Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. XI.
_Of the Times of the Birth and Passion of _Christ__. The times of the Birth and Passion of _Christ_, with such like niceties, being not material to religion, were little regarded by the _Christians_ of the first age. They who began first to celebrate them, placed them in the cardinal periods of the year; as the annunciation of the Virgin _Mary_, on the 25th of _March_, which when _Julius Cæsar_ corrected the Calendar was the vernal Equinox; the feast of _John_ Baptist on the 24th of _June_, which was the summer Solstice; the feast of St. _Michael_ on _Sept._ 29, which was the autumnal Equinox; and the birth of _Christ_ on the winter Solstice, _Decemb._ 25, with the feasts of St. _Stephen_, St. _John_ and the _Innocents_, as near it as they could place them.
And because the Solstice in time removed from the 25th of _December_ to the 24th, the 23d, the 22d, and so on backwards, hence some in the following centuries placed the birth of _Christ_ on _Decemb._ 23, and at length on _Decemb._ 20: and for the same reason they seem to have set the feast of St. _Thomas_ on _Decemb._ 21, and that of St. _Matthew_ on _Sept._ 21. So also at the entrance of the Sun into all the signs in the _Julian_ Calendar, they placed the days of other Saints; as the conversion of _Paul_ on _Jan._ 25, when the Sun entred [Aquarius]; St. _Matthias_ on _Feb._ 25, when he entred [Pisces]; St. _Mark_ on _Apr._ 25, when he entred [Taurus]; _Corpus Christi_ on _May_ 26, when he entred [Gemini]; St. _James_ on _July_ 25, when he entred [Cancer]; St. _Bartholomew_ on _Aug._ 24, when he entred [Virgo]; _Simon_ and _Jude_ on _Octob._ 28, when he entred [Scorpio]: and if there were any other remarkable days in the _Julian_ Calendar, they placed the Saints upon them, as St. _Barnabas_ on _June_ 11, where _Ovid_ seems to place the feast of _Vesta_ and _Fortuna_, and the goddess _Matuta_; and St. _Philip_ and _James_ on the first of _May_, a day dedicated both to the _Bona Dea_, or _Magna Mater_, and to the goddess _Flora_, and still celebrated with her rites.
All which shews that these days were fixed in the first _Christian_ Calendars by Mathematicians at pleasure, without any ground in tradition; and that the _Christians_ afterwards took up with what they found in the Calendars. Neither was there any certain tradition about the years of _Christ_. For the _Christians_ who first began to enquire into these things, as _Clemens Alexandrinus_, _Origen_, _Tertullian_, _Julius Africanus_, _Lactantius_, _Jerome_, St. _Austin_, _Sulpicius Severus_, _Prosper_, and as many as place the death of _Christ_ in the 15th or 16th year of _Tiberius_, make _Christ_ to have preached but one year, or at most but two. At length _Eusebius_ discovered four successive Passovers in the Gospel of _John_, and thereupon set on foot an opinion that he preacht three years and an half; and so died in the 19th year of _Tiberius_. Others afterwards, finding the opinion that he died in the Equinox _Mar._ 25, more consonant to the times of the _Jewish_ Passover, in the 17th and 20th years, have placed his death in one of those two years. Neither is there any greater certainty in the opinions about the time of his birth. The first _Christians_ placed his baptism near the beginning of the 15th year of _Tiberius_; and thence reckoning thirty years backwards, placed his birth in the 43d _Julian_ year, the 42d of _Augustus_ and 28th of the _Actiac_ victory. This was the opinion which obtained in the first ages, till _Dionysius Exiguus_, placing the baptism of _Christ_ in the 16th year of _Tiberius_, and misinterpreting the text of _Luke_, iii. 23. as if _Jesus_ was only beginning to be 30 years old when he was baptized, invented the vulgar account, in which his birth is placed two years later than before. As therefore relating to these things there is no tradition worth considering; let us lay aside all and examine what prejudices can be gathered from records of good account.
The fifteenth year of _Tiberius_ began _Aug._ 28, _An. J.P._ 4727. So soon as the winter was over, and the weather became warm enough, we may reckon that _John_ began to baptize; and that before next winter his fame went abroad, and all the people came to his baptism, and _Jesus_ among the rest. Whence the first Passover after his baptism mentioned _John_ ii. 13. was in the 16th year of _Tiberius_. After this feast _Jesus_ came into the land of _Judea_, and staid there baptizing, whilst _John_ was baptizing in _Ænon_, _John_ iii. 22, 23. But when he heard that _John_ was cast into prison, he departed into _Galilee_, _Mat._ iii. 12. being afraid, because the Pharisees had heard that he baptized more disciples than _John_, _John_ iv. 1. and in his journey he passed thro' _Samaria_ four months before the harvest, _John_ iv. 35. that is, about the time of the winter Solstice. For their harvest was between _Easter_ and _Whitsunday_, and began about a month after the vernal Equinox. _Say not ye_, saith he, _there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?
Behold I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest_; meaning, that the people in the fields were ready for the Gospel, as his next words shew[1]. _John_ therefore was imprisoned about _November_, in the 17th year of _Tiberius_; and _Christ_ thereupon went from _Judea_ to _Cana_ of _Galilee_ in _December_, and was received there of the _Galileans_, who had seen all he did at _Jerusalem_ at the Passover: and when a Nobleman of _Capernaum_ heard he was returned into _Galilee_, and went to him and desired him to come and cure his son, he went not thither yet, but only said, _Go thy way, thy son liveth; and the Nobleman returned and found it so, and believed, he and his house_, John iv. This is the beginning of his miracles in _Galilee_; and thus far _John_ is full and distinct in relating the actions of his first year, omitted by the other Evangelists. The rest of his history is from this time related more fully by the other Evangelists than by _John_; for what they relate he omits. From this time therefore _Jesus_ taught in the Synagogues of _Galilee_ on the sabbath-days, being glorified of all: and coming to his own city _Nazareth_, and preaching in their Synagogue, they were offended, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which the city was built to cast him headlong; but he passing thro' the midst of them, went his way, and came and dwelt at _Capernaum_, _Luke_ iv. And by this time we may reckon the second Passover was either past or at hand.
All this time _Matthew_ passeth over in few words, and here begins to relate the preaching and miracles of _Christ_. _When _Jesus__, saith he, _had heard that _John_ was cast into prison, he departed into _Galilee_; and leaving _Nazareth_, he came and dwelt at _Capernaum_, and from that time began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand_, Matth. iv. 12. Afterwards he called his disciples _Peter_, _Andrew_, _James_ and _John_; and then _went about all_ Galilee, _teaching in the Synagogues,--and healing all manner of sickness:--and his fame went thro'out all _Syria_; and they brought unto him all sick people,--and there followed him great multitudes of people from _Galilee_, and from _Decapolis_, and from _Jerusalem_, and from _Judea_, and from beyond _Jordan__, Matth, iv. 18, 25. All this was done before the sermon in the mount: and therefore we may certainly reckon that the second Passover was past before the preaching of that sermon. The multitudes that followed him from _Jerusalem_ and _Judea_, shew that he had lately been there at the feast. The sermon in the mount was made when great multitudes came to him from all places, and followed him in the open fields; which is an argument of the summer-season: and in this sermon he pointed at the lilies of the field then in the flower before the eyes of his auditors. _Consider_, saith he, _the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet _Solomon_ in all his glory was not arayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven_, &c. _Matth._ vi. 28. So therefore the grass of the field was now in the flower, and by consequence the month of _March_ with the Passover was past.
Let us see therefore how the rest of the feasts follow in order in _Matthew_'s Gospel: for he was an eye-witness of what he relates, and so tells all things in due order of time, which _Mark_ and _Luke_ do not. Some time after the sermon in the mount, when the time came that he should be received, that is, when the time of a feast came that he should be received by the _Jews_, he set his face to go to _Jerusalem_: and as he went with his disciples in the way, when the _Samaritans_ in his passage thro' _Samaria_ had denied him lodgings, and a certain Scribe said unto him, _Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest_, Jesus _said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head_, Matth. viii. 19. Luke ix. 51, 57. The Scribe told _Christ_ he would bear him company in his journey, and _Christ_ replied that he wanted a lodging. Now this feast I take to be the feast of Tabernacles, because soon after I find _Christ_ and his Apostles on the sea of _Tiberias_ in a storm so great, that the ship was covered with water and in danger of sinking, till _Christ rebuked the winds and the sea_, Matth. viii. 23. For this storm shews that winter was now come on.
After this _Christ_ did many miracles, and _went about all the cities and villages of _Galilee_, teaching in their Synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness, and every disease among the people_, Matth. ix. he then sent forth the twelve to do the like, _Matth._ x. and at length when he had received a message from _John_, and answered it, he said to the multitudes, _From the days of _John_ the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence_; and upbraided the cities, _Chorazin_, _Bethsaida_, and _Capernaum_, wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not, _Matth._ xi. Which several passages shew, that from the imprisonment of _John_ till now there had been a considerable length of time: the winter was now past, and the next Passover was at hand; for immediately after this, _Matthew_, in chap. xii. subjoins, that _Jesus went on the sabbath-day thro' the corn, and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat,--rubbing them_, saith _Luke_, _in their hands_: the corn therefore was not only in the ear, but ripe; and consequently the Passover, in which the first-fruits were always offered before the harvest, was now come or past. _Luke_ calls this sabbath [Greek: deuteroprôton], the second prime sabbath, that is, the second of the two great feasts of the Passover. As we call _Easter_ day high _Easter_, and its _octave_ low _Easter_ or _Lowsunday_: so _Luke_ calls the feast on the seventh day of the unlevened bread, the second of the two prime sabbaths.
In one of the sabbaths following he went into a Synagogue, and healed a man with a withered hand, _Matth._ xii. 9. _Luke_ vi. 6. And when the Pharisees took counsel to destroy him, _he withdrew himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all, and charged them that they should not make him known_, Matth. xii. 14. Afterwards being in a ship, and the multitude standing on the shore, he spake to them three parables together, taken from the seeds-men sowing the fields, _Matth._ xiii. by which we may know that it was now seed-time, and by consequence that the feast of Tabernacles was past. After this he went _into his own country, and taught them in their Synagogue_, but _did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief_. Then the twelve having been abroad a year, returned, and told _Jesus_ all that they had done: and at the same time _Herod_ beheaded _John_ in prison, and his disciples came and told _Jesus_; and when _Jesus_ heard it, he took the twelve and departed thence privately by ship into a desert place belonging to _Bethsaida_: and the people when they knew it, followed him on foot out of the cities, the winter being now past; and he healed their sick, and in the desert fed them to the number of five thousand men, besides women and children, with only five loaves and two fishes, _Matth._ xiv. _Luke_ ix. at the doing of which miracle the Passover of the _Jews_ was nigh, _John_ vi. 4. But _Jesus_ went not up to this feast; but _after these things walked in _Galilee_, because the _Jews__ at the Passover before had taken counsel to destroy him, and still _sought to kill him_, John vii. i. Henceforward therefore he is found first in the coast of _Tyre_ and _Sidon_, then by the sea of _Galilee_, afterwards in the coast of _Cæsarea Philippi_; and lastly at _Capernaum_, _Matth._ xv. 21, 29. xvi. 13. xvii. 34.
Afterwards when the feast of Tabernacles was at hand, his brethren upbraided him for walking secretly, and urged him to go up to the feast. But he went not till they were gone, and then went up privately, _John_ vii. 2. and when the _Jews_ sought to stone him, he escaped, _John_ viii. 59. After this he was at the feast of the Dedication in winter, _John_ x. 22. and when they sought again to take him, he fled beyond _Jordan_, _John_ x. 39, 40. _Matth_. xix. 1. where he stayed till the death of _Lazarus_, and then came to _Bethany_ near _Jerusalem_, and raised him, _John_ xi. 7, 18. whereupon the _Jews_ took counsel from that time to kill him: and _therefore_ he _walked no more openly among the _Jews_, but went thence into a country near to the wilderness, into a city called _Ephraim_; and there continued with his disciples_ till the last Passover, in which the _Jews_ put him to death, _John_ xi. 53, 54.
Thus have we, in the Gospels of _Matthew_ and _John_ compared together, the history of _Christ_'s actions in continual order during five Passovers. _John_ is more distinct in the beginning and end; _Matthew_ in the middle: what either omits, the other supplies. The first Passover was between the baptism of _Christ_ and the imprisonment of _John, John_ ii. 13. the second within four months after the imprisonment of _John_, and _Christ_'s beginning to preach in _Galilee_, _John_ iv. 35. and therefore it was either that feast to which _Jesus_ went up, when the Scribe desired to follow him, _Matth._ viii. 19. _Luke_ ix. 51, 57. or the feast before it. The third was the next feast after it, when the corn was eared and ripe, _Matth_, xii. 1. _Luke_ vi. 1. The fourth was that which was nigh at hand when _Christ_ wrought the miracle of the five loaves, _Matth_. xiv. 15. _John_ vi. 4, 5. and the fifth was that in which _Christ_ suffered, _Matth._ xx. 17. _John_ xii. 1.
Between the first and second Passover _John_ and _Christ_ baptized together, till the imprisonment of _John_, which was four months before the second. Then _Christ_ began to preach, and call his disciples; and after he had instructed them a year, lent them to preach in the cities of the _Jews_: at the same time _John_ hearing of the fame of _Christ_, sent to him to know who he was. At the third, the chief Priests began to consult about the death of _Christ_. A little before the fourth, the twelve after they had preached a year in all the cities, returned to _Christ_; and at the same time _Herod_ beheaded _John_ in prison, after he had been in prison two years and a quarter: and thereupon _Christ_ fled into the desart for fear of _Herod_. The fourth _Christ_ went not up to _Jerusalem_ for fear of the _Jews_, who at the Passover before had consulted his death, and because his time was not yet come. Thenceforward therefore till the feast of Tabernacles he walked in _Galilee_, and that secretly for fear of _Herod_: and after the feast of Tabernacles he returned no more into _Galilee_, but sometimes was at _Jerusalem_, and sometimes retired beyond _Jordan_, or to the city _Ephraim_ by the wilderness, till the Passover in which he was betrayed, apprehended, and crucified.
_John_ therefore baptized two summers, and _Christ_ preached three. The first summer _John_ preached to make himself known, in order to give testimony to _Christ_. Then, after _Christ_ came to his baptism and was made known to him, he baptized another summer, to make _Christ_ known by his testimony; and _Christ_ also baptized the same summer, to make himself the more known: and by reason of _John_'s testimony there came more to _Christ_'s baptism than to _John_'s. The winter following _John_ was imprisoned; and now his course being at an end, _Christ_ entered upon his proper office of preaching in the cities. In the beginning of his preaching he completed the number of the twelve Apostles, and instructed them all the first year in order to send them abroad. Before the end of this year, his fame by his preaching and miracles was so far spread abroad, that the _Jews_ at the Passover following consulted how to kill him. In the second year of his preaching, it being no longer safe for him to converse openly in _Judea_, he sent the twelve to preach in all their cities: and in the end of the year they returned to him, and told him all they had done. All the last year the twelve continued with him to be instructed more perfectly, in order to their preaching to all nations after his death. And upon the news of _John_'s death, being afraid of _Herod_ as well as of the _Jews_, he walked this year more secretly than before; frequenting desarts, and spending the last half of the year in _Judea_, without the dominions of _Herod_.
Thus have we in the Gospels of _Matthew_ and _John_ all things told in due order, from the beginning of _John_'s preaching to the death of _Christ_, and the years distinguished from one another by such essential characters that they cannot be mistaken. The second Passover is distinguished from the first, by the interposition of _John_'s imprisonment. The third is distinguished from the second, by a double character: first, by the interposition of the feast to which _Christ_ went up, _Mat._ viii. 19. _Luke_ ix. 57. and secondly, by the distance of time from the beginning of _Christ_'s preaching: for the second was in the beginning of his preaching, and the third so long after, that before it came _Christ_ said, _from the days of _John_ the Baptist until now_, &c. and upbraided the cities of _Galilee_ for their not repenting at his preaching, and mighty works done in all that time. The fourth is distinguished from the third, by the mission of the twelve from _Christ_ to preach in the cities of _Judea_ in all the interval. The fifth is distinguished from all the former by the twelve's being returned from preaching, and continuing with _Christ_ during all the interval, between the fourth and fifth, and by the passion and other infallible characters. Now since the first summer of _John_'s baptizing fell in the fifteenth year of the Emperor _Tiberius_, and by consequence the first of these five Passovers in his sixteenth year; the last of them, in which _Jesus_ suffered, will fall on the twentieth year of the same Emperor; and by consequence in the Consulship of _Fabius_ and _Vitellius_, in the 79th _Julian_ year, and year of _Christ_ 34, which was the sabbatical year of the _Jews_. And that it did so, I further confirm by these arguments.
I take it for granted that the passion was on friday the 14th day of the month _Nisan_, the great feast of the Passover on saturday the 15th day of _Nisan_, and the resurrection on the day following. Now the 14th day of _Nisan_ always fell on the full moon next after the vernal Equinox; and the month began at the new moon before, not at the true conjunction, but at the first appearance of the new moon: for the _Jews_ referred all the time of the silent moon, as they phrased it, that is, of the moon's disappearing, to the old moon; and because the first appearance might usually be about 18 hours after the true conjunction, they therefore began their month from the sixth hour at evening, that is, at sun set, next after the eighteenth hour from the conjunction. And this rule they called [Hebrew: YH] _Jah_, designing by the letters [Hebrew: Y] and [Hebrew: H] the number 18.
I know that _Epiphanius_ tells us, if some interpret his words rightly, that the _Jews_ used a vicious cycle, and thereby anticipated the legal new moons by two days. But this surely he spake not as a witness, for he neither understood _Astronomy_ nor _Rabbinical_ learning, but as arguing from his erroneous hypothesis about the time of the passion. For the _Jews_ did not anticipate, but postpone their months: they thought it lawful to begin their months a day later than the first appearance of the new moon, because the new moon continued for more days than one; but not a day sooner, lest they should celebrate the new moon before there was any. And the _Jews_ still keep a tradition in their books, that the _Sanhedrim_ used diligently to define the new moons by sight: sending witnesses into mountainous places, and examining them about the moon's appearing, and translating the new moon from the day they had agreed on to the day before, as often as witnesses came from distant regions, who had seen it a day sooner than it was seen at _Jerusalem_. Accordingly _Josephus_, one of the _Jewish_ Priests who ministred in the temple, tells us [2] that the Passover was kept _on the 14th day of_ Nisan, [Greek: kata selênên] _according to the moon, when the sun was in _Aries__. This is confirmed also by two instances, recorded by him, which totally overthrow the hypothesis of the _Jews_ using a vicious cycle. For that year in which _Jerusalem_ was taken and destroyed, he saith, the Passover was on the 14th day of the month _Xanticus_, which according to _Josephus_ is our _April_; and that five years before, it fell on the 8th day of the same month. Which two instances agree with the course of the moon.
Computing therefore the new moons of the first month according to the course of the moon and the rule _Jah_, and thence counting 14 days, I find that the 14th day of this month in the year of _Christ_ 31, fell on tuesday _March_ 27; in the year 32, on sunday _Apr._ 13; in the year 33, on friday _Apr._ 3; in the year 34, on wednesday _March_ 24, or rather, for avoiding the Equinox which fell on the same day, and for having a fitter time for harvest, on thursday _Apr._ 22. also in the year 35, on tuesday _Apr._ 12. and in the year 36, on saturday _March_ 31. But because the 15th and 21st days of _Nisan_, and a day or two of _Pentecost_, and the 10th, 15th, and 22d of _Tisri_, were always sabbatical days or days of rest, and it was inconvenient on two sabbaths together to be prohibited burying their dead and making ready fresh meat, for in that hot region their meat would be apt in two days to corrupt: to avoid these and such like inconveniences, the _Jews_ postponed their months a day, as often as the first day of the month _Tisri_, or, which is all one, the third of the month _Nisan_, was sunday, wednesday or friday: and this rule they called [Hebrew: 'DW] _Adu_, by the letters [Hebrew: W , D , '] signifying the numbers 1, 4, 6; that is, the 1st, 4th, and 6th days of the week; which days we call sunday, wednesday and friday. Postponing therefore by this rule the months found above; the 14th day of the month _Nisan_ will fall in the year of _Christ_ 31, on wednesday _March_ 28; in the year 32, on monday _Apr._ 14; in the year 33, on friday _Apr._ 3; in the year 34, on friday _Apr._ 23; in the year 35, on wednesday _Apr._ 13, and in the year 36, on saturday _March_ 31.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.