SEVEN STEPS.
Introduction to Step Four
THE LUNAR ECLIPSE OF
HEROD
The
establishment of the chronology of King Herod’s reign has caused far more heat
than light over the years. It has been attacked this way and that, and the
arguments still rage. I have read quite a number of articles, as well as the
presentation in major books on chronology, and found that it is just as
important to deduce the psychology of the authors as to evaluate their
conclusions.
In
short, what is a person’s agenda for writing? Is it to prove or to disprove? Is
it to work in a positive and constructive fashion, or to put dampers on those
who wish to arrive at a stable Biblical chronology? There are some in each
class.
The problems
arise because of Josephus. Using his internal evidence from dates is a sticky
wicket to bat on. There has to be some other external factor that can enable us
to adjust his dates in a sensible manner. In the four chapters of this section,
I plan to show that this Gordian knot is capable of being severed once and for
all.
CHAPTER 14
THE LUNAR ECLIPSE OF HEROD
No one
who has ever read even the smallest fragment of Jewish history from the pen of
Josephus will deny that he was a brilliant writer, with graphic portrayal of
events and his own personal interpretation of the history of his own people. No
one will deny the tremendous usefulness of his writings. Even if sometimes we
find, by cross-reference from the Antiquities to the Wars, that there are occasional
chronological contradictions, it does not alter the fact of his greatness, and
the debt we owe him for his indefatigable labours. (Note – there are clear
indications that changes have been made to dates since the writing of
his manuscript.)
There
are a number of historical records we can draw on for research into the era of
Christ’s life, such as the Gospels, Josephus, Eusebius, Dio Cassius, and
Tacitus, to mention the main sources. But in each and every case, the original
language needs great care in translation, whether it be from Latin or Greek,
especially when it comes to a major source of embarrassment such as we have
here in determining the date of Herod’s death.
Briefly
stated, historians say that Herod died in B.C. 4. The Gospels are quite clear
in the fact that Jesus was born during the latter end of his reign.
Furthermore, he ordered the killing of the
But they
don’t tie this in with the date of Jesus’ crucifixion, which is often set at
A.D. 33 these days, thus making Jesus 37 or 38 years of age at His death. This
is excessive, and needs amendment.
There is
but one line of attack that has more certainty attached. It comes from a
statement made in Josephus, as follows - (Antiq.XVII.6.4) "Herod
burned alive - - Matthias who had raised the sedition, with his companions, and
that very night there was an eclipse of the Moon." Herod was more
or less 70 years of age, and in very bad health. Some of the Jews assumed that
he had already died, and therefore took it into their heads to hack down the
large golden eagle he had placed above the main gate of the
Now
Josephus never witnessed this event himself, because he was not born until A.D.
37. Therefore he must have learned about it, and the fact that he records it at
all, shows that it was always thought to be an important omen, a token of
divine displeasure. It was the only time he recorded a lunar eclipse in his
entire works.
Sir
Isaac Newton tried to calculate the dates of lunar eclipses in that era, and
found there was one in B.C. 4 on March 13th. This is the date that
most expositors cite as being the eclipse of Herod. Since the days of
|
Eclipse No. |
Julian Date |
J.D.N. |
G.M.T. |
Magn. |
Partial |
Total |
Long. |
Lat. |
|
1854 |
23Mar.BC5 |
1719679 |
18h32m |
21.8 |
111 |
51 |
+88 |
0 |
|
1855 |
15 Sep.BC5 |
1719855 |
20h18m |
20.5 |
108 |
49 |
+57 |
-4 |
|
1856 |
13Mar.BC4 |
1720033 |
0h58m |
4.3 |
69 |
- |
-6 |
+3 |
|
1857 |
5 Sep.BC4 |
1720210 |
11h6m |
8.9 |
84 |
- |
-166 |
-7 |
|
1858 |
20 Jan.BC2 |
1720712 |
12h6m |
7.0 |
82 |
- |
-173 |
+21 |
|
1859 |
17 Jul.BC2 |
1720880 |
5h22m |
9.9 |
94 |
- |
-76 |
-23 |
|
1860 |
9 Jan.BC1 |
1721066 |
23h14m |
21.5 |
107 |
49 |
+17 |
+22 |
|
1861 |
5 Jul.BC1 |
1721243 |
8h54m |
17.3 |
115 |
47 |
-128 |
-23 |
|
1862 |
29Dec.BC1 |
1721421 |
14h31m |
6.9 |
76 |
- |
+145 |
+23 |
|
1863 |
24 Jun.AD1 |
1721597 |
9h34m |
0.8 |
31 |
- |
-138 |
-23 |
Notes.
Eclipse number: assigned by Oppolzer purely for
reference.
Julian day
number: Serial
day number as already defined earlier in this work.
G.M.T.
Greenwich Mean Time for maximum phase of eclipse.
Magnitude: Total eclipses are 12 and above. The
Earth’s shadow is quite a lot larger than the Moon’s disc, and this is why
there can be numbers in excess of 12, rising to a maximum of 23. Partial
eclipses may therefore be measured as fractions of 12. A value of 7 means that
seven-twelfths of the Moon’s disc is eclipsed at maximum phase.
Part. & Total: These are values in, minutes, of
the half-period of the eclipse, when partial and then total, as the case may
be.
Long. &
Lat.: These are
the zenithal readings of Longitude and Latitude of where the eclipse may be
seen.
To illustrate the above
notes, we can extract eclipse number 1860 from the table and draw a time-line
for the event as follows: -
ECLIPSE NO. 1860, 9th
JAN. BC1
START PARTIAL
|-------------TOTAL----------| PARTIAL
END
|------49m----|-----49m-------|
|-----------------------107m--------------|-------------------107m-----------------------|
9.27
pm
midpoint
1.01 am
9th Jan.BC
1
11.14 pm
GMT
10th Jan.BC 1
Out of
the above list of eclipses given by Oppolzer, only three are of interest
to us, because the rest would not have been visible in
THE THREE CONTENDERS FOR THE
HERODIAN ECLIPSE
|
Eclipse No. |
Date |
|
Magnitude |
Partial |
Total |
|
1856 |
13th Mar BC4 |
|
4.3 |
69 |
- |
|
1860 |
10th Jan. BC1 |
|
21.5 |
107 |
49 |
|
1862 |
29th Dec. BC1 |
|
6.9 |
76 |
- |
The
eclipse of 13th March was a very minor one, the Moon losing only 37%
of its disc at maximum. Furthermore, this occurred in the hours when most
people would be asleep, and the likelihood that it caused widespread attention,
sufficient for Josephus to mention 70 years later, is highly unlikely. The 10th
Jan eclipse was nearly the greatest that could occur, and ranks very highly as
a contender. And the final one has its points, because it would be seen
immediately after Moonrise, and the disc would lose 58% of its light. In the
next chapter we must discuss these eclipses in more detail.