Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/690

060 JESUS for urging their pupils to destroy bis golden eagle, 1 and that he was dead before the passover which took place on April 12, 4 B.C. 2 Christ must therefore have been born before February, 4 B.C. Again, St Luke tells us that John the Baptist began to preach in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and as the reign of Tiberius was usually reckoned in the provinces from the date of his association with Augustus in the empire, this gives us A.U.C. 780 for the baptism of John, at which period Jesus was about thirty years old. 3 As to the day and month of the nativity it is certain that they can never be recovered ; they were abso lutely unknown to the early fathers, and there is scarcely one month in the year which has not been fixed upon as probable by modern critics. 4 The date now observed December 25 cannot be traced further back than the middle of the 4th century, but was adopted by St Jerome, St Augustine, Orosius, and Sulpicius Severus, and in the East by St Chrysostom and St Gregory of Nyssa. 5 If 4 B.C. be accepted as the date for the nativity, which has most pro bability in its favour, the question of the date of the crucifixion depends mainly on that of the duration of the ministry. Now on this point the data of the evangelists have been disturbed by a prevalent early tradition that Christ s public ministry only lasted one year, and by another tradition that Jesus did not die till the age of fifty. The first of these notions is a mistaken inference drawn by Clement of Alexandria, 6 Origen, and other fathers, as also by the Valentinians, from Luke iv. 15 ; and it was by no means universal even in early days, for Irenseus 7 says that Christ taught for three years. The other notion was a mistaken inference from John viii. 57. That both views are mistakes appears from the positive testimony of St Luke that Jesus was about thirty years old when he began His ministry, and from the clear indications given by St John (ii. 13, vi. 4, xi. 55) that there were at least three passovers during the public ministry. On other grounds it is probable that there was one passover during the ministry which our Lord did not attend ; and if so, we see the" grounds for the ancient tradition that His public preaching lasted upwards of three years, and that Jesus died at the age of thirty-three. 8 He died during the reign of Tiberius, the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate, the tetrarchate of Antipas, and the high priesthood of Joseph Caiaphas. Now Tiberius died on March 16, 37 A.D., and Pilate ceased to be procurator before, and Caiaphas to be high priest immediately after, the passover of 36 A.D. ; the date therefore cannot be later than 35 A.D. We may set aside dubious considerations derived fronl the allusion to an eclipse and earthquake by the pagan historian Phlegon, and may regard it as highly probable that the crucifixion took place at the passover of March 30 A.D. IV. The circumstances of the nativity are only related by St Matthew and St Luke, and by each of them in a manner so absolutely independent that facts known to the one may 1 Ant. , xvii. 6, 4. Ibid., xvii. 8, 4. 3 Luke iii. 23. j-i/te.. , AVU. u, -. - AUUI,., AVU. o, ". UUKC ill. AO. 4 EiVl 8e of irepifpyirfpov rfj yevtffti TOV ScoTTjpoj fifj.wv ov /j.6vot> rb TOS aa xzl r^v rij.(pat> TrporrndevTes, Clem. Alex., Strom., i. 21, 8 145. 5 See Keim, Jesu von Nazara, i. 410; Gieseler, Kirchengesch. , i. 20 ; and on the whole subject Wieseler, Chron. Synops., 1843 ; Ideler, Chronolog., ii. ; Zumpt, Geburt.y ahr Christi, 1869; Caspari, Ghronol.-Oeogr. Einleit., 1869; Sanclemente, DC vulg. seree emenda- tione, 1793. Miinter, Wurm, Auger, Piper, and many others have devoted special works to this subject. 6 Clem. Alex., Strom., i. , xxi., 145 ; Origen, De Princip , iv. 5 (but compare C Cels., ii. 397 ; and on Matt. xxiv. 15); Tert., G. Jud., S; Lact. , Inst. Div., iv. 10 ; Aug., De Civ. Dei, xviii. 54. 7 Iren., liar., ii. 38, 39 ; and so too Melito, St Hippolytus, St Jerome, &c. 8 Hippolytus on Dan. iv. ; Euseb., If. E., i. 10; Theodoret and Jerome on Dan. ix. 27. 9 Sevin, Chronol. d. Leb. Jesu, 23 ; Keim, Jesu von Nazara, iii. 485. have been unknown to the other. There is no difficulty in reconciling their fragmentary intimations if we suppose that Nazareth was the native place of Joseph and Mary, and that there the coining nativity was announced to the Virgin, but that the exigences of the enrolment undertaken by Quiriniusfor imperial purposes required Joseph to regis ter his name at Bethlehem, the native town of David, from whom both he and, probably, his espoused wife were. descended. 10 Assuming that there was an enrolment of Qtiirinius in 4 B.C., the difficulties which have been raised about the registration taking place at the home of the family and not at the place of residence are a priori objections which have but little weight against testi mony. The Jews clung to their genealogies and tribal relations, and in consequence of the settled habits of Oriental life most fami lies would be naturally resident at their native place. The incon venience to those who were not resident would be but slight in comparison with the danger of exciting tumults by needlessly forcing the Roman methods of registration on a reluctant people. The smallness of Palestine, and the regular custom of attending a yearly passover, would tend to minimize any inconvenience ; and, if the attendance of Mary was not obligatory (which is uncertain), nothing is more natural than that at such a time of trial and danger she should have accompanied the only person who could protect her. Those who charge St Luke with a gross chronological error in ante dating by ten years the registration of Quiriniiis should remember that in every other instance in which his statements have been challenged on grounds open to historic decision his accuracy has been triumphantly vindicated. 11 And since the celebrated treatise of A. "VV. Zumpt (Das Gcburtsjahr Christi, 1869) it has been all but demonstrated that Quirinius although the fact is not distinctly mentioned by any ancient author was twice legate of Syria, viz. , A.u.c. 750-753 and again A.TJ.C. 760-765. Neither the sneers nor the attacks of critics have in the slightest degree shaken this probability ; and, since Justin Martyr appeals to the census table of Quirinius, and Tertullian to those of Sentius Saturninus, 1 2 there is no critical unlikelihood in the conjecture that the census may have been ordered by Sentius Saturninus, begun by Publ. Sulpic. Quirinius during his first term of office as legate of Syria, and completed during his second. V. It is not of course our object to narrate or even to touch upon all the events and teachings which occupy the four Gospels, but only to glance at their general bearing. The life of Jesus naturally falls into five epochs : (1) the infancy and childhood ; (2) the youth and early manhood ; (3) the public ministry, including (4) the closing scenes and crucifixion, and (5) the resurrection and ascension. These epochs are well marked in the Gospels. 1. The two who alone preserve for us any details of the infancy and childhood are St Matthew and St Luke, and they relate four events. Of these the circumcision and the presentation in the temple present no difficulties. The circumcision, at which the name was always publicly given, took place on the eighth day after the birth, and was per formed in the presence of the nearest friends. It illustrated the truths that Christ was " born under the law " which he came " not to destroy but to fulfil." Thirty-three days after the circumcision was the purification in the temple, and St Luke tells us how the aged Simeon and Anna welcomed the infant Saviour with words of prophecy. The third event, the visit of the Magi, is known as the Epiphany or manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. It rests on the sole authority of St Matthew, but there is no feature in his account which is out of keeping with known events and possibilities. The Magi, Persian or Chaldivan astrologers, were a class extremely common at that epoch, and under different names are repeatedly mentioned by the contemporary historians and satirists. 13 That they Avere accustomed to wander to various countries, and to interest themselves in horoscopes, we know from the story of Diogenes Laertius that a Syrian magus had foretold his 10 The descent of Mary from David is implied in the New Testa ment (Acts ii. 36, xi ii. 23 ; Rom. i. 3 ; Luke i. 32), and traditionally asserted by Justin Martyr and Irena?us. 11 Such are the tetrarchs of Abilene, the ethuarchs under Aretas, tho "asiarchs" of Ephesus, the "praetors" of Philippi, the "politarchs" of Thessalonica, the "protos" of Malta, the " propraetor" of Cyprus, the "proconsul" of Achaia, the Italian band, and many more. 32 Adv. Marc., . 19. 13 Magi, Chaldiei, mathematici, &c.