Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 9 · Doctrines 1 · Question 67
67. In what yeare of the raigne of Herod our blessed Sauiour was borne.
An other account of yeares, which the Iewes make, is by the yeares of the raigne of their kings: now then because Herod a stronger had obtained from the Romanes the kingdome of the Iewes, it most be examined in what yeare of Herods raigne our blessed Sauiour was borne. And here three things must be enquired, when Herod beganne his raigne, how many yeares he raigned, and in which of them the natiuitie of our Sauiour was.
1. Iosephus thinketh, that Herod was cre…ed king by the Romanes in the 184. Olympiade, Cn. Domitius Calvinus, and C. Asin… Pollio beeing Consuls: and that 3. yeares after he tooke Ierusalem, and slew Antigonus, and so …oyed the kingdome peaceably: from his first creation are counted 37. yeares, but from the death of Antigonus onelyonly 34. Thus Ioseph. lib. antiqu. 14. & 17.
But this opinion of Iosephus can not stand. 1. for if Herod beganne to raigne in the 184. Olympiad, he must die in the 193. Olympiad, which was 37. yeares after: and then should Christ be borne 7. or 8. yeares after the raigne of Herod, namely in the 4. yeare of the 194. Olympiad, which is contrarie to the historie of the Gospel, Matth. 2. for Herod died after Christ was borne, and fled into Egypt. 2. Iosephus againe is contrarie to himselfe, for lib. 16. antiquit. cap. 9. he placeth the 28. yeare of Herod in the 192. Olympiad: but if Herod beganne his raigne in the 184. Olympiad, his 28. yeare will fall out not in the 192. but in the beginning of the 191. Olympiad. 3. Dio lib. 48. and Onuphrius in chron. doe place the Consulship of Cn. Calvinus, and Asiaius Pollio. in the 2. yeare of the 185. Olympiad, which was the 714. yeare of the building of Rome.
2. Onuphrius in chronic. assigneth the beginning of Herods raigne to the 3. yeare of Augustus Caesar: Beda lib. de 6. aetatibus, to the 11 yeare: But Eusebius more truely in the 10. yeare of Augustus Caesar: so also Bullinger.
3. It is agreed with most historians, that Herod raigned 37. yeares complete; onelyonly Beda appointeth vntounto him 36. yeares.
4. But there is great difference about the yeare of Herod, wherein Christ should be borne: Beda nameth the 31. yeare, lib. de 6. aetatib. Eusebius the 32. Bullinger, Epiphanius heres. 51. and Sulpitius lib. 2. the 33. so also M. Lydyat, pag. 135. Onuphrius the 36. Su…lyga and Keplerus about the 35. Perorius in this vncertaintie leaueth the matter in doubt, not resoluing in what yeare of Herod Christ was borne.
5. Iosephus Scaliger is confident, that Christ was borne in the 37. yeare of Herod, which he would prooue thus. 1. the beginning of Herods raigne was in the next yeare after the Consulship of Calvinus and Pollio (which was in the 714. yeare of the citie, as Dio and Onuphrius cast it) this was in the 15. yeare of Augustus, which was the 715. yeare of Rome: from hence to the 42. yeare of Augustus, are 37. yeares: then by this reckoning the 37. of Herod, and the 31. of Augustus, and the 3. yeare of the 194. Olympiad shall concurre together.
2. Christ was then newely borne, when the wisemen came to worship, for as yet the time of purification was not come according to the law: for to what ende els should Marie stay in Bethlehem? the starre appeared before the conception of Christ, 1. yeare before Christs birth, and they so cast their iourney, as that they came presently after the birth of Christ: Now Christ immediately after his mother was purified, was carried into Egypt, and after a while Herod died, and then he returned out of Egypt: to this purpose, Ioseph. Scalig. lib. 6. de emendat. tempor.
Contra. 1. There were two beginnings of Herods raigne, one from the time of his creating king, which might be in the 4. or 5. of Augustus raigne, in the 714. or 15. yeare of Rome: but an other beginning was after the death of Antigonus, when he tooke possession of his kingdome, which was as Eusebius setteth it, in the 10. yeare of Augustus, as Beda in the 11. yeare: from this latter beginning must the 37. yeares of Herods raigne be counted, and not from the first.
2. Concerning the time of the appearing of the starre, and of the comming of the wisemen: 1. I neither thinke that Christ was two yeare old at such time as the infants were killed, as Aretius thinketh in his commentaries vponupon Matthew, and M. Calvin, that Herod deferred the execution of his malice almost two yeares: for by the text it appeareth, that as soone as Herod sawe himselfe mocked of the wisemen, he forthwith in his rage caused the infants to be killed, Matth. 1. 16. 2. neither is it like that the starre appeared 1. yeare; or 2. before Christs natiuitie: for how then should the wisemen hauehave knowne when to set forward, and to come iust against the natiutie of Christ, if the starre had appeared so long before, and not at, and after the birth of Christ. 3. Therefore it is more probable, that the wisemen vponupon the …ight of the starre, which appeared not before Christ was borne, came toward the ende of the dayes of Maries purification, and returned backe againe, Christ being then newly borne; for otherwise Marie would not hauehave staied in Bethlem: she might continue there 40. dayes; in the ende whereof the wisemen might come from the East,At what time the starre beganne to appeare to the wisemen that came from the East, Matth. 2. not from Chaldea, which was North, from Ierusalem, nor from Persia, which was too farre off, beeing fowre moneths iourney, Ezra. 7. 9. But as Pellican thinketh, they might come from some nearer countrey, as Sabea, which was counted in the East countries toward the South: so that toward the ende of the 40. dayes of purification, they might well accomplish their iourney: and in the meane time as they returned, while Herod expected their returne, Marie went to Ierusalem to be purified. 4. neither doth it followe, that they fleeing into Egypt, should make aboad there but certaine moneths: some thinke they might stay there 5. yeares, Emman. Sa. some 7. ex Pellicano. there is no certaintie of the time of their aboad there, they stayed till Herod was dead. 5. And whereas Herod in his rage caused the infants to be killed, from two yeare old and vnderunder, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wisemen, it followeth not, that this was the second yeare of the appearing of the starre, as Iosephus Scaliger inferreth: But Herod to be sure, that the childe should not escape, putteth all to the sword from a day old to two yeare old, so Pellican. so that these words, according to the time, may as well be referred to those which were vnderunder two yeare old, though they were but a day, or a monethmonth, or two olde, as to those which were fully two yeare old.
5. Wherefore although there be no certaintie of this, in what yeare of Herods raigne Christ was borne, neither is it necessarie for the vnderstanding of Daniels weekes; yet it is most probable, that our Blessed Sauiour was borne about the 30. of Herod complet, and the 31. begunne, which falleth into the 41. yeare of the raigne of Augustus Caesar complete, and the 42. begunne, as it may be thus gathered: the Herodians are held to hauehave continued in the gouernement of Iudea, to the destruction of Ierusalem 103. yeares, which may be counted thus by the particular account of the yeares of the Herodians: Herod the sonne of Antipater, raigned 37. Herod Archelaus 9. Herod the Tetrach 24. Herod Agrippa 7. Agrippa the sonne of Agrippa, 26. Oecol. these yeares ending at the destruction of Ierusalem in the 2. of Vespasian, make an 103. Then counting backeward from the destruction of Ierusalem 73. yeares, we shall come iust to the 42. of Augustus, and to the 31. yeare of Herod, as may euidently appeare to those, that will compare the yeares of the Emperours, and lay them together. I therefore thinke Beda his opinion of the rest most probable, who placeth the beginning of Herods raigne in the 11. yeare of Augustus, and the birth of Christ in 31. of Herod, which by this reckoning falleth into the 41. of Augustus complete, or the 42. yeare begunne.
And as there is small certaintie in what yeare of Herod Christ was borne, so neither is it agreed vponupon by all, into what yeare of Augustus raigne Christs birth should fall. Cassiodorus assigneth the 40. yeare,Iren. lib. 3. adners. haeres. c. 25. Tertul. lib. aduers. Iudaeos. Ireneus and Tertullian the 41. but the most resolue vponupon the 42. yeare of Augustus: as Eusebius in chron. Epiphanius haeres. 51. Beda. But these may be vnderstood to speake of the 42. initiate onelyonly and begunne, the other of the 41. complete: for if Christ beeing held to hauehave beene baptised, and begunne to preach, in the 15. of Tiberius, Luk. 3. 1. there must be 15. yeares remaining of Augustus, who raigned in all 56. to make vp 30. yeares, in which yeare of his age Christ was baptized.