The Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Appendix – Errata
APPENDIX. An Attempt to State the true Year of the Birth of CHRIST.
I Readily, and thankfully, acknowledge the Assistance I have received, from Dr. Prideaux's noble Connection of the Old Testament with the New, which I have chiefly followed in the Chronology, and very much so in the Explanation of the Prophecies in the foregoing Discourse; since the Composing of which, Mr. Whiston's Chronology of the Old Testament, and Harmony of the New, has fallen into my Hands, which I had not seen before; and the Difference I observed between them, and my own Difficulty in reconciling either of their Accounts, to what I tho't the Evangelist Luke pointed to us, namely the Age of IESUS CHRIST, when He was Baptised, (which would help to Direct us to the Time of His Birth,) has led me to spend more Time, than the First Composing the Sermon would allow me, in a diligent Enquiry into the True Year of the Birth of CHRIST. And tho' it is very apparent that I now fix the Birth of CHRIST upon a Different Year from that mentioned in the Foregoing Sermon, and go off from it also in some other smaller Matters; yet, I suppose, it may well eno' be allowed me, in a more general and common Discourse, to fall in with the Current of the best of Writers, in a piece of Chronology, while in a more particular and laboured one, afterwards, I see reason to fix upon other Periods of Time. For having, I think, diligently surveyed, and compared, Dr. Prideaux, and Mr. Whiston; and taking their Quotations upon Trust, as well I may, and not having the Authors by me; I conclude I may, with good Reason, advance the following Proposition, wherein I crave Leave to dissent from those two Great Men; viz.
That our Blessed Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, was born, some Time in October, Anno Iul. Per. 4711.
To make good this Proposition, which is so New, and different from what all others, that I know of, have said upon this Subject; I shall first, state the exact Time of our Lords Death, and then produce the Arguments, which sway with me, to fix his Birth upon the Year mentioned.
I. Our Blessed Lord was crucified upon Friday, the 15th of Ni…an, in the Year of the Iul. Per. 4746. It is evident, fro… all the Evangelists, that our Lord was crucified upon the Iews Passover, (a)Matt. XXVI, 17. Mark ▪ XIV.12.16. Luke ▪ XXII. 1…. … III.28, 39.which always was 14 Days after the New-Moon, which began their Month Nisan, their first Ecclesiastical Month; and it is further evident, from the same Evangelists, that this 15th of Nisan, happened, that Year, upon a Friday, (b)Matt. XVII.62. XXVIII.1. … XV.4…. Luke XXIII 54. Ioh. XIX.31.the Day before the Paschal Sabbath, which was an high Day.
Now Mr. Whiston makes it plain, to a Demonstration, by calculating the several New-Moons, that the 15th Day of Nisan, could fall upon a Friday, only in the Year mentioned. For we are, by many other things, confined, in our Enquiry, to three or four Years; and for several Years, both before and after the 4746th Year of the Iul. Per. the Changes of the Moon would admit of no such Conjunction, as Friday and the 15th of Nisan, but only upon that Year. So that the Year of our Lord's Death, is fixed, and certain, and both Dr. Prideaux, and Mr. Whiston, agree in it, that it was An. P. I. 4746. in the 19th Year of the Reign of Tiberius alone, or his 22d, from his being taken into Partnership in the Empire with Augustus.
II. The Time of our Saviour's Death being thus fixed; the Arguments, that prove His Birth to have been in the Year 4711. I. P. are, the Age of our Saviour at His Baptism, and Entrance upon His publick Ministry; the Time of Herod's Death; and Archelaus's Banishment; and the Baptist's Conception.
I. JESUS CHRIST, was Baptised, and entred upon His publick Ministry, at 30 Years of Age, An. I. P. 4741. This appears from these Considerations.
I. It seems Evident▪ (as Mr. W. plainly proves, †Harm. Ch. IX.) that there were Five Passovers in the Time of our Lord's Ministry, upon the last of which He died; which five Passovers include Four compleat Years, and brings us back, from 4746, to the Passover in 4742, as the first Passover in our Lords Ministry, mentioned, Ioh. II.13.
II. At this First Passover, in the Beginning of the Year 4742, our Lord is apparently in the Publick Exercise of His Ministerial Office. His Whipping the Buyers, and Sellers, out of the Temple: His having His Disciples about Him; His Discourse of His Death, (taken Notice of, in Iohn, Ch. II.) as well as His publick Baptizing, (Ioh. III.26.) is an evident Proof of this, that JESUS CHRIST was then in the Discharge of His publick Ministry.
III. JESUS CHRIST was Baptised, and entred upon His publick Ministry, some Time before this first Passover. This appears from what the Disciples of Iohn say to him, Ioh. III.26. He that was with thee, beyond Iordan, to whom thou bearest Witness, &c. Plainly alluding to what St. Matthew tells us, Ch. III 13. Iesus cometh from Galilee, to Iordan, unto Iohn to be baptised of him: And from the evident token of His being the promised Messiah, by the Spirits descending and resting upon Him Iohn, from that Time, bears Witness to Him, Ioh. I.32, 33. And it is further Evident, both from St. Matthew, and St. Luke (a)Matt. Ch. IV. Luke Ch. IV.that after His Baptism, our Lord underwent the Forty Days Fast, and Temptation, in the Wilderness, returned from Iordan, to Gallilee, preached the Gospel, called (at least some of) His Disciples, and wrought several Miracles which were Acts of His publick Ministry, and then came up to Ierusalem, to the First Passover. Now less than Half a Year could not well suffice for all these Transaction, and about Half a Year might well eno' give Time for these several Occurrents; so that this brings us back from Nisan, the Iews first Month in An. I. P. 4742, to about the Feast of Tabernacles, in the Month Tisri, their first political Month, An. I. P. 4741; which Season of the Year has been supposed, by most Expositors, to have been the Time of our Lord's Baptism, and allows Four Years and an half for His Ministry, which Mr. W. himself fixes upon †Harm. p. 140..
IV. JESUS CHRIST was Thirty Years old at His Baptism. This the Evangelist Luke takes particular Notice of, Ch. III.23. Iesus Himself began to be about Thirty Years of Age. Mr. W. *Harm. p. 136.supposes, and Endeavours to prove, that the Greek word, here rendred, began, does not relate to the Age of CHRIST, but of His Ministry, and renders it, Iesus was about 30 Years of Age when he began His Ministry. So that the Evangelist does not mean the Beginning of CHRIST's Thirtieth Year, but rather the Compleating of it; that He was about 30 Years old, suppose a few Weeks, or Days more or less. Now the Age of CHRIST, thus specified by the Evangelist, is not connected with the 15th or 12th Year of Tiberius, when the Gospel of the Kingdom first began to be preached, as Mr. W. seems to imagine, but it is plainly connected with His Baptism, just before spoken of, Luke III.12. The particular Remark, in the Beginning of the Chapter, of Iohn Baptist, entring upon his Office, in the 15th or 12th of Tiberius, was designed to measure out the Prophet Daniel's last Week of Years; for it was exactly Seven Years from that Time, to the Death of CHRIST: The Baptist, who began His Ministry at the Paschal Feast, An. I. P. 4739. †Dr. Prid. Con Vol IV. p. 940.having confirmed the Covenant; …y preaching Repentance, and the near Approach of the Kingdom of Heaven, for the space of two Years and an half, and our Blessed Lord Himself Four Years and an half more. And the Design of the Evangelist, in mentioning the 30 Years of CHRIST's Age, in this Place, is to inform us of the Time, (not when the Gospel was first preached by Iohn, but) when our Saviour Himself entred upon His publick Ministry, namely, when he was Thirty Years old.
So that since our Lord's publick Ministry▪ at the Time of His Baptism, commenced Four Years and an half before His Death, (which certainly was in Nisan, An. I. P. 474…) which leads us back to about the middle of the Iewish Ecclesiastical Year or the Feast of Tabernacles in the Month Tisri, An. I. P. 4741. and since our Lord ha… compleated His Thirtieth Year, at the Time of His Baptism, and entrance upon His Ministry, which carries us back Thirty Years more; this strongly concludes that He was born An. I. P. 4711. sometime in the Month Tisri, a Month famous for the sounding of the Trumpet of the Gospel of Peace, and of God's Tabernacling with Men; which Tisri answers to Part of our September, and Part of our October; and so we are brought to the Year, and near the Month fixed upon in the Proposition: which will be further confirmed by what follows.
II. Herod dyed the Latter End of the Year I. P. 4711. That JESUS CHRIST was born before Herod's Death, is evident from the Gospel of Matthew, where we have an Account of Herod's seeking the Life of CHRIST in His Infancy (a)Matt. Ch. II.; and yet the Birth of CHRIST was not long before the Death of Herod.
For the Wise Men go from Herod to Bethlehem, and find the Virgin and her Child there, where, being very much of a Stranger, as appears by her Lodging, we cannot suppose her to stay longer, than the Business of the Enrollment, or her Child-birth necessitated; nor can it be supposed, that Herod, who was then at Ierusalem, would wait … Days, for the return of the Wise Men from Bethlehem (but about 6 or 7 Miles Distant, e'er he would perceive himself deceived by them, and fall into that Rage, which occasioned the horrid Slaughter of the Young Children, at Bethlehem.
Besides Mary appears with the Child JESUS, at the Temple, at the End of Forty Days, for her Purification; Luke II.22. Afte… which they went down to Nazareth, and dwelt there. So that the Flight to Egypt, and return from thence, was all over before the Purification; and yet Herod was then dead (b)Matt. II.20, 22.all of which as Mr. W. †H…rm p. 165.argues, shews that the Birth of CHRIST could not be much above a Month before the Death of Herod.
Mr. W. *Harm. p. 150.indeed fixes upon Nov. An. I. P. 4710, for the Time of Herod's Death; but tho' it might happen some Time in that Month, yet I think it was in the following Year.
For Herod is allowed by all, to have reigned 34 Years, (somewhat more or less,) from the Death of Antigonus, the last of the Asmonoean Family, and not from his usurping the Government 3 Years before. Mr. W. tells us ‖Harm p. 152.that Ierusalem was taken by Sosius, and Herod, after about half a Years Siege, upon the Latter-End of Iune, An. I. P. 4677▪ and tho' he seems to suppose, the taking of the City, and the Death of Antigonus, to have been at one and the same Time, or within the Distance of Three or Four Days, yet there really was a very considerable Space of Time between them. For, Dr. Prideaux informs us (a)Connec. Vol. IV. p 743.that after the Caption of Ierusalem, and having kept Antigonus sometime in Chains, Sosius, upon Antonies return out of Italy, and coming to Antioch, sent this Captive King thither to him. Antony at first intended to have reserved him for his Triumph. But Herod, not thinking himself safe in his Kingdom, as long as this Remainder of the old royal Family continued alive, never left soliciting Antony, till at length▪ by a great Sum of Money, he obtained that this poor Prince was put to Death.
Now if we consider, that some Time was clapsed before Antony came to Antioch, that then Antigonus is sent a Captive in Chains to Antioch, above 200 Miles distance from Ierusalem, if I mistake not; and the Pains Herod is put to, (which doubtless occasioned the Dispatch of Messengers backwards and forward this 200 Miles,) before he could, overcome the Ambition of Antony, and compass the Death of Antigonus: I say whoever considers this, will see it needful to allow, Two, if not Three Months, from the taking of Ierusalem, to the Death of Antigonus; and so his Death, and the Date of Herod's Reign, will fall in with the latter End of August, or rather of September; to which if we add the 34 Years of Herod's Reign, it brings us down to the latter End of August, or September, An. I. P. 4711▪
Mr. W. himself says †Harm p. 153., we must look for Herod's Death, as near as possible to Iuly, A. I. P. 4711; (I would rather say to September, in that Year) and yet he chooses to place it in Nov. A. I. P. 4710, which certainly is further distant from the fixed Iuly, (much further from the real September) than Nov. A. I. P. 4711.
The Difficulty that attends this Matter, seems to arise, from the Uncertainty, whether there were redundant, or defective Months, belonging to Herod's 34 Years; one or other of which appears certain, and yet no ancient Historian has told us which. But tho' this is not handed down to us with Certainty, yet, from what has been observed, we may reasonably conclude, that there were some few Months, over and above 34 Years belonging to Herod's Reign.
For, it Herod's Reign commence from the Time of the taking of Ierusalem, in the latter End of Iune, there must be full Seven Months deducted out of his 34 Years; but if his Reign Commence from the Death of Antigonus, as all Historians agree it does, there must be at least Nine or rather Ten Months deducted, to bring his Death to the Latter-End of Nov. An. I. P. 4710. And doubtless few Historians would call that 34 Years, which really was but 33 Years and some few Months.
But, on the other Hand; if Herod's Reign take its Date from the Caption of Ierusalem, then there is scarce Five Months, but if, as is the Truth, from the Death of Antigonus, then there remains not Three, or rather not Two Months more than the 34 Years for his Reign, to bring his Death to Nov. An. I. P. 4711. which also is the nearest Nov. to Iuly, (rather to Sept.) An. I. P. 4711.
Now it seems much more likely, that Iosephus, the Jewish Historian, should omit taking Notice of Two or Three redundant Months, in assigning 34 Years to Herod's Reign, than that he should include Nine or Ten defective ones, much the bigger half of the Year, in the whole Sum of 34 Years, which he tells us Herod reigned: and therefore I conclude that Herod dyed sometime in Nov. An. I. P. 4711. which will be further evident from the Reign and Banishment of Archelaus. And if we suppose, the Transactions, from the taking of Ierusalem, to the Death of Antigonus, took up 4 or 5 Months, which is not unreasona… it is not to be wondered at, that Iosephus took no Notice of a few Weeks in the Reign of Herod. Since therefore Herod's Death was in the latter part of the Year, I. P. 4711. our Lords Birth, which praeceeded it but a few Weeks, doubtless was in the same Year, and Month I have advanced in the Proposition.
III. Archelaus, Herod's Son, after little more than Nine Years Reign, was Banished in the Year of the Iulian Period 4720.
1. There is nothing more clear, (from the History of the Gospel, Matt. II.19, 20, 21, 22.) than that Archelaus immediately succeeded his Father Herod, in the Government of Iudea, without any considerable Space of Time intervening. For Ioseph was first informed, of the Death of Herod, by an Angel, while as yet the common Report of it had not reached so far as Egypt, but about 70 or 80 Miles off; upon which Information, he arises and travels to the Land of Israel, and when he comes there, he learns that Archelaus reigned in Iudea, in the Room of his Father Herod: So that there could be no Interregnum, at most not of a Weeks Length, if of a Days.
2. Archelaus's Reign consisted but of little more than Nine Years. Dr. Prideaux †Connec. Vol. IV. p 929,assigned the whole Sum of Ten Years to the Reign of Archelaus; but this seems to have been done to make the Length of his Reign comport with the Death of his Father Herod, which he places in An. I. P. 4710. Whereas, in Reality, Archelaus's Reign contained but little more than Nine Years in it; for Mr. W. assures us, *Harm. p. 155.from Iosephus, that Archelaus, the Successor of Herod, in Iudea, reigned somewhat above Nine Years, before his Banishment; which plainly speaks but little more than Nine Years.
3. Archelaus's Banishment was in the 37th Year of the Egyptian Aera. This Egyptian Aera had it's Rise from the Conquest of Egypt, by Octavianus, afterwards Augustus, and its Name from the Actiac Victory, which Octavianus obtained over Antony, near Actium; and was therefore called the Aera of the Actiac Victory. Now Mr. W. informs us, †Harm. p. 155.from Iosephus, that Archelaus was banished about the Beginning of the 37th Year of the Actiac Victory. Dr. Prideaux *Connec. Vol. IV p. 818.acquaints us that this Victory was obtained upon Sept. 2d, An. I. P. 4683. but then he also assures us, ‖p. 833.from Dion Cassius, that by a Decree of the Roman's, the Aera of the Actiac Victory did not commence, until the 29th of August, An. I. P. 4684. Almost a full Year after, when Octavianus had entirely reduced Egypt under his Obedience. So that the Aera of the Actiac Victory being certainly fixed upon Aug. 29. An. I. P. 4684, we must necessarily understand Iosephus who wrote about 148 Years after (a)Iosephus wrote his History 86 Years after Christ. i. e. An. I. P. 4832.to date his 37 Years from thence; or else we must suppose him to give us an Aera not known or used in the World, by any but himself; which is altogether unreasonable.
Mr. W. from Dion Cassius, places the Banishment of Archelaus An. I. P. 4719. but it is very evident, that tho' 37 Years from the Time of the Victory brings us to 4719, yet not so from the Date of the Aera. For 37 compleat Years added to Aug. 29. An. I. P. 4684. the true Aera of the Actiac Victory, brings us down to Aug. 29. An I. P. 4721. But because Iosephus says Archelaus was banished in the Beginning of the 37th Year, let us deduct 8 or 9 Months, from Aug. 29. 4721, and it leaves us in the Latter-End of Nov. or Dec. An. I. P. 4720, in the Beginning of the 37th Year of the Actiac Victory. And accordingly, Dr. Prideaux †See his Chro…ological T…ble, at the End of his IV. Vol.Ends the Reign of Archelaus in the Year, I. P. 4720. So that the Latter End of the Year I. P. 4720. is undoubtedly fixed for the true Time of Archelaus's Banishment. And from Dec. An. I. P. 4720. let us deduct the somewhat above Nine Years of Archelaus's Reign, and it carries us back to Nov. An. I. P. 4711. for the Commencing of his Reign, upon the Death of his Father Herod.
Thus the Reign and Banishment of Archelaus; confirms the Death of Herod, and the Birth of CHRIST, to have been, An. I. P. 4711. as is asserted in the Proposition.
4. The Conception of Iohn Baptist, was sometime in August, An. I. P. 4710▪ …vil…
1. It is well known, that the Iewish Priests were divided into, Twenty four Courses, and that each Course served it's Week at the Temple: And we are assured, that Zachariah, the Father of Iohn, was of the Course of Abiah, (Luke I.5.) which was the Eighth Course in Order. (I. Chron. XXIV.10.)
The Order of these Courses was restored after the Captivity, and whatever Interruption was given to them, during the broken State of the Iews, before the Time of the Maccabees, yet there was none after Iudas Maccabeus restored them, till the final Determination of them at the Siege of Ierusalem, by Titus, as Scalliger observes.†See W. Harm. p. 156.
Now Mr. W. informs us ‖Harm. p. 157.from the famous Iewish Chronicle, that when the Temple was burnt, by the Romans, upon Aug. 4th An. I. P. 4783, it was the Course of Ioiarib, or the first Course, and the Sabbath concluding that Weekly Course; which also he shews, from the first Sabbath after the Restitution of the daily Sacrifice by the Maccabees.
2. It is plain, that Zachariah's Course, and the Baptist's Conception, must be more than a Year before the Birth of CHRIST. Without this Allowance, there would not be Room for Elisabeth's Hiding herself Five Months, before the Virgin's Conception, and for the Time of the holy Virgin's Praegnancy, to her Deliverance.
3. Zachariah's Course went out upon Aug. 5th An. I. P. 4710. Having taken the Pains to calculate the Courses of the Priests, from Ioiarib, the first, finishing his Course upon Aug. 4th An. I. P. 4783. I find Zachariah's, or the Eighth Course to go out, Aug. 5th An. I. P. 4710. which fixes the Time of the Baptist's Conception to the Beginning of that August; and allows between Two and Three Months more than a Year to the Birth of CHRIST, in October An. I. P. 4711.
Mr. Whiston, by a like Calculation, observes the Time of Zachariah's Ministration to fall on the Beginning of Sept. as it truly does, An. I. P. 4709. and he Assigns October 25th the Year after, for the Time of the Birth of CHRIST. But if he had more thorowly reremarked the Times, I imagine, he would have seen, that his fixing Zachariah's Course to the Beginning of Sept. An. I. P. 4709. as he necessarily must, for that Year, would have destroyed his main Design, of ascertaining the Birth of CHRIST upon Octo. 25. A. I. P. 4710, instead of proving it.
For the Eighth Course, to which Zachariah belonged, finishing their Ministration upon Sept. 3d, the Sabbath in the first Week of that Month, An. I. P. 4709, we need only to allow Two Days, from thence, for Zachariah's return to his House at Hebron, about 30 miles Distant from Ierusalem, and for his Wife Elisabeth's Conception, which brings us to Sept. 5th. From thence we must allow five Iewish Months, or 21 Weeks, and 3 Days, for the Time, in which Elisabeth is said to hide herself, which brings to Feb. 2d, in the Beginning of the Year I. P. 4710. We must, doubtless, allow another Week, at least, for the Propriety of the Angel's Speech to Mary (Luke, I.36. This is the Sixth Month with her that was called barren; which leads us to Feb. 9th; and the Nine Months, of the Virgin's going with Child, will unavoidably bring us to Nov. 9th. So that by this Reconing the Virgin must necessarily have brought forth her first born Son, something more than a Fortnight before her full Time, which may, by no means, be admitted. And therefore upon Mr. Whiston's own Principles, of Zachariah's Ministration going out, in the Beginning of September, An. I. P. 4709. JESUS CHRIST cannot be supposed to be born, upon October 25. An. I.P. 4710. And if the Allowances should be made greater than I have proposed, (smaller they cannot be) it will render it still but so much the more unlikely, if not impossible.
But, on the other hand, Zachariah's Course going out upon the Fifth of August, An. I. P. 4710, as I have observed, the Two Days Allowance for his Return to his House, and for Elisabeth's Conception, makes Aug. 7th for the Time of Iohn the Baptist's Conception; from whence, the Five Months, or 21 Weeks and 3 Days, of Elisabeth's Concealment; brings us to Ian. 4th the Beginning of the Iulian Year 4711; and a Weeks Entrance into the Sixth Month, as before, leads us to the Eleventh of Ianuary, for the Time of the Virgin's Conception; and Nine Months, from Ian. 11th to the Time of the Birth, carries us down to October 11th in the Year of the Iulian Period 4711, the Year and Month proposed in the Proposition. And no other Year but this will receive any Evidence, for the Birth of CHRIST in October, from the Principle of Zachariah's Ministration, calculated from Ioiarib's being the first Course, and finishing his Ministration upon Aug. 4th An. I. P. 4783. but if the Principles are good, (and they seem to me to be so) then we receive from them a very strong, and conclusive Evidence, of the Birth of CHRIST, upon, or about the Eleventh of October, An. I. P. 4711. And if the Fifteenth of Tisri, should have happened upon the Third of our October, that Year, as the Fifteenth of Nisan did upon the Third of our April, Thirty-four Years and an half after, when our Lord was crucified, then the Birth of CHRIST, falling upon the 11th of our October ▪ was exactly upon the Eighth, that great and last Day, of the Feast of Tabernacles, wherein they were to keep an holy Convocation to the Lord, and offer an Offering made by Fire unto the Lord †Levit. XXIII.34, 35, 36.; for then the Son of God came to Tabernacle with Men, (and He did but litterally Tabernacle with them, at His Birth, in the Inn) in order to offer Himself, to His Eternal Father, a Sacrifice made by Fire, by the Fire of the Divine Anger falling upon Him, in the Day when he took our Infirmities, and bore the Iniquities of us all.
Since therefore, there is such a wonderful Concurrence of all these Circumstances, the Baptism of our Saviour, at the Age of 30 Years; the Death of Herod; and the Reign, and Banishment of Archelaus; and the Time of the Baptist's Conception; all of them so evidently fixing us to the Year of the Iulian Period, 4711, and to the Month of October: I cannot but look upon it, as more than a vain Conjecture, even, an established Proposition, That JESUS CHRIST, our Blessed Saviour, was born some Time in October, An. I. P. 4711: Two Years, and two Months, and some Days, before the common Aera.
FINIS.
ERRATA.
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End of the text · John Barnard, The Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (1731)