CHAPTER 15

HISTORICAL CONDITIONS

    We have seen that there were only three contenders for the eclipse mentioned by Josephus. And of these, historians inevitably plump for the one on March 13^th BC 4, simply because it fits their chronology of Herod’s years of reign.

    But it has already been shown that this eclipse is perhaps the least likely contender, simply because it did not begin until 2:12 a.m. in Jerusalem, and at its fullest (at 3:19 a.m.) it was only 37% covered. I am not saying that such an eclipse would pass unnoticed, but rather that it was a relatively minor eclipse as they go, and surely only a small percentage of people would be up and about to remember it. But it still attracts much attention as one writer after another copies that which has been published before. One article I saw stated that it was a total eclipse!

    The other two eclipses have much more in their favour. No. 1860 was a total eclipse lasting nearly the maximum time. But this eclipse didn’t start until about midnight, and only became total at 1:35 a.m. Unless there were many people about between midnight and cockcrow, this one would also have passed without much attention.

    The third contender, No. 1862, was only partial, so that at maximum the Moon’s disc was 58% covered. On that basis we might say that it ranks very much less than the total eclipse. But it has one feature making it stand out beyond the others. Its maximum phase would have been seen quite suddenly as the Moon rose over the Mount of Olives just after sunset at 4:52 p.m. The impact of that occurring when Herod had ordered the most brutal massacre of some highly respected Jewish men would be overwhelming. They would say to each other, "Look, the Lord is angry!" And undoubtedly He was. Whereas today we watch eclipses of the Moon come and go, and take very little notice of them, the ancients were disposed to see a sign of Divine approval or disapproval in the conjunction of events. For the same reason, Halley’s Comet was depicted on the Bayeux tapestry, having appeared at the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (Good for William and the Normans, bad for Harold and the English!)

    So much for the analysis from a purely astronomical point of view. There are other facts that need careful consideration. Josephus gives many details of the events at that time. Herod was terminally ill, and it was doubtful that he could last more than a few more days. Adam Rutherford, a prolific writer on Chronology, presented several doctors with the details of Herod’s condition, as set out by Josephus, asking them how long he could live under such conditions. To quote from Book II, page 316 of "Pyramidology" -

Josephus gave the following particulars of Herod’s condition -

An intolerable itching all over his body,
Continual pains in his colon,
Dropsical tumours about his feet,
Inflammation of the abdomen,
Putrefection of his genitals that produced worms.
Could not breathe except when sitting upright,
Convulsion of all his members,
Fever that glowed inwardly, rather than to the outward touch,
Vehement desire for eating,
Entrails ulcerated,
An aqueous transparent liquor in feet and lower abdomen,
Breath putrid.

    Accordingly, a copy of the above twelve particulars of Herod’s condition was submitted on a certain day to four British medical doctors, with the following request, "Is it possible for you to give any approximate estimate of how long a man in this condition, at 70 years of age, would be likely to live?" As a result of this medical conference of four doctors called by Dr. W.H.Emslie of Glasgow, the following report was sent,

    "Herod may have died at any time after that, even the same day, and it is unlikely that he lived more than about 14 days after."

    The doctors were not familiarised with the historical details, and it is therefore an entirely independent diagnosis.

    Herod left instructions concerning his funeral, that it should be the most lavish affair possible. He died in Jericho, and straightway there were preparations made for a bier to be constructed of gold and adorned with precious stones. All his army, and many VIPs from his regions were assembled, together with about 500 of his domestic servants, and a great procession moved away from Jericho towards Jerusalem first of all, and then down south towards Herodium, a total distance of some 24 miles. The funeral procession would have taken many days to travel from there to the site of his burial at Herodium, going at the expected slow pace demanded by "royal respect". According to Josephus, on the first day of the march they only covered about a mile. Several calculations have been made of the time required to accommodate all these events, and none of them accept that it could be achieved in the 24 days allowed between Herod’s death and Passover, which Josephus said was shortly to occur.

ANALYSIS OF THE THREE ECLIPSES

Eclipse Date	Nisan 1st	Nisan 14^th	Interval 1	Interval 2
13^th March B.C.4	March 29^th	April 11^th	29 days	24 days
10^th Jan. B.C.1	March 25^th	April 7^th	88 days	83 days
29^th Dec. B.C.1	March 15th	March 28th	90 days	85 days

[Interval 1 = Eclipse to Passover; Interval 2 = Death of Herod to Passover]    

From this analysis, the March 13^th eclipse loses ground completely. The other two contenders each have adequate time. So how do we choose between them?

    From the point of view of the chronology built up thus far, there is only one contender, that of December 29^th B.C.1. It fits in completely with other events. If Herod died about the end of BC 1 or the beginning of AD 1, then Jesus’ birth in the autumn of BC 2 would allow for the "two years or under" that Herod required for the slaughter of the Bethlehem innocents. Indeed, he must have sent this command in the very last days of his life, and there is a timely remembrance of this in the Eastern Church, which makes December 29^th the day of the murder of the innocents, the same day as the eclipse. (The Anglican Church remembers it on the previous day, December 28^th.) This was brought to my notice through the writings of Nathaniel Lardner, (1684-1768) the English Biblical and Patristic scholar, the founder of the modern school of critical research in early Christian literature. [Ref. i.348 (Münter)]

    There is one other source of reference that strongly suggests the December 29th eclipse was the one Josephus was referring to, and the evidence for this will be given in the next chapter.

SSTB.INDEX

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