Post 3 about Christmas Matching Herods Death to Jesus Birth From a combination of the details that Luke provides, accounts from ancient historians, and what archeologists and astronomers can tell us about the New Testament period in history, its not clear exactly when Jesus was born, but the evidence for September, 3 BC seems to work best at this time, so thats what this translation assumes. We know that Herod the Great (the Herod who was king when Jesus was born) died in the spring of either 4 BC or 1 BC, and this translation assumes his death was in 1 BC. While the ancient historical accounts arent entirely reliable, their information would have to be rejected with no good reason to do so in order to go with the 4 BC date. In this case, the biblical information supports these ancient accounts. Luke provided detailed information about the date of the start of Johns ministry, and we now know that the date was between the fall of 28 AD and the fall of 29 AD--probably spring of 29 AD. Luke says that Jesus was about 30 when he started his ministry (Good News 2:15). If Jesus was born in September of 3 BC, he wouldve been exactly 30 years old when John began his ministry. Allowing two years for Johns ministry before Jesus immersion, Jesus wouldve been 32 when he was immersed by John, and that works with about 30. (Its possible John only ministered for one year before Jesus was immersed, in which case Jesus wouldve been 31 when he was immersed.) On the other hand, if Herod died in the spring of 4 BC and Jesus was born before his death, then Jesus would have to have been born no later than the spring of 5 BC. With that date, hed have been 33 in the spring of 29 AD when John the Immerser began his ministry. If we allow even one year for Johns ministry before Jesus immersion, Jesus wouldve been 34 when Luke says that he was about 30, and thats at least a stretch. So given Lukes date for the beginning of John the Immersers ministry and his estimate of Jesus age when Jesus was immersed by John, the 1 BC date for Herod the Greats death works best both from the information in secular sources and from the biblical information. From Birth of Jesus - The Date in the Glossary of Good News: The Life and Teachings of Jesus, a new translation of the Gospels blended into a single account, available on Amazon at amazon/dp/B00GULW042. If you find this interesting, please pass it along.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 14:34:54 +0000
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