Category Archives: Bible History

The Gospels don’t come right out and say exactly where along the Jordan River Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, but there are clues. Based on Matthew 3, Mark 1 and Luke 3 and 4, it was near Jerusalem and the Judean desert, which puts it near the north end of the Dead Sea.

John 1:28 says John the Baptist was baptizing at “Bethany across the Jordan.”

I noticed a lot of Jewish places are named Beth-something, so I googled it.

Sources:

• http://www.churchhistory101.com/century1-palestine.php
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Judean_Desert_Map.jpg

The Star of Bethlehem DVD shows the sky on Jesus’ birth date, but doesn’t talk about it, so I froze the frame and blew it way up.  It looked to me like it said He was born on June 17, 2 BC.  When I checked this against the Hebrew calendar, I found that this day was Sivan 15, 3759.  On the Jewish calendar, Sivan is the THIRD month.

Check this out!

• Sivan 15 = THREE for the Trinity, ONE for God’s only begotten Son with FIVE which is Mary’s number.
• 3759 = THREE, SEVEN for completeness and creation, FIVE for Mary, and NINE for the end of pregnancy.

I got curious about Mary’s pregnancy.  It’s a girl thing.  There are two ways to calculate pregnancy and due dates.  One is the first day of the Last Menstrual Period (Day 1 LMP) + 40 weeks.  The other is Conception + 38 weeks.  (Most women ovulate 14 days after Day 1 LMP.)  I counted 40 and 38 weeks backwards on a calendar from June 17th, then plugged dates into a “When are you due?” calculator.  It gave me back June 17th due dates for both.

• Day1 LMP: Sept 10, 3 BC + 40 weeks = Due date June 17, 2 BC
  • Tishri 1, 3759 + 40 weeks = Due date Sivan 15, 3759
• Conception: Sept 24, 3 BC + 38 weeks = Due date June 17, 2 BC
  • Tishri 15, 3759 + 38 weeks = Due date Sivan 15, 3759

Something very cool happened here. Did you notice?  Day 1 LMP lands smack on Rosh Hashanah, New Year’s Day of 3759 and Conception lands smack on the first day of Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles!

Forgive me for getting goosebumps!  But … you gotta admit, it is just totally cool that Jesus’ very first week as a human being on Earth were spent inside his mommy’s womb during the most joyful festival in the Jewish calendar, the time referred to as “the Season of our Rejoicing” and during which Jews eat, sleep and pray outdoors in sukkahs (aka, booths, tabernacles) covered with the fruits of harvest.  Read about Sukkot @ http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm and think about the holiday in terms of Jesus’ coming to Earth.  It’s quite something!

Sources:

• Hebrew-Roman Calendar @ http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?hebrew=3759
• Due date calculator @ http://www.babycenter.com/pregnancy-due-date-calculator. I used September 2014 dates, because 2 BC and 2015 AD were both common (i.e., not leap) years and the calculator was already set up for 2014 when I got there.

According to the Star of Bethlehem sky charts, Jesus was born in June of 2 BC.  The Annunciation had to have occurred at least 9 months prior, which puts it into the previous year.  Luke 1:26 says the Annunciation happened “in the sixth month.”  This is Elul on the Jewish calendar.

I find it really compelling to put the events of Jesus’ life on to the Jewish and common calendars, because it helps me understand in a more immediate way that Jesus really was conceived and gestated and born in a real place and time to a real woman. He really grew up and taught and died and rose again on real dates, and in a place and time about which we know quite a lot.

It is customary to assume Mary conceived at the Annunciation, but my calculations suggest conception occurred the following month.  Luke 1:31 records the angel Gabriel using the future tense – “you will conceive in your womb” – which supports my conclusion.

PLEASE NOTE: On March 31, 2014, I posted a blog about Mary and Medjugorje in which I messed up and said Jesus was born in 1 BC. Sorry ’bout that! I put a note on the blog that it’s wrong. If I get to it, I’m going to redo the Medjugorje calculations and see if they amount to a hill of beans. https://polination.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/mary-has-been-appearing-at-medjugorje-for-33-years/

The traditional date given for the death of Herod the Great (4 BC) was based on a very early transcription error that was carried over again and again into later copies of the document.  The earliest copy of the actual historical document says he died in 1 BC.  This later date is verified by a close analysis of the Jewish calendar, lunar eclipse data from NASA and Josephus’ account of Herod’s death.  (There is a detailed account @ “Astronomy and the Death of King Herod” @ http://www.askelm.com/star/star010.htm.)

Sources:

• Hebrew-Common Calendar @ http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=1+BC
• First century BCE Lunar Eclipse list @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_1st-century_BCE_lunar_eclipses
• January 10, 1 BCE eclipse chart @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/5MCLEmap/-0099-0000/LE0000-01-10T.gif
• Why 1 BCE chart is dated 0000 explained @ http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/dates.html

I just read an interesting thing about the first line of the Bible in http://www.geraldschroeder.com/HiddenFace.aspx/

Schroeder says the Hebrew actually makes more sense if you translate it “With wisdom, God created” rather than “In the beginning, God created.”

The Hebrew can mean either “in the beginning of” or “with wisdom.” The latter makes sense syntactically and he cites a number of places in Scripture that also support the “wisdom” translation theologically.

The Catholic Bible (New American Bible Revised Edition) chose to render the passage “In the beginning, when God created.” The footnote says:

Until modern times the first line was always translated, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Several comparable ancient cosmogonies, discovered in recent times, have a “when…then” construction, confirming the translation “when…then” here as well. “When” introduces the pre-creation state and “then” introduces the creative act affecting that state. The traditional translation, “In the beginning,” does not reflect the Hebrew syntax of the clause. http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/1

I confess, I am very disappointed at the Catholic translators’ decision to choose extra-Biblical sources (i.e., pagan creation stories) to justify going with “when…then” especially seeing as it ALSO does not reflect the Hebrew syntax of the clause!