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Good News and Bad News Regarding Scriptural Chronologies page 2 Good News: Jesus Christ was born on December
25, 1 BC. Justin Martyr (d. 163): 1) records that Christ’s passion occurred in the 17th year of Tiberius, which began in August 32 AD to August 33 AD. |
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Tertullian (d. 222): 1) records that the nativity of Jesus took place in the year 41 of Caesar Augustus. Although this is one year earlier that Jerome’s, this is due to the fact that Tertullian is going strictly by the Latin dating (which, as we saw earlier, places the nativity one calendar year prior to the Greek calendar, since December 25 is a calendar year prior to January 6), and it is known that Jerome, though a Latin, was using Greek sources when he was living in Palestine. 2) records that the sun stopped shining in the middle of the day at the crucifixion of Christ. This is noted in Tertullian’s “Apologeticum” Bk. 1, ch 21: “He wrought many wonders that were appropriate to such a death. Thus, at the time when the sun was in the middle of its orbit, the day was suddenly deprived of its brightness so that those who did not know that this prodigy had been foretold for the death of Christ did not understand the reason for it. Later they denied that it had happened, but you can find [the record of] this worldwide event stored in your archives.” A corroborating text comes from a secular historian known as Phlegon who was a freed slave of Hadrian the emperor (117-138 AD): “...in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad there was an eclipse of the sun which was so remarkable that nothing comparable had ever been seen before. At the sixth hour of the day [noon], the darkness was such that one could see the stars” (Fragmenta Historicum Graecorum, Didot. Paris 1849, vol. iii, Phlegon, Bk 13, ch. 14, as cited in J. S. Daly’s “The Controversy Concerning the Dates of the Birth and Death of Jesus Christ”). NB: This phenomenon would not have been an eclipse caused by the moon, since darkness only occurs over specific areas of the earth in a total eclipse, and does not last very long in any case. The gospels record that the sun stopped shining for three hours. Origen (d. 254) in “Contra Celsus,” Bk. 2, n. 33, corroborates Phlegon’s testimony: “The eclipse which took place at the time of Tiberius, during whose reign Christ was crucified, and the great earthquakes of the same time, wer noted by Phlegon in his Books 13 and 24.” Other Historians of the Church:
Records: “In the 4th month of the 42nd year of Augustus, on the 8th of the Calends of January [that is, December 25th] at the seventh hour of the day, our Lord Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem” “He was baptized in the Jordan on the sixth day of the month of Audynae (i.e., January)” “In the year 18 of the reign of Tiberius, in the 7th month, our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas His disciple. On the 23rd of March, the third day of the moon, the fifth day of the week at the fifth hour of the night [11 pm], He was led before Caiphas...On the following day he was taken to Pilate...He was crucified on the fourteenth day of the moon...At that time the sun was bereft of its light and darkness covered the whole earth.” Paul the Deacon Records: “In the twelfth year of the reign of Tiberius, at Fidenae, an amphitheater collapsed burying 20,000 people. Seven years later, at the time when Our Lord was suffering his Passion, there was an immense earthquake. Rocks were split in the mountains. On the same day, the sun was darkened from the 6th to the 9th hour. Darkness covered the whole of the earth and the stars appeared.” Julius Africanus Records: “In the year of the world 5533, that is 33 of Christ, namely the first year of the 203rd Olympiad, at the moment when Christ suffered his Passion horrific darkness covered the world and rocks were broken by an earthquake.” Orosius (d. 418) 1) records that Christ was born in December of 1 BC Cassiodorus (d. 580) 1) records that the passion of Christ took place in the year 18 of Tiberius, on the 8th of the Calends of April, during an eclipse of the sun. He also writes: “Jesus Christ the Son of God was born at Bethlehem in the year 41 of the reign of Augustus.” Sulpitius Severus (d. 420) 1) records that Christ was born in the year 33 of Herod, on the 8th of the Calends of January [December 25], and that Herod died four years later; and that Christ was crucified in the 24th year of Herod the Younger (i.e., Herod Antipas). Epiphanius (d. 403) 1) records that Christ was born in the Julian year 45 (1 BC on our calendar), the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad, and that the passion took place in the 18th year of Tiberius on March 25, and the Resurrection on the 27th. NB: As noted, discrepancies are often explained by the differences in ordinal and cardinal numbers in the various dating systems. Now for the bad news: Old Testament Chronology: Anyone who is depending on the Anglican Bishop Ussher for their
interpretation of the Old Testament chronology is in for a real
shock. Bishop Ussher proposed that: You will find this in most all of the old King James protestant bibles. You will also find them in old Catholic Bibles. For example, they revered Haydock Bible contains Ussher’s chronology on pages 1227-1231. Here’s the major problem with this view: You will note above that the most Ussher allows Israel to be in Egypt before their departure is either 237 years or 215 years. The number 237 is obtained by subtracting the year the Jews entered Egypt (Joseph as their representative), which, according to Ussher is 1728 BC, from the year Israel left Egypt, which according to Ussher is 1491 BC. The number 215 is obtained by subtracting the entrance of Jacob and his 70 family members in 1706 BC from the departure of Israel in 1491. But this is in flat contradiction to Scripture’s own testimony as to how many years Israel was in Egypt, to the very day. In Exodus 12:40 it states very clearly that Israel was in Egypt precisely 430 years: “And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty [430] years.” In case one is unsure about this time period, it is repeated again, with the same precision, in Galatians 3:17, by making reference to the covenant (or testament) that God made with Abraham until God gave the Law to Moses: “Now this I say: that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty [430] years doth not disannul, to make the promise of no effect.” Again, God had estimated this time to be at least 400 years way back in Genesis 15:13: And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred [400] years.” The same period of time is reiterated in Acts 7:6, as Stephen recounts the words of God to Abraham: “And God said to him: That his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and that they should bring them under bondage and treat them evil four hundred [400] years.” So we see that at least four times Scripture tells us that Israel was in Egypt at least 400 years, and more precisely, 430 years. So how is it that Bishop Ussher made his chronology so that Israel is only in Egypt 215 years, and at most 237 years? Obviously, Ussher was fudging the numbers. There is also a problem with Ussher’s estimation for Solomon’s reign. Ussher has Solomon laying the foundation of the temple in 1012 BC, but we have found that the date is actually 967 BC. Accordingly, the division of the kingdom would have occurred in 931 BC, not Ussher’s 975 BC. In fact they have found that “Shoshenq’s” (aka Shishak) rampage of Rehov is now set at 925 BC (San Francisco Chronicle, 4-14-03). 1 Kings 14:25 and 2 Chr 12:2 say that Shishak came against Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam, which would confirm the date of division of the kingdom in 931 BC, right after Solomon’s death. 1 Kings 6:1 says there was 480 years between Solomon’s fourth year (967 BC) and the Exodus, which brings us back to 1447 BC. Adding the 430 years of Exodus 12:40, we get back to 1877 for Jacob’s entrance into Egypt. If we add the age of 60 when Jacob entered Egypt, and the 175 years of Abraham (Gen 25:7), and the 60 years of Isaac when Jacob was born (Gen 25:26), we come to 2172 BC. Now, if the Flood, according to this author, took place in 2348 BC, that means we have 176 years to fit in the Flood and all the generations between Noah and Abraham, which is quite impossible. Moreover, it has been established that written history goes back, without pause, to at least 3000-3500 BC, if not longer. That can easily be proven. Hence, the Flood would have had to occur before that date. For example, it can be shown that Ur, Erech, Lagash, Eridu existed around 3700 BC (cf., William F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity, 1957, p. 32). Sumerian epigraphy is known to have existed around 3100 BC (Ignace Gelb, A Study of Writing, Univ of Chicago Press, 1952, p. 63). The Maya calendar begins on August 11, 3114 BC (George E. Stuart, “The Maya Riddle of the Glyphs, National Geographic, 1975, p. 773). Also relevant to this issue is how Scripture regards its own genealogies. For example, Exodus 6:14-29 is very important in these discussions because it is unique among the genealogies. It gives the length of the years only of Levi, Kohath and Amram. If the numbers are added up, and assuming that Levi stayed in Egypt for 77 years, then we have exactly 430 years for Israel’s stay in Egypt, which agrees precisely with Exodus 12:40’s “430 years, to the day.” (Levi’s 77 + Kohath’s 133 + Amram’s 137 + Aarons age (cf., Ex 7:7; Num 33:39) of 83 = 430 years). The only thing one needs to prove, however, is that Jacob spent 40 years in Haran, instead of 20, otherwise, Levi’s can’t be in Egypt for 77 years, but it can be done. We can also do it another way. If we add Levi’s 137 years from Ex 6:16 + Kohath’s 133 + Amram’s 137 + Aaron’s age at death and the year Israel entered Canaan, 123, we get 530 years. If we subtract 40 years of wandering in the desert, we have 490 years. We can now get to 430 years if we note that Jacob was 130 years when Israel went into Egypt (Gen 47:9). We also know that Joseph was 30 when made ruler over Egypt (Gen 41:46), and it was 9 years later (7 years plenty and two years famine = 9, cf., Gen 45:6) that he revealed himself to his brothers. At the time Jacob enters Egypt he is Jacob’s 130 and Joseph is 39, thus Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born. If we assume Levi was 21 years older than Joseph (since he was Jacob’s third son while Joseph was his eleventh), then Levi is 60 when he enters Egypt with Jacob. If we add Jacob’s 17 years in Egypt (Gen 47:28) to Levi’s 60 it = 77 as the years of Levi in Egypt. Or, we can subtract Levi’s 60 years from the 137 years of Ex 6:16 which = 77 years. The importance of this Exodus genealogy is not only that the numbers add up to 430 years, but also because none of the names are indicated to be father-son relationships. 1) Unlike Genesis 4:25-26, no one in Ex 6:14-20 is said to name his successor. The only instance we have of someone being named is Ex 2:10 (and which means that Amram and Jochebed are not his parents (Ex 6:20)). 2) If Kohath was the son of Levi, and Amram the son of Kohath, then this would necessitate that, if their ages are for the purpose of marking a calendar for the 430 years in Egypt, it would mean that Kohath would have to be born the year Levi died, and Amram would have to be born the year Kohath died. This is highly unlikely if they are father-son relationships, but very likely if they are ancestral. The calendar would be kept intact by obtaining the new calendar marker after Levi, Kohath, by selecting him from among the men who were born in the year that Levi died. Also, they would have selected Amram to replace Kohath in the same way (Amram was born in the year Kohath died). This would allow a precise and uninterrupted calendar. 3) If this were not the case, then it would be impossible to account for Kohath’s “8600” descendants, which Num. 3:27-28 assures us he had, and which census took place when Moses was already 82 years old (Num 3:1), the apparent grandson of Kohath. You can’t have 8600 descendants within two generations. But if we understand that the descendants of Kohath included the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites (1 Chr 16:23), then we can understand where these 8600 originated. They would have had enough time to produce 8600 because Kohath, according to the formula 77 + 133 + 137 + 83 = 430, would have died 220 years before the Exodus. A 220 year period could produce five to six generations, which could easily produce 8600 descendants. 4) These figures coincide with Gen 15:13-16 which says that Abraham’s descendants would be oppressed 400 years and four generations. The four generations are Levi, Kohath, Amram and Aaron. For these reasons, it is almost certain that Kohath, Amram and Aaron were not the son, grandson and great-grandson of Levi, but his descendants. This is entirely acceptable by the way Hebrew uses the word “ben,” since it can refer either to an immediate son or a descendant. For more information on dating the Genesis Chronologies see our
website article. 1 Some examples of errors in Josephus works: Ezra 6:15 says:
“This temple was completed on the third day of the month
Adar; it was the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.”
But Josephus says “The whole was complete in the ninth month
of the 28th year of Xerxes,” a difference of 45 years (Antiquities
Bk 11, v. 179); 1 Maccabees 6:30 says: “The number of his
forces was a 100,000 foot soldiers, 20,000 horsemen, and 32 elephants
accustomed to war,” but The Jewish War (Bk 1, v. 41) says
there were 50,000 soldiers, 5,000 cavalry and 80 elephants, yet
in The Antiquities (Bk. 12, ch. 9, v. 366) he quotes the figures
from 1 Macc 6:30; The Jewish War (Bk. 1, ch. 2, v. 68) says that
Hyrcanus reigned for 33 years; in Antiquities (xii, v. 299) for
32 years; in Antiquities (xx) for 30 years; In The Jewish War
(Bk 1, ch. 3, v. 70) it says Aristobulus put the diadem upon his
brow 471 years after the return from exile. In Antiquities (Bk
13, v. 301) he says it is 480 years. Both are wrong, since it
is 490 years; In The Jewish War (Bk. 1, ch. 4, v. 105) he says
Alexander captured Gamala and expelled the governor, but in The
Antiquities (Bk. 13, v. 394) Alexander puts him to death; In Antiquities
(Bk 15, ch. 11, v. 1) says “Herod undertook the restoration
of the Temple in the 18th year of his reign,” but in The
Jewish War (Bk 1, ch. 21, v. 401) says “it was in the 15th
year.” 2 The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland
beginning in 1867. (ANF 6, Roberts and Donaldson). 3 Other mentions of the Olympiad are: Clement of Alexandria (40th Olympiad): “The disciple of Crates was Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect. He was succeeded by Cleanthes; and the latter by Chrysippus, and others after him. Xenophanes of Colophon was the founder of the Eleatic school, who, Timaeus says, lived in the time of Hiero, lord of Sicily, and Epicharmus the poet; and Apollodorus says that he was born in the fortieth Olympiad, and reached to the times of Darius and Cyrus”; “Herodotus in his first book agrees with him. The date is about the fiftieth Olympiad. Pythagoras is ascertained to have lived in the days of Polycrates the tyrant, about the sixty-second Olympiad. Mnesiphilus is described as a follower of Solon, and was a contemporary of Themistocles. Solon therefore flourished about the forty-sixth Olympiad” (Stromata, 1, 14). Hippolytus: “This philosopher [Anaxagoras] flourished in the first year of the 88th Olympiad, at which time they say that Plato also was born.” Socrates Scholasticus: “In Britain, however, Constantine was proclaimed emperor, instead of his father Constantius, who died in the first year of the two hundred and seventy-first Olympiad, on the 25th of July”; The Emperor Constantine lived sixty-five years, and reigned thirty-one. He died in the consulate of Felician and Tartan, on the twenty-second of May, in the second year of the 278th Olympiad. This book, therefore, embraces a period of thirty-one years. (Ecclesiastical History, Book 1, Ch 2 and Ch 40); “Thus was that war concluded which had been undertaken on account of the suffering Christians in Persia, under the consulate of the two Augusti, being the thirteenth of Honorius, and the tenth of Theodosius, in the fourth year of the 300th Olympiad: and with it terminated the persecution which had been excited in Persia against the Christians” ((Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, Ch 20); Theophilus of Antioch: “When Cyrus, then, had reigned twenty-nine years, and had been slain by Tomyris in the country of the Massagetae, this being in the 62d Olympiad, then the Romans began to increase in power, God strengthening them, Rome having been rounded by Romulus, the reputed child of Mars and Ilia, in the 7th Olympiad, on the 21st day of April, the year being then reckoned as consisting of ten months. Cyrus, then, having died, as we have already said, in the 62d Olympiad, this date falls 220 A.V.C., in which year also Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, reigned over the Romans...” (Autolycus, iii, 27). by Jacob Michael A few facts about Christmas and the surrounding liturgical year ... - The word "Christmas" is from the Old English (c. 1038) Cristes Maesse, or "the Mass of Christ" - There are extant records (the Depositio Martyrum, a forerunner to the Roman Martyrology lists) from the mid-4th century (c. 350 AD) that include an entry on December 25 for natus Christus in Betleem Iudeae ("the birth of Christ in Bethlehem of Judea") - In 349 AD, Pope Julius fixed the celebration of Christmas for the Western Church as being December 25 - The more-or-less universal fixing of the date of Christmas (i.e., when the East picked up on the Western custom) happened gradually near the end of the 4th (370-390 AD) century, in implicit, unspoken response to the (Eastern) Arian heretics who were denying Christ's divinity - the Eastern Church simply began emphasizing and giving more prominence to the Dec. 25 feast that the West had already been celebrating - Justinian's Codex (529 AD) officially imposed a cessation of all labor on the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity - a custom we still follow today - The Second Council of Tours (c. 566-7) declared a twelve-day celebration between the feasts of Christmas (Dec. 25) and Epiphany (Jan. 6) - a celebration we remember in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - as well as a pre-Christmas fast during the four weeks of Advent - It was a Catholic saint, St. Francis of Assisi, who in the 13th Century invented and popularized the manger scene, or crèche - Recognizing that "Christ-Mass" was a singularly Catholic celebration, the English Parliament of the 17th century (already steeped in anti-Catholic Anglicanism) outlawed the celebration of Christmas (and that of Easter as well) and persecuted those who violated the prohibition; the Plymouth Pilgrims in Massachusetts did the same in the mid-1600s. - Historically, the "high-church" denominations (Lutherans, Catholic, Anglican, Episcopalian) have pushed for the celebration of Christmas, while "low-church" denominations (Baptists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Puritans) have rejected it Today, the secular world also recognizes the explicitly Catholic nature of the "Christ-Mass" celebration, and so in most US cities the phrase "Merry Christmas" has been quietly replaced with the religiously-neutral "Happy Holidays." Singing Christmas carols at public events is a serious no-no. Erecting manger scenes in front of public buildings is against the law in many places. Eventually, someone at the ACLU will realize that the word "Holidays" is just a variation on the Catholic term "Holy Day" (as in, "holy days of obligation," to which category Christmas belongs), and then we'll be seeing the ubiquitous presence of slogans like "Merry Winter Festival," or "Happy Solstice!" The proper celebration of the Christmas season is as follows: four weeks of Advent that lead up to Christmas; twelve days of Christmas from Dec. 25 to Jan. 6; the end of Christmas and the beginning of Epiphany on Jan. 6. During Advent (which is the beginning of the new Church calendar year), we prepare ourselves for the Incarnation by seriously examining our lives and asking ourselves if we are ready for a visit from Our King. The four weeks (one for each of the thousand years that preceded the Incarnation, from Adam to Jesus) are meant specifically to remind us that the Incarnation was only the first Coming of Jesus - that there will most certainly be a Second Coming. The liturgical readings during these four weeks attest to this, as we are confronted with passage after passage that speaks of the Second Coming of Christ. The preparations we make (through increased prayer, fasting, examination, etc.) are truly intended to remind us of our year-long duty to be always in preparation for the Second Coming. We are exhorted by the Church and Sacred Scripture to be ready for the Second Coming, to not be caught off guard like the virgins in Our Lord's wedding parable. The anti-Catholic world has reversed this completely, and you can just see it all around you - perhaps you're even part of that reversal process, and you just didn't realize it. During Advent, we prepare for Christmas - we don't start celebrating it. But for the secular world, Christmas is a season that begins, not on Dec. 25, but on the day after Thanksgiving. In fact, just the opposite of the Christian custom takes place - where we ought to prepare for Christmas during the four weeks leading up to Dec. 25, begin our Christmas celebration on Dec. 25, and carry it through to Jan. 6, the secular world bids us to start celebrating four weeks before Dec. 25, end our Christmas celebrations by Dec. 26, make sure we have the tree and decorations cleared out by New Year's Day, and then begin thinking about becoming better people. Because the secular world does not acknowledge the season of Advent, that necessary time of preparation, there is no time of reflection or self-examination prior to Christmas Day. There is no yearly reminder that the Second Coming is an imminent reality, and we must - for the sake of our eternal souls - prepare for it. So when does the secular world find time for self-reflection and examination? You guessed it - after the Christmas season has ended. It's a little custom we call "making New Year's Resolutions." What is this, but the self-inventory of the soul that should have taken place during Advent? Christians fast during Advent - the secular world begins their diet plans in earnest on Jan. 1; Christians make resolutions to pray more, to increase in patience and charity, and in all other ways to live as holier people - but they make these resolutions during Advent, while the secular world makes these similar resolutions (devoid of any real religious substance, of course) on Jan. 1. What is the point of pointing this out? Simply this: what Christians do (or should be doing!) during Advent and leading up to Christmas is a foreshadowing of what they will do during the days of their lives that lead up to the Second Coming; what non-Christians refuse to do during Advent, and put off until after Christmas, is precisely a foreshadowing of what they will experience at the Second Coming. We Christians are to prepare for the Coming of Christ before He actually comes - and that Coming is symbolized and recalled at Christmas. Non-Christians miss this season of preparation, and then scramble for six days after the 25th to make their resolutions. By then, however, it's too late - Christmas has come and gone, Our Lord has already made His visitation to the earth, and He has found them unprepared. This is precisely what will take place at the Second Coming, when those who have put off for their entire lives the necessary preparations will suddenly be scrambling to put their affairs in order. Unfortunately, by then it will have been too late, and there will be no time for repentance. The Second Coming will be less forgiving than the Incarnation. There will be no four-week warning period before the Second Coming, like we get during Advent. There will be no six-day period of grace after the Second Coming during which to make resolutions and self-examination, like the secular world does from Dec. 26 until Jan. 1. The 25th has passed - the King is here. Our part now is to be a sign of contradiction to the world, to go against the cultural current. For most of the world, Christmas ended on Dec. 26th - for Christians, Dec. 26th is "the first day of Christmas." So leave your tree alone. Let the people of the world be the ones to cast this symbol of Christ out of their homes (yes, it is a symbol of Christ - that's why we choose Evergreens, a symbol of eternal life, and not dead oak trees or maples) - and they can't wait to get those trees out of their houses, can they? A co-worker told me yesterday that he had his tree and decorations gone by noon on the 26th. That's a tragedy, because it’s a natural picture of a supernatural reality – if he has no time for Christ-Mass trees, certainly the Christ Child Himself fares no better on this man’s schedule. I mentioned to him that Christmas lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. He said he's not a Catholic, so he doesn't follow the Church's calendar rules. I didn't have the heart to tell him that by celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 (and later this year, by celebrating Easter Sunday on Mar. 27) he's already following the Church's liturgical calendar. That's the irony. The whole secular world is unwittingly submitting to the Church's authority by honoring Dec. 25th as a "holy-day." The trouble is that they are not truly honoring that day, sanctifying that day, or treating it as "holy." Christmas has only just begun, friends. Let's do something counter-cultural this year and keep the celebration of Christmas alive and strong - through carols, decorations, parties, gifts, etc. - at least until January 6. Hodie Christus natus est. |
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