Commentary on Daniel, Chapter 9 · Doctrines 1 · Question 72
72. Quest. Of the space and distance of time that was betweene Christs baptisme and his passion.
1. Epiphanius, whose opinion was seene in the beginning of the former question, maketh the baptisme of Christ 60. daies before that season of the yeare wherein he was borne: the day of Christs birth he thinketh to hauehave beene borne the 6. of Ianuarie: and 60. daies before that falleth out in the beginning of November. But herein is Epiphanius error, he placeth Christs baptisme toward the ende of the yeare, whereas it was in the beginning of Christs 30. yeare: and againe, he setteth Christs baptisme in this account but 4. moneths distant from his passion.
2. Some bring the baptisme of Christ nearer vntounto the Passeouer by 73. daies then Epiphanius: as they hold Christ to hauehave beene vponupon the 25. of December, and then his baptisme to hauehave beene solemnized about 13. daies after the season of his birth, about the sixt of Ianuarie, in the beginning of Christs 30. yeare: so Pererius, as before is shewed, qu. 68. And to this purpose he alleadgeth Maximus, hom. 1. de Epiphan. ferunt Christum hodie, vel stella duce à gentibus adoratum, &c. they say that Christ this day (namely the Epiphanie) was either adored of the Gentiles by the leading of a starre, or beeing inuited to the marriage, to hauehave turned water into wine, or to hauehave receiued Iohns baptisme, and to hauehave consecrate the flood of Iordan, &c. So August. serm. 27. de tempor. maketh mention of these 3. opinions, that some held the wise men to hauehave come vponupon that day to worship Christ, some that he turned water into wine, some that he was vponupon that day baptised, &c.
But 1. these Fathers speake hereof vncertenly, not determining any thing, as Maximus in the former place concludeth, quid potissimum praesenti hac factum sit die, noverit ipse qui fecit, but what was chiefly done vponupon this day, he knoweth that did it: so then this tradition had no certen ground. 2. Pererius himselfe thinketh with others, that the halfe weeke which Daniel speaketh of, wherein the Messiah should cause the sacrifices to cease, beganne at Christs baptisme: then must there be iust 6. moneths from the time of Christs baptisme vntounto the Passeouer, for how els shall the halfe yeare be made vp?
3. Iosephus Scaliger, lib. 6. de emendat. tempor. bringeth Christs baptisme yet nearer vntounto the Passeouer: for he thinketh that the miracle of conuerting the water into wine, was done 3. daies after Christs baptisme: the 1. day after, Andrew and Peter followed Christ, the 2. day Philip was called, and Nathaniel, Ioh. 1. then the 3. day after was the mariage in Cana of Galile, Ioh. 2. 1. and then it is saide, v. 13. that the Iewes Passeouer was at hand. But this opinion can not hold. 1. Christ after he was baptised, presently was tempted in the wildernesse, as S. Marke saith, foreign, immediatly the spirit driueth him into the wildernesse, Mark. 1. 12. And S. Luke thus writeth, c. 4. 1. Iesus beeing full of the holy Ghost returned frō Iordan, and was led by the spirit into the wildernes: the first thing then, that fell out after Christs baptisme, was his tēptation, which continued 40. daies▪ how then could that miracle be 3. daies after Christs baptisme. 2. Therfore it is to be vnderstood, that it was the 3. day either after he came into Galile, or rather the 3. day after he had that conference with Philip & Nathaniel.
4. Wherefore the best resolution is, that Christ was baptized about the beginning of September, when he beganne to be 30. yeare old, and the reason hereof is grounded vponupon Daniels halfe weeke: for whether we beginne the 70. and last weeke from the baptisme of Christ, or the latter halfe weeke (for there are of both opinions, as is shewed before, but the latter is more probable) we must, to make vp this halfe weeke hauehave 6. moneths from the season, wherein Christ was baptized, to the time of the Passeouer.