CHAPTER 16

THE MEGILLATH TA’ANITH

    These strange words are Hebrew for "Scroll of Fasting." However, the title should really be entitled, "List of Festivals", simply because the list enumerates those festivals, or semi-festivals upon which it is forbidden to fast! But a later anonymous elucidator designated it "Scroll of Fasting" because he appended to it of his own accord a list of numerous Fast Days to which the Rabbis in the Middle Ages had given the force of law.

    There are very few manuscripts of this chronicle, and these are chiefly to be found in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. But of the five deposited there, only two are entire. The others are but fragments. Only a few editions of the text have been printed, the best being that of Hambourg in 1757, although the first known edition was in Switzerland in 1580.

    My own complete copy of the translation of this document, together with numerous explanatory notes, comes from Rev. S.B.Burnaby’s book, "Elements of Jewish and Mohammadan Calendars", printed in 1901.

    Our interest is purely in the former part of the Megillath, which deals with festivals. And in that "List of Commemorative Days", being 35 in number, are found explanations of why one should rejoice. For example, No.23 concerning Kisleu 25^th we read, "Commencement of the eight days of the Purification of the Temple [i.e. Hannukah]. Mourning is forbidden." And so it is throughout all the 35 entries, together with their explanatory statements, with  two exceptions . They are as follows:-

Entry 21 reads Kisleu 7. A Festival Day.

Entry 25 reads Shebat 2. A Festival Day. Mourning is forbidden.

    Both of these dates have, at one time or another, been attributed to the death of Herod the Great. The reason why no description is given is attributed to the fact that when it was recorded, the events were within the memory of those alive. Whether this can be substantiated remains to be proved, but nevertheless, it is a very reasonable assumption to suggest that one of the dates coincides with the death of Herod. We can consult the Hebrew Calendar to find out when these dates fell in the years B.C. 5 to A.D. 2.

ANALYSIS OF DATES FROM THE MEGILLATH TA’ANITH

Eclipse Date	Year	2^nd Shebat	7^th Kisleu
	B.C.5	Sunday 31^st Dec.	Tuesday 7^th Nov.
13^th March	B.C.4	-	Monday 26^th Nov.
	B.C.3	Friday 18^th Jan.	Thursday 14^th Nov.
	B.C.2	Tuesday 7^th Jan.	Tuesday 4^th Nov.
	B.C.2	Sunday 28^th Dec.	-
9^th Jan & 29^th Dec.	B.C.1	-	Tuesday 23^rd Nov.
	A.D.1	Sunday 16^th Jan.	Saturday 12^th Nov.
	A.D.2	Wednesday 4^th Jan	Thursday 30^th Nov.

Here is a most interesting and informative list, because if one of these dates truly commemorates Herod’s death, then we can eliminate the eclipse of 13^th March B.C.4 altogether because neither Shebat 2^nd nor Kisleu 7^th appear anywhere near that date. In the second place, the eclipse of Jan 9^th B.C.1 suffers from the same problem. But the eclipse of 29^th December B.C.1 is followed by Shebat 2^nd on January 16^th A.D.1, and this ties in very well with the other information obtained so far.

    The Megillath says that on Shebat 2^nd "Mourning is forbidden", and no wonder! What a breath of fresh air, what a tremendous release the Judæan world must have felt when that old monster, Herod the tyrant, finally stopped breathing. I believe it is no coincidence that this date fits in so well. If it is truly the date of Herod’s death, it had to fit in exactly. No other date on the above table could possibly fit. All the Kisleu dates are eliminated. The most probable contender for that date being the hated King Jannai (Alexander Jannæus,) who had so cruelly persecuted the Pharisees, and whose death in B.C.79 was cause of much rejoicing.

    But notice the January 16^th date, because it is only 18 days after the eclipse, and remembering the words of the doctors Adam Rutherford approached, they said Herod could only have lived for a couple of weeks.

    As a result of these investigations we can now set down the date of Herod’s death as January 16^th A.D.1. Being tied into the eclipse, it does provide us with the information we need to settle the issue. Furthermore, the Eastern Church remembers December 29^th as the massacre of the Bethlehem infants, and so the entry in the Megillath for Shebat 2^nd seems to provide us with all the additional evidence we need to establish the date of Herod’s death.

    I’m sure the critics will now hotly contest this. But the internal evidence of Josephus, with his chronology of Herod’s reign, must be re-assessed in the light of the January 16^th date. It means that the whole tale of Herod’s years must be brought forward by nearly four years. But I feel sure that this must be possible somehow, because everything else has dovetailed together with highly acceptable harmony so far. In the next chapter we’ll broach that problem.

    The following list will give a summary of the information gleaned thus far.

B.C.2 Birth of Jesus in the autumn. Perhaps the end of September.

B.C.1 Eclipse of the Moon 29^th December. Herod’s massacre of the Bethlehem infants, nearly 15 months after Jesus’ birth, thus fitting in well with Herod’s calculations of "under two years."

A.D.1 Death of Herod on January 16^th, just 18 days after the eclipse. Passover, (Nisan 14^th) was on Monday 28^th March in this year, being 85 days after Herod’s death, thus allowing enough time for all the elaborate funeral preparations mentioned by Josephus.

SSTB.INDEX

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