CHAPTER 18

The Paradox of the 27 years 

            In a previous chapter I had occasion to quote from Josephus’s Antiquities XIV.16.4, as follows -  “The destruction befell the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and Caninus Gallus were Consuls at Rome, in the 185th Olympiad, on the 3rd month, on the solemnity of the fast, as if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned since that which befell the Jews under Pompey, for the Jews were taken by him on the same day, and this was after 27 years time.”

 

            Apart from the more obvious conclusion that unless a well-attested calendar existed in those days Josephus could never have made such an assertion, there is an anachronism in this passage that has caused chronologists a bit of a headache.  If December 1st B.C.37 is used as the date of the fall of Jerusalem under Sosius, then 27 years earlier would have been December B.C.64. But it has been well established that Pompey took Jerusalem in B.C.63, by reference to the Consular lists. Rather than enter this argument immediately, I would rather quote from W.E.Filmer’s article, mentioned in the previous chapter, i.e. “The Chronology of Herod the Great.” (Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 17, 1966, pp283-298)

 

            “The Consular dating gives 37 B.C., but does not agree with what follows: Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 B.C., and 27 years later would bring us to B.C.36 and not B.C.37. The 27 years might well be rejected if it stood alone, but Josephus states that on both occasions Jerusalem was taken, not only on the same fast day, (that is the same Calendar date) but also on the same day; that appears to mean the same day of the week. Now 27 years is almost exactly 334 lunar months, and 334 lunations require 9,863 days 5.5 hours. Since 9,863 is a multiple of seven, every date in the Jewish Calendar in BC 36 would fall on the same day of the week as it did in BC 63. This coincidence would not apply to BC 37 however, so the 27 years interval that Josephus gives looks like being genuine.”

 

            I have taken the trouble to check Filmer’s calculation, and the figures are not only correct, but the Calendar shows the 8th of Kisleu to be a Friday in both BC 63 and BC 36. On the face of it, Filmer seems to have found a solution that is very convincing. The trouble is that it requires the fall of Jerusalem to be in BC 36, whereas all the other evidence requires it to be BC 37. Because of this I have had to reject Filmer’s conclusion. However, the other part of his conclusion stands firm and is most useful. Clearly, as Filmer said, Josephus was referring to this strange “revolution” of events that made 27 years a return to the same day and the same date on the Hebrew Calendar. On the surface it seems impossible to accept Josephus’s 27 years, because simple arithmetic will not allow it.

 

            However, there is one fact not generally taken into account when considering the years between BC 63 and BC 37. I mentioned in the chapter on Calendars that in the days of Julius Cæsar the Calendar was revised in accordance with the instructions he received from the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes. As a result, two extra months were inserted in the year BC 46, between November and December, the first being of 33 days and the second of 34 days. This created a most unusual year of length 445 days. It became known as “the last year of confusion” in the Roman (Julian) Calendar.

 

            But in most chronological works a “standardised calendar” is used, as in astronomy. There is nothing intrinsically wrong in this, as long as we bear in mind that occasional anachronisms will arise, as in the case now before us. We are working with two calendars when assessing dates given by Josephus. In the quotation above, he was referring to the Hebrew calendar when he spoke about the return of “same day/same date”. How does this reckoning fit in with the Julian Calendar of the time? A diagram will be seen to be helpful here.

 

               THE 27 YEAR ANOMALY OF JOSEPHUS RESOLVED

 

BC -----64-----|-----63-----|    -    -    -    |-----46-----|    -    -    -    |-----37-----|     (A)

                        |--------------------------------27 years----------------------------|

BC-----64---|-----63-----|    -    -    -      |------46------|    -    -    -   |-----37-----|      (B)

 

            In this time-line, (A) represents the “standardised” calendar, which shows the 27 years extending back to BC 64, but (B) is the actual calendar of those days, with BC 46 having its extra two months, and because of this the 27 years falls just within BC 63. This is a triumph for Josephus’s accuracy, but it also confirms the way in which the Calendars worked in those days, and how necessary it is for us to adopt every care when interpreting written information of that period. So far as I am aware, no one else has shown the above solution to this problem.

 

            It is of course obvious that Josephus was referring to years in the Hebrew calendar, when he counted 27. If he had used the Roman Calendar then the January date of BC 63 would have caused him to reduce the number to 26. But he could never have used the Roman calendar to show the “revolution” of dates. It only works on the Hebrew Calendar.

 

            Incidentally, there has been some argument over the “fast of the third month”, as I mentioned in the text of this work. Was it the 3rd month in the civil calendar, or the 3rd month in the sacred calendar? I argued for the Civil calendar, thereby making the date the 8th Kisleu, or December 1st in BC 37. If the Sacred Calendar were used, the fast day would have been in June. By drawing another “time line”, similar to the one above, it may be seen that there is no year change involved, and therefore the strange quirk introduced by Julius Cæsar’s amendment has not only established the accuracy of Josephus in his 27 years, but has also eliminated the fast of the 3rd month in the Sacred Year. It’s quite amazing how, with the very minimum of information, dates can be established by the use of a little logic based on calendars!

 

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