SEVEN STEPS TO BETHLEHEM. 

STEP SIX.

CHAPTER 20

THE COURSE OF ABIJAH

    Luke 1:5-7 "There was in the days of Herod, king of Judæa, a certain priest by the name of Zacharias, of the course of Abijah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both just before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, inasmuch as Elisabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in their days. And it came to pass in the fulfilment of his priestly service, it fell to him by lot to burn incense, having entered into the Temple of the Lord."

    The story is well known, being usually recited every Christmas in church services. But what is not so well known is the "Course of Abijah" to which Luke referred. It is only a passing reference, and may be seen as just an aside, but it has a value far beyond that, for anyone who cares to do a little digging.

    In 1 Chronicles 24:1-19, we find all the details about the "Twenty four Courses" of Priests, as set down by King David for weekly administration in the Temple, each Course beginning its duty on a Sabbath Day. These Courses were composed of men in the line of Aaron, through his sons. But Nadab and Abihu had suffered the death penalty for offering strange fire on the altar, and therefore the two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar became heads of the priestly families. Out of these families, 16 heads were chosen from the line of Eleazar, and 8 from the line of Ithamar, making 24 in all. And the priests were settled by lot into the various Courses by name. The 8^th Course was named "the Course of Abijah."

    But after the Babylonian captivity, only four of the Priestly Courses returned, as recorded by Ezra (2:36-39). They were as follows -

Jedaiah, head of the 9^th Course.

Immer, head of the 16^th Course

Pashur, head of the 5^th Course.

Harim, head of the 3^rd Course.

    Of these four, Ezra subdivided each by six, re-constituting the original 24, but preserving the original names for the Courses, even though the priests would not, by and large, belong to the original families, except in the case of the 3^rd, 5^th, 9^th and 16^th Courses. Large numbers of Priests belonged to each Course, and in respect of their Sabbath duties, they were appointed by lot, as appears in the case of Zacharias in the Course of Abijah.

    The next point concerns the arrangement of these 24 Courses. Each Course ministered for one week, thus making 24 weeks for a full ministration. Then it was repeated, thus occupying 48 weeks in the year. In addition, we learn that for the three major festivals (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) all the Courses were on duty together. But even so, there would be additional days in the year not accounted for.

    If it were possible to deduce exactly when these Courses operated in their cycle of duties, it would help considerably in determining just when Zacharias terminated his ministry, and returned home. Then we should have some idea of the month in which John the Baptist was conceived. It may seem to be asking rather a lot, but in fact it turns out that by using a little logic, combined with entries in the Talmud and Josephus, and the use of the Hebrew Calendar, one is able to make reasonable deductions.

    In point of fact, there could only have been four different options for the yearly rota. These are as follows -

A. The rota, once having started, was allowed to continue in an unbroken sequence, week by week, throughout the year and beyond.

B. As for A, but three times a year the rota was broken for the festivals.

C. The rota started at some particular point each year, and continued in an unbroken sequence, week by week, through the year.

D. As for C., but three times a year the sequence was broken for the festivals.

    Two of these types may be eliminated by simple logic, as follows. Consider the progress of Courses 6 through to 10, assuming that Course 8 fell on one of the festival weeks. The propositions would have operated as follows -

A& C.       6      7      8(All)      9      10

          B& D.       6      7        All         8        9        10

    In A and C, Course 7 would serve for two weeks, as would Course 9, whereas Course 8 would only be serving during the festival week. But in B and D, during the festival week, Courses 7 and 8 would be serving, so that each of these Courses would serve for two weeks in a row. There is therefore no advantage in breaking the flow, as suggested for B and D, because there would have been no way in which to prevent a Course from serving two weeks in a row at certain times of the year. We therefore reject B and D, leaving us to determine which of A and C was the method employed.

    Without the injection of one further piece of information, it is not possible to go further. However, by a happy chance (?) we possess that needed piece in this jig-saw puzzle! In the Talmud we find reference to the day in which the Romans finally gutted the Temple in A.D. 70. We are told that, "The first Course had just taken office." Which day was this? Turning to Josephus B.J. VI.5.5 we read," And now that fatal day was come, according to the revolution of ages, it was the tenth day of the month Lous [Ab], upon which it was formerly burnt by [Nebuchadnezzar] the king of Babylon."

    By referring to the Hebrew Calendar, 10^th Ab turns out to be Sunday 5^th August, A.D. 70. The 1^st Course would therefore have begun its service the preceding day, Saturday 4^th August. Assuming the unbroken sequence argued above, the previous time when the 1^st Course was on duty would have been 24 weeks prior to this, which is 168 days. Counting back, we are brought to Saturday 17^th February A.D. 70. Repeating this process and working back by another 168 days brings it to Saturday 2^nd September in the year A.D. 69.

    This is where we obtain the key, because just three days later on Tuesday 5^th September A.D. 69 was Rosh Hashana, the New Year’s Day, 1^st Tishri, the start of the Civil Year. It was therefore appropriate that the first course should be operating on that day, and therefore it had to start a few days beforehand in order for that condition to apply.

    48 weeks later is that date given by Josephus, Saturday 4^th August AD 70. The Courses would then have continued in sequence until the next New Year’s Day, and then have switched to the First Course once again. In that year 1^st Tishri was Monday 24^th September, so that the arrangement would have been as follows -

Saturday 4^th August - 1^st Course

Saturday 11^th August - 2^nd Course

Saturday 18^th August - 3^rd Course

Saturday 25^th August - 4^th Course

Saturday 1^st September - 5^th Course

Saturday 8^th September - 6^th Course

Saturday 15^th September - 7^th Course

This is only an academic exercise, because everything stopped in that year on 5^th August, when Jerusalem was destroyed by fire.

    It must be borne in mind that some Hebrew years will contain several weeks above the average. In our own calendar we have just about 52 weeks in each year, but the Hebrew Calendar uses an embolismic month, whereas we employ only a leap day. In the year quoted above, AD 70, we have seen that the Hebrew year allowed for seven extra weeks beyond the 48, making 55 weeks in all. This is because AD 69 - 70 was an embolismic year on the Hebrew Calendar.

    Getting back to the issue of the Courses, we have shown that the Jews organised their year from 1^st Tishri, the beginning of the Civil Year, and that the 1^st Course had to be on duty that day. This allows us to search the calendar to see what sequence fell in the year when John the Baptist was conceived, in other words B.C. 4-3. New Year’s Day fell on Saturday 22^nd September B.C. 4, and therefore the 1^st Course would have come on duty on that very day. Hence, by adding 168 days we find when the 1^st Course is on duty again, and this was Saturday 9^th March B.C. 3.

    But our interest lies particularly with the eighth course, in which Zacharias served, and in particular, the last day of his ministration. This is simply found by adding another 8 × 7 = 56 days to March 9^th, bringing us to Saturday 4^th May, and being a Sabbath he would have remained in Jerusalem, rather than travel to his home town.

    According to the Calendar, there would then have been a two-week normal ministration before the Pentecost festival. It is rather doubtful that Zacharias would have returned home during that interval, knowing that he would be required on duty again from May 18^th to 24^th. Hence, if these calculations were correct, he would have returned to his domestic hearth on Sunday 26^th May at the earliest.

    According to our previous calculations, John was conceived on June 24^th of that year, and from every angle this fits in exactly with what one might expect. Zacharias would have returned home, related to his wife his experiences by writing it out for her to read. His dumbness would have alerted her to the miracle, and shown her that God had indeed promised her a son in her old age, and that it would come about miraculously, as it did for Sarah and Hannah in earlier times. The following time-chart will show the progress of events in that year, and it will be seen that 24^th June would have been a most reasonable time for John’s conception. Here then is yet another confirmation of the chronology, from a most unexpected quarter.

B.C.3	B.C.3	J.D.N.	DAY	COURSE	NOTES
Iyar 12	April 27	1720444	Sat	Course 8	Zachariah goes on duty
13	28	445	Sun
14	29	446	Mon
15	30	447	Tue
16	May 1	448	Wed
17	2	449	Thu
18	3	1720450	Fri		Zachariah comes off duty
19	4	451	Sat	Course 9	During this period Zachariah Might have returned home, On the other hand he might have Stayed in Jerusalem Because of the up-coming feast
20	5	452	Sun
21	6	453	Mon
22	7	454	Tue
23	8	455	Wed
24	9	456	Thu
25	10	457	Fri
26	11	458	Sat	Course 10
27	12	459	Sun
28	13	1720460	Mon
29	14	461	Tue
Sivan 1	15	462	Wed
2	16	463	Thu
3	17	464	Fri
4	18	465	Sat	11 +ALL	All courses on duty this week
5	19	466	Sun
6	20	467	Mon		DAY OF PENTECOST
7	21	468	Tue
8	22	469	Wed
9	23	1720470	Thu
10	24	471	Fri		Zachariah comes off duty
11	25	472	Sat	Course 12
12	26	473	Sun		First available day for Z. to go home
13	27	474	Mon
14	28	475	Tue
15	29	476	Wed
16	30	477	Thu
17	31	478	Fri
18	June 1	479	Sat	Course 13
19	2	1720480	Sun
20	3	481	Mon
21	4	482	Tue
22	5	483	Wed
23	6	484	Thu
24	7	485	Fri
25	8	486	Sat	Course 14
26	9	487	Sun
27	10	488	Mon
28	11	489	Tue
29	12	1720490	Wed
30	13	491	Thu
Tammuz 1	14	492	Fri
2	15	493	Sat	Course 15
3	16	494	Sun
4	17	495	Mon
5	18	496	Tue
6	19	497	Wed
7	20