have ventured on the assertion, that 
 Paul could not possibly, between the Passover and Pen- 
 tecost of any year, have accomplished the voyage from 
 Philippi to Jerusalem ; but although that proposition be 
 untenable, we shall, nevertheless, be satisfied, from an 
 inspection of the subjoined table, that the intermediate
 
 122 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 
 
 space is fully occupied, and that Paul had not even a 
 day to throw away. Now, in A.D. 58, no time would 
 be wasted, but in every other year one or more days 
 would be necessarily so. Thus, to explain our meaning 
 more fully, the apostle's voyage from Philippi to Troas 
 occupied five days, and he stayed at Troas seven days, 
 and the last day was a Sunday, when Paul preached. 
 He must, therefore, have started from Philippi on a 
 Tuesday. In A.D. 58 the Passover ended on a Monday, 
 and if Paul quitted Philippi the next day, Tuesday, 
 no part of the 44 days between the Passover and Pen- 
 tecost was lost. But this would not be the case with 
 any other year; thus, in A.D. 57, the Passover ended 
 on a Thursday, and therefore, as Paul took his depar- 
 ture on a Tuesday, he would waste four days at Philippi 
 between the close of the Passover and the commence- 
 ment of his journey. Now, on this supposition, it is 
 not possible that Paul could have reached Jerusalem be- 
 fore the day of Pentecost. 
 
 The following table will exhibit the course of Paul's 
 voyage in A.D. 58, and the reader will coUect from it 
 that, to enable the apostle to reach Jerusalem before the 
 Pentecost, he must have quitted Philippi the very day 
 after the Passover : 
 
 A.D. 58. 
 
 The Passover was on Monday, the 27th of March, 
 beginning from 6 p.m. of the preceding evening, 
 and ended on Monday, the 3rd of April, at 6 p.m. 
 
 Paul started on Tuesday, the 4th of April . . April 4 
 
 In five days, (nxpis ^p.epS>v TreVre, xx. 6,) and therefore 
 on Sunday, he reached Troas, and remained seven 
 days, ov 8ifTpfya(i*v ijp^pas firrd, xx. 6. . . 8
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 123 
 
 On the last of the seven days, and therefore on 
 
 Sunday, the 16th, Paul preached at Troas, xx. 7. Apr. 16 
 
 On Monday, the 17th, he embarked at Troas, and 
 reached Mitylene 17 
 
 Tuesday, the 18th, (rfj imovvr,, xx. 15,) to Chios . 18 
 
 Wednesday, the 19th, (rij 8e erf pa, xx. 15,) to 
 Samoa . . " . ' .' . - ,, ... 19 
 
 Thursday, the 20th, (rfj f^opevj}, xx. 15,) to Miletus, 
 whence he sent off a dispatch to Ephesus, for the 
 elders to come to him 20 
 
 Sunday, the 23rd, the elders arrived, and Paul ad- 
 dressed them, probably, through the night before 
 his departure in the morning, as at Troas . . 23 
 Monday, the 24th, Paul embarked apparently at the 
 close of his sermon, (see xx. 38,) and reached 
 
 Cos . 24 
 
 Tuesday, the 25th, (rfj ttfs, xxi. 1,) to Ehodes . 25 
 Wednesday, the 26th, to Patara .... 26 
 Thursday, the 27th, Paul sailed direct for Tyre . 27 
 Sunday, the 30th, Paul arrived at Tyre, where they 
 
 stayed a week, ij^fpas firra, xxi. 4. ... 30 
 At the end of the seven days, that is, on 
 Monday, when the Sabbath was over, (ore 
 
 lyevero ^p.as f^apria-ai ras ijfj.epas, Xxi. 5,) Paul 
 
 sailed to Acre. ...... May 8 
 
 At Acre, Paul stayed one day, (fofpav piav, xxi. 7,) 
 
 and on Wednesday, the 10th, (rfj enavpiov, xxi. 
 
 8,) to Csesarea, whence intelligence was forwarded 
 
 to Jerusalem ....... 10 
 
 Sunday, the 14th, Agabus arrived from Jerusalem, 
 
 and warned Paul of his danger ..: . . 14 
 Monday, the 15th, Paul, having stayed at Caesarea 
 
 several days, jpfpas v\eiovs, xxi. 10, viz. five days, 
 
 proceeded to Jerusalem, 75 miles distant . . 15 
 
 On Wednesday, the 1 7th, Paul reached Jerusalem, 
 and the Pentecost began at 6 p.m. . . . 16
 
 124 THE DATE OP ST. PAUL S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 
 
 There are several circumstances belonging to Paul's 
 present visit to Jerusalem, which, though they may not 
 prove, yet confirm, the hypothesis, that it occurred in the 
 year A. D. 58. Thus, in the first place, Paul tells us that 
 he had not been at Jerusalem before for several years, 81 
 erai; Se irXtiovwv Trapeyevo^v, Acts xxiv. 17 ; and, ac- 
 cording to the views which we have adopted, he had 
 been last at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, 
 A.D. 53, nearly five years before. Again, when Paul was 
 pleading before Felix, during this visit, he begins by 
 alluding to the length of time during which Felix had 
 been procurator : " Forasmuch as I know that thou hast 
 been for many years a judge unto this nation," (eV 
 TroAAajf Irons OVTCL ere Kpirrjv TO> e6vei roJrw), Acts 
 xxiv. 10. Felix had been appointed in A.D. 52, and as 
 the usual time of office was two or three years, Paul 
 might well speak of a period of six years, viz. from A.D. 
 52 to A.D. 58, as a prolonged administration. 
 
 Another argument does not lie so much on the sur- 
 face. It is this. If the date of Paul's voyage from 
 Greece to Jerusalem be placed, as it is by Greswell, in 
 A.D. 56, then Paul had left Ephesus for Greece in the 
 preceding year, or A.D. 55, and had arrived at Ephesus 
 from Galatia three years before that, viz. in A.D. 52. That 
 the Epistle to the Galatians was written after this second 
 visit to Galatia is evident, for the apostle alludes to the 
 first : " Ye know that through infirmity of the flesh I 
 preached the gospel unto you the former time ;" (TO 
 TTporepov), Galat. iv. 13, and it must, therefore, have 
 been despatched after A.D. 52. It was also sent to them
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 125 
 
 during the observance of a sabbatic year : " Ye are ob- 
 serving days and months, and seasons and years'" 
 pa$ 7rapaTrjpio'0, Koi fjLrjva? KCU Katpovy KCU t 
 TOVS)} Galat. iv. 10, and therefore some time in A.D. 55. 
 But, if so, three years would have elapsed since his last 
 appearance amongst the Galatians. Now, several pas- 
 sages in the Epistle shew that Paul had left them not 
 long before, thus : "I marvel that ye are so soon removed 
 from the faith," &c., Galat. i.; and there are many other 
 similar texts. The author had formerly adopted the date 
 of A.D. 56, and found himself unable to reconcile this 
 discrepancy, but assuming the date of Paul's visit to 
 Jerusalem to be, not in A.D. 56, but in A.D. 58, the diffi- 
 culty vanishes ; for Paul, on this supposition, had quitted 
 Ephesus for Greece in A.D. 57, and his arrival at Ephesus 
 three years before, from Galatia, had been in A.D. 54, and 
 the Epistle to the Galatians would be written the follow- 
 ing year, viz. in A.D. 55 ; and a brief interval of this kind 
 accords well enough with the expressions in the Epistle 
 alluding to his presence amongst the Galatians not very 
 long previously. 
 
 We must now advert to one or two objections against 
 the date of A.D. 58. It is said by Josephus, that when 
 Felix was recalled, his brother Pallas was still at the 
 height of his influence, //.coWra 8ia TI^S, Ant. xx.8,9 ; 
 but if Paul arrived at Jerusalem in A.D. 58, then, it is 
 said, Felix was recalled in A.D. 60, and Pallas at that 
 time, though still living, had lost his power. This ob- 
 jection proves too much, for Pallas was out of favour so 
 early as A.D. 54', and in A.D. 55 was actually deprived 
 
 ' Tac. Ann. xiii. 2.
 
 126 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 
 
 of office 6 , and Felix could not possibly have been recalled 
 so late as A.D. 54, or A.D. 55, for, if so, Paul had been 
 arrested by Lysias in A.D. 52, or A.D. 53, at which time 
 he could not have been mistaken for the Egyptian, who, 
 on the authority of Josephus himself, did not make his 
 appearance till the reign of Nero, which began on the 
 13th of October, A.D. 54. Josephus, then, in using the 
 expression, /-taAtcrra 8ia TijJLrjs, evidently exaggerates. 
 Pallas, at the recall of Felix, was still living, and could, 
 no doubt, still exert great interest for his brother with 
 the judges before whom he was tried ; but to describe 
 Pallas as then at the height of his influence is a misrepre- 
 sentation. Had the fact been so, Felix would not have 
 been recalled. 
 
 Another objection to be noticed is, that, if Paul arrived 
 at Jerusalem in A.D. 58, then the Epistle to the Romans 
 was written early in the same year, just before Paul 
 started from Corinth, and in that Epistle Paul sends a 
 salutation to Narcissus at Rome, and Narcissus, it is said, 
 had been put to death in A.D. 54. We answer, that this 
 also proves too much ; for if Narcissus was alive at the 
 date of the Epistle, then Paul must have written it in 
 the spring of A.D. 54, and have visited Jerusalem at the 
 Pentecost of A.D. 54. But this, again, would be before 
 the appearance of the Egyptian false prophet, alluded to 
 by Lysias, and placed by Josephus in the reign of Nero, 
 which commenced on the 13th of October, A.D. 54. The 
 Narcissus saluted by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans 
 was, no doubt, a much purer character than the cele- 
 brated courtier of that name, and was probably some 
 
 * Tac. Ann. xiii. 14.
 
 WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 127 
 
 person eminent for his piety in private life. There were 
 many Narcissuses at Rome, and two of them were freed- 
 men h of note under Claudius and Nero, but neither of 
 them could have been the Narcissus honoured with the 
 apostle's salutation. 
 
 h The second freedman of that name was put to death by Galba. Dion, 
 Ixiy. 3.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DATE OF ST. PATTI/S B.ELEASE FROM IMPBISONMENT AT EOME. 
 
 THE arrival of Paul in the temple at Jerusalem, and 
 his release from imprisonment at Rome, are dates mu- 
 tually dependent upon each other. Thus, assuming that 
 Paul was set upon in the temple at the feast of Pentecost, 
 A.D. 58, Acts xx. 16, he was two years a prisoner at 
 Caesarea, Acts xxiv. 27, which brings us to the Pentecost 
 of A.D. 60, and in the autumn of that year he sailed for 
 Rome. He was at Fair Havens, in Crete, just after the 
 fast, which this year was on the 25th of September, Acts 
 xxvii. 9, and he spent the three winter months at Malta, 
 Acts xxviii. 11, and therefore arrived at Rome in the 
 spring of A.D. 61. He remained a prisoner there for two 
 years, Acts xxviii. 30, and consequently was liberated in 
 the spring of A.D. 63. 
 
 This date is confirmed by the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 for when Paul wrote it he was at liberty, as appears from 
 the passage, "with whom (Timothy), if he come shortly, / 
 will see you'' which he could not have promised if still a 
 prisoner ; Me#* ov (Timothy) tav TO^LOV epxrjrai, o\^o-
 
 THE DATE OF ST. PATJI/S RELEASE, &C. 129 
 
 pal vfj,d?, Heb. xiii. 23 ; and yet Paul was still in Italy, 
 for he writes, " they of Italy salute you," aaird^ovTat 
 v/jLa? ol airo rfjs 'IraAtW, Heb. xiii. 25. The date of 
 the Epistle would, therefore, be in the spring of A.D. 63, 
 and we shall be able to shew that the circumstances 
 under which it was written can apply only to that par- 
 ticular period. 
 
 The apostle had recently received intelligence of a 
 persecution of the Christians in Judaea, and, in fact, he 
 addressed his Epistle to the Hebrews for the purpose of 
 supporting them under it. They had lately seen their 
 rulers put to death, Heb. xiii. 7, and many of the 
 brethren were still in bonds, Heb. xiii. 3, and these 
 sufferings were not for the first time, but a repetition 
 of the like afflictions at an earlier period of that Church, 
 Heb. x. 32. Such a state of things agrees exactly with 
 the well-known persecution of the Christians of Jeru- 
 salem by Ananus, when, as mentioned by Josephus, 
 James the Just, and others with him, were stoned to 
 death, Ant. xx. 9, 1. We shall see that this persecution 
 of the Christian Church at Jerusalem occurred toward 
 the close of the preceding year, A.D. 62, and, if so, Paul 
 would hear of it at the very time when, as we have sup- 
 posed, he was set at liberty, and wrote the Epistle, viz. 
 in the spring of A.D. 63. 
 
 As Felix was succeeded in A.D. 60 by Festus, so Festus, 
 after he had been not long in office, was succeeded, upon 
 his death, by Albinus. James was martyred when Albinus, 
 the new procurator of Judaea, was on his road to Jeru- 
 salem by way of Egypt, Ant.xx. 9, 1 ; a route which would 
 indicate the autumnal time of year, as Albinus had evi- 
 K
 
 130 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S RELEASE 
 
 dently taken advantage of the etesian winds, which blow 
 in July and August. In what year, then, did this occur ? 
 It was certainly not later than in A.D. 62, for Josephus 
 tells us expressly that Albinus had arrived, and was pre- 
 sent at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, (on the 7th 
 of October,) of that year ' ; and that Albinus did not sail 
 from Rome at the midsummer of A.D. 61, but that he 
 did so at the midsummer of A.D. 62, though we cannot 
 incontrovertibly prove, we can at least shew to be a 
 very probable hypothesis. 
 
 The exact time when Festus succeeded Felix was at 
 the midsummer of A.D. 60. The first business upon 
 which Festus was engaged was to clear the country of 
 bandits. He then put down a religious impostor. After 
 that Agrippa proceeded which was a work of time 
 to raise the height of his palace, so as to overlook the 
 temple. The Jews, thereupon, erected a counter wall on 
 the western side of the temple, in order to shut out the 
 view. This was resented both by Agrippa and Festus, 
 and the Jews were ordered to demolish the wall. Nego- 
 tiations then took place between the Jews, and Agrippa, 
 and Albinus, and the Jews obtained leave, not without 
 difficulty, to send an embassy to Nero upon the subject, 
 and Ishmael the high-priest, and others with him, there- 
 upon made a voyage to Rome, and succeeded in their 
 mission by the influence of Poppeea, Ant. xix. 8, 11. To 
 pause here for a moment ; if Festus had only arrived in 
 Judsea at midsummer A.D. 60, we can hardly suppose 
 that this mission of Ishmael could take place the same 
 year before the navigation of the seas was closed by 
 
 1 Jos. Bel], vi. 5, 3.
 
 FROM IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 131 
 
 winter. We must, therefore, refer the embassy of Ish- 
 mael to the year A.D. 61, at the earliest. 
 
 To proceed : Ishraael, after an audience before the 
 emperor, was detained at Rome by Poppaea, and when 
 Agrippa heard of it in Judasa, which would be two 
 months later still, he appointed Joseph, son of Cami, 
 high-priest in the place of Ishmael ; and when Joseph 
 had been some time in office, (probably a month or two 
 at the least,) Agrippa displaced Joseph, and appointed 
 Ananus, and Ananus had been three months in office 
 when Albinus was in Egypt, apparently in August or 
 September, on his road to Judaea. Now, assuming Ish- 
 mael to have sailed from Judaea in the spring of A.D. 
 61, he would arrive at Rome toward the end of April ; 
 the hearing by the emperor might have been in May ; 
 the news of Ishmael's detention would reach Judaea 
 in July, when Joseph would be appointed in his place ; 
 Ananus would succeed him in August, and would be 
 deposed, after three months, in November, and at this 
 time Albinus is represented to have been in Egypt, on 
 his way to Judaea. In the foregoing statement we have 
 allowed the shortest time possible for the succession of 
 events, and even then Albinus could not have arrived in 
 Egypt before November j ; whereas if, as is likely, he was 
 taking advantage of the etesian winds in July or August, 
 he would be in Egypt in September, at the latest. But, 
 in fact, the occurrences we have mentioned occupied, no 
 doubt, a much longer space than we have assigned to them ; 
 nor does Josephus say that they followed immediately 
 
 J At this season of the year he would probably have made his journey 
 by way of Greece, across the isthmus of Corinth. 
 K2
 
 132 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S RELEASE 
 
 one after another, so that we may fairly conclude that 
 Albinus could not have entered upon his province in 
 the autumn of A.D. 61, or before the year A.D. 62. 
 
 The nearest approximation to the truth would perhaps 
 be this. The Jewish mission under Ishmael sailed from 
 Judaea in A.D. 61, and were heard toward the close of 
 that year; and when the news of Ishmael's detention at 
 Rome reached Jerusalem, at the beginning of the follow- 
 ing year A.D. 62, Agrippa appointed Joseph high-priest, 
 and about six months afterwards substituted Ananus in 
 his place. Festus probably died in the spring of A.D. 62, 
 and when the intelligence of this event reached Rome, 
 about midsummer A.D. 62, Albinus was appointed, and 
 he set sail in July or August, by way of Egypt, taking 
 advantage of the etesian winds, and arrived in Judaea 
 about September of that year. The martyrdom of James 
 the Just, and the persecution of the Hebrew Church, had 
 occurred a little before, and the tidings of this distress 
 at Jerusalem would reach Paul in Italy (the seas being 
 closed during the wiuter k ) the beginning of the follow- 
 ing year A.D. 63, when the Epistle to the Hebrews was 
 written. 
 
 Josephus speaks of Poppaaa at the hearing of the 
 Jewish mission at Rome, as the woman or wife, rfj 
 yvvaua, Ant. xix. 8, 11; and if he meant that Poppaea 
 was then the wife of Nero, the transaction must have 
 taken place as late as May, A.D. 62, when Nero di- 
 vorced Octavia and married Poppaea. But the events 
 
 k Thus Paul sailed from Caesarea in September A.D. 60, and arrived at 
 Borne in March A.I>. 61, and yet the Jews of Rome had received no in- 
 telligence from Judaea about Paul during the interval.
 
 FROM IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 133 
 
 related by Josephus himself shew that this was impos- 
 sible, for, after the hearing of the mission, the news of 
 Ishmael's detention was transmitted to Judaea, and then 
 Agrippa appointed Joseph, son of Cami, and afterwards 
 removed him, and nominated in his stead Ananns, who 
 was in office three months before Albinus' arrival, and 
 yet Albinus was at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, 
 which in A.D. 62 was on the 7th of October, Jos. Bell. vi. 
 5, 3 ; and the interval between May A.D. 62, and the 7th 
 of October A.D. 62, is clearly insufficient for these occur- 
 rences, more particularly as we must reckon nearly two 
 months for the transmission from Rome to Judaea of Ish- 
 mael's detention, and three months for the tenure by 
 Ananns of the high-priesthood ; not to mention that 
 Joseph, son of Cami, filled the same office for some 
 time, though the exact duration does not appear. As 
 Ananus's exaltation was abruptly broken off at the end 
 of three months, Joseph was perhaps in office a much 
 longer space. 
 
 Josephus, then, cannot mean that Poppsea, at the 
 period of which he is speaking, was actually married to 
 Nero, but was only living with him ; and it is remark- 
 able that in the only other parts where Josephus speaks 
 of Poppaea, and on both occasions subsequently to her 
 marriage, he introduces her expressly as the wife of 
 Nero ; (plXrjv ovarav rfj? HoTnnjla? rrjf Nepcovos yv- 
 raiKOf, Ant. xx. 11, 1; TloTnrrjia TT) TOV Kataapof 
 yvvaiKi yvwa-Oeis, Vit. Jos. 3 ; whereas here the expres- 
 sion is Tfj yvvaiKi H(nnrrjia (Oeoa-cfirjS' yap r^v) X a P L ~ 
 i6fj.vos, Ant. xx. S, 11. Poppaea, as is well known, had
 
 134 THE DATE OF ST. PAUI/S RELEASE, &C. 
 
 been wedded to two husbands before, so that rfj yvvaiKi 
 was an appropriate designation of her, and on compar- 
 ing the three passages together, the fair inference would 
 be that Joseplms, so far from calling her the wife of Nero 
 at the time of Ishmael's embassy, expressly guards him- 
 self against being so understood. 
 
 It may be objected to the order of events as we have 
 arranged them, that if Ananus, soon after the death of 
 James, was deposed by Agrippa when he had held the 
 office of high-priest for three months, Ant. xx. 9, 1, and 
 was removed about the time of Albinus's arrival in Sep- 
 tember, it follows that the death of James could not have 
 occurred (as Hegesippus places it, Euseb. lib. 2, c. 3) at 
 the time of a Passover. We answer, that the relation of 
 Hegesippus is wholly unworthy of credit, being little 
 better than fable. In assigning the death of James, the 
 brother of our Lord, to a Passover, he apparently con- 
 founds it with the death of James the brother of John, 
 which did occur at a Passover *. That James, the brother 
 of our Lord, was martyred at a Passover is unlikely, both 
 from the absence at the time from Jerusalem of King 
 Agrippa, who would probably have attended tlie feast ; 
 and also from the omission of that circumstance in the 
 apparently truthful version of the death of James in 
 Josephus ; and again, from the arrival of Albinus in 
 Judaea by way of Egypt, which, according to the usual 
 custom of travelling, would be in the autumnal months. 
 
 1 Acts xii. 2, 4.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Now that we have ascertained the leading dates of 
 the New Testament, we can have little difficulty in 
 filling up the details. Perhaps no two persons may 
 exactly agree as to all the particulars; but, on the 
 other hand, they cannot materially differ. The follow- 
 ing table exhibits the author's views upon the subject : 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Birth of John the Baptist, 2nd March . . 5 
 
 Birth of Christ, 2nd September 5 
 
 A.D. 
 
 John the Baptist begins his ministry at the Pass- 
 over 16th April . . - . . .29 
 
 Christ begins His ministry six months after, in 
 
 October ..... 29 
 
 Crucifixion at the Passover, 3rd April ; descent of 
 the Holy Ghost at the Pentecost, 23rd May; 
 Peter and John cure the cripple at the beautiful 
 gate of the temple, and 5,000 converts are made ; 
 Peter and John are arrested and brought before 
 the Sanhedrim ..... 33 
 
 The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira . . 34 
 
 The appointment of the seven deacons . . 35
 
 136 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The conversion of St. Paul toward the close of the 
 
 year, soon after the feast of Tabernacles - . 36 
 
 Philip converts the Ethiopian eunuch, while re- 
 turning from the Passover . . .37 
 Paul returns from Damascus to Jerusalem about 
 
 the feast of Tabernacles . . . .39 
 
 The Churches are at rest during Caligula's attempt 
 to erect his statue in the temple at Jerusalem ; 
 Peter makes a general circuit of Judaea, Samaria, 
 and Galilee ; Cornelius called . . .40 
 
 The gospel preached to the Greeks at Antioch . 41 
 Barnabas sent to Antioch, and many converts made 42 
 Barnabas brings Paul from Tarsus to Antioch early 
 
 in the year, and before the Passover . . 43 
 
 Agabus foretells the famine, and Paul and Barnabas 
 take a collection from Antioch to Jerusalem at 
 the time of the Passover . . .44 
 
 Paul and Barnabas make their first circuit . 45 
 
 Paul and Barnabas attend the council at Jerusalem 
 
 on the question of circumcising the Gentiles . 48 
 Paul and Silas make a circuit through Cilicia, 
 
 Phrygia, and Galatia . . . .49 
 
 Paul and Silas pass from Troas into Macedonia . 51 
 Paul arrives at Corinth about 1st February . 52 
 
 He sails from Corinth about 1st August, and 
 
 reaches Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles . 53 
 He arrives at Ephesus in the spring . . 54 
 
 He sails from Ephesus to Troas soon after the 
 Passover, and, passing through Macedonia, win- 
 ters at Corinth . . . . .57 
 He sails from Corinth shortly before the Passover, 
 which he spends at Philippi ; and attends the feast 
 of Pentecost at Jerusalem, where he is arrested 
 in the temple . . . . .58 
 After two years' imprisonment at Caesarea, he sails 
 for Rome in the autumn . . .GO
 
 CONCLUSION. 137 
 
 A.D. 
 
 He winters at Malta, and arrives at Rome in the 
 
 spring ... . 61 
 
 He is released, after two years' imprisonment, in 
 
 the spring . . . . .63 
 
 He visits Crete, Macedonia, Corinth, and Nicopolis, 
 where he winters . . . .64 
 
 He preaches in Dalmatia, and passes through Mace- 
 donia to Troas and Ephesus, where he is appre- 
 hended and sent again to Rome, over the isthmus 
 of Corinth, during the winter . . , . 65 
 
 His martyrdom . . . . 66
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 20. An instance is here given of the supposed computation 
 of the reign of Herod, from the time of his actual appointment 
 by the Romans, in November B.C. 40, and the author was led to 
 adopt this, view from tho statement of Josephus, that the 28th 
 year of Herod coincided with the 192nd Olympiad. As the 192nd 
 Olympiad, properly so called, i. e. the first year of it, began at 
 midsummer B.C. 12, it is manifest that the 28th year of Herod, if 
 concurrent with that Olympiad, could only be reckoned from 
 November B.C. 40. In all other cases, however, Josephus reckons 
 the years of the reign from the death of Antigonus in November 
 B.C. 37, counting the remnant of that year as a whole year, and 
 making the 1st Jan. B.C. 36, the commencement of the second 
 year. In the latter mode, the 28th year of Herod would coincide 
 with B.C. 10, and that Ca?sarea was completed in B.C. 10, and not 
 in B.C. 12, may be thus shewn to be at least probable. M. 
 Agrippa, taking with him Antipater, a son of Herod, Jos. Ant. 
 xvi. 3, 3, Bell. i. 23, 2, returned from the East to Italy at the 
 clcse of B.C. 13, Dion liv. 29. A correspondence then followed 
 between Herod and Antipater, (vwex&s rVrA Atp, Ant. xvi. 4, 1,) 
 and, eventually, in B.C. 11, Herod made a voyage to Rome, Ant. 
 xvi. 4, 1 ; and after this (and therefore, apparently, in B.C. 10,) 
 follows, in the course of the narrative, the completion of Caesarea. 
 Thus Josephus, in assigning it to the 192nd Olympiad, does not 
 mean the first year of the Olympiad, in B.C. 12, but the third year 
 of the Olympiad, in B.C. 10. In the same way the capture of 
 Jerusalem, on the 5th of Oct. B.C. 37, is placed by the historian 
 in the 185th Olympiad, i. e. in the fourth year of it, Ant. xiv. 16, 
 4. The computation of the 28 years of Herod by Josephus, thus 
 explained, is not an exception from his usual mode of reckoning, 
 but another exemplification of it. 
 
 P. 32. As Philo was a contemporary of St. Luke, so that his 
 authority possesses great importance as to the usage in his time
 
 NOTES. 139 
 
 in computing the reign of Tiberius, we may here add that Philo 
 ascribes to the reign of Tiberius 23 years, i. e. he dates the com- 
 mencement of it not from B.C. 12, but from B.C. 14 ; rpia npbs rois 
 
 ciKOo-t err) yrjs teal daXdrTTjs dva^d/j-fvos ro Kpuro?, Leg. ad Caium, S. 21. 
 
 P. 59. It has occurred to the author, in the progress of the work 
 through the press, that the expression, npo e wepu>v rov naa-xa, 
 John xii. 1, may more properly be rendered the sixth day inclu- 
 sive, from the day of the Passover exclusive. Thus, the Passover 
 was from 6 p.m. on Wednesday the 1st of April, to 6 p.m. on 
 Thursday the 2nd of April, the paschal sacrifices being slain on 
 the Thursday afternoon. The sixth day before would, therefore, 
 be Friday the 27th of March, so that our Saviour reached Bethany 
 before the commencement of the Sabbath on that day, and rested 
 he Sabbath at Bethany, and on Saturday, when the Sabbath was 
 iver, and therefore after 6 p.m., sat down to the supper, to which 
 mmerous guests, besides the disciples, were invited. 
 
 P. 62. There were certainly four Passovers in the ministry of 
 our Saviour, but there appears no great improbability in the 
 hypothesis that there were even five. On the latter supposition* 
 the events would arrange themselves thus : 
 
 A.D. 28. John the Baptist begins his ministry at the close of the year, 
 i. e. in the 1 5th year of Tiberius, Luke iii. 1, and therefore 
 after the 19th of August. 
 
 A.D. 29. Jesus is baptized in February. He is tempted forty days, and 
 then returns to John the Baptist, John i. 29, and passes to 
 Cana, John ii. 1, and thence to Capernaum, and, after a 
 few days, attends the Passover at Jerusalem on April 16th, 
 John ii. 12, when the temple is said to have been forty-six 
 years in building, John ii. 20. Jesus preaches in Judaea 
 till November, John iii. 22, iv. 35. John is cast into prison, 
 and Jesus retires to Capernaum, where He passes the winter, 
 Mark i. 14, Matt. iv. 12. 
 
 A..D, 30. Jesus makes a circuit through Galilee and visits Nazareth, 
 Luke iv. 14, and returns to Capernaum about midsummer, 
 Luke iv. 31, Mark i. 21. He makes a second circuit through 
 the whole of Galilee, Luke iv. 44, Mark i. 39, and attends 
 the feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember, John v. 1, and passes the winter at Capernaum, 
 Mark ii. 1. 
 
 A.D. 31. Jesus makes a third circuit, in the course, of which occurs the
 
 140 NOTES. 
 
 Passover referred to by Luke in the expression *v craj3,3<<ra> 
 SeurepoTrpiurw, Luke vi. 1, and returns to Capernaum, Luke 
 vii. 1. He commences a fourth circuit, Luke vii. 11, 
 and again returns to Capernaum, Mark iii. 20 ; and then a 
 fifth circuit, Mark iv. 35, and returns to Capernaum, where 
 He passes the winter, Matt. ix. 1, Mark v. 21, Luke viii.40. 
 
 A.D. 32. Jesus makes a sixth circuit, Mark vi. 1, Matt. xiii. 54, when 
 the apostles are sent to preach by two and two, Matt. x. 1, 
 Mark vi. 7, Luke ix. 1. The death of John the Baptist. 
 The 5,000 are fed at the time of the Passover, John vi. 
 4, &c. 
 
 In the above table it will be observed, that the temple is said 
 to have been forty-six years building in A.D. 29, and not (as 
 assumed at p. 41) in A.D. 30. Supposing the preparations for the 
 temple (see p. 41) to have occupied one year only, instead of two, 
 the building itself would, in A.D. 29, have continued forty-six years. 
 
 Again, John, in the above table, is said to have been cast into 
 prison in A.D. 29, and not (as stated at p. 47,) in A.D. 30; but the 
 former hypothesis may not, improbably, be the truth, for as Livia 
 died early in the year, Herod Antipas may have sailed to Home, 
 and returned to Judaea in A.D. 29, more particularly as he was in 
 haste to consummate his marriage with Herodias, and John may 
 have been cast into prison immediately on Herod's arrival in 
 Galilee, toward the close of the year.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABIA, 27. 
 Achaia, 100. 
 Actium, 24. 
 JEl'ms Gallus, 25. 
 JEnon, 42. 
 Agabus, 109. 
 Agrippa, 18, 48, 130. 
 Agrippina, 99. 
 Albinus, 129, 132, 133. 
 Ananus, 131. 
 Antigonus, 13, 16. 
 Antiochus Sidetes, 82. 
 Antipas, Herod, 3, 8, 45, 6? 
 Apicata, 49. 
 
 Aquila, 95, 98, 109, 110. 
 Archelaus, 2, 3, 7. 
 Aristobulus, 16, 81. 
 Artaxerxes, 90. 
 Augustus, 25. 
 
 Barzaph ernes, 12. . 
 
 Bethabara, 57. 
 Bethany, 59. 
 Bethesda, 54. 
 Bethsaida, 57. 
 Burrhus, 117, 118, 121. 
 
 Csesarea Philippi, 58. 
 Caius, 2, 7. 
 Caligula, 112. 
 Cana, 50. 
 Capernaum, 38. 
 Celer, 96. 
 Chaldeans, 98. 
 Circuits, 52. 
 Claudius, 95, 113. 
 Cleopatra, 14. 
 Coins, 3, 32, 84. 
 Conversion, 103. 
 Courses of Priests, 53. 
 Crucifixion, 63. 
 Cumanus, 95. 
 Cuspius Fadus, 110. 
 Cyrus, 89. 
 
 Daniel, prophecy of, 88. 
 Darius, 89. 
 
 AfVTtpOTtpUTOV, 53. 
 
 Dionysius Exiguus, 1. 
 Drus'us, 48, 49. 
 
 Eclipse, 1, 4. 
 Egyptian, 116. 
 Egyptians, 21. 
 Eleazar, 1 15. 
 Elias, 35, 63. 
 "EAXrjj/ej, 60. 
 Emperors of Rome, 16. 
 Ephraim, 58. 
 Equinox, 85. 
 
 Famine, 24. 
 
 Felix, 97, 113, 117, 124, 125, 129. 
 
 Festus, 129, 130, 132. 
 
 Fig-tree, 34, 59, C2. 
 
 Full Moon, 76. 
 
 Gabbatha, 61. 
 Galatians, 124. 
 Gallic, 99. 
 Gallus, jElius, 25. 
 Golgotha, 61. 
 
 Hebrews, Epistle to, 128, 129, 132. 
 
 Hegesippus, 134. 
 
 Herod Antipas, 3, 8, 45, 61. 
 
 Herod the Great, 1, 12, 14, 16, 19. 
 
 Herod, Philip, 7. 
 
 Herodias, 45, 48. 
 
 High-day, 73. 
 
 Hyrcanus, 18, 19, 23, 83. 
 
 Ishmael, 130. 
 
 James the Just, 129, 132, 134. 
 
 Jerusalem. 15, 23, 26. 
 
 Jolm Baptist, 27, 29, 33, 44, 47. 
 
 John, St., 50. 
 
 Joseph, 131, 132.
 
 142 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lucius, 7. " 
 Lysias, 114. 
 
 Machserus, 46. ' 
 Maimonides, 86. 
 Malchus, 13. 
 Marcellus, 105. 
 Matliematici, 98. 
 Matthew, St., 50. 
 
 Nain, 55. 
 Narcissus, 126. 
 Nazareth, 52, 56. 
 Nero, 126. 
 Nicodemus, 41. ' 
 Nicolaus of Damascus, 83. 
 Nisan, 75. 
 
 Pacorus, 12. 
 Pallas, 125. 
 Palm Sunday, 59. 
 Parthians, 12. 
 Passover, 59, 60, 63, 74. 
 Pentecost, 83. 
 Persecution, 129. 
 Petronius, 24. 
 Phasis, 79. 
 Philip, Herod, 7. 
 Philippi, 99, 101, 119, 122. 
 Pilate, (JO, 104. 
 Poppaea, 130, 131, 132. 
 Pre tori urn, 60. 
 Preparation, 72. 
 TlpuTov ffapfiaTov, 53. 
 
 Quadratus, 96. 
 
 Romans, 126. 
 Rufus Fenius, 118. 
 
 Sabbath, 54. 
 Sabbatic year, 53. 
 Sanhedrim, 60. 
 Sejanus, 46, 49. 
 Seneca, 99, 118. 
 Seventy, The, 58. 
 Seventy weeks, 88. 
 Sheaf-offering, 74. 
 Sicarii, 114. 
 Soimus, 115. 
 Stephen, 106. 
 Supper, Last, 64. 
 Sychar, 42. 
 
 Temple, 38. 
 Tiberius, 9, 29, 30, 31. 
 Tiberius Alexander, 110. 
 
 Unleavened Bread, 74. 
 
 Varus, 95. 
 Vitellius, 104, 105. 
 
 War, Jewish, 20. 
 Years, how reckoned, 18. 
 Zacharias, 27. 
 
 PRINTED BT MISSUS. PARSER, CORK-MARKET, OXFORD.
 
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